Vengeance of the Freeway Phantom
Chapter 13
The following morning wasn't any different than last evening as far as what the on-duty nursing staff in the ICU had to do for Ponch to keep his medical issues under control. In the event the patient's condition did start to deteriorate, they knew they had to be ready to counteract the problem. Or maybe because they were expected to check his vital signs at regular intevals, they'd be fortunate enough to catch a potential probelm and take immediate steps to take care of it before it went too far. Because the patient was so weak the nurses were definitely prepared for anything to happen at any time.
As the day rolled into evening then close to midnight, Ponch seemed to be holding his own. A nurse came in to go through the routine and at that particular time the numbers she got were nothing really to panic about--not considering his condition anyways. But only ten minutes later, which was sometime after midnight, everything suddenly went downhill. At the nurses' station, the alarms suddenly sounded, which created a fast paced buzz of activity as everyone ran into the ICU ward. Ponch's heart monitor showed flat line. CPR was immediately started, but from all the signs a stronger method was needed.
The defibrillator was prepared, the paddles were gelled, and the on-duty ICU doctor gave the order to, "Stop CPR!" Then the physician stepped forward, he yelled, "Clear!" Everyone stepped away from the bed and turned to look at the monitors. Then the doctor placed the paddles in position and pressed the buttons. Ponch's body jerked as the shock hit, but his stubborn heart rejected the treatment so it was done all over again.
To everyone's dismay the monitor still showed flat line. This time, Ponch's doctor had one of the assistant's inject medicine straight into his heart and then repeated the process of defibrillating--a third time. Just about everyone in the room held their breath. The medical team knew that they just might be losing this patient. The physcian was not ready to give up on this young man. In time, to everyone's relief, the monitor slowly showed their patient's heart was finally beating on its own. The blips had started out slow, but then they had strengthened. Once it was determined the the patient was stabilized, the crash cart team gathered their equipment and left the room. The doctor and one of the ICU nurses stayed behind to monitor the patient for a few minutes.
"That was close, Doctor," the nurse commented.
"I'll say. I really hate to do it this time of night, but I'm gonna have to talk with Doctor Brackett to make sure he's aware of what happened. I'm wondering if we didn't do more damage to his ribs and chest. We may have to take additional X-rays."
The medical personnel completed what they had to do. As the doctor was satisfied that his condition had finally stabilized he left the room.
Following the very early in the morning phone consultation with Doctor Brackett, it was confirmed to take additional X-rays. Both of Ponch's physicians were concerned as to whether any additional damage had been done by the CPR and/or the repeated defibrillations. After the X-rays were read and it was found that no further damage was inflicted on the patient, the ICU team as well as Doctor Brackett breathed sighs of relief. Miraculously, this young man had survived no further injuries.
The next twenty-four hours were relatively uneventful as far as any further cardiac problems. However, the patient did develop a fever. Additional antibiotics were added to his IV and tests were run to determine the cause. Doctor Brackett was kept informed of the patient's condition and he then notified Sergeant Getraer to keep him abreast of what was going on.