I Got a Feelin'
This was Miranda's second on-call shift in three days. She kicked off her shoes and fell on the bed in the on-call room, rubbing her eyes. Exhaustion was taking over. She was glad that the weekend was coming and she would be medicine free for a day or a two. Maybe three, if she had her way. Miranda grabbed her stomach as she jumped out of bed and ran to the small garbage can that was near the door. She vomited. "Ugghh," she said turning on the light. She groaned. Some of it that had clearly missed the target. She grabbed some tissues and wiped her mouth and did her best to clean the floor. The door opened up, surprisingly, and missed her head by an inch.
"Oh! I'm sorry, Dr. Bailey. Sorry, I knocked." a voice said, Lemon Rashad, one of Miranda's least sucky residents.
"What do you need?" Miranda asked.
"Um, a patient has just been admitted, Mrs. Carmen Sorrento. She was brought in by her husband. And she has acute cholecystitis."
"Mmkay," Miranda said taking a deep breath and keeping her head over the garbage can. "What room?"
Lemon wanted to wait for Miranda, but she sent the girl off, just before she threw up again. Miranda hurried to her locker and brushed her teeth quickly before heading to the room.
"Carmen wanted to wait until tomorrow to see her doctor, but she hasn't been able to keep anything down since yesterday," Andrew said. They were a cute, elderly couple.
Miranda turned to look at Lemon. "Mrs. Sorrento, you have acute cholecystitis. Which means that your gallbladder may have to come out."
"She has gallstones?" Andrew asked.
"He watches cable. He thinks he's a doctor," Carmen said in a squeaky voice. Miranda smiled politely.
"We're going to give you antibiotics and IV fluids to cool the gallbladder down," Lemon said.
"And then I'm going to look at the results and see if surgery is the best way for us to go," Miranda said. Andrew looked at Carmen. "Do you have any questions?"
Miranda excused herself and walked back to the on-call room. She sat on the bed and pulled out of her phone, checking her calendar and wincing when she found what she was looking for.
Lemon knocked on the door again and peeked inside. "Dr. Bailey, the results."
"Okay, Carmen," Miranda said in a soft voice. "We need to remove your gallbladder. Dr. Rashad is going to take you to the Operating Room. Andrew, we're going to keep you posted as much as we can."
"Okay, Rashad, adhesions are down. What next?" She quizzed the girl.
"Put in graspers to lift the gallbladder so we can dissect it out."
"Good."
"And what are we looking for in Calot's triangle?"
"The cystic artery."
"That's right," Miranda said taking a deep breath. "Good job, Rashad."
Miranda and the girl scrubbed out and Miranda headed to the locker room. When she'd realized that she'd left her notebook and pen in the on-call room, Miranda doubled back, passing a group of residents talking in an isolated corner. "And I heard her throwing up. And then she had to rush off—" Miranda identified the voice right away. She'd heard it all day. Lemon.
"She probably went to throw up again," a guy in the group said. They all laughed.
"Ahem!" Miranda said clearing her throat loudly making the residents scatter.
She looked at Lemon. "You wouldn't be spreading rumors about things you know nothing about, would you?" She asked the girl.
"N-no. No, Dr. Bailey," Lemon said not looking into Miranda's eyes. "I mean, I'm sorry. We were all just venting and sharing stories. I'm sorry. I apologize."
Miranda licked her lips and didn't respond. She walked away. She didn't have the energy to lecture the girl. Miranda grabbed her stuff, changed her clothes and went home. Ben wasn't home yet, probably still at the hospital. Tuck was with his father for the weekend. That was good, because she needed some time alone. The first time she'd vomited this week, she thought it was because of some 'special' eggs that Tuck had made for her. The next time, she'd felt a little warm and had attributed it to a stomach virus. But these last times had raised several red flags. She went to the bedroom and looked in the second drawer of her dresser and pulled out one of the three pregnancy tests that she kept in the back of the drawer. She took a breath, opened two of the boxes and unwrapped the tests. Miranda knew the drill; she'd taken plenty of pregnancy tests. She'd tried for years with Tucker to have a baby before they'd gotten pregnant with Tuck. Miranda peed on the sticks and put them on the sink before going downstairs to get some water and a snack to kill time. Getting back upstairs, she waited for a few minutes before picking looking at the sticks. Her heart was racing. She took a deep breath. Positive.