Friends to the End Chapter 14
Best friends to the end
Chapter 14
New faces, new situations
This story is a work of fiction and all characters are made up. If you are under the legal age go away. Please email me about what you thank, casper717@sbcglobal.net. I want to thank Pete my medical guy and Tyler Peel for the use of his characters from The Road Home which can be found at the link below.
http://tylerpeel.closettales.net/The_Road_Home/ I hope you enjoy this chapter
Cast of character
Matt Taylor computer technician that lives alone
Jeremy White Matt's best friend, Emergency Medicine resident
Ron Waters work at Academy and brother of Ben
Ben Waters work for Dallas fire rescue, brother of Ron
Beth Waters Matt's apartment manger, sister to Ron and Ben
Previously
"Is it possible I can go to Baylor medical center, my brother's friend is a doctor over there? " One of the guys got in the back and motioned me to get in with him. I heard the helicopter taking off, and then something sent chills down my spine.
"This is air1 we are in route to Baylor medical center trauma alert patient is in full respiratory arrest."
From Beth's point of view:
I picked up my cell phone and I decided to call Ben again.
"Station 49, May I help you."
"I left a message earlier, tell him that this is his sister is on the way to Baylor Medical for treatment, but his best friend is in a helicopter on the way to Baylor."
"The fire truck is pulling up right now; do you want to talk to him?"
"Just tell him to get to Baylor; his best friend may not make it."
At station 49
"Waters you got to get to Baylor Medical, your sister and best friend were in an accident, and a helicopter just left the scene. I already called in Peters now go!"
"Thanks captain, I will call and let you all know how everything goes."
I wander who was with Beth, my best friend. It can't be Jake he is out of town with his family. I got in my car and started driving toward Baylor.
At Baylor Medical Center ER
"Dr. Anderson this is your first time working Friday night you are in for a long night."
"Well Dr. Williams, my residency requires me to rotate through different ERs, and I know Dallas has everything.
"That is an understatement! They gave you the tour earlier but I am going to turn you over to Dr. Jeremy White. He is the chief resident of ER, and he has seen everything. He is one of the best when it come to trauma care, and has published 2 articles in the journal of Emergency medicine."
"Well it has been a pleasure meeting you, and I hope to see you again before heading back to Philadelphia."
"Dr. White I would like for you to meet Dr. Derek Anderson. He is a 3rd year ED (Emergency Department) ,resident who is doing an away rotation. He is based at Philadelphia General Hospital. He is used to working in urban trauma."
"Please to meet you Dr. Anderson; it has been a slow week, so I think we are going to have a lot of trauma's come in tonight. This is one of the biggest ER's in Dallas, although, Parkland Memorial gets about 12 traumas an hour. We are not that formal down here so just call me Jeremy."
Jeremy's point of view
I walked with Dr. Anderson to the back door of the ER and pointed out the different rooms. I started at the back in the shock trauma rooms.
"We have 3 big shock trauma rooms, and 5 smaller trauma bays, and 35 patient rooms. But from what Dr. Williams had said, you are going to work with me the next two weeks before switching to the mad house of regular rooms."
"Yeah, I work at a county ER in Philadephia. My partner thought it was a good idea to go to different cities, as I would see a tremendous patient population. My first year I worked so hard, I never had a personal life. My dad was right! ED (emergency room) was a challenging residency."
"Well I almost washed out my 1st year. The hours were really bad, and if it had not been for my best friend Matt, I may have walked away. The work never seemed to stop. But Matt said that I was there to learn, and that I had to accept that some people will die no matter how hard you try."
"Derek, normally I walk around, until my pager goes off for a trauma, or if a patient has been moved from a regular room to a trauma room. Things seem to be quiet so if you want we can go to the office and I will show you how we order and chart everything." I introduced Dr. Anderson to the nurses at the desk and we came to an office. I scanned my badge, and the door opened. He took a seat right across from me and logged into the system. "We have one of these computer systems at PGH, and I really, really love it tremendously." I spent about 15 minutes working with Dr. Anderson when:
BEEPPPPPPPPPPPPP
Dr. Anderson's and Dr. White's pager went off. "Air1, trauma alert, 4 minutes out, MVA respiratory arrest."
I opened up the computer and saw that Air1 patient was going to shock trauma 1. "If you want I will run the trauma, and you can assist."
"That will be fine, lets go save a patient. " Dr. Anderson walked by the desk and found the room really easy. I walked in and told everyone that he was a new resident. The nurse's had pulled the trays out that they thought I might need. I heard the helicopter landing. I put on my goggles and a gown, I reached up and grabbed me a pair of gloves and put them on. I started feeling my adrenaline rise, as I was the captain of the team.
"Derek would you be on the left side of the patient, and I will be on the right side." He nodded and put on goggles, gown, and gloves. I looked over at him and he looked very confident. I heard the back door open and I new the patient was now in the ER. 2 flight nurse's along with 1 ER nurse were pushing the patient into the room.
"We have a 26 year old male involved in a MVA. Patients vital are 85 over 30, pulse 160, respirations 32, very labored. We have intubated him, in the helicopter. His O2 sat on scene was 75. Patient has a tracheal shift. Also I took note of a rigid upper left quadrant of his abdomen. We drew a trauma panel of blood. We're running Normal Saline wide open. On scene they said his air bag did not work."
I looked down at the patient and it felt like someone kicked me in the back. There on the gurney was my best friend Matt. It felt like my world stopped as I looked at all of the injuries I saw.
"Jeremy, Jeremy the patient is here, aren't you going to assess the patient." Dr. Anderson said a little unsure of what was going on.
""Dr. Anderson, I can't run this trauma. This is my best friend Matt I was telling you about in the office." I was almost in tears. I stepped back and took off my goggles.
Dr. Anderson's point of view
I had felt really bad for Jeremy, his best friend in shock trauma, but my job was to get the patient assessed and start treatment. "Page Dr. Williams please."
I pulled out my stethoscope and listened to the patients lungs. I did not like what I heard... or rather, didn't hear, namely no breath sounds in whole left hand side of his chest. Not good! ""I need chest X-Ray in here STAT (now), and tell the blood bank I want 4 units of type specific blood up, NOW." The nurse began moving and Dr. White just stood there seeming quite pale, and with a kind of blank look on his face. "I want him to be in cat scan in 5 minutes for an abdominal scan with contrast." The portable x-ray came in and quickly took their pictures. I walked over to the computer and punched in some orders. The phone rang and I answered it. "Shock trauma 1 Dr. Anderson."
"This is Dr. Williams, I was just paged."
"Dr. White has a problem. We were working a trauma and he found out it was his best friend. It's not good at all. He is very shaken right now, I thank he need to be taken off the service."
"All right, I will be down in 5 minutes and see you in CAT scan."
"Dr. Anderson, his hemoglobin is 8.5." One of the nurses said.
"Where the hell is that blood?" Sure enough a nurse came into the room carrying an igloo, and put 4 bags of blood on the pole. I went over to the computer and pulled up the patient's chest x-ray. I did not like what I saw at all. The whole left side of the X-ray was black, with just a nub of the collapsed left lung visible. Worse, the heart shadow was pushed way over to the right side, and the right lung was compressed. "Damn! Just as I suspected; he's got a tension pneumothorax!"
"Set me up for a chest tube tray on the left side." A nurse opened a cabinet drawer and pulled out the kit. I have put in many chest tubes, but it felt like there was more pressure as I inserted the chest tube. I looked over and saw his vitals start to improve. I felt like he was stable enough to move. "Please hook this up to suction", I directed the nurse. I looked down and saw that it was working well. I looked up and saw his heart rate had risen to 62. I felt like he was stable enough to get scanned.
"Dr. White, we need to take your friend to CAT scan." A nurse came in and told us that Cat Scan 3 was ready for us. I opened the doors and Dr. White pulled the stretcher. One nurse stood at the back and was squeezing a bag. We turned the corner and were moving at a fast pace. We got to the CAT scan room. The tech met us in the room. The nurse put on a lead vest. Dr. White and I went to the other room. Dr. William's walked in. "Give me report Dr. Anderson."
"He's in shock – hypotensive, tachycardic, and has a tension pneumothorax on the left. I put a chest tube in, with 200 cc of blood suctioned. 4 units of packed cells are on board. He's semi conscious, barely, though. Dr Williams. If the CT shows what I think this patient will need an X-LAP pronto. His hemoglobin was 8.5 and his systolic has not come above 65."
Just then BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP
"Dr. White, your pager is going off."
I saw him take his pager off and look at it. "The passenger of the wreck has been brought in and is in B8."
"Well, why don't you go and check on her. Dr. Anderson and I have this patient well in hand. "
"Once we have a chance to look at the CT scan and decide what to do, I will come and find you okay. But I would bet you a dozen cinnamon buns that he will be going to surgery. " I saw Dr. White walk out and I started looking at the pictures that were now appearing on the monitor.
ER room b8
"Please tell Dr. White that his friend is here."
"I will page him now, but can you remain still so I can take a look at those cuts, a few of them are deep." I heard the door open and I saw Jeremy but he looked as white as a ghost. He came in and walked over to me. The nurse walked out and told she would be back in a few minutes.
"Jeremy I am so glad you are here, how is Matt?" Jeremy looked like he had been crying so I knew it was bad.
"He is critical, and from the sounds of it, he may be bleeding internally. My attending told me to come and fix you up?" Jeremy came over and started looking at the cuts I had.
"Well I want to get these stitches done so I can go find out what is going on with Matt!"
Jeremy went over and put on a pair of gloves when someone knocked on the door.
"I heard you were in an accident Beth, what happened?" Ben walked over to me and was breathing very hard.
"Matt and I were driving and some asshole hit us as we were turning," I saw tears start to come down Jeremy's face. Ben walked over to Jeremy and hugged him
"He is in critical condition, and they may be taking him up for emergency surgery." Just then I heard a knock on the door and Derek came in.
"Jeremy, I just sent your friend up to the OR with Dr. Williams. He has a pretty big tear in his spleen. I ordered 5 more units of blood to be ready for him. Dr. Williams has paged in Dr. Caldwell to cover for you."
"Why don't you let me close these wounds and you for your friend can go over to the surgical waiting room." I saw him nod; I pushed the call button and got a pair of gloves. The intercom made a beep, "I need a nurse to assist me with wound care please." I saw Jeremy and the fireman walk out of the room.
"I don't know if we have met, I am Dr. Anderson a visiting resident. I will be putting some stitches in your leg for you."
"I will have you stitched up in 4 minutes okay." A female nurse came in carrying a procedure kit. I pulled over a table, and got my instruments lined up the wait I needed them
"I would like to take you home with me Dr and have my way with you." I started blushing and laughed.
"Well my boyfriend in Philadelphia might object to that." I talked with Mrs. Waters for 10 minutes while I worked and soon had 5 neat sutures in place. I removed my gloves and threw them away. "You will need to return in 7 days and have them removed, although if I were you I would have your brother's friend come over to your house and do it." The nurse looked at me and glared at me. "My 24 year old brother Luke had stitches after he got into a fight with some machine at Kraft. Well after hearing a guilt trip, I went over and took his stitches out." I went out to the computer, and put in the discharge orders for Mrs. Waters
ICU waiting room 2 hour later (Jeremy's POV)
"Family and friend of Matt Taylor, please come to counseling room 3. Will the family and friends of Matt Taylor please come to counseling room 3." I heard it and looked over at Ben. He jumped up and took off toward the room. I walked very quickly over to the room. I saw Dr. Williams sitting along with 1 other doctor.
"I am Dr. Williams and this is Dr Peters. Your friend signed a medical release so I can talk to you two about his medical condition." I nodded knowing that Dr. Williams would not break the rules for me. "We opened up Matt, and his spleen was bleeding. Well I tried everything I could, but I had no choice but to remove the spleen. We have given him a great deal of blood. Right now I am turning his care over to Dr. Peters. He has started regaining consciousness, but I thank he will remain in the ICU until we see some progress with his left lung being collapsed." I looked over and saw a few tears coming down Ben's face. We stood up and I shook Dr. Williams's hand. I opened the door and Ben and I walked out. A lady walked over and hugged Ben.
"I am Beth Waters, Matt landlord, friend. I just got here 2 minutes ago what did the doctor say about Matt?" I introduced myself to her and told her what we found out. I went up to the desk and asked what room Matt Taylor was in? The receptionist told me he was in MICU 14. Ben took off running and I followed at a slower pace. I heard Ben banging on the outer door hoping someone would open it. I swiped my bagde and the door opened. I pointed to the left and we started walking to the West part of the ICU.
"HE is in that room," I said pointing to a room that was rather close to the nurse's station. We walked in and I was extremely relieved to see him. Ben walked up to his face and started talking to him.
"Matt, Matt its Ben I am here." Ben grabbed Matt's left hand and squeezed it. Beth walked over to the right side of the bed.
"Hey bonehead, I said you could come see me here at the hospital, but this is not the way I wanted to see you. Now you got to hurry up and get better." I heard an alarm start sounding as all 3 of us were talking to him. A nurse came in and told us that when he wakes up to keep him from pulling the tubes out. I nodded and saw that his chest tube was still draining. "Matt it's time for you to wake up."
`He is moving his hand," Ben said very excited. I reached down and picked up his hand and I felt him close his hand as he made a fist. I saw his eyes start to move and I new that he was almost conscious.
"Hi sweetie, welcome back. You were in an accident and they brought you to the hospital where Jeremy work's. "I saw Matt slowly start to move his eyes. He started to move his hand and I instantly knew what the problem was. He could feel the tube in his mouth. I bent down near Matt," Matt you must not fight the breathing tube. You had some pretty serious injuries. Matt they will sedate you if needed." That seemed to calm him down as his eyes were wide open now. Ben bent down and kissed Matt.
"It's so good to see you awake baby. You scared the shit out of me."
I pushed the call button and told the nurse that Matt was now awake. Dr. Peter's came in and asked for all of us to leave. As we were walking out Matt started becoming very restless again. I tuned around, and saw Ben walk back over to the bed. "Calm down Matt and let the doctor examine you. I am not going to leave as long as you remain calm." Ben nodded and the doctor began his examination of Matt. I waited outside the room with Beth. The doctor walked out after 10 minutes. I looked through the window and saw the doctor examine Matt thoroughly.
"Your friend does not like being on the ventilator, I told him that we would draw lab, and do another chest X-Ray before I removed the tube."
Beth walked back into the room. I decided I wanted to go back to the see Matt then to the ER and check on the new guy Dr. Anderson. I walked in and Matt smiled as he saw me. He pointed to the tube.
"I know it is very uncomfortable, but you have a collapsed lung, and are just coming out of surgery. I will be in for rounds tomorrow and if everything looks good we will get that out. It is really late buddy and I can actually sleep knowing you are alright
"Jeremy can you give Beth a ride back home, I am going to stay here and spend the night with Matt."
"Sure no problem," Jeremy and Beth walked out and I made myself cozy in the recliner next to Matt and fell asleep.
I walked down to the ER and looked for Derek. I looked at the board and saw another trauma had come in. I made a mental note to do something special for him.
I want to thank my editors steve, dave, pete and Mac. I could not have written this story with out you. Stay tuned for the next chapter, and please email me your thoughts @ casper717@sbcglobal.net.