What a Pain! Chapter Four
"How about we all get over to Rampart and I'll tell you on the way?" Cap told his men.
Agreeing, Cap, Roy and Johnny jumped in Chet's van with Marco. As they drove, Cap told them all what Officer Belton said over the phone. When the story of how the cat had led Mike to the burning house, and then had rescued him after his fall down the stairs as well, was finished, the men of 51 were astounded. They'd all heard of animals that rescued people, but had never actually known anyone it happened to. Without mentioning it to the others, each man was moved deeply by the cat's loyalty and vowed to take care of Stoker's feline hero for as long as need be.
The VW Microbus careened down the Rampart drive, and Chet parked it as close to the ER as he could. Once there, it was like a pack of wild (albeit handsome) dogs descended on the ER as the five remaining members of Station 51 burst through the doors, arriving just minutes after the ambulance bearing Mike Stoker. Roy and Johnny ran immediately to the base station.
"Carol!" Johnny gasped, "Squad 10 just brought in Mike Stoker. Which room is he in?"
"I believe he's in Treatment three with Dr. Early, John," Carol answered calmly.
Johnny whirled around and went back to the rest of the crew, with Roy hot on his heels. The rest of the crew was waiting in the lobby; Chet was wringing his hands, Marco was staring out the window and Cap was pacing like a caged animal. "He's in Three with Dr. Early. Roy, let's go in; guys, we'll let you know as soon as we know anything."
Chet, Marco and Cap nodded solemnly and watched Roy and Johnny disappear into Treatment Three. Mike lay there on the table, still immobilized with the backboard and collar, with an IV running and an oxygen mask on his face. Dr. Early flicked the light across Mike's eyes. Although it wasn't loud, they could hear Mike moaning piteously. "Pupils are equal and reactive, but sluggish," he reported to Dixie. "Pressure's down a bit at 148/108, pulse is 68, respirations, 20. His left shoulder is pretty bruised; I don't think it's dislocated though. Probably just banged it up. Oh, and can you ask Kel to come in here? I'd like him to suture this hand wound."
"Right away, Joe," Dixie responded and stepped out to find Dr. Brackett.
Dr. Brackett entered and before he began suturing the hand wound, Early had him listen to Mike's lungs. "Do you hear some rattles in there too, Kel?" Dr. Early asked.
"Hmm, yes , a little," Brackett agreed. Knowing the engineer normally stayed by the engine during fires, he turned to the paramedics of 51 and asked, "Do you know if Mike was in a fire recently? His lungs sound like he's had some smoke inhalation that maybe wasn't treated."
Roy and John both frowned, and Roy spoke. "Well, a police officer told Cap that Mike had tried to rescue some people from a burning house near his home, but that the victims had shoved Mike down the stairs. We weren't on duty though, so we don't know how long he was in the house. We only know that he was knocked for a loop for awhile before he got out. He called my wife this morning looking for me, but only told her that he'd had an accident last night. She's the one who had us go check on him. She said his speech became slurred and he was acting pretty confused. I'm afraid Mike's the only one with all the particulars." Roy became quiet. "Do you think he's going to be okay?"
"Well, he's got a badly bruised shoulder, a deep laceration on his palm and some lung congestion, but we're most concerned about this contusion on his head here, and the darkening around his eyes," he told them, pointing to the large lump on the side of Mike's head. "He's only been lucid about 25% of the time; mostly just fading in and out. I suspect a subdural hematoma, in which case, we may have to surgically reduce the pressure in his brain. X-ray will be here in few minutes and hopefully that will tell us more."
Dr. Early then closely examined Mike's fingers and nose. "Hmmm, this is odd, too," he said. "Kel, take a look at these tiny punctures on his fingers and nose here. Very unusual." He looked up at Johnny and Roy, who were standing off to the side. "Do either of you know how these happened?" he asked.
At first, they appeared as mystified as the doctors were, and then Johnny exclaimed, "That cat! I bet those came from that crazy cat Mike has. Do you know he went right between Roy and I and started licking Mike's hand while we were treating him? Mike even responded to the cat doin' that. Darnedest thing I've ever seen a cat do. Nutty feline."
"These are cat bites? Well, they're not bleeding; they don't appear to have broken the skin at all; just made little red pock marks. Interesting..." Dr. Brackett stated.
"That's not half of it!" Johnny spouted, "Cap said the cop said that Mike said the cat got him out of the fire by doing that!"
"Wait," Dr. Early said, putting a hand up, "the cop said the cat said that...what?"
Roy came to the rescue, "Mike told the police officer that the cat had bitten his fingers to get him moving again after Mike fell down the stairs."
"Ah, gotcha. Okay, well, I'm not going to worry about those marks then," Early said, slightly amused.
Roy and Johnny each stepped up to the exam table and held Stoker's hands for reassurance. Mike's eyes opened but didn't appear to register anything. Johnny gently asked, "Mike? Can you hear me, buddy?" Mike only blinked and his lips moved almost imperceptibly. His friends could hear Mike trying to say something, but it was so weak, they couldn't understand until Johnny leaned over to be as close as he could. After a second or two, Johnny stood back up and told them, "he said, 'pain...good cat.' What do ya' think that means?"
"I don't know about you," Roy said quietly, "but I think he heard you making fun of his cat."
Johnny would have become indignant, but the x-ray tech entered Treatment Three at that moment.
"Marcus, I want a skull series, lateral c-spine and left shoulder. This man may have a subdural hematoma as well, so be extra gentle and I want the films faster than ever."
"Yes sir; I'll be done in just a few minutes," Marcus told him.
The two doctors, the paramedics and the one remaining nurse filed out of the room to give Marcus time to do his work.
Cap approached the doctors as they exited the treatment room. "Dr. Early, Dr. Brackett, how's my engineer doing?"
"Captain Stanley," Dr. Early addressed him, "the x-rays will show us more in just a little while, but I'll tell you I suspect a subdural hematoma."
Noticing the wondering look on the Captain's face, he added, "That means a blood clot has formed between the skull and the brain, but not in the brain itself. Now, if it is relatively minor, clots sometimes warrant nothing more than blood thinners and monitoring. However, Mike presents symptoms of a possibly bigger clot, since he is still wavering in his consciousness levels. He's also vomited, both at home and in the ambulance. His blood pressure appears to be going back down, which is good, but it's still too high to be considered safe. He's quite pale yet and I'm fairly certain he's still confused and dizzy. If it is a larger clot, we may have to surgically reduce the pressure in his brain. I do have an OR on standby, just in case. If an operation is warranted, I'll be doing it myself with Dr. Brackett attending. Once we get the films back, we'll be able to determine our next steps. But, ah, if Mr. Stoker has any family, you may want to give them a call."
That last sentence bothered Captain Stanley more than he ever thought it would. Somehow, even though he knew it was precaution, asking for a patient's family to be notified always made things seem much more dire.
"I understand, thank you Dr. Early. My men and I will be in the waiting area. Please update us as soon as you can."
Marcus backed his machine out of the treatment room and the doctors entered it once more; John and Roy following them in. Cap told his men what the good doctor said and then went to make two phone calls. Mike had a sister in Oregon, and his mom, although in failing health, lived not too far away in Long Beach. He would call them both and try to reassure them that Mike would be fine.
Cap reflected on how many times he'd had to make calls such as this for his men. Roy's wife would certainly know her way to Rampart blindfolded by now and if John Gage had had any next of kin nearby, their numbers would have been committed to memory years ago. But Stoker? Oh, he'd had his share of minor injuries and smoke inhalation, and once he was struck by debris from an explosion which knocked him off his feet, but never anything this serious. One of the benefits of being an engineer was that you rarely had to actually enter a burning structure. Well, it seems you can take the engineer out of the fire, but you can't take the fire out of the engineer. Mike had willingly risked his life to save two people he didn't know and was now suffering the consequences.
Back in the waiting area, Marco and Chet were silent, and John and Roy came back to join them. The two linemen looked up at the paramedics. "Roy?" Chet asked, "How's he doing?"
"He's hanging in there, Chet. Dr. Early should be getting the x-rays back soon. Mike's drifting in and out. I think it's going to be a long night, so I'm going to go call Joanne and let her know what's happening. I'll bet she's about frantic by now."
Marco cleared his throat and said quietly, "Roy... Jo probably saved Mike's life."
"Yeah..." Roy said thoughtfully with a slight smile, "yeah, she probably did."
"Yep, her and that cat," Chet said, wistfully. "Who would have thought a cat would do that?"
"Hey, speaking of the little 'paw-a-medic'," Johnny punned, "'spose somebody ought to go look in on him tonight? 'Cause...I'll do it if nobody else wants to."
"Sure, Johnny, you can do it tonight," Marco told him. "We can take turns taking care of him until Mike comes home. Wish Mike could tell us what the cat's name is, though."
"Yeah," Johnny said, "All he's said so far, is 'pain' and 'good cat'."