Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters or places, just this storyline.
Collision Course, Chapter 27
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Kathy nodded goodbye to Nurse Crabtree and then turned back toward her patient. Crabby had given her a brief update that nothing had changed and there were no new orders. Kathy sighed. She had hoped that Officer Boscorelli would wake up today.
As she approached the bed, Kathy glanced up at the heart monitor. His heart rate was 120, which was significantly higher than when she left this morning. She also noticed that his oxygen level had dropped from 98 to 94. His blood pressure was actually up a bit from when she'd left this morning. Maybe that was a good sign.
Kathy continued with her assessment, first checking the ventilator settings. Then she checked the IV bags to make sure everything was in order. She looked at the pump for the sedative and the pain medication. She was surprised to see that the sedative dose had been tripled, but the pain medication had not been changed.
She looked over at the wounded officer who was resting quietly, oblivious to her presence. Looking more closely she noticed tiny beads of sweat along his forehead. The edges of his hair were damp causing them to curl slightly. She frowned as she placed the back of her hand along his forehead. He definitely had fever. Turning, she walked over to the bedside table to review the nursing flow sheet. The flow sheet documented that Nurse Crabtree had increased his sedative at 10:10 AM and again at 5:45 PM, which was just before the last visiting hour. It documented a temperature of 100.9 degrees at 5:00PM and the increase in his heart rate that seemed to correlate with this. But there was no evidence of any tylenol being given.
Kathy frowned once again as she turned back to her patient and placed the temperature probe under his right arm. She watched as it continued to rise and then she added an extra point to the final number. She sighed as she documented the temperature of 102 degrees. She hurriedly finished her assessment of her patient. Then after giving him a dose of tylenol through his nasogastric tube, she called the doctor covering for the ICU. He ordered blood and urine cultures and a chest x-ray, saying that he would come down to check on him when he got the chance.
Kathy handed the orders to the night clerk. Then she returned to further assess her patient. "Officer Boscorelli?" she chirped as she tapped on his chest with her hand. "Officer Boscorelli, open your eyes." "MAURICE!" The officer didn't respond. "Well it doesn't look like you need this much sedation." She reported as she reached over and turned the sedative back to its original setting. Unlike some of the nurses whose names she wouldn't mention, she didn't believe in keeping her patients snowed to the point that they couldn't respond. And she hoped for Officer Boscorelli's sake that he was snowed and not still that deeply unconscious.
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It was just after 9:00 when Dr. Waters came in to assess Bosco. After completing his exam, he turned back to Kathy. "Did his temp come down?" he questioned.
"It's still 101." Kathy answered, handing him the flow sheet.
He studied the flow sheet, then looked up as Kathy pointed out that Bosco's oxygen levels were trending down. "I'm not surprised." Dr. Waters replied. "His left lung looks terrible on the chest x-ray. But that's to be expected with the contusion. His right lung also may have some scarring in the base. Do you know if he's had any lung problems before? Pneumonia or Asthma?" He questioned.
"No, I don't know. From what I understood he was pretty healthy before this. His family is probably still outside though, if you want to ask them." Kathy replied.
"I guess I should talk to them. Can you step out and introduce me to them?" Dr. Waters inquired.
"Sure, Judy can keep an eye on him." Kathy said as she followed Dr.Waters out of the room.
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Faith watched in disbelief as Maritza Cruz devoured a large chocolate sundae. It had only been a few hours since she had eaten a double cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake. Faith wondered how she could be so thin and eat like that. But then again, she did look as if she had put on a few pounds.
Faith's thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the ICU doors. She looked up to see Bosco's nurse from the night before and a doctor approaching them.
"Is something wrong?" Rose asked as she jumped up. Faith and Cruz stepped up beside her.
"Mrs. Boscorelli, this is Dr. Waters. He's the doctor covering the ICU and he just wants to ask you a few questions." Kathy assured her.
"What's wrong with Maurice?" Rose asked in a panic.
"He just has a bit of a fever." Dr. Waters answered, drawing Rose's attention. "It's not all that uncommon after a major accident like this, but I wanted to clarify a few things."
"What things?" Rose questioned.
"Well, Maurice has some changes on his chest x-ray. Some of them are expected from the injury to his left lung, but he also has some scarring in the right lung." Dr. Waters explained. "I just wanted to know if he'd ever had pneumonia or asthma?"
"No, Maurice has never really been sick. He's been reckless and accident prone, but never anything like that." Rose answered.
"He did have a cough for a while after 911." Faith reported.
Dr. Waters looked at her curiously. "Did he spend a lot of time at the site? Around the dust, I mean."
"He was actually down there when the buildings collapsed." Maritza Cruz reported. "So yeah, he inhaled a lot of the dust."
Faith looked at Cruz in astonishment, as did Rose. The remainder of the conversation was lost to Faith. 'How did Cruz know that?' she pondered. She had assumed that Bosco had never told anyone about those horrible moments besides herself and maybe his therapist.
Rose finally regained her voice. "Maurice never told me that he was at the site that day. I knew he had helped with the cleanup. But he never told me he was there."
"Well that certainly could explain the changes we're seeing." Dr. Waters replied. "I'm going to add another antibiotic to his medications and we've done some cultures. Kathy will let you know if there is any change." Dr. Waters smiled at them, then turned back toward the ICU. Rose followed alongside Kathy asking her further questions.
Cruz looked up to see Faith staring at her. "What?" she asked.
"Nothing." Faith answered. "I … I just didn't know that Bos had told anyone else about 911." Faith muttered.
"Why does everyone have such a hard time believing that there was more to our relationship than just physical attraction?" Cruz scowled and stalked away.
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Collision Course, Chapter 28
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Kathy looked at the clock to see that it was almost midnight. Mrs. Boscorelli had come in to visit at 10:00PM. She had held her son's hand and talked to him as she smoothed his damp hair back from his forehead. Kathy was afraid she was going to have to ask her to leave, but Mrs. Boscorelli finally said a tearful goodbye just as the visiting time was ending. Afterward, Kathy and Sam, one of the male orderlies, had given him a bath. His fever had finally come down with that. Still he hadn't stirred.
Kathy smiled as Marge, the respiratory therapist for the night, entered the room. Marge was a tall redhead, a bit overweight, with a booming voice and an upbeat attitude. Kathy was always glad to see her coming, but the patients usually were not. "Hey Kathy. How are you doing?" Marge inquired.
"I'm doing fine. All is quiet so far." Kathy replied.
Marge walked over to Bosco's bedside. "Oh, he's a cutie." She chuckled. "Officer Boscorelli, it's time for a little hyperinflation and suctioning," she announced as she unhooked the ventilator from the ET tube and hooked the large blue ambu bag to it. She squeezed the bag tightly several times to fully expand Bosco's lungs. As she did, Bosco frowned and crinkled his forehead. "Oh, you don't like that. Do you? Well, I doubt you are going to like this either. Sorry." She unhooked the ambu bag and ran a long suction catheter down the ET tube. As the tip of the catheter passed through the breathing tube and touched the fragile surface of Bosco's airway, he began to cough violently. Placing her finger over the hole in the catheter to create a suction, Marge then pulled the catheter back helping clear the secretions from Bosco's lungs. She did this several more times causing Bosco to continue to cough and then gasp for breath. The frown on his face increased until finally his eyes fluttered open.
Marge looked down to see deep blue eyes staring up at her. "Welcome back, Officer Boscorelli." She boomed. At that, Bosco squeezed his eyes closed again and wrinkled his now reddened face as he continued with his coughing spell. Finally, Marge abandoned her suctioning attempts and reattached the ventilator to the tube. She patted him on the shoulder and apologized again. "Sorry, I know that's no fun. But it is necessary."
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Kathy snapped to attention when she heard what Marge had said to her patient. She hurried to the other side of the bed just in time to see his eyes close again. Once Marge had finished and reconnected the ventilator, Kathy watched Bosco closely. He continued to cough against the machine intermittently and his face continued to be tense. She circled back around to his right side.
After giving him a few minutes to calm down, she called out to him. "Officer Boscorelli? Officer Boscorelli! Open your eyes for me!" When he didn't respond, she reached out and dug her knuckle into his sternum. "Officer Boscorelli, open your eyes!" To her delight, he did open his eyes, although he stared blankly ahead and the frown reappeared on his face. She placed two of her fingers in his right hand. "Officer Boscorelli, squeeze my fingers. Squeeze my fingers, Officer Boscorelli." Bosco coughed slightly and grimaced, but failed to obey the command. Kathy decided to try another approach. "Maurice, you're in the hospital at Mercy. Can you hear me? Wiggle your toes for me if you can hear me," she commanded as she pulled the sheet back to uncover his foot. Tapping his right leg, she repeated, "Wiggle your toes for me, Maurice." Nothing.
Kathy moved back to the head of the bed to study his face. His eyes were still slightly open, but every time the ventilator triggered to give him a breath he would grimace and squeeze his eyes closed. He coughed weakly and grimaced once again. Looking more closely, Kathy noticed the trail of a lone tear down the side of his face. "It's ok, Officer. You're in the hospital, but you're going to be ok. I'm going to give you some more pain medication, ok." She turned to the pump controlling the pain medicine and gave him an extra dose before turning up the hourly rate. She turned back to Bosco and patted him on the arm. "There, now. You're going to be feeling better in just a few minutes."
Kathy stood at the bedside watching him, until his face relaxed and his eyes started to close. She was happy to be able to provide him some relief. She realized that this man was a hero, not once but twice from what his friends had said. And for the first time in a long time, she felt satisfaction in the job that she did. This is why she had become a nurse.
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Collision Course, Chapter 29
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Kathy sat outside of Bosco's room catching up with her charting. His temperature had been up again, but not as high as before. His oxygen level had remained stable. His heart rate had improved. His urine output, however, was still much less than it should be.
When she finished charting his latest vitals, she glanced up into the room. To her surprise, her patient had his right leg bent with his knee up in the air. Excited that he had moved, she hurried to the bedside to see if he was awake. As she approached she noticed that he had part of the sheet balled up in his right hand. She studied him for a moment noticing the slight crease in his forehead. "Officer Boscorelli?"
Bosco's eyes popped open and he tried to turn toward the voice. When he moved, the ET tube shifted causing him to cough. He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them once again. When he did, he was looking up into the face of a cute little blond. For a minute he thought she might be an angel. But this couldn't be Heaven. There was no pain in Heaven, and his chest felt like it was on fire. Actually there wasn't much of his body that didn't hurt. Then he heard the blond tell him that he was at Mercy, that her name was Kathy, and that she was his nurse. 'Mercy? What in the world did I do this time? Whatever it was must have been bad to cause this much pain. Great, Swersky will probably put another CD in my folder.' He opened his mouth to ask Kathy what happened. But when he did, he gagged on the ET tube, which caused another episode of furious coughing.
"It's ok, Officer Boscorelli. Don't try to talk. That tube is there to help you breath." Kathy gently pulled the sheet from Bosco's hand and replaced it with her fingers. "Officer Boscorelli, squeeze my hand if you understand me." She was happy to feel his grip tighten on her fingers. "Good, that's good. Now, can you wiggle your toes for me?" she asked and again pulled the sheet back. Bosco stretched his leg out and then wiggled the toes on his right foot. He tried to wiggle those on the left foot and frowned when he had difficulty. "That's ok. Your leg is in a cast so that one is a little difficult." Pulling the sheet back down, she tucked it under the mattress.
Kathy looked back up just in time to see Bosco's right hand moving up toward the ET tube. "Oh, NO!" She shouted as she managed to grab his hand just in time. Bosco frowned at her. "You can't pull on that. It's helping you breath." She realized that the wrist restraint had never been tied down because he hadn't moved up until this point. She quickly tied the restraint to the bed frame, leaving just enough slack for him to move his arm slightly, but not enough for him to reach anything important. She glanced back up into his weary blue eyes to see them slowly closing once again. "You just relax now and rest."
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Around 5:00 AM Marge came back around. "Sorry, I'm running a little behind. How's our little man doing?" she asked.
"He actually woke up earlier and followed commands. He's been a little restless since. His heart rate keeps going up and down. I think maybe he's dreaming." Kathy replied.
"Officer Boscorelli?" Marge called as she tapped Bosco on the shoulder. He pulled his shoulder away slightly but refused to open his eyes. "Officer Boscorelli, it's time to suction you." Marge warned and she started again the process of inflating his lungs and suctioning him.
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Bosco was too caught up in his nightmare to respond to Marge calling him. In his own mind he was lying on the ground after taking another beating. Faces from his past kept flashing in front of him. His father screaming that he was useless just before he took another swing at him. The crazy man, who shot his own family, yelling at him as he slammed him in the door over and over. And finally, Glennie Hobart wrapping his forearm around his throat and cutting off his air supply. 'Stop. Please stop. I'm sorry.' Bosco struggled to escape but he couldn't move his arm. He tried to twist away to no avail and panic set in. He struggled with all his might despite the pain that it caused him. 'Help me, please. Somebody help me.'
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Marge could tell that her patient was not at all pleased with the hyperinflation, but she was surprised at his reaction to her attempts to suction him. He completely lost it. He jerked his head to the side in an effort to escape. He yanked his right arm over and over trying to get free and grabbing at her in the process. Somehow he even managed to get his right leg up almost high enough to knee her. And when Kathy tried to help, he kicked her in the shoulder. Even in his weakened state, he almost knocked her down.
Once she recovered, Kathy looked up at the monitor to see Bosco's heart rate racing. His oxygen level had dropped as well to 90. Marge had abandoned her suctioning attempt and had hooked him back up to the ventilator. Still he fought, shaking his head from side to side and coughing violently against the machine causing it to alarm over and over.
Dr. Poole walked in just in time to see Kathy reaching again for the officer's flailing leg. "What's going on in here?" he questioned as he watched the heart monitor and the two women struggling with his patient.
"I was just trying to suction him." Marge insisted.
Kathy, who was now lying over Bosco's leg to hold it down, looked up at Tim and pointed. "Hand me that other restraint! NOW!"
The young doctor did as ordered, smiling at the exasperated look on Kathy's face. "I see that Officer Boscorelli is a little more responsive this morning."
"This is not funny. He was fine two hours ago, calm and following commands. I don't know what's wrong with him."
Tim saw the concern on Kathy's face and approached the bedside. He listened to Bosco's heart and lungs making sure that the ET tube was in the right place. It seemed to be ok. "Officer Boscorelli, calm down. You need to calm down. Don't fight the machine."
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Disclaimer #2 – I do not own tylenol.