Adventures at Hopkins

Back to work

It was already 2 weeks ago that Amelia and I went to Miami together. We had so much fun and I couldn't wait to go again in a couple of months. Amelia and I have been going to the bar as usual, nothing had really changed since the party and our kiss. We both knew it was just for a game but I started to feel more for her.

"Hey stranger, how are you?" Amelia asked as she walked in the scrub room. We were scrubbing in together on an emergency appendectomy on a 15 year old.

"Nervous but excited how about you?" I asked still scrubbing my arms and hands.

"Couldn't be better."

We both finished scrubbing and entered the OR our residents telling us where to stand and what to do. I got to hold the retractor and Amelia held on to a clamp. The surgery lasted for about 2 hours and when we finished we took the patient up to the postoperative room. We checked his vitals, everything looked good. We went downstairs and searched for some good cases and bloody surgeries. We found a guy in trauma room 3 with an open femur fracture and a severed arm. We went in and helped where we could. We went to the OR trying our best to reattach the arm but the cut wasn't clean enough and had been severed for too long. The orthopedic surgeon repaired his femur and the surgery was done. We scrubbed out and went to go eat lunch.

"How about instead of going to the bar after work we go to my place and order pizza and watch a movie?"

"Sounds like a plan."

We had been a lot to Amelia's place but never to mine, hers was closer to the hospital so it was easier. We went back to work and said goodbye. I went to the neuro floor and she went to the cardio floor. I was on neuro today and I was getting orders from the head of neuro. I wasn't really interested in neuro but I did as I told. This afternoon we had a brainaneurysm planned and I went to get the patient to pre-op. I ran labs and made sure everything was good to go for the OR. I asked a nurse to let the attending know that I was coming up with the patient. I scrubbed in and watched the attending clip the aneurysm. Everything went smoothly and we were done before we knew it. I took the patient to post-op and check the vitals. The patient was doing well but we would only be able to tell for sure if there were any neurological deficits when the patient woke up. I went to check on the other patients and went to the locker room to get a snack.

Amelia's POV
I was on cardio today, it wasn't my favorite but it was fun once in a while. I was hoping for some good bloody surgeries. I really needed some blood on my hands, the past few days I haven't been in a lot of surgeries and I was a surgery junky in need of a surgery. I got down to the pit and the attending told me to wait in the ambulance bay for the incoming ambulance. The ambulance arrived 2 minutes later. The paramedics took out on older guy.

"John Doe around 65 years old found unconscious at the scene."

I took the guy to trauma room 2 and started an echo. There was nothing wrong in his abdomin so I moved to his heart and I was barely beating. I paged the cardio attending and he told me to get some more scans and a better echo. I took him upstairs but before I got there he coded.

"Code blue, code blue someone get me a crash card now!"

The nurses came running with a crash card and set everything up. I told them to page the cardio attending. A minute later he arrived, I was still doing CPR while the nurses charged the paddles to 300. I shocked the patient but nothing changed. I yelled to charge them again and shocked him again. His rhythm came back and the attending told me to take him straight to the OR. We didn't have much time, when we opened him we saw that his coronary artery was dissecting. I wished for a bloody surgery and I got one. It got messy and they paged other surgeons to come and help. I was only an intern so I was not allowed to do very much, but I got to help save this man's life. A couple of hours later everything calmed down in the OR and the man's stats were normal again. We finished closing him up and I took him to the cardiac ICU. I checked is vitals again and went downstairs to get something to drink.

I walked in the locker room to get my water and saw Arizona sitting on the bench. I said hello and she jumped up. Apparently she was sleeping. I woke her up and started laughing when she jumped up looking at me with a confused look on her face. I sat next to her and smiled.

"Tough day?"
"Not at all I am just taking a power nap, I have a surgery later and I need to be rested. How is your day going?"

"Just got out of surgery, 65 year old with a coronary artery dissection."

"Did he make it?"

"Yes, it was touch and go but he made it out."

*BEEP BEEP*

I looked down at my pager and saw a 911 page form my cardio attending.

"Shit, I have to go. See you later."

I went to the ICU and the guy was coding again. I went to take over CPR and they shocked the patient. Nothing changed, they shocked him 3 times after that but he kept coding. The attending stopped and looked at the rhythm to see him flatline again.

"Time of death 5pm."

"What happened, I thought we saved him."

"It was just too much for his body. Why don't you go change and go home." He said looking at me and seeing that I couldn't believe this happened.

"Thank you doctor." As i said that inwalked away in shock of what just happened. This was my first loss, my first patient that died. I went to the locker room and changed and went home. I texted Arizona.

From Amelia: I am going home. Text me when your done an I'll come to your place.

From Arizona: Ok I'll let you know. Everything ok?

From Amelia: Yes, I will tell you tonight.

About an hour later I got a text that Arizona left the hospital so I grabbed my bag and left. I arrived at her house 20 minutes later and knocked on the door. She opened with her beautiful, big smile on her face. Seeing her standing there made me instantly happy. I went inside and we sat on the couch. We ate pizza and talked about what had happened today. We didn't make it very late, we were both very tired. I left her house at 10pm and once I was home I went straight to bed.