So the response to the last chapter was slightly disappointing, but I guess I deserve that after being absent for so long! But anyway thank you to my faithful reviewers imalemonadeadictt and claireeleven, you never fail to let me down! This chapter is for you!
The group immediately jumped into action to help the Latina upon Rachel's announcement, it wasn't hard to see that the girl didn't look very well. Puck bent down and gathered Santana's limp body into his arms, the girl only barely conscious as he carried her out to Mr Schue's waiting car.
"Okay, who's going to ride in the car with her?" The teacher asked the group as Puck walked up to the open car door.
"Me," Rachel declared "Me, Brittany and Puck." Her tone left no room for arguments and Puck was already trying to lay Santana down on the backseat, Brittany helping to place the sick girl's head into her own awaiting lap.
"Everyone else can follow in a different car." Rachel called as she climbed in the back with Brittany and Santana, Puck scrambling into the front seat as Mr Schue drove away to the emergency room. Brittany was stroking Santana's face with loving, delicate movements, the Latina's eyes fluttering every few seconds as she slowly looked around the car with no recognition of what was happening. A small whimper escaped her lips as the car travelled over a bump, causing Mr Schue to look at her through the rear vision mirror with a worried expression. He drove as fast as he dared until the car screeched to a halt outside the emergency room.
All four of them climbed out of the car letting Puck reach into the back to carry Santana before they half ran up to the automatic doors of the ER. One of the nurses at the counter looked up and eyed the group before abandoning the elderly man she was talking to, bringing over a gurney to place Santana on. Puck lowered the girl carefully trying not to jolt her and removed his hands once he was sure the girl was safely on the gurney. The nurse directed Puck to help her push the gurney into one of the trauma rooms down the hallway, all the while talking to someone on her pager. It was only then that Rachel realised the department was mostly empty, save for a few elderly couples and few mothers with their children, it scared her to think that Santana was the sickest out of everyone there.
They were met by a middle aged woman with a stethoscope around her neck. "Okay, what seems to be the problem?" She asked as she visually assessed the girl in front of her, maintaining a calm and professional tone.
"She threw up at school and then started clutching her stomach in pain. One of my other students, Rachel, noticed that she seemed to have a fever." The doctor nodded to the nurse who reached into a cupboard and pulled out a digital thermometer, inserting it into Santana's ear until it beeped. The display read 104.3 degrees, which the nurse turned to show the doctor. The doctor's eyes narrowed but she kept listening through the stethoscope she had inserted on Santana's chest.
"Her body temperature is dangerously elevated and she is suffering from rapid breathing and pulse." The doctor read out to the nurse who scribbled it down on a clip board before she turned to address the group. "What was her name?"
"Santana. Santana Lopez." Mr Schue replied, looking down at the girl.
"Santana? Santana can you hear me?" The doctor asked as she gently shook the girl who stirred a little but made no attempt to answer the question. Once again the doctor turned to face the group, "Did she lose consciousness at any stage?"
"No. She's just been in this barely awake state the whole time." It was Puck who answered this time, biting his lip and his eyes suspiciously moist. The doctor gave a curt nod before starting to feel around Santana's stomach, causing the girl to sluggishly move her hand to bat the invading hands away with a small moan.
"Okay that's good, we have some response. Now you mentioned stomach pain, are any of you aware if she has undergone an appendectomy before? She is displaying the typical symptoms of an inflamed appendix, which would require immediate surgical attention."
"She has. She had it removed last summer, she still has the scar!" Brittany answered through her quivering lips, slightly hysterical as tears streamed down her face. "What's wrong with her?"
"That's what we are going to find out Miss, but you need to calm down, panicking is not going to help your friend." Brittany nodded tearfully at the doctors words, moving back to sit in a chair near the doorway, Rachel following to comfort her. The doctor bustled about, strapping a blood pressure cuff around Santana's arm. She carefully pumped it up, reading the number off the chart to the nurse.
"Her blood pressure is pretty low, her oxygen levels are as well. We're hoping to bring those vitals back up." The doctor explained as she slipped an oxygen mask over the Latina's head, fiddling with a monitor near the wall. "Has she been vomiting often, or just the one time?"
Rachel decided it was her turn to step in. "She's been throwing up several times a day for about the last week, she's been having trouble keeping her food down."
"Vomiting and a high fever, she's definitely dehydrated then. Hook her up to a bag of saline and let it run through, I'm going to take some blood for a blood culture." Obeying the doctor's orders the nurse picked up Santana's left hand, swiping an alcohol rub over the area before inserting the needle and screwing in the intravenous line. The doctor removed her syringe from Santana's right elbow, a vial of blood now attached to the end which she tagged and placed in her coat pocket.
"I'm going to send this off to the lab for testing, until then there is not a lot we can do besides monitor her vitals. I'll call an orderly in to help move her to a more permanent room, and if one of you four that came in with her could fill in the paperwork for her admittance at the front desk you can see her in there shortly." With those final words the doctor left the room, Santana's blood still tucked firmly in her pocket. The nurse ushered the other four out to the main room, pointing out the right desk before rolling the gurney into a service elevator.
All four of them walked up to the counter together, the required forms being pushed towards them by a young woman. Mr Schue collected the papers and a pen, leading the group to a cluster of chairs against the wall so they could fill out as much of the form as possible.
"Full name?" Mr Schue asked them, not being able to recall the girl's whole name.
Brittany was the only one who could answer the question. "Santana Jaye Lopez."
"Date of Birth, March 18th 1994. Address, 37 Aston Close. Emergency contact?" Mr Schue once again turned to the group for the answer.
"Natalie Pierce." Brittany's quiet answer shocked the others who had been expecting Santana's mother or father, not Brittany's.
It was Puck who decided to voice what the others were all thinking. "What about her own mother? She's still a minor, aren't her own parents automatically her emergency contact?"
"She asked for it to be changed after the last time she was here. Her mom was too high to mention that San's allergic to the iodine stuff they use for x-rays. It nearly killed her. " The group fell silent as they absorbed the information and tried to picture the scene in their heads, Brittany smiling sadly at them the whole time.
After several moments Mr Schue broke the silence to ask the last question on the sheet. "Any medical conditions?" All three students responded about her lactose intolerance, Brittany specifying that it was a severe case and adding on the information about her allergy. With that Mr Schue stood up and handed the sheets back to the lady at the counter, where he had a brief discussion before walking back to the group.
"They've moved Santana up to a room on the third floor, apparently there is a better waiting room up there that..." Mr Schue trailed off from his instructions as a flash of blonde came running through the lobby, the rest of the New Directions following closely behind. The blonde woman ran up, tackling Brittany into a tearful hug.
"Oh baby I got your message, what happened? Is Santana okay?" The woman was slightly frantic, her eyes darting between her daughter and the other people gathered around.
"It was really scary mom! San was acting funny and then she just fell and she was really hot and the doctors don't know what's wrong with her!" Brittany was sobbing around the words, clinging on to her mother's neck as if her life depended on it. Mr Schue cleared his throat causing Mrs Pierce to gently release Brittany's hold and walk over to the man.
"I'm Natalie Pierce, Santana's emergency contact. Do you know anything about San?"
"Will Schuester. At the moment there is not much to know, just a high fever and pulse as well as low blood pressure. We were just going to go up to the waiting area near Santana's room." Following Mr Schue's lead the group entered either one of the small elevators going to the third floor. Upon arrival the teenagers all sat down in the padded chairs lining the area as Mr Schue and Mrs Pierce went to talk to the ward manager who was sitting behind a desk a few metres away.
"Hi, we're looking for information on Santana Lopez?" Mrs Pierce asked the man who appeared to be writing some form of report on his computer. He gave a brief nod before pulling up her information on the same computer.
"Ahh yes, Miss Lopez...She is currently in room 308. You can go in and see her if you like, but only a few at a time and don't disturb her, I believe she has fallen asleep. A doctor should be up shortly to reassess her condition and give you more information." The man relayed the information off the screen, indicating to a room on his left as he did so. The two adults thanked him before Mrs Pierce went towards Santana's room, Mr Schue heading back to the New Directions.
"Okay guys, you are allowed to see her, but only a few at a time okay? She is sleeping right now so you will have to be quiet but two of you can go in before her doctor arrives. Any volunteers?" Mr Schue asked the uncharacteristically quiet group, not at all surprised when Brittany immediately shot up from her chair. It was a bit more of a surprise when Rachel volunteered to join Brittany, however he waved them both forward and lead them to Santana's room.
Santana had been changed out of her Cheerio's uniform, a pale blue hospital gown was now covering her body and a thin white blanket had been tossed over her legs. Her face was still covered with an oxygen mask and she had been hooked up to a machine that was monitoring her heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen levels and temperature. Rachel heard herself gasp as she entered the room, she had not been prepared to see how small and vulnerable Santana looked while laying on the hospital bed. She walked over and picked up a chair from against the wall, carrying it to the left side of the sleeping Latina.
Rachel leant over and grabbed Santana's hand, being careful not to disturb the IV line embedded in the girl's skin. She rubbed small comforting circles on her palm as she watched Santana sleep, her gaze wandering to where Brittany and her mom sat, the eldest Pierce stroking Santana's sweaty forehead while Brittany traced patterns along her arm. It was obvious to Rachel that both the blondes cared deeply for the Latina and she found herself wishing that she could have spared them the hurt they were feeling by insisting that Santana see a doctor earlier. Mr Schue had remained just inside the doorway, his eyes slightly glazed as he observed his sick student and her friends whilst wondering what had gone so wrong.
The sound of the door opening startled all four of the visitors in the room, a head of dark hair appearing through the gap. The man walked into the room wearing a well worn black business suit, a nametag hanging from the front pocket that was occupied with pens and other utensils, a silver stethoscope slung over one shoulder.
"Hi I'm Dr Craig Riley, I will be Miss Lopez's primary physician for her stay." He offered the group a warm smile as he approached Santana's bed. They all moved back to allow the doctor more room to examine her, congregating in the corner parallel to the doorway as they observed his actions. He started by doing the same thing as the emergency room doctor, checking all her vital signs on the monitor next to her bed allowing a small frown to cross his face as he did so.
"Her fever hasn't gotten any better," he commented "but I am concerned about the pain in her abdomen." He reached over and shook Santana awake, softly calling her name as he did so. It took a few moments but the Latina's eyes slowly peeled open as they slowly took in her surroundings, a small moan escaping from her lips.
"Hi Santana, I'm Dr Riley, is it okay if I have a little feel around your stomach?" Santana slowly blinked her eyes as she absorbed the question before shaking her head slightly, her hands moving lethargically to wrap protectively over her stomach.
"I know it hurts Santana, but that's why I want to make it better. Can I just have a small feel to see what's wrong?" He coaxed, causing the girl to uncurl her arms from around her waist silently giving him permission to continue. His hands moved quickly over her stomach occasionally pressing down, trying to make the ordeal as short as possible with Santana letting out small murmurs of pain at every bit of pressure.
"The abdominal muscles do feel slightly tense, I would like to have a better look though. I'll see if I can get one of the techs to bring in an ultrasound machine since x-rays are not very practical at this point." With that the doctor pulled out a pager and set off a quick message, presumably to one of the techs he mentioned. Within minutes an orderly came through the door pushing the required ultrasound machinery.
Dr Riley started explaining the procedure to Santana, "I'm going to take an ultrasound of your stomach to see what is wrong, but first I'm going to need to lift up your gown, is that okay?" Santana gave a tired nod, struggling to keep her eyes open. With the girl's permission he lifted up the gown to expose her stomach, ensuring that her legs were still covered by the blanket.
"Okay I'm going to put some gel on your stomach, it has been warmed so it shouldn't feel too cold." Santana flinched slightly when he squeezed the gel onto her tanned skin, her fever making the gel feel colder than it was supposed to. Using the wand from the machine he spread the gel around, a grainy picture of Santana's stomach appearing on the screen. He gave several wide strokes back and forth before focusing on one main area, concentrating hard on the digital image.
"There appears to be an abnormality present in her abdominal cavity which is likely causing the pain. I'm going to send this over for an image clean up and they should be able to tell us what it is." He entered some information into the machine before leaving the room, promising to be back with the cleaned up picture and leaving the orderly to pack away the machine and clean Santana's stomach. As soon as they both left Santana's eyes drifted closed, the girl exhausted from the toll the last few minutes had on her body.
Rachel watched the rise and fall of Santana's chest, the oxygen mask fogging up with every exhale she took. Every so often the Latina's face would crinkle in her sleep making her look younger than she actually was, more innocent and vulnerable. Rachel was unaware of how much time had passed when the monitor near Santana's bed started beeping in a loud continuous tone. This noise caused several nurses to rush in the room and start fussing over Santana and the machine, looks of worry plastered on their faces.
Dr Riley also came running in, his eyes immediately drawn to the machine as he addressed the nurses. "What's going on?"
A female nurse replied as she moved aside to let him see the monitor, "We've had a rapid decrease in blood pressure, patient is unresponsive." With that news Dr Riley immediately turned around to where Santana was laying on the bed.
"Santana?" He asked firmly as he pressed down equally as firm on her stomach, hoping to elicit some response from the pain. Santana flinched slightly but showed no signs of awaking. Next he pulled back her eyelids, shining a pen light into her eyes.
"Pupil reaction is slow." The doctor was cut off from the beeping of his pager, which he pulled from his waistband and read. "Her ultrasound showed a severe infection in the abdominal cavity."
"Blood pressure is still decreasing." One of the nurses called out adding on, "Heart rate is increasing."
"Okay let's get her started on some antibiotics, increase the amount of saline as well. I'll arrange to have her moved to the ICU."
Brittany let out an audible gasp at the doctor's words, her lips trembling as her eyes filled with tears. The doctor turned, having forgotten about the spectators in the room.
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
So yeah, I guess I ended on a bit of a cliffhanger again, I sincerely apologise about that - I know as a reader how much they suck! So know I will leave you with my quote of the day that some idiot at the shop did not know how to obey: Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.