AGAINST HOPE
by: PEBBLES
Part 9
~~^~~^~~^~~^~~^~~
It was all Kerry
could do to stop herself from grabbing the paddles as the British
team flew into action. One doctor performed CPR whilst Dr
Booth stood ready with the defibrillator. All attention was
fixed on the monitor, which continued to beep wildly as Luka’s
heart beat frantically and without rhythm. The seconds
seemed like hours.
“Shock him!”
Kerry put her hand to her mouth as she recognised her own voice
rising above the noise of the monitor. She felt Carter’s
hand pull gently on her arm.
“Clear!”
Booth called as he applied the two paddles to Luka’s chest.
The first shock pulsed through his body. All eyes returned
to the monitor. One second, two seconds, three…
“Charge to
200! Clear!” Again Booth pressed the paddles to
Luka’s inert body. This time the shock sent caused his
body to jolt with it’s power. One second, two second,
three…
“Charge to
300…” Booth began, a note of desperation creeping into
his voice.
“Normal
sinus rhythm!” The junior doctor called out
triumphantly. There was a sigh of relief all round.
Kerry started to breathe again.
“Okay, lets
give him Bretylium – 10mg/kg.” The relief was
evident in Booth’s voice, too. This man was a fellow
physician even if the British doctor had never met him before.
He turned back to the two American doctors who had brought their
colleague in. “His blood pressure’s improving and
his temperature is up one degree already – let’s go and
see where the surgical team has got to.
Carter and Kerry
followed him out into the hall and towards the administration
desk. As they walked down the hall, they became aware of
raised voices at the desk. Even before the owner of the
clipped English accent came into view, Kerry had recognised the
voice.
“Well,
either you page Dr Booth now or else I’ll bloody well go and
look for him myself!”
“Elizabeth!”
Kerry crutched towards the taller woman, a huge smile of relief
on her face. Looking round and seeing Kerry and Carter
approaching, Elizabeth Corday returned the smile”
“How did you
get here?” Kerry asked in amazement.
“The hotel
manager lent us his Porsche. Doug’s just finding
somewhere to park it.” Elizabeth grinned “Doug
and that car were made for each other!” Seeing the
others concerned faces the smile disappeared from her lips.
“How is Luka?”
“Just about
holding his own. They’re trying to get his body
temperature up a couple more degrees before he goes up for
surgery but we’re running out of time with his leg. It’s
been without a pulse for at least three – maybe four hours
now.” Kerry tried to retain her professional composure
but she felt her hand beginning to tremble as she grasped her
crutch.
There was a
rumble of voices behind them as Dr Booth approached with two
other doctors – both in scrubs. “Dr Weaver and Dr
Carter,” he called to them. “Let me introduce our
Surgical Registrar Mr Brodrick and this is Mr Singh.” There
was a flurry of handshaking and pleasantries and Kerry introduced
Elizabeth to Dr Booth and his colleagues.
“I should
very much like to scrub in.” Elizabeth politely
requested once the introductions were over. “Although
I practice in Chicago I have retained my Fellowship.”
The English
doctors exchanged glances. Seeking to head off any possible
objection, Elizabeth drew her self up to her full height. “I
have considerable experience in this type of trauma – I
would be very willing to assist in any way I can.”
“Of course
Dr Corday – we would be delighted to have you on board.”
Brodrick smiled. “Now, we must see how our patient is
shaping up.” The whole group moved back up the hall to
the trauma room where Luka was being treated.
Kerry found
herself at the back of the group, barely able to see Luka for all
the doctors crowding around.
“I would
like to see him regain consciousness before releasing him for
surgery.” Dr Booth was saying.
“We can’t
be sure that will happen within the next hour – after that,
we risk losing the leg.” Brodrick sounded indecisive.
“What is his
core temperature now?” Elizabeth enquired
“33 degrees
and his blood pressure is rising steadily.”
“Okay.
Well, let’s get some x-rays done and then prep him for
surgery.” Elizabeth paused. “If you’re
in agreement with that, Mr Brodrick?”
“Fully, Dr
Corday. And please, you may call me Stephen as we shall be
working together.” He smiled, not able to hide his
admiration for this extremely confident and striking looking
woman.
“It’s
Elizabeth. And thank you for letting me help – not
many surgeons are so…er… accommodating.” She
grinned back, forgetting for the moment the complete ruination of
her wedding night.
There was a surge
of activity as all the equipment was rearranged so that it could
be moved with Luka, in preparation of the move to the OR. Brodrick
and Elizabeth went on ahead to scrub and discuss the procedure.
Carter excused himself to go in search of a coffee machine.
For a moment, Kerry found herself alone with Luka except for a
couple of nurses who were making adjustments to the IVs etc and
certainly paying no attention to her.
She moved closer
to the bed. Luka looked so peaceful now - if you could
ignore the various tubes and lines which snaked in and out of his
body. His hair hung limply over his forehead, almost
reaching his eyes and Kerry felt a strong urge to smooth it away
from his brow. She studied the strong line of his eyebrows,
which normally leant so much expression to his face. Her
eyes swept over the fine chiselled nose and wide sensitive mouth.
She longed to
touch him but held back. It would not be appropriate.
After all, there was no relationship between them beyond
friendship. Kerry reassured herself that they were at least
friends, not just colleagues but – oh, she just wished there
could have been something more.
Finally, she
plucked up the courage to take hold of his hand – holding it
lightly between her two much smaller ones. She massaged the
fingers between her own. “Luka” her voice creaked
with so much emotion held in check. “You’re safe
in the hospital, now. Elizabeth is going to fix up your leg
and everything is going to be just fine.” She breathed
rather than spoke these words of comfort as if scared that
someone else might hear her. “I’m going to be here when
you wake up so just you hang on in there – okay?”
Kerry willed him
to wake up and open his eyes - just to acknowledge her presence
but there was no sign that he was even near reaching
consciousness. Squeezing his hand a little tighter, Kerry raised
it briefly to her lips, planting the softest of kisses on his
fingers.
“Hey! How’s
the big guy doing?” Doug’s voice behind her
startled Kerry and she nearly dropped Luka’s hand like a hot
coal. Instead, she quickly replaced it on the bed and
shoved her own hands into the pockets of her sweats.
“Doug!
You startled me!” She turned to meet his mischievous
grin.
“I can see
that. Don’t look so guilty, Kerry. I’m sure
he wouldn’t object to your …er… ministrations.”
Doug’s grin was even wider, letting Kerry know exactly what
he was thinking.
Kerry knew
nothing she could say would throw him off the scent so she
decided to try and distract him by other means. “I’m
so glad you brought Elizabeth. She’s going to scrub in
and assist with the re-vascularisation.”
“Yeah?
Well, it was the least I could do. Mark may never forgive
me but I can live with that!” He shrugged. “Anyway,
you haven’t answered my question.” He nodded
towards Luka. “How’s he doing?”
“Okay, for
now. It was a little scary when we first arrived – he
went into V-fib and they had to shock him.” Kerry
swallowed, remembering the feeling of utter panic that had swept
over her. “But he seems stable now and his temperature
is rising.”
The two doctors
stood in silence, side by side – each lost in their own
thoughts. It was Doug who first broke the spell, his voice
low and serious. “I’m sorry, Kerry. If I
hadn’t been such an asshole none of this would have
happened.”
“Yeah.”
Kerry was not going to deny it. She turned to look Doug in
the eye. “There’s no point dwelling on it,
though. We just have to do the best we can for him now.”
She tried to smile but just the effort of it brought tears to her
eyes.
Seeing her
distress, Doug held out his arms to her and, to his amazement,
Kerry allowed herself to be held. No words were spoken as
they embraced and Doug gently stroked her back. After a few
moments, Kerry pushed herself out of his arms and, this time, she
was able to pull a little lop sided smile.
“Hey,”
Doug smiled back. “He’s going to be all right.”
“Doug!”
Carter called out as he returned with two cups of steaming
coffee. “Here, have one of these – I can go and
get another.” He handed Doug and Kerry a cup each.
He grinned at Doug. “I hear you got to drive a 911?”
“Yeah!
What a babe! I gotta put my name down for one of those when
we get back home.”
Dr Booth returned
and, after checking on his patient one last time, authorised his
movement to the OR. As Luka was pushed down the hallway,
Kerry, Doug and Carter followed. There was a waiting area
outside the OR and they resigned themselves for a long wait.
Kerry sat down first, her leg aching from the long day on her
feet. She shut her eyes but sleep would not come.
~~^~~^~~^~~^~~^~~
Time dragged by.
Kerry was alone with her thoughts – both Doug and Carter had
fallen asleep after a desultory conversation about the merits of
various sports cars. She stared out of the window at the
lights of the city below and shivered. The night was cold.
Kerry didn’t
like the way she was feeling. Up until now she had made
sure that her private life was uncomplicated – devoid of
wayward emotions. There was enough stress in her job
without having to worry about a ‘significant other’.
She liked to come home to a quiet empty house – didn’t
she? To retreat into her shell, lick her wounds and gain
strength for another day in the trenches.
When she was
younger – well, that had been different. Then, she had
longed to find a soul mate. A handsome man to sweep her off
her feet and take her to his bed. Someone to share her life
with and make babies together. But it was too late now.
Kerry had resigned herself to a single life. A life she had
control over – with no surprises.
This feeling
inside her – the tightness around her heart every time she
looked at Luka. This was not a part of the plan. She
felt out of control – raw emotions coursing through her
veins – she couldn’t handle it. Sighing she let
her head rest in her hands.
“Kerry.”
Elizabeth’s voice cut into her reverie. Looking up she
saw her friend approaching with a smile on her face. She
sat down next to Kerry. “It went well. The leg
is going to be fine although he’ll be in traction for some
time.”
“Oh, thank
God.” Kerry felt a huge wave of relief sweep over her.
“And how’s he doing, otherwise?”
“Pretty
well, considering. His core temp is back to normal and so
is his BP – we just have to wait and see now.” Neither
woman wanted to say aloud the niggling fear that Luka might not
come out of his coma - might have suffered some brain damage.
It was early yet – no reason to suspect the worst.
Doug woke up at
the sound of their voices and Elizabeth filled him in on how the
surgery had gone. Carter continued to sleep –
stretched out full length on the easy chairs.
“You might
like to take a look at these.” Elizabeth waved the
packet of X-rays she held in her hand. “His leg was
quite a mess.” She stood up and pinned the films to
the nearby light box.
Doug and Kerry
joined her to study the images. “Oh my…”
Kerry started, seeing the confusion of splintered bone.
“Yes, it was
quite a job to fix this up. Fortunately Stephen Brodrick is
an excellent man and did a great job.” Pointing at the
film she continued. “Look, here and here. The
bone has been broken before and not well set. Actually, it
doesn’t look like it was set at all – see here -
the deformity?” She glanced at the others to see their
reaction.
Doug stared hard
at the image for a while and then rubbed his chin. “Yeah.
He told me it was broken before.” He paused wondering
if he should share the information Luka had given him. Figuring
that the Croatian wouldn’t mind if he told the story he
turned to face the women. “It was in the war - Vukovar
- I think he said. He was taken prisoner and… er…
while he was there, the guards beat him up – smashed his leg
with a riffle butt.”
Neither Kerry nor
Elizabeth said a word – just stared at Doug in disbelief.
He shrugged. “Guess none of us knows the full story about
him.”
“He’s
been through so much – it’s hard to imagine how much
pain he has suffered.” Elizabeth spoke softly. “Um,
he’ll be moved to recovery by now. Do you want—”
“Yes.”
Said Kerry, cutting short Elizabeth’s question.
“I think it’s
this way.” Elizabeth led the way.
“I’ll
wake up Carter,” said Doug to their retreating backs.
End of Part 9
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