An ER future fic. Set during Chicago City Marathon 2009.
Disclaimer: Most Characters in this story are the property of NBC and producers of ER. This particular story is however my own as is the character Jake.
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Within three or four minutes they were pulling into the familiar ambulance bay at County. Sam and Archie were waiting as the ambulance doors opened. If he wasn't in pain, he would have laughed out loud when he saw their faces. As Jake and the paramedics filled them in, they started to fuss.
"Guys. I'm ok, it's only a broken jaw." he mumbled. "Honest, stop fussing."
He noticed the fearful look that passed between Archie and Sam but really could not understand what all the fuss was about. He had gotten a whack on the chin and broken his jaw. Big deal. His teeth were fine and the only bleeding was where he had split the inside of his lip. He knew instinctively it was just a straightforward fracture. He didn't even have a concussion. He was more upset that he had to abandon the race than that he had broken his jaw. Why were those two so rattled?
They moved him to Trauma 1 to assess him and Gates came in to assist. Just as they started the work-up he saw Neela through the glass panel of the door. As she pushed it open, he saw her blanche. What was wrong with everybody today? They were all behaving as if a broken jaw was a terminal illness. He had been through far worse.
"Ray, what are you doing here?" she asked in a high pitched voice.
Before he had a chance to respond, Sam interjected.
"Neela, he has a broken jaw, its better he doesn't talk until we assess him."
Once again, he noticed the fearful look that passed between Sam and Neela.
He was puzzled but mumbled. "This is Jake, he'll explain what happened."
It was becoming more difficult to speak.
As Ray wondered why both Sam and Neela had tears in their eyes, Jake started to explain.
"Hi Neela, I've heard quite a lot about you." Jake said extending his hand with a smile "You're the reason we're here today. This was supposed to be our practice run for New York. Ray wanted to surprise you but he was so nervous last night that he decided not to contact you until after the race."
"H..how did he break his jaw?"
"Well we stopped off at one of the aid stations to get water. He was doing some stretches against a long tresle table when a truck backed into the other end of the table and upended it. Ray slipped and whacked his chin off the metal edge of the table and both he and the table came crashing down."
"So, he wasn't hit by the truck?" Neela asked with tears in her eyes.
"No."
"Why is everybody so jumpy?" Ray mumbled through thick lips. It was becoming more difficult to talk as his lips and chin were completely numb and he was drooling like a St Bernard.
"Don't worry Ray, everybody's just overreacting." Gates said.
"That's easy for you to say." Sam snapped.
"Look. Everybody is on edge because we're here in Trauma Room 1 treating a colleague with a broken jaw." Gates said with a frown, "We'd need to have hearts of stone not to be rattled. But the circumstances are different so we need to pull ourselves together. This was just a simple fall. No crash, no explosion. No other complications."
Archie cleared his throat. "Gates is right. Where are the X-Ray films?"
Sam replied. "They're not back yet."
"OK. Let's do an ultrasound while we're waiting. Here we are. Look Ray is right, this is just a simple closed fracture. There's very little hemoraging. The blood is from a cut lip. No complications. The X-Ray films will confirm this. Gates, I've it covered here, go get another chart. Oh, and by the way, can you remind Frank to step down the major incident alert. There's going to be hell to pay about this later, but if the upshot is a new radio, it'll be worth the agravation."
As Gates left someone arrived with the X-Ray films. Archie took them and looked at them with Neela.
"Yes, just as we thought Neela." He turned to Ray. " This is not a very complicated break, two fairly small hairline fractures. You have a choice of procedures. A lot of people opt for surgery and have a plate inserted. It gives jaw mobility more quickly. Wiring is just as effective but you might be out of action a bit longer."
Ray nodded, he knew the score. He mumbled.
"I really don't want any more open surgery for the moment. I got an infection after my last grafts. Its taken me ages to recover."
"So wiring it is then?"
Ray gave a slight nod.
"You'll still need to be put under for the procedure. Depending on how things go we may keep you in over night."
"Fine."
"Neela, do you plan doing the procedure?" Archie asked.
"I'll check if there's anyone else available. I'll see if I can get one of the Oral maxiliary people. Look I_I'd better get back up to the surgery floor. I'll phone down when we're ready to take him." She looked at Ray. "We'll talk later."
He closed his eyes in affirmation. The pain was getting worse, he guessed the adrenelin was wearing off. The upshot was talking was causing excruciating pain. She reached and squeezed his hand and he gave her a wan smile.
"Right- o" Morris said clapping his hands, "you're no longer a priority my good man. Jake, grab a chair, you could be in for a wait. Ray. Sam will be in to do your obs every fifteen minutes until they move you up." He looked at Sam who was putting up a saline drip
He turned to Ray.
"It's still not too late to request surgery, you know. Later on, when you're on a liquid diet, you may regret opting to wire your jaw."
"No open surgery." Ray mumbled through clenched teeth.
"Are you in much pain?"
Ray grimaced.
. "I'll chart you for some IV pain meds. Sam will you administer and get him an ice pack. That will help keep the swelling down."
"Sure thing Archie. Don't worry Ray, we'll take good care of you." She said with a smile, the first time she'd smiled since he arrived.
Typical, now that he was feeling considerably worse, nobody was worried.
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After receiving the pain meds, Ray felt quite drowsy and dozed for a while. Eventually, more than an hour later he was moved to surgery. Jake headed back to the hotel to get showered and changed. He said he'd be back later.
