"What happened?!" Dr. Adkins says while running into the room. "Patient started coding. we started cpr to wait for you" A random doctor says while leaving the room. Nervous, I step inside the small, tension filled room. I look at the mother, whose eyes are filled with worry and tears and back to Adkins, who was busy working on her patient, I decided to comfort the mom who was in tears, the other interns back away, scared of what adkins may say or do. Dont get me wrong, i was too, but i had this urge that i couldnt fight. Like this voice in my head saying "help them help them help them" over and over again. It could have just been my nerves but i couldnt help it. "It's going to be ok, your son is being helped, and Dr. Adkins is a very good doctor who is going to keep him alive." I say in as much of a comforting tone as i could manage. "Thank you so much, I've only seen this happen in movies and never thought my own son would have to go through that…" Says the mother in a stuttered worried voice. I never thought I'd see my son go through that? Didn't they get her out of the room so it wouldn't be distracting? That was very unprofessional. I mean, its terrifying enough that she has to see that, but the doctors having to listen to her screams. "Alright, he looks to be stable for now, but I want to get a few scans before I declare anything" As we step outside, I start to get nervous as to what she will say. Will she get mad that I interacted with the patient's parent? Will she be grateful I stepped in? All the suspension is killing me. "Great work Dr…" I knew she was gonna ask my name. But i didnt know she was gonna compliment me."Dr. Pierce, Dr. Hope Pierce." the other interns exchange astonished looks of course, the one thing i didnt want to happen happened. They found out who my parents are- well at least my mom, "well Dr. Pierce, great work there. And you hooligans take notes, this young lady just earned herself a spot in this case." Wait, what did she say?! Did i seriously just get my first case on my first day? I dont know what to say, this is amazing news! Maybe my internship wont be so hard after all…
As lunch rolls around, me and Derek find a gurney in a deserted hallway to eat at. We sat down and the first question that came out of his mouth was "you didn't tell me you're the child of Katherine pierce?" of course he asks about this. One of the many reasons why i dont want to eat lunch in the cafeteria, so i dont get a million questions."You never asked." I said sarcastically. As we sat there eating, we laughed harder than I've laughed in a long time. Its not easy never having any friends. Then rudely, my pager interrupted, "its Adkins… sorry but i've got to go," "its ok, go save a life!" He yells as I run away laughing. When I get to Adkins, she looks worried while looking at scans. "Look at these" as she shows me past scans, "an acute benign tumor in the colon." I say, 99.9 percent sure I was right. "Correct, now look at these" as she shows me recent scans. "A massive cancer filled tumor…" i'm sorry for the person these scans belong to. "Correct, these are max's scans," "max…"max max max… "the patient whose mother you comforted." Adkins said with disappointment on her face. "Yes! sorry.. What are we going to do?" I quickly said, worried she would kick me off the case if i didnt sound interested enough."You are going to go tell the mom, and then you will find me and we will come up with a plan," Me? I have to tell the parent? Why me? ""Yes ma'am" I said as I walked out of the room.
Why me? Bringing the second worst news to a parent beside death is like punishment, but worse. As I turn the corner to go into the room, I start to get nervous. I stopped, wanting to keep a calm composure for the mother. Once I'm calm, I go into the room. "Miss? Can I speak with you outside?" I say calmly. "Yes of course." the mother says as she sits up. We walk outside to the hall, and I make sure she stands next to a chair, in case she needs to sit. "Ma'am I am terribly sorry, Max's tumor is getting progressively worse by the minute," "what do you mean?" worry flooding her eyes. "On his scans last month, his tumor was small and benign, this month, his scans show that his tumor has grown tremendously, and is cancerous," "my son has cancer?!" She said, starting to cry. I helped her sit in the chair, and I held her hand. "Hey, look at me," I say as she looks up, tears running down her face. "Right now, your son needs you, he needs you to be strong, so he can be strong. You need to be his light at the end of the tunnel," I say, hoping I didn't overstep. "You're right, you need to go tell him" great. Now I have to go tell the kid that he's dying. We go into the room and the mother goes and holds his hand. "Max, remember me?" I say, knowing very well he does.i also know that i have to tell him hes probably going to die in a few months in the nicest way possible. This is my least favorite part. "Yes! Your're Dr.Pierce!" He said, hope in his eyes. "Right! Now I want you to see something." I pulled the scans up on the monitor. "Look at this, this here is the… bad guy,"I say as I point to the tumor. "And I am the.. good guy. Now the bad guy is right here" As I point to his stomach. "And I am going to make the bad guy go away." I said "you're gonna kill him!" he says, excitement in his tone of voice. "Exactly!" I say "and mommas gonna be there for every step of the way." I say as I look at the mom. I take his vitals and leave. Running to find Dr. Adkins. A few minutes later, I find Adkins with the other residents, talking about something. "Yes, Pierce is my favorite intern for now, she's sharp, quick to jump in, and great under pressure. She knows how to comfort people just by saying a few words. And on top of it, she's Katherine Pierce's daughter. Which makes her the next best surgeon. Maybe. It also gives me browning points with the chief. " Adkins says "I think that that shepherd guy is weak though, and he's using his peers for knowledge. It shows that general is not his strong suit." She says. He can't be using me, can he? He said he didn't know that katherine was my mother. So I don't think so. I walk up to the group, and look at Dr. Adkins, "I told the mother and child, and I also took his vitals so we know what they are. What's next? ''I said. "See? One step ahead." and we walk off.
"Ok pierce, what's first," "Colon resection: The larger cancer is removed by doing a colectomy. There are two types of colectomy: Partial colectomy: Also called a hemicolectomy or segmental resection, this procedure removes the cancer and some surrounding healthy tissue. This procedure will require either an anastomosis or colostomy" "Good!" "Thank you." After assembling the plan, it was time to schedule the first surgery. I tell the nurse, and go to find Derek, i was going to confront him about using the interns for answers.
I found Derekin the locker room stashing food for tomorrow morning. I tried to carry my courage as I walked up to him. "Hey! Come sit," he said. God dammit, I was supposed to be mad at him! Those baby blue eyes and perfect hair got me soft again."ok… but we have to talk." I said with as much of a serious tone as I could. "Mkay, i have to tell u something too." oh what now. "Have you been using the interns for answers for adkins?" I get straight to the point. "Yes but it's only because general is boring and I don't want to study for it.." WHAT. How could you not like general.. "Ok…. What if I help you study for it? Will you like it then?" I said hoping to change his mind. "nah i don't think so, i'll take your help though,' "why not, "because general is boring. I want to do not something like neurosurgery,' "ok...then you can study for that-' "oh i am in a neuro case as we speak. Those words were the words i never thought would come out of his mouth. Why neurosurgery? It's so boring, all you do is stand there stopping bleeds and crap like that. Whatever. If that's his passion then so be it. I'll just ignore the fact that he reminds me of my mom at the moment. "That's exciting!" snap out of it hope! He's your best friend! Don't drive him away!! "Oops I have a page gotta run by!" "bye." just as he runs off my pager goes off as well. Dammit, what happened to max this time? And I ran off.
To my surprise, once I get to Max's room(out of breath), the nurses are performing CPR and calling out to me to help max. What do I do, this is a code blue! I've never had to run one of these! Shit! I'm so screwed! "DOCTOR PEIRCE WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" one of the nurses yelled out at me. "Someone page Dr. Adkins stat, and gives me those paddles" I'm going to the bottom if he dies in my watch! Especially in MY code! As I start to shock him, Adkins walks in and takes over. Leaving me to stand there and watch. But I almost got the hang of it! I bet she's gonna jump down my throat once this is done. Once Max had heart rhythms again we pushed his surgery to today, when it had been scheduled for two weeks from now. And im left to prepare in two hours.