December 4, 1989
Port Charles, NY
As he stood at the nursing station on 2 North of Port Charles General Hospital, Dr. Ken Martin could almost feel Olivia Jerome Shore's husband's eyes bore holes into his back as he stood scribbling in her chart. It was interesting that her fevers seemed to spike approximately every twenty-four hours. There was a whole differential of Quotidian febrile illnesses, but the lab work seemed to go against all of them. Dr. Collins had wondered if perhaps it was Influenza. While it was the season for that, he had never seen Influenza patients defervesce as quickly as Mrs. Shore seemed able to do. She had been basically afebrile most of the day on Sunday but then had again somehow gotten her temperature up to 103.5 by seven AM.
He had yet to venture into the room, but her nurse for the day, Jessie Brewer R.N., had already told him twice that the poor girl was just miserable and burning up with fever. Of course, Jessie definitely had a flair for the dramatic, but he supposed that vitals didn't lie.
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Olivia Jerome Shore was so grateful her husband had finally stepped from the room. When he was around, she had to keep up her panting and moaning act even when the doctors and nurses weren't in the room and truly that was getting exhausting. She would gladly take even five minutes to breathe normally.
Just when she was starting to enjoy her freedom, she heard the door creak, so she launched herself into a coughing fit. When she realized that it was Dr. Martin, the ID specialist coming in she realized that coughing was probably her best course of action. That had worked yesterday to stop his long list of questions.
"So how are we this morning?" Dr. Martin asked.
Olivia coughed for another minute then collapsed back onto her pillows and started back in with short quick breaths.
Dr. Martin moved over to the bed and started to listen to her heart and lungs. "Surprisingly your lungs appear to be clear," he said.
Olivia didn't have a good response for that, so she launched into another coughing fit.
"Perhaps it is influenza after all. All of your other cultures are clean, so I guess we'll just continue with symptomatic treatment and monitoring," Dr. Martin said.
"That's it? Can't you do something?" Colton asked.
"I did start Amantadine yesterday. That is an antiviral medicine for Influenza A so it's that then we're doing everything we can. Unfortunately, viral cultures for influenza are hard to do at this point. PCR and molecular assays hold some promise but we're probably still a few years away from that testing being available," Dr. Martin said before he made his hasty retreat from the room.
Olivia smiled but then caught herself and released another moan. "I….feel….so….sick," she said.
Colton pulled the blankets up around her and then leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I'm so sorry, honey, I am going to go demand that Dr. Collins consult someone who actually knows what they are doing!" he said.
Olivia was just glad that he had once again left the room.
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Frustration and fear overwhelmed Colton as he stepped out into the hallway. Someone had to do something! Olivia couldn't die!
In the hallway, he noted that Dr. Collins was talking to a man in a long trench coat. As he got closer, he realized that man was none other than the Port Charles Police Commissioner, Robert Scorpio.
"Unfortunately, I just don't think Mrs. Shore would be up to answering even a few questions at this point. I'm worried any further stress could push her into pre-term labor," Dr. Collins said.
"You heard her, Commissioner, now leave my wife alone, or I swear I will sue you and the department if anything happens to her or our unborn child!" Colton said.
Robert Scorpio didn't say anything more, but Colton noted that he was scowling as he slunk off.
"I don't think Dr. Martin is taking Olivia's illness seriously. I want her to see someone else," Colton said after Robert had left.
Dr. Collins shifted her weight from foot to foot as if was uncomfortable. "Unfortunately, Dr. Martin is currently the only Infectious Disease specialist at PCGH. If you wanted a second opinion, then we would need to arrange a transfer. I can do that, but I do worry about your wife being in an ambulance for hours without any reliable fetal monitoring."
Colton tried to take a deep breath. Why did it feel like the walls were closing in?