December 3, 1989
Port Charles, NY
In Port Charles General Hospital on 2 North, Amy Vining groaned when she saw the call system light up again. Of course, her patient in room 226, Olivia St. John, Olivia Jerome, or Olivia Shore or whatever name she was using these days needed something else. What a surprise.
"What is it now?" Amy asked when she opened the door.
"I just…feel…so…weak." Olivia croaked weakly.
Amy rolled her eyes. She had already been in the room at least three times and she was only two hours into her shift.
"I…feel…feverish," Olivia moaned.
"Ok, well, I'll have one of the nursing students repeat your vitals," Amy offered and quickly exited. She had no idea what game Olivia was playing but she was not in the mood.
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Olivia Jerome shut her eyes and took quick short breaths as soon as she heard the door to her room open and the clicking of heels that most likely belonged to her obstetrician, Dr. Vivian Collins. It was about time that wench showed up, she had been lying in a wet gown for at least thirty minutes waiting on her.
"Mrs. Shore, how are you feeling this morning," Dr. Collins began cheerily.
Olivia didn't respond or open her eyes but released a moan followed by a few more labored breaths. She fluttered her eyes a few times for effect and then slowly opened them with another moan. "Not…well…feverish…achy…is….my baby…ok?" she finally said. For good measure she punctuated her words with a few spasms of coughing.
Dr. Collins laid a hand on her shoulder. "We'll monitor the baby again in a minute. You do seem to have a fever. It's quite high actually 103.2 and your pulse is up but that could be due to the fever. Can you sit up so I can listen to your lungs?"
Olivia made a production of straining significantly just to raise herself a few inches from the bed and then collapse back panting. She grimaced and coughed a bit before she started to speak. "Sorry…I just…feel…so weak," she said. She actually was starting to feel a bit shaky from all of her hyperventilation.
Dr. Collins laid her hand and on Olivia's shoulder and patted it gently. "It's ok, we're going to take good care of you and your baby," she said. She pulled back the blankets and seemed to note how damp Olivia's gown was.
Olivia smiled but only internally. What Dr. Collins didn't know, like that her gown had gotten wet with some help from the bathroom faucet, could only help her plead her case that she was very sick, too sick to be discharged. Conveniently also certainly, too sick to be questioned by the police.
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Colton Shore stepped off the elevator on 2 North at Port Charles General Hospital. Dr. Collins had promised that she would have Olivia's discharge done by ten so they could make it to eleven o'clock church services at Queen of Angels with his mother so he was pleased to see her standing at the counter in front of the nurses' station writing in a chart. Hopefully she was writing Olivia's discharge orders.
Dr. Collins looked up as he walked by. "Mr. Shore, could I speak with you a minute before you go in to see your wife," she said.
Colton's stomach lurched when he heard those words. Something was wrong. He could sense it. "Yes, doctor," he said with trepidation.
"You mentioned yesterday that when you returned home your wife appeared febrile. Did you happen to record a temperature?"
"I was just worried about getting her to the hospital. I almost called the ambulance she was in a bad way. But I know she had a fever she was burning up and she was all flushed and clammy."
"Yes, the temperature recorded in the emergency department was 100.9. That is a fever, but all of her temperatures recorded in the hospital were normal until this morning when her temperature climbed to 103.2. I just saw her, and she definitely appears ill and uncomfortable. Clearly, I can't discharge her this morning. I am ordering some lab work and I have asked Dr. Martin to see her. He is a specialist in Infectious Disease," Dr. Collins said.
"But is she going to be ok?" Colton asked. That was really all that mattered. Olivia and their baby both needed to be ok.
"Right now, we aren't sure exactly what we're dealing with. I'm hoping that Dr. Martin will be able to make a definitive diagnosis and then we can talk about treatment options and prognosis," Dr. Collins said.
The words hit Colton like a ton of bricks. Was the doctor really suggesting that Olivia or their baby could die? No!