Couple's Getaway

Chapter Seven

"Give me a minute, Laura."

Nicole Collins sat down at the nursing station to answer a constantly vibrating wireless phone that she took off her hip in the middle of her overnight shift. Nicole pressed down with force using her thumb to answer the phone.

"Yes, it's Nicole...what happened? Yes, that's my patient. What's going on? Okay, okay—I'm coming."

Nicole hangs up before standing, clipping the phone back to her hip. Within five seconds, the phone began to buzz against her hip but instead of answering the call, Nicole made a beeline for her patient's room within the ICU.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you, Nicole. Mr. Waverly hasn't been monitored and a few nurses and a provider had to go in and check on him. I think one of his tubes disconnected."

Nicole completely ignored Laura, her coworker and new nurse as she entered her patients room. With the help of other nurses and the doctor, Mr. Waverly is safe. Nicole exhaled a shaky breath before bringing the back of her hand up to wipe sweat from her forehead. The salty liquid caused her edges to begin to curl and her hair was sleek no longer.

"Thank you Cindy, Donna, Dr. Hamilton—"

"No problem, we all work as a team here." Dr Hamilton reassured Nicole.

"He just needs to be assessed again in about five minutes and make sure his progress and any identification of sudden or subtle changes in the patient's medical condition is taken into account." Donna, the Nurse Supervisor, reminded Nicole.

"Got it," Nicole nodded her head quickly, "I have to go next door and check on the new patient."

Nicole made a mental note to come back within five no later than ten minutes to check on Mr. Waverly. Her next patient has just been transferred and she needed to set up the medical ventilator, oxygen delivery device, transducer, and pressure lines. Nicole slid between the rail of the stretcher to attach the equipment. The room is very compact and filled with other staff to lend a helping hand. As Nicole reached above her head to plug in monitoring medical equipment, she could feel the cool air of the room against the sweat that stained her armpit area. The patient is an 87-year-old woman at lower-risk. She has a history of trouble breathing and more frequently chronic impairment of more than one organ system. Her daughter stood within the doorway crying and yelling to the staff about carefully handling her mother.

This is Nicole's day-to-day routine since she decided to go back to being an ICU nurse full time after an old coworker and friend had passed away. She figured it would be a good idea and the pay raise is hefty so it could help her save more and buy her dream home. Six months in, Nicole saved enough money and just two days prior she purchased a beautiful home in Los Angeles County. When she starts her shift each day, she goes straight to the charge desk to receive her patient assignments from whichever charge nurse that day. She had to hope and pray that the night shift nurse didn't leave her with a heavy workload. With continuous rounds, administering medication, monitoring vitals, and dealing with patients who are on continuous dialysis, Nicole quickly realized this wasn't such a good idea anymore.

Just one hour left of her shift that night, Nicole pulled her supervisor aside and informed her that she would be putting in her two weeks notice. Nicole felt it was the right thing to do at the time, considering everything else that had been going on in her life, one of which being a divorce and moving in on her own. Immediately after leaving Cabo, Nicole set out to buy a home for herself. Every time her mind wandered to that trip she would feel herself close up. Six months is how long it took for her divorce to finalize. It was an amicable divorce, both Arnelle and Nicole agreed on everything and it went by smoothly to her surprise. As much as Nicole wanted to resent Arnelle, it wouldn't help her move on. She wanted to be unbothered about that man and his issues and focus on self love rather than self loathing.