Lucy Coe Stanton felt as if she had been run over by a bus and set on fire. She was having hot flashes on top of her hot flashes and every muscle in her body ached. As if that wasn't bad enough, she was too weak to even lift her head, sure she was about to be sick to her stomach and the nurses were ignoring her call bell. Where was her husband? Clearly, he should at least be holding her up in bed or something soothing. Shouldn't he?
Urgh! Lucy groaned when she realized that Dr. Monica Quartermaine had entered her room. She might have had to accept she wasn't going to beat Monica and it would be in her best interest to at least pretend to play nice a few years ago but that didn't mean she had to like it. Perhaps some would say she should be grateful to Monica for getting her somewhat stabilized in the Emergency Department. That really annoying doctor who kept coming in all night certainly seemed to suggest that but frankly Lucy was too miserable to even pretend to play nice. It was completely unfair that she had to be dependent on Monica in her time of need.
Monica glanced over from looking at the monitors and then pulled her stethoscope out of the pocket of her long white coat. "How are you feeling this morning?" she asked.
"How do you think I am feeling?" Lucy grunted.
Monica seemed to actually consider that for a moment. "Ok, perhaps that wasn't the best question. I imagine you feel pretty awful and I'm sorry. Your blood pressure is better though albeit with vasopressors and you're on broad spectrum antibiotics. I'm sure this is easier said than done but you may just have to ride this out for a few days until the antibiotics kick in," she said.
Monica laid her stethoscope on Lucy's chest and then moved laterally. She seemed a little surprised by something. "Your lungs are clear," she said.
"Is that bad?" Lucy asked.
"No, not really other than we really don't have a source for the sepsis. I really thought that you probably had a pneumonia, and we just weren't seeing much on the x-ray because you were so dehydrated. But this morning's x-ray also looked clear and your lungs sound great so I'm not sure what is causing all of this. I'm going to suggest to Dr. Romano that he consider consulting Infectious Disease or maybe even toxicology," Monica said. Then she slipped out of the room.
Lucy could only groan. Life was definitely not fair.
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Carly Ashton struggled to keep her eyes open. Her whole body felt heavy and weak at the same time. The last thing she really remembered was vomiting and feeling awful. She had a general sense that time had passed and even sort of vaguely thought maybe it had been at least a few days as a few snatches of Ned holding her hand and telling her it was going to be ok came back to her. Or maybe she had imagined that.
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Ned Ashton caught a glimpse of brown eyes as he stroked Carly's hair. "Hey sweetheart, you're doing so much better. Alan says if you wake up a little more, then they can take that tube out of your throat," he promised.
Carly seemed to hear him because she opened her eyes a little more and then met his gaze.
Ned saw what looked like panic in Carly's eyes so have gave his wife's hand another squeeze and then rubbed her shoulders. "You're ok, honey, I know this seems like a lot but it's all helping you and the baby. He is doing ok too, so try not to worry too much," he said.
Carly seemed to relax at his words. Her eyes slid closed again.
Ned rubbed her shoulders some more. Perhaps more rest was the best thing for her. He leaned down and gently kissed her forehead. "You just rest, honey, I'll be right here," he whispered.
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PCGH SICU Nurse, Leila Matthews RN would have never considered herself a romantic. Her own marriage had been hard fought and ultimately had required her to leave everything she had once known and everything she had once loved to follow her husband into witness protection. That had brought them to Port Charles about three hours away from most of her family. In some ways being so close yet unable to make contact, especially after her sister's recent tragic death, just made things harder. As hard as it was, she would never be able to bear if something happened to them. Something would happen to them if she reconnected. She and Noah both knew that, so they stayed away. Despite what her family might never understand, she could recognize a good man when she saw him; Noah was a good man.
At least she had been allowed to return to work as a nurse. That gave her life some purpose. With that thought she slid the glass door and stepped into Carly Ashton's room. From what she had just heard and what she had witnessed the day before she had a feeling that Ned Ashton was a pretty good man as well.
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Dr. Alan Quartermaine smiled when he saw his wife enter the 6 North Stepdown Unit. Sometimes she looked even more beautiful when she was in her element. "So, how is this morning treating you?" he asked.
Dr. Monica Quartermaine took a visibly measured breath. "I'm alive and all my patients are also, so I suppose it could be worse. I hope you're able to pick up Alli and Kirk from swimming though because my intern has the day off," she said.
"I thought your intern had the day off yesterday?" Alan asked.
"He did, but Dr. Doyle is going to need to cover Dr. Belden's ICU call for at least the next week. That means that the General Medicine Call Schedule was shuffled and then shuffled again. Ellen told him to take the morning off but come in at two to take overnight call and then I think he is on call again on Monday or something less than ideal," Monica said.
"So, are most of the interns taking Q3 call?" Alan asked.
"I kind of got that impression. I mentioned that to Ellen, and she said that the other option was for attendings to fill in the gaps which doesn't sound unreasonable to me. Months I am on service for pediatrics, I just accept that I'm going to have one whole weekend attending only call that month. Our full-time pediatricians have that every month. Apparently, Dr. Roman was not good with the attending fill in plan and Dr. Ingstrom was not opposed in principle but feels unable to pick up anything extra while his mother is actively dying on hospice."
Alan shook his head. "Eric and Greta definitely do not need anything extra added to their plate and I realize Dr. Roman isn't good with many plans that involve him taking call but as Chief of Staff I can't condone interns taking Q3 call as a long-term solution. So, I guess I'll pick up the kids, and figure out how to meet with Ellen sometime after breakfast but before my morning OR cases. Don't forget that ELQ Board Meeting is this afternoon at four o'clock."
"How could I? Then there is that Shareholder's Dinner Meeting tomorrow night. Thank you for picking up the kids that should allow me time to go back and check on the patient I cardioverted in the ED before I head to the cardiac catheterization suite."
"Were you planning on going home before the ELQ Board Meeting?" Alan asked.
"I really hope so! I am pretty sure I'm going to need a shower," Monica said with a slightly seductive smile.
"That was exactly what I was thinking," Alan said. He smiled again grateful for the connection he and Monica had rebuilt.
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In his office on 4 East, Pediatrics Volunteer Coordinator, Nikolas Cassadine felt profoundly alone. Somehow, it was worse than the night almost two weeks ago that he had found Katherine on the Locke Street Pier. Perhaps, he had held more hope then. Or maybe he had just felt more connected to others besides Katherine then. So, he refreshed the hospital census on his computer for at least the third time in the past five minutes. His efforts were rewarded when he saw that Katherine Bell was listed as being admitted to room 3116, in the Cardiac Critical Care Unit on 3 West. She was alive! He might be restricted from visiting while she was in the Intensive Care Unit, but she was alive!
"Oh, hi, Nikolas! I wasn't sure if you were coming in today and I really wasn't expecting to see you here before eight," Chari Nomen, one of the child life specialists said.
"What is it you Americans say? The early bird catches the worm?" Nikolas asked.
Chari laughed. "Right, but I never understood why anyone would want to catch worms."
"Perhaps you would if you were a bird," Nikolas said.
Chari laughed more. "Good point, anyway, while I have caught you, I did have a few questions about the Halloween Party. I was talking to Dr. Hogan about the children on the Hematology Oncology Unit and many of them are not allowed to leave the unit, so they won't be able to attend the party at all. Even worse, none of the kids on the Stem Cell Unit will even be able to leave their room," she said.
"That is definitely a concern, but rest assured that we will find a way to bring the party to them. Give me a day to flesh out the details and I will send a memo out to the Child Life Department to clarify," Nikolas said.
"I like the way you think! I just need to grab some games out of the storage closet and then I am heading to Stem Cell. The nurses will be so thrilled to hear you are on top of this. I think they feel like their kids get overlooked sometimes. Thanks Nikolas!" Chari said exuberantly.
After Chari had left his office, Nikolas realized that he still had so much work to do on the Pediatric Halloween Party, plus he had essentially volunteered to hold two or maybe even three parties instead of one. What had he gotten himself into?
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Rex Stanton adjusted his tie in his room in the Valley Inn in Pine Valley, PA. Although Dr. Hayward had suggested he play the devoted husband while Lucy whined, he had opted for plan B: arrange to be conveniently out of town. Immediately after Dr. Hayward had finished and they had left his suite at the Port Charles Hotel he had called Lucy's office at Temptations. He knew she wasn't there but no one else had to know that he knew she wasn't there. He left a message with her secretary that his meetings had been rescheduled and he would be going out of town until Sunday afternoon. There were a few kernels of truth in that statement. Technically, he had left Port Charles and he would certainly stay away until Sunday if it suited his interests. More importantly, he doubted anyone would question it.
The last part made Rex a bit uncomfortable though. He had certainly not been served well by leaving things to chance so perhaps it was time to do a bit of damage control in advance. With that thought he picked up the phone to call his niece, Danielle.