Torn: A B5 Story

Dreamer

It felt amazing to be back in the hospital. The sterile smell that filled the halls and the cold air always made me feel at home. I had the opportunity to work three straight days with 12 hour shifts and have the rest of the week off. I would rather knock each day out in a row instead of skipping throughout the week. At least working these long hours would take my mind off of Patrick and Kaloub and I would be too tired to even think after my three days were over. Kaloub had left Sunday afternoon to head back to Florida. I had a feeling he wanted to talk more about the text from Patrick and me changing my phone pass code but he did not say anything. Every time my phone would vibrate or light up, he would just look at me as if he were looking for an answer to whatever questions he was formulating in his head. I wanted to give him that peace of mind that there was no longer anything going on between Patrick and I without revealing that something had happened to begin with. I knew my indiscretion would crush him and I could not bear to even think of what he would say or do if he ever found out.

I was originally supposed to be training in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to correlate with my studies for my masters degree but the head of nursing wanted to put me under a little pressure so I was assigned to the emergency room for the next month. I did not mind at all, the busier I kept the better it was for my emotions and myself.

I spent most of the day taking blood pressure, talking to patients about their injuries, doing initial assessments, learning how to scan the equipment used for billing, and keeping busy. The first several hours flew by faster than I thought they would and I found myself enjoying all the new people I was meeting in and outside of the hospital. At the end of my last hour before getting off at six p.m., the head of the E.R. assigned me to a female patient who had substantial bruising to her back. I learned not to assume anything before getting to know someone so I tried my best to hold an objective view before passing my judgements.

As I entered the room I began to introduce myself when I realized it was Loissa.

"Julie?" She said surprised and not as keen to my presence.

"Hello, Loissa. My whole reason for being in Atlanta was for work and school which is why I am here." I said while drawing the curtain for privacy.

"I don't want to seem rude or anything but do you I could get another nurse to check on me? I just don't want any conflict of interests." She said while looking down at her arm.

I pulled up a chair and sat down adjacent from her.

"If it makes you feel any better, as a health professional, it is against the law for me to go outside of this hospital and tell anyone anything about what we speak on today. There are no conflict of interests here. You don't have to worry about that." I said trying to reassure her.

She sighed and I could see tears fall down her face as her body convulsed trying to fight them back.

"I know we haven't known each other long, but I can do my best to help you through this but you have to honest with me as I am honest with you." I said grabbing her chart.

"Okay." She said.

As I was viewing her chart, I could see that she had numerous visits to the hospital for various injuries. I went ahead and took her blood pressure and pulse.

"Okay Loissa, I'm gonna need you to turn around and let me examine your back." I said trying to be as gentle and convincing as possible.

She was hesitant at first but eventually shifted her body and pulled off her shirt.

There were blotches of purple and red bruising on her right shoulder and it continued all the way down to her ribs.

"There is a substantial amount of bruising, How did this happen?" I asked hoping she would be honest with me.