When she stepped out of the Port Charles General Hospital Emergency Department Resuscitation Room C, Dr. Monica Quartermaine rewarded herself with a deep cleansing breath and reminded herself that Faye Peterson's most recent tantrum wasn't a reflection on her own self-worth. Or at least that was what she would have told one of the house staff or even a colleague. Unfortunately, the situation with Peterson Family was a bit more complicated than concern for a child coming out in less than kind or constructive fashion, and even more complicated than entitlement. So, although she had no doubts that Tiffany Peterson was at best confused about the events of October 3rd and perhaps most likely blatantly lying for a reason Monica would never understand. She supposed that as a parent she should be able to understand the desire to trust one's child and she could also understand how powerless one felt when someone hurt one's child. So perhaps for all those reasons grace and some cleansing deep breaths were most important to channel.
"Hey Dr. Quartermaine, I'm sorry if I kind of abandoned you with the family, the nurses told me there was a call for me. Apparently, Dr. Larmon is running a little late," Dr. Carmichael said.
Monica glanced at the clock instinctively. It was almost eight o'clock. She was pretty sure the Emergency Medicine Physicians changed shift at seven o'clock. "I'm sorry, I can imagine that even a few minutes after an overnight shift feels a bit like an eternity," she said.
Dr. Carmichael nodded. "You could say that. Umm thanks for doing that cardioversion, I'm not sure if it's just a Cardiology has the magic touch or what, but I often don't get conversion to sinus with a single synchronized shock and I'm always a little afraid that I shouldn't even be trying," he said.
"I appreciate it when people consider if there is potential for thrombus and if possible then we should pursue TEE and anticoagulation before cardioversion. However, if you have a hemodynamically unstable patient and you're not able to use antiarrhythmics because of the potential for interaction with the cocaine and ecstasy that likely induced the arrhythmia in the first place then it's reasonable to proceed. Now that she is in sinus rhythm, appropriately perfusing everything and still somewhat sedated from the versed I gave before cardioversion, I was able to do a quick TEE and it looks like her systolic function is normal and there isn't any evidence of thrombus. I don't guarantee that this will continue to be the case if she continues to abuse drugs and alcohol. Her mother wasn't really in a position to hear that from anyone but perhaps especially not from me, so I guess we'll hope for the best and I'll try to discuss this with the patient herself once she is more awake. I put in some orders, but PICU will be the primary team, so I think Dr. Evans was going to send one of the residents down to start on the admission orders," Monica said.
"Ah, ok. I'll let Dr. Larmon know that if he ever gets here," Dr. Carmichael said dejectedly.
"I'm sorry," Monica said.
"It's ok, I guess Dr. Larmon's wife is sick, something I wouldn't know anything about, as he was very quick to point out," Dr. Carmichael said.
Monica nodded. "Roger really needs to do better at not adding insult to injury. Sometimes it is best to quit while you're behind," she suggested.
"Or remove both feet from your mouth before speaking?" Dr. Seymour Katz, one of the Hematologists asked as he joined them.
"That is always advisable, I would think," Monica said.
"On that note, I'm looking for a patient that you called Dr. Rousch about, but he was on his cell phone and in one of the spots in the hospital he gets poor reception, so he didn't catch the name. He thought you said they were in room twenty-five on the back hallway, but I did a quick cruise by there that room is empty," Dr. Katz said.
"Ok the last name is Willett, they're actually a patient of Dr. Stone over at Mercy but Mercy is on Diversion at least for patients with Medicaid. And they were in room twenty-five when I called Drew, but then the charge nurse moved them to room thirty for some reason," Dr. Carmichael said.
"Ok, got it, I'll see them and then give Dr. Stone a call. He is supposed to be applying for courtesy privileges here for this reason, but I don't think he has been approved yet," Dr. Katz said.
"I'm on the credentials committee so I can tell you we haven't discussed his application yet, but we meet again next week so maybe soon. On that note, I'm going to head back upstairs. You, or Dr. Larmon, can call me if you have any other rhythm concerns before the patient, we were discussing earlier goes up to the PICU," Monica said. Then she made her way to the Emergency Department exit and allowed herself another deep cleansing breath.
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When he stood outside the Port Charles General Hospital NICU waiting for the neonatal team to finish morning bedside rounds, Ned Ashton pulled the card Jason had given him three weeks earlier from his wallet. He slowly turned it over and looked at the number on the back. He knew he needed to call. Jason deserved to know that he was a father; and that the mother of his baby still might die. He just couldn't quite bring himself to place the call.
So often, especially with his grandfather, Ned had advocated for humane, logical, evidence driven decisions. In business, that could work. In life, perhaps too often in his life, reality seemed to defy logic. His grandfather challenged that. He considered it the ultimate oxymoron, and perhaps for him it might be. So usually, Ned took a deep breath, buried the pain, and persevered. That usually worked, at least until it didn't.
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In the Port Charles General Hospital CCU, Hugh Lars Quartermaine watched his wife sleep. He supposed it was an accomplishment that his cousin by manage had managed to successfully remove Marla's breathing tube. Or at least Monica had seemed pleased and even said it was a good thing before she had to rush off to some other ICU to float a Swan, which he didn't understand but presumed had nothing to do with majestic waterfowl. Even so, the evoked image had reminded him of much simpler time when he and Marla had taken a picnic basket to the Boston Public Gardens and rode the Swan Boats. Marla had just finished her freshman year at Boston College, and he was halfway through a master's in engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That had been twelve years ago, but it seemed like a lifetime.
A light touch on his shoulder pulled Hugh Lars from his thoughts and he turned to meet his father's eyes. "Monica, managed to take the breathing tube out, but she's still not really responding to us," he said.
"That sounds like progress though," Hiram Quartermaine said.
Hugh Lars shrugged his shoulders. "I want to think it is, but I just don't know anymore," he said.
His father nodded. "I spoke with your mother this morning. She wants to do whatever you need. She could fly out with the kids if that would help," he offered.
Hugh Lars wasn't sure it would help. He missed Craig and Brynn desperately but had no idea how to explain what had happened to their mother. "I'm not sure it's good for the kids to see Marla like this," he said.
"Your sister taught me that part of parenting is allowing your adult children to make their own choices but are you sure about this?" his father asked.
Hugh Lars wasn't sure about much, so he just gave his shoulders another shrug.
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Dr. Alan Quartermaine pulled into the parking lot outside of the Port Charles High School Athletic Fieldhouse which was built around and above the football stadium and outdoor track. The main floor housed a basketball court surrounded by an indoor track along with two weight rooms, team locker rooms, and several offices. He shifted into park and glanced over his shoulder into the back seat where his youngest daughter and niece sat in their respective car and booster seats. If he was lucky Emily would come out soon so, he could avoid having to unload tiny humans from his Lincoln Navigator just to reload them. Apparently, it was his lucky day because he saw Emily darting down the front steps of the field house almost immediately after he removed his hand from the gear shift.
Emily glanced to her left once before recognizing his car and sprinted across the lot. She waved at Katelyn and Serena in the back before she opened the door and climbed into the front passenger seat. "Sorry I was actually looking for mom at first," she said.
"Your mother is still at the hospital. Katelyn has swim practice from ten to eleven-thirty and Serena's soccer game starts at eleven so just think of it as an exercise in the importance of centripetal forces," Alan said. He punctuated his words with his patented goofy grin.
.
Emily shook her head. "Technically we're not really in motion at the moment. We're also supposed to be picking up Elizabeth at some point," she said.
Alan vaguely remembered that for some reason they were hosting Elizabeth Webber's 16th Birthday Party. "I thought the party wasn't until this evening?" he asked as he pulled forward out of the parking space.
"It isn't, but I'm supposed to be helping her study for some Earth Science Test this afternoon. The transition from freshman year in Colorado to sophomore year in New York hasn't been easy for her," Emily said.
Alan exited the high school campus onto Federal Avenue. He could see how that could be the case. It probably also didn't help that her parents seemed at least uninvolved if not completely uninterested and Audrey seemed oblivious to her struggles. "I see. I'm glad you're helping her," he said.
"Her grandmother says that you and her dad were really good friends," Emily said.
"We both trained at GH, so we knew each other. He probably knew your mother more since they were sort of in the same program," Alan said. Dr. Jeff Webber had done Internal Medicine but with all of his various leaves of absence he had finished at the same time that Monica had completed her combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics training.
"So, you don't credit him with helping you get through residency? I guess Liz and Sarah's grandmother thinks you should," Emily said.
"Audrey has always been a big fan of Jeff and while I give a lot of appreciation, thanks and credit to my surgical mentors, I don't exactly consider Dr. Jeff Webber one of them. He isn't a surgeon," Alan said. He offered the slightly varnished and diplomatic version of the truth. There was more he could say but while true it probably wasn't necessary or helpful.
Emily seemed to consider that. She didn't say anymore, but Alan sensed there was more she was thinking as he pulled Into the Port Charles Fitness Club and navigated around to the parking lot in the back. "If you want, I can hang out with Katelyn so you can take Serena over to Community Commons to get ready for her game. I tossed my Algebra II problem set that is due Tuesday in my bag so I can work on that," she offered as he shifted into park and turned the car off.
"That would really help, thank you! I'm hoping your mom will be done soon so maybe she can join you and then maybe you can go pick up Elizabeth. Was there a time you guys agreed on yesterday?" Alan asked as he got out of the car and started unstrapping Katelyn from her car seat.
"No, I know she got stuck working Breakfast shift at Kelly's this morning. I think she was hoping maybe we could just pick her up there. She said she could just bring all her stuff," Emily said as she came to stand beside him in the parking lot.
Alan was certainly not going to add in an unnecessary conversation with Audrey Hardy if he could avoid it. He lifted his youngest child out of the car seat and gave her a hug before he deposited her on the asphalt to stand beside Emily. "That sounds like a great plan! Have a good swim practice, listen to your sister, and if I don't get called back into the hospital this afternoon, we can do something fun!" he said.
Katelyn reached to take Emily's hand. "Bye Daddy!" she called as they started to scamper off.
Alan watched them until they entered the building and then turned and got back into the car. "Onward to Community Commons!" he told his niece.