DOCTOR ROSE DEACON

I am sitting in the staff lounge, taking a well-earned break. I have a mug of lapsang-souchong in my hands, a plate of ham-and-mustard sandwiches beside me, and a large slice of gooey chocolate cake from the bakery in town.

Yummm!

It is at times like this that I tend to let my mind wander a little. Usually I force myself to be on point, sharp and practical, and always to focus on the here and now. I cannot give free rein to my emotions if I am to be efficient as a doctor. Nevertheless, some patients get under your skin more than others and John Tracy…well, seemingly without even trying he has managed to get under mine.

I am very pleased with his progress. And relieved, if I am completely honest. When he came to us, he was so severely sick, I was very much afraid that our treatment would have been too late. I am very happy to have been wrong about that. I do not make a habit out of writing-off my patients before I treat them, but I have seen patients before with less severe cases of sepsis that have either lost their lives or left here with limbs or organs missing.

One little girl lost both her kidneys after a case of sepsis, and now relies on kidney dialysis to stay alive. A man just a few years older than Mister Tracy lost both legs and one hand.

John Tracy has lost one kidney, but his remaining kidney is recovering very well, and in truth I do not foresee any health issues arising from the loss of the other. Although I will impress upon the entire Tracy family the importance of keeping as healthy as possible in future. I would not like to speculate on the results if John were to contract sepsis again.

It is widely known these days that the Tracy family are behind International Rescue. Understandably, when John went missing, they closed down all operations in order to focus all their resources into locating him. That quite understandably caused wild speculation as to what might have happened. With the Tracy family refusing to answer questions, and nothing forthcoming from the GDF either, theories arose, each one more outlandish than the last. It was only a matter of time before someone cottoned on to the truth.

With the entire Tracy family and close friends being spotted nearby at various times, enterprising members of the media took to following them.

Long story short, we've just had a media invasion of the hospital, with newspaper reps, TV reporters with cameras et al! No information has been given to any of them so far, so the speculation has not gone away.

Neither have the reporters. They are encamped in a determined band across the road, waiting for a member of International Rescue to come near so they can pounce.

Naturally I have warned the family of their presence. Being who they are, they are no doubt well accustomed to dealing with this kind of invasion of privacy. I'm not.

The only visitors John Tracy has been able to have today under the circumstances was Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, and a man that she brought with her. Langstrom Fischler. I've seen his face on TV one or twice, apparently having been rescued from an invention that didn't quite go to plan.

Lady Penelope went in to see her friend first for a few minutes, then she sent Mister Fischler in alone. Fischler, it has to be said, looked half scared and half defensive. I had warned them both that they must keep things calm and not tire my patient out, and they both gave their word.

After they left, I made sure to visit John and make sure he was alright. He seemed in surprisingly good spirits, despite having learned about the media invasion, so I was encouraged.

I finally got the chance to eat my slice of chocolate cake. I brought it home with me in its box and enjoyed it with a small glass of wine. Pure decadence!

The media were a pain all day, until eventually Colonel Casey agreed (with the apparent agreement of the Tracy family), to give them a short statement. Basically she informed them that an unnamed member of International Rescue had been attacked by a criminal gang and was being cared for at our facility until they were free to return home. She also promised that IR would be willing to hold a full press conference in due course, but that because of legal proceedings, it could not happen yet.

Somehow that seemed to satisfy them for the most part, and the crowd reluctantly dispersed.

I am now finding myself finally free to relax after an extremely long shift and having very mixed feelings about John Tracy.

He needs to stay in hospital for another few days for care and observation, and he will have a long recovery period at home before he will be strong enough to get back to work…and I am delighted that he has recovered so well.

And yet…

I shall miss him when he goes home…