Holding Eyes
#12 of Love Letters - The Whole Story
Night shifts are always special.
*
Art is by kensukethecat
After a year (T_T!!) I finally return with these two, doing what they do best...when they're not cuddling each other, that is. Hope you like this, and I hope to be writing more about these guys soon!
And as a fair warning to new time readers, this story contains realistic depictions of medical procedures.
*
"...you remember the last time it was this quiet, Speckle?"
I looked up from my textbook and glanced over to Lydia, crashed on the seat on the other side of the nurse's station.
"Don't say that," I snuffled. "The moment someone says that in the ER, a pileup happens and we'll be triaging all night."
Lydia threw her paws up and then slapped them against her scrub-shrouded knees.
"I know, I know," she said. "Bad karma."
"Exactly."
"What are you reading, anyway?"
I flipped the heavy book up enough that she could catch a sight of the massive tome's dust jacket.
"Tintinalli's Emergency Medicine," she mused. "That's a heavy read."
The book thumped onto the desk again and I chuckled.
"It's on the shelf in the doctor's lounge," I explained, "Doctor Zimbardo likes using it for scaring the third years when they come in."
"You're not a third year, unless you've secretly decided to abandon your nursing sisters," Lydia replied. "You wouldn't be the first one."
"Nah," I smiled, "I just wanted to look something up after that OD case we had earlier today."
Lydia frowned.
"The one who took the TCAs?"
"Yeah."
"That was ugly."
"It was. Just wanted to check some of the protocols for it."
"Think you didn't do everything you could have?"
"No, I think we did," I replied, "just wanted to see what else there is to it."
"Always good to brush up," she stated while stroking through her curled head furs.
Doctor Anderson lumbered out of Exam Three then, a file in his paws. He did not look too happy.
"You don't look too busy here," he said, "anyone volunteering for an enema?"
Oh, how great. I could see Lydia's eyes flash with victory. My words had been proven right once again. The moment you got too cozy...
"Wasn't Mrs. Kyle about to go to surgical?"
"No," Doctor Anderson made a face, "our acute abdomen was a not so acute fecal impaction."
"Damn," Lydia commented.
"Yeah, no need to get the surgeon on call," Doctor Anderson grunted."
"I'm sure Leibowitz would've loved palpating that," I chuckled.
"He's still on call?" Doctor Anderson questioned.
"Covering for Tran," I said, "some family emergency."
"How come you know some gossip I don't?" Lydia inquired.
"I heard from Shirley from surgical," I said, "she came down searching for Leibowitz earlier."
"You gossip with Shirley?"
"Why not?" I smiled.
"Nurses," Doctor Anderson growled, "so who's going to be helping me Mrs. Kyle?"
Neither of us was going to be begging for it, now that was for sure...
_ _
"County General ER, this is unit 502."
_ _
Could that radio have ever crackled up to life at a better moment? I kicked my wheeled chair over and picked up the handset.
"502, this is County General, over."
"ETA 5 minutes out, 57-year-old canis lupus, acute abdomen."
_ _
I clicked the tangent.
"502, we copy you," I said, "we'll get ready to receive. Over."
"County General, 502, we copy. Stand advised that this one's a puker."
_ _
Nice.
"Roger that, 502. We're standing by."
"502, over."
_ _
I put the handset down.
"Acute abdomen coming up in 5," I repeated the news to my audience of two.
"I'll get Trauma One ready," Lydia was already on her paws.
"Page Leibowitz, and get the portable ultrasound to Trauma One," Doctor Anderson barked out.
"Aye, aye," I said, my paw already going for the phone.
A quick phone call upstairs, and then I was in the trauma room, strapping on my disposable gown. Lydia already had hers on, and had even fitted one of the new face shields on. That made me chuckle.
"Really?" I mused.
"You get projectile vomited for thirty years, you learn how to handle these things," the lion replied.
"Yep," I said, gloves snapping to my paws. "Where's the spare shields?"
"In the bottom left drawer there with the TB masks."
"Thanks, Lydia."
This is about the point when exciting, pounding music would start playing as the paramedics rushed in and everyone would be yelling commands and vitals and there'd be a hectic beat to the situation and spurting blood and -
"AAOOUUUUWFUUUUCK!"
_ _
Whoever they were bringing in, he was howling, literally howling, and once the gurney was pushed over the corner and then into the corridor outside the trauma room, I could see it indeed was the wolf that'd been announced beforehand, squirming on the gurney with one paw clutching his belly.
"...I'm Doctor Anderson, I'm going to be taking care of you."
I didn't really pay attention to that. While the fur walking on the front of the gurney was a vaguely familiar paramedic raccoon, trailing behind was none other than my Dan.
"...Alastair Johnson, 57, sudden onset of severe abdominal pain and vomiting, diaphoretic and anxious, gave 7 of morphine and started an IV..."
_ _
"...OWWSHIT!"
_ _
"Alright, let's get you to the bed..."
I stood by the heart monitor as they wheeled the wolf in, which meant that my favorite lion was away on the other side. We met eyes, and he managed to flash a smile, even through the tense situation.
"...vomited twice in the rig..."
"Alright, on three...two...one!"
"OWWUUUUW!"
_ _
"How much morphine?"
"Seven."
Dan rounded the gurney and gave me a white plastic bag.
"Patient's drugs," he said, "there wasn't much there, but he says it's everything."
I smiled again, quickly.
"Let's see," I said.
"Let's give him seven more of morphine and keep the fluids going," Anderson commented, "sir, when did this start?"
"OOOWWUUUH!"
_ _
"Any next of kin?" I asked from Daniel.
"No, lived alone."
"Sir, we have to look at your abdomen. Lydia, can you help mister Johnson undress?"
"SHIIIT!"
"Anything out of ordinary in place?"
"It all looked very neat, business-like."
"SHIT!"
"Morphine going in now," Lydia said, "please hold still, sir."
"Have you had your appendix removed, Mister Johnson?"
_ _
"YEAHYAAH!"
_ _
Face shield...I wondered where Lydia kept the earplugs.
"How much alcohol do you drink, sir?"
_ _
"...I think he's gonna..."
_ _
"BLAAARRRHHHGHHH!"
_ _
At least Lydia got the plastic basin in place in time. I decided to open the bag in my paws and take a look at what the paramedics had brought in.
"Antacids...PPI...Flomax...Tylenol... Coumadin..."
"At least this vomitus looks quite benign, seems to be just bile..."
"OWAAAAHHH!"
"Want to book the CT?"
"...hmmmyeah, Leibowitz will probably want to - "
"WHATTHEFUUUCKSWRONGWITHME?"
"We're taking care of you, sir, we just need to assess - "
"Want to push Versed?"
"Let's hold on that for a moment before we get some vitals and stats."
"He's not exactly being very cooperative - "
"AAUGUHU"
"Where's Leibowitz?"
"I paged him," I said, "the patient is on antacids and anti-coagulants..."
"Body temp is 98.78."
"F-FUCK!"
"Pulse ox 97, pulse 110."
"Abdomen is non-tender to palpation and not rigid..."
_ _
"Blood pressure is 136 over 100."
"How about that Versed?"
"Could it be pancreatitis?"
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?"
"Let's start with a CBC and lipase to rule out pancreatitis, and let's get that ultrasound here to rule out triple A."
"I'll draw bloods," I said.
"We're going to be heading back," the raccoon said.
"Thanks, guys," Doctor Anderson told him while brandishing his stethoscope.
I glanced over to Dan, who saw me, and mimed 'coffee' with his paw while looking at me. I smiled and nodded before tapping an imaginary watch on my wrist. He nodded in agreement and then they departed from the trauma room.
"GIMMEMOREDRUGS!"
"Sir, you should be quiet for a moment when I'm checking your bowel sounds."
"WHAT?!"
"Hsss..."
"AAhhAHHH....."
"You may wanna move back, doc..." Lydia managed.
He did jump, but since Lydia just managed to get the bowl in place, there was some splashing involved that caught the doctor's arm.
"Vomitus looks still normal, no blood."
Doctor Anderson glanced on the sleeve of his white coat.
"I can tell."
"SHIT!"
"BANG!"
"Gloves!"
Well, Doctor Leibowitz was in da house, so to speak. The fox was pretty much the optimal surgeon - cocky, young, aggressive, and with a father working as a cardiologist in Mt. Sinai in New York.
"What do we got?"
"Puke," Lydia said.
I decided to play a good nurse and grabbed a pair of nitrile gloves and handed them over to the swinging fox.
"Stats?"
Lydia read out the latest readouts while the fox snapped his gloves on and then approached the patient.
"THIS GONNA STOP-AAH-ANY-TIME-SOON?"
"We'll see what happens," the fox told him while kneading the wolf's heaving belly.
"I don't think it's a triple A, but it could be pancreatitis. Appy's been taken out."
"HMMMPH!"
"History of alcoholism?"
"F-FUCK NO!"
"Doesn't seem to be."
"Bloods?"
"Drawn a little back, no results yet."
"Any medications?"
"Antacids, PPI, BPH and warfarin," I replied.
The fox looked at me. The wolf dry-heaved, which made Lydia reach for the emesis basin, but for once, it was a false alarm.
"OHGOD..."
"Why are you on anticoagulants, Mister..."
"Johnson," Doctor Anderson said.
"Mister Johnson, why do you take anticoagulant medication?"
The wolf hissed and huffed.
"...h-heart..."
"Heart?" the fox demanded. "What is your heart condition?"
"HHsshhaah....fib...fib...fib...something?"
"Atrial fibrillation?" the fox snapped.
"AUGUHH..."
"Try to get his old charts."
"UGH..."
"I think he's gonna go again..." Lydia said.
Leibowitz didn't even flinch.
"And no localized pain?"
"No, and bowel sounds are good."
"Let's start papaverin and call in the OR and we need Petersen and Gupta in at once," the fox stated, "looks like it could be a mesentery ischemia."
Doctor Anderson frowned.
"That's pretty rare."
"He's got risk factors for it," the fox replied, "and no other obvious pathology."
"What do you want to do?"
Doctor Leibowitz turned to me.
"Call the cath lab and tell I'm bringing in a patient with possible mesenteric embolectomy to come in stat," he said. "And have an OR ready, we may have to go in if we can't get through it."
"Okay."
*
Well that's our life. Thirty minutes from the moment poor mister Mr. Johnson came in, he was being wheeled out to the surgical floor to get the treatment that'd probably save his life. All that was left for me was to get rid of my protective gear, sign a few papers check up with Mandy on the desk whether anything interested had happened while I was involved with the emergency patient.
It was a really good opportunity to grab some coffee, but when I entered the dimly lit room, I certainly had not expected to find Daniel there.
"What're you doing here?" I chuckled.
He was sitting on the small table, with a plastic cup in paw, sipping in his brew, when I came in, and he was smiling brightly at me once he saw who it was.
"Coffee, like we agreed."
"I thought that was after work," I hissed.
"Nope," he smiled. "Dwayne went to steal supplies so I thought I'd pop by, knowing you'd come soon."
"Well I'm here," I replied, certainly pleased that my better half had decided to surprise me, "but what's up with you driving with a...a Dwayne?"
"Rodriguez is taking a week off for paternity leave and Cyril is certifying in ACLS, so Dwayne needed a partner."
I walked over to the coffeemaker with some extra wag to my tail now that Dan was here, if only for a moment, and poured myself a nice cupful.
"Sounds like the EMS are playing musical chairs."
"Hahah, yeah. Should be back to normal next week."
"And to day shifts?" I asked hopefully.
"And that too," he said.
I walked over to the table and sat opposite to him, my paws wrapped around my cup.
"Interesting case," I said, "mesenteric ischemia."
"Damn!" his ears flip-flopped. "I was thinking pancreatitis..."
"He went up with Leibowitz, he's gonna try to cath it out, or operate."
"Bet he was eager."
"He was practically purring, and he's a fox," I chuckled.
"Euhumuhp?!"
_ _
My laugh was loud enough that apparently it roused a pile of newspapers on the couch, which was revealed to be a man, a lion, to be precise, whose head jumped up from the armrest and he looked in our direction, skewed glasses over his muzzle.
"...did you guys need me?" the lion mumbled.
"Sorry," I drooped my ears sheepishly, "nothing's up. Just having coffee."
"Uh...okay."
He was rumbling within a minute.
"Who's that?" Dan whispered.
"Jake something, a computer guy who's checking out our patient record systems," I replied, "he's here for the week to do computer stuff."
"Sounds awesome," Dan said.
He was smiling, and he knew that only chaos could ensue from such a presence. I smiled, too.
"They make him be here all the time," I said, "I think he lives in the hospital."
"So, just like you?"
"Oww," I pouted.
"Sorry."
"At least we've got the entire day off, don't we?" I smiled.
"Yeah, whatever part of it we don't spend sleeping," he said. "And then we'll have to wake up early for the morning shift, don't we?"
"I have to, yeah," I said.
"So we'll manage," he said.
"We always do," I smiled.
SLAM!
"Whutsomeone need me?" the lion on the couch yelped into awareness.
_ _
"Speckle, Lydia is doing the manual extraction so you better get your tail over here to help Cheng with a head lac, stat."
"Oh well, no rest for the wicked," I mused as I downed another gulp of petrol-like coffee.
"I'll see you soon," Daniel told me.
We held eyes for another small moment, and then I had to go.
*
Thank you for reading! Hope you liked, and I hope to hear from you!