The Historians

Chapter 18

They got to the hospital a few minutes before the helicopter arrived. There was a radio communications system in a room off of the A&E department and already the flight medics were calling in vital signs and sending EKG traces ahead of their arrival.

"The helicopter will land on the roof and then they will bring him directly down here by that lift. They have a special room set up back there that they are preparing for his arrival. He'll have the best possible care Kitty."

A light began to flash at the desk.

"That means the helicopter is coming in to land. He'll be here in a minute."

She takes Kitty's hand and leads her to the lift. Thomas has just arrived. He is standing there in shirtsleeves, no white coat, looking like he had just run in off the street. He glances briefly at Kitty then as the lift door opens, he grabs a corner of the stretcher and leads it into the prepared room.

She wants to get close to Matt, to touch him and let him know she is there, but there is no room. Too many people, tubes, wires, machines. There is a mask over his face with a bag attached to it. One of the nurses is squeezing it at regular intervals. It is all so confusing.

Someone counts to three and Matt is lifted from the stretcher and onto a metal table in the centre of the room.

Kitty feels so helpless. At least in Doc's office she knows what is going on and what is needed.

Thomas is looking around for a stethoscope, apparently he'd had no time to collect his own. Jennifer passes him hers.

Kitty watches as he listens to the marshal's chest and starts calling out orders.

"Tell me what's happening," she pleads to her friend.

"He's ordering a chest xray and some blood work. Also he wants some O-negative blood to get started with, then they will type and cross match for some more."

Kitty still feels confused, all of these words meaningless to her. "And why do they keep calling Thomas "Mr. Kedworth". Is he not a doctor?"
Jennifer laughs gently. "In this country, when a surgeon passes all those higher exams for his specialty he stops being called Doctor and becomes a 'Mr'. It's a kind of honor. Quite confusing I know, but we Brits have a lot of history and tradition to contend with."

After that first flurry of activity things start to calm down a little as they wait for all the test results to come back. Thomas beckons Kitty to come closer.

"Don't be scared by all this gadgetry, come and let him know you are here."
She goes over to him, almost scared to touch anything. A tube going into his mouth has replaced the mask that had been covering his face. It is connected to some kind of machine with something that looks like a bellows pumping up and down at regular intervals. Her face must have revealed the fear she felt.

Thomas came over to her. "It's all right Kitty – that is just taking over his breathing for now. He can't talk, and I'm not sure if he can hear you, but just in case he can, go on and tell him you are here."

A voice comes out of a box on the wall "Mr. Kedworth, the chest Xray is ready for viewing." He turns around and presses a button on what looks like a small television on a stand behind him. A picture comes up. To Kitty it looks like the top half of that skeleton she has seen in Doc's office.

She goes to Matt and gently pushes those unruly curls back from his forehead. Then she reaches down to take his hand, being careful not to disturb any of the tubes and wires that surround him.

"I'm here Cowboy." There was a very slight pressure from his fingers – was it real or just her imagination.

She realizes that Thomas is talking to her again.

"Right now as soon as they bring me a tray with everything I need, I'm going to put in a subclavian line. It's like that needle in his arm, but it is bigger and goes into a bigger vein. It will be more secure and more efficient, so we can give him blood and any medicines necessary. After that is done I will take him up to theatre – surgery – and see what I can do to patch him up. I won't remove that dressing till I get him there just in case it causes him to loose more blood, so I haven't seen what damage has been done yet."

A nurse appears and sets a large tray wrapped in a green cloth on a metal stand beside Thomas.

He goes to wash his hands. When he returns the nurse opens a pack of sterile surgical gloves and gown. She holds the gown up for him to put his arms through the sleeves and then holds each of the gloves open in turn so he can push his hands into them.

"Kitty" he says, "I don't know if you want to watch this, or go sit in the waiting room. I asked Jennifer to go get Doc to be with you. Once we get him up to theatre, there's a room to wait there that's a little nicer and a little more private."
Kitty stands her ground. Thomas doesn't argue, he knows how strong she is – after all she assisted him when he was in Dodge and just maybe it will help Matt.

Kitty takes a hold of the big calloused hand and watches. Thomas paints the area around Matt's shoulder with some brown liquid, then takes some green towels and drapes them so as to cover part of his chest and lower neck. Next there is a blue paper sheet with a hole he opens it up and places it over the towels. The hole leaves the area around Matts collarbone exposed. She looks across the table at Thomas, but his eyes and mind are concentrated on what he is doing. There is a young nurse standing beside her, just waiting there incase anything extra is needed.

"Don't worry," she says softly, "Mr. Kedworth can do this with his eyes closed."
Kitty watches as he picks up the large needle, and passes a small tube through it, apparently just checking that everything is going to fit together. Then he turns his attention to Dillon. Using his gloved fingers he feels along the collarbone, hunting for the right place to insert the needle.

As he pushes the device into the skin below the clavicle, Kitty finds herself holding her breath and she feels Matt's hand tighten around her fingers, only a little but at least he is still there with her.
"Just hold on a minute, Cowboy," she whispers.

She watches Thomas's hands as he directs the needle almost straight down at first and then inward towards his patient's neck. He watches as blood backs up into the syringe, removes part of the device and slides the thin tube in through the hollow needle.

"We're in," he says to Kitty.

He connects the IV line that is hanging ready for him and removes the surgical gloves and the blue paper gown and throws them in a bin.

"We're going up to surgery now, if you want to come along I'll show you where you can wait up there. Jennifer should be back with Doc any minute now, she'll bring him on up there."
Kitty followed the entourage of people as they got in a large lift. They were bringing the breathing machine and two IV poles together with a couple of monitors balanced on the stretcher. The lift took them up two floors then the whole team started down a hallway.

"I'm sorry you can't come any further than this."

They had stopped in front of some double doors. "The waiting room is off to the right there. They have a coffee machine and some snacks available. I'll come and let you know as soon as we're finished. It may be a while though."
Kitty took the calloused hand in hers one last time. "I'll be waiting right here for you, Cowboy." She bent to kiss him on the forehead, again she felt some movement in his fingers. Then they started to wheel him away.
She looks at Thomas with pleading eyes. He could feel her inner turmoil through the look she gave him.

"I'll do everything I can."

"I know."

They vanished through the doors, Kitty turned to wipe her eyes and found the young nurse standing there behind her.

"Your friends are on their way?" she asks.

"I think so."

"Your husband is in good hands."

Kitty has no words inside her to reply.

"Come on I'll make you some tea, I think it's going to be a while. I'll wait with you till your friends arrive."

It was about ten more minutes until Jennifer arrived with Adams in tow.
Kitty couldn't help it, she ran over and clung on to her friend from Dodge.

There was a comfort there that only he could provide. This big hospital with all its fancy machines and wonderful medicines was all well and good, but Doc's very presence was a solace in itself. No place here could provide that.

The young nurse started to leave.

"Thank you for staying with me."

She smiled, nodded and quietly closed the door as she left.

Time dragged by, at times the clock on the wall barely seemed to move. They were sitting on a large leather couch. Kitty had her head resting on Doc's shoulder and he had his arm around her. She was trying to hold up, but Doc knew what was going on in her mind. Occasionally tears would come and he pulled a big soft tissue from the box on the table and handed it to her. After an hour or so she fell asleep. He did not want to disturb her, not much else was going to help at this point.

TBC