"Ok, Mrs. White, It says here that you're a paraplegic and you have a broken leg. I am gunna take a shot in the dark here and guess that the paralysis came first."
"Yes sir." Mrs. White said with a very southern bell twang. "Ever since I was 28."
"Alright," Dr. Cox continued, "I'm sure you know I am dying to ask that one burning question. How did you manage to break your already paralyzed leg?"
Mrs. White laughed. "Well my husband was trying to carry a heavy box full of old kitchen appliances up to the attic and he accidentally dropped it on me. It hit my left leg and… well… honestly I can't tell what happened to it. Seeing as how I have no feeling in my legs." The old lady giggled. "That's why I'm here."
"Was there a blender in that box, ma'am? Those blenders are heavy."
"Yes there was."
Dr. Cox winced. "Well Mrs. White, I'd say that had to hurt but it seems like that would be pointless."
Mrs. White laughed again. She was a nice lady. Dr. Cox was sure she had a family that loved her. And the humble old man that held her hand and smiled as she lay here in bed was proof enough of that. Dr. Cox felt a faint pang in his chest but was quickly able to push it aside. He had more important things to dwell over. Like the damage to Mrs. White's leg. He pulled the sheet slightly back so that he could see the injury on the lady's lower thigh. Mrs. White chuckled nervously when she saw Dr. Cox's eyebrows hike half way up his forehead.
"Is it bad, doctor?"
"Yea," Dr. Cox blubbered, "we're gunna need to start prepping you for surgery immediately. You'll be on the operating table within the next 12 hours. We need to fix this as soon as possible to avoid extensive internal bleeding or infection. Reconstruction looks like it's going to be complicated, assuming we even can." He took notes as he and the elderly couple discussed possible outcomes of the surgery and, of course, insurance situations.
It was then that Dr. Cox suddenly heard the voice of the single most evil man in the hospital whom he did not want to deal with at this moment - or at all for that matter.
"Ah, Dr. Cox, how nice of you to grace us with your presence here in reality land. I'm sure there are many people here who would also like to choose any time during working hours to take a personal vacation and dump their work on the other doctors without any notice whatsoever, but unlike you they are not worthy of such privileges. And as Chief of Medicine -."
"Oh – My – God, Dr. Kelso you really are not about to do this in front of patients." Dr. Cox led Kelso out into the hall as he started a rant of his own. "Okay then," he began, taking a firm stance folding his arms over his chest with his patient's file pinned underneath, "Before you begin your whole spiel about how you have been in medicine for 35 years and you are so distinguished and disciplined as a doctor, let me remind you that I am the one who spends countless hours in this god forsaken hospital, puts up with your BS, and covers your ass whenever you get yourself in a bind. I am one of your best medical doctors and you know that my missing one damn shift is almost unheard of and certainly not something worth worrying your shiny little head over. So the next time something like this happens Bippidybob, you remember who's doin' all the work to make your life that much easier."
Dr. Kelso gave Cox one of his trade-mark, angry, non-blinking stares. However Dr. Cox was not fazed by it. "Don't let it happen again, Perry." The old man said and walked off.
Once Dr. Kelso had left down the hall, Cox let out a heavy sigh and slumped against the wall. One hand held Mrs. White's file against his chest, the other ran hard over his face. Tonight was going to be a long night, despite the fact that he had missed half of it, but there was no way he was about to go back to his apartment, not with that evil witch skulking about in there. He would sooner stay in the on call room, which was exactly what he planned to do once he had made up his shift.
Cox steeled himself and went back into his patient's room. He began taking notes on Mrs. White's age, weight, medical history, and insurance. He then began checking her vitals while he asked her a few more questions.
"Mrs. White, do you have any allergies?"
"Oh just shell fish." Her humble husband answered for her.
"That's all?"
"Yes sir," said the old lady.
"Alrighty," Dr. Cox scribbled more notes in his file and continued, "I am going to call in and anesthesiologist and in the mean time I am going to get you started on some fluids-"
"Dr. Cox?"
"Oh no," Dr. Cox groaned. The old lady giggled at him. "Mrs. White we're pretty much done. The anesthesiologist will be with you shortly." He spun around to face JD. "What on Earth could be so incredibly important that you would actually interrupt me when I'm with a patient? Is this a new trend? Is there a line out there?"
JD looked out the door. "No. It's just me, Dr. Cox."
Dr. Cox dropped the file into the slot on the end of the bed, covered his face with his hands and groaned.
"Do you have a minute?"
"No, but that's not going to stop you is it Tabetha?"
Cox said goodbye to the Whites and walked back out into the hall with JD. "What the hell do you want newbie?"
"Well – umm – you – I mean…" JD stumbled over his words.
"Come on. Spit it out Judith!"
"You just seem very stressed and you don't look like you've had much sleep and you look really pale. So I brought you a muffin."
"A muffin…"
"Have you eaten lately?"
Dr. Cox suddenly didn't have anything to say. Newbie was right, he hadn't eaten. Not for two days. He didn't have an appetite, but it didn't change the fact that he was probably malnourished. He felt a little warmth bubble up inside of him at JD's honest gesture to help him. Unfortunately he was too proud to accept the muffin. He shoved the warmth down underneath his stomach and answered JD's expectant look. "Do you honestly think that I am so stupid that I do not know how to feed myself? I don't need a muffin. What I need is to finish my shift and get some sleep without all you people pulling me aside and telling me what to do with myself. I am not like you, Amanda. I don't need to be comforted. So for the love of Perry, leave me the hell alone. And pass the word on to all of your little gal-pals that the next person who tries to tell me how to take care of myself when they don't even know what my problem is, I will personally toss them off of the roof of this building."
"So there is a problem," JD said with a faint smirk.
Dr. Cox grimaced and ran his hands through his hair. "Gees, Darla. Out of everything I just said, that's all you heard? What are you some kind of mind ninja? Wait don't answer that, you might take as a complement."
"Too late," JD said smiling. But he quickly went back to being serious. "Dr. Cox, if there is a problem, you should probably tell someone. Honestly, you look like you could use some help."
"Wow what a good idea, Scarlet," Dr. Cox said in a mock giddy girly voice, bouncing up and down. "I think I will tell someone about my secrets and troubles and personal dilemmas so that they can give me completely useless advice and tell me things about myself that I already know." He got serious again, "Oh yea. There's an idea. Now I have one for you. How about you get out of my space before I toss you off the roof too?"
JD all but pouted. Dr. Cox was sure he could see the younger doctor deflate a little. Newbie gave him one last disappointed look as he walked off, and surprisingly enough, Cox found himself hurting a little at the distaste that the normally dopy young doctor was directing at him. He was so used to the eager puppy he usually was, chasing him down halls and looking up to him for advice. He didn't like this sudden disapproval. And to be honest, JD was the last person he wanted disapproval from, but he was just too proud to admit that he wanted help. He couldn't let anybody know he was week. And that of course meant pushing away the one person he wanted help from the most.
Damn his pride.
He suddenly felt his legs getting a little week and his head getting a little light. He held onto the bumper rail on the wall, closed his eyes and took some deep breaths until the sudden wooziness ebbed off.
He really should have taken that muffin.