Chapter 16
"Dr. Franks, is there anything I can help you with?" the nurse asked him as he left the VIP suite.
"No, I was checking on the First Lady as a favor to Dr. Harris. Have a good night."
The nurse's reply was cut off by all the alarms going off at the same time. Hitting the emergency button at the desk, she raced into the room.
The First Lady was having intense seizures. Then she just went limp. The nurse barely noticed that one of the daughters had sat up on the couch, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from.
Quickly glancing at the monitor, she pulled the pillow out from under Abbey's head and placed the code board under her back.
As she grabbed the defibrillator, more help arrived. They raised Abbey's gown and placed the paddles on her chest.
"Asystole. Shock her now."
Liz stood, frozen in place. This really couldn't be happening.
The code continued for a few long minutes. Finally, Liz heard the news she had been praying for.
"We have her back."
"Okay, let's go to CCU. Unlock the wheels and someone bag her."
With that, Abbey's bed was whisked out of the room and taken downstairs to CCU, her agent running right behind them.
Liz immediately woke her sisters. It took them less than a minute to run to the elevator and follow their mother.
"Dad. Dad, wake up."
Jed was hearing Ellie's voice, but thought it was in his dreams. Gradually, he realized that she was by his bed.
"What time is it? What's wrong?"
"It's three am and Mom's in trouble."
Jed was instantly awake.
"Abbey? What's happened?"
Liz answered. "I don't know. I was asleep and then all of a sudden the lights came on and a lot of people came flying in the room. I think her heart stopped at one point."
Jed's heart almost stopped with that comment.
"They brought her back. But I don't know what caused it. I went to sleep after you left and she was apparently stable. I don't know what happened."
"Where is she now?"
"Here."
"Here? What do you mean, here?"
"She's just two cubicles down. That's the only place they had a vacancy."
"Oh my God! Can you find me a wheelchair? And tell the nurse to come disconnect these wires. I've got to see her."
"Okay." Ellie found a nurse and a wheelchair. With the leads disconnected, she helped her father into the wheelchair and rolled him the short distance to see Abbey.
She didn't look much different than when he had seen her earlier in the evening. But the fact that her heart had stopped was disturbing. He just didn't understand why all this was happening.
He looked up to see Dr. Harris running down the hall. He looked like Abbey used to look when she was awakened in the middle of the night to run to the hospital.
Dr. Harris glanced at the family, but didn't stop. He ran into Abbey's cubicle and grabbed the chart. After looking at the chart and making his assessment, he walked past the family again and began barking orders at the nurse.
"I want a complete drug screen run right now, stat. I don't care who you have to wake."
After writing a few more orders on the chart, he realized that the First Family was waiting on him to say something.
"I don't have the complete picture yet. As soon as I get the information, I'll let you know."
He then turned his attention back to Abbey.
Jed motioned to Ellie to push him back to his cubicle. He couldn't help Abbey right now except by resting. As they got him resettled in the bed and the monitor leads reattached, Dr. Ware walked in. He also looked like he had just been rousted out of bed.
"How are you doing, Mr. President? I was just informed about Mrs. Bartlet and I came to see if you needed anything."
"I need my wife healthy, Dr. Ware. Since I can't have that at the moment, I need my children to be able to stay here with me. Will that be a problem?"
"No sir. I'll make sure the staff is informed about it. I'll be here the rest of the night so please, if you need anything, let me know."
"Thanks. My family and I appreciate the kindness."
"Yes, sir."