Scared Of Healing

She Speaks!

"Ok sunshine, what I want to do now, is get an x-ray of your chest, it won't hurt, it's just a picture, does that sound ok?" I ask and she nods, "alright sweetie, I'll just let the techs know to come here, ok, they shouldn't take too long" I say, receiving another nod.

The tech quickly arrives with his portable x-ray machine and enters the room, he doesn't say much, he just positions the camera over the girl's chest and walks out of the room, "everyone out please" he announces as my patient stays completely calm. "Take a deep breath in and hold it" the tech instructs and I see her comply before he takes the x-ray. It immediately comes up on the computer and Luke, Baker and I go to have a look. "What name is this under?" the tech asks, annoyed that he wasn't told beforehand, "Jane Doe" I reply and he rolls his eyes. "Ellie" I hear a small voice say and I look to my patient, "she speaks!" I hear Baker mumble, just adding to the long list of things that he has done tonight that I will ignore. "Ellie, is that your name sunshine?" I ask, slowly stepping towards her. She gives me a nod, "thank you lovely girl, can you tell us your last name?" I ask carefully, not wanting her to shut down. She shakes her head, clearly, that was enough for the moment. "Alright sunshine, no worries, take your time" I say, sending her a smile as the tech walks off.

The three of us go back to look at the x-ray and see that she has a very prominent pneumonia in the bottom of her left lung. I bring my hand up to my forehead, rubbing it, trying to think about next steps. Baker looks at me, almost annoyed and I look back to him questioningly. "What are you doing?" he asks, referring to my hand on my head, "thinking of next steps" I answer and he looks at me, confused. I sigh, "what's wrong with this picture" Luke asks him, taking over because he knows I've had just about enough of this man. "That part's a bit cloudy" Baker answers, pointing to the pneumonia, "which indicates?" Luke presses. Baker's eyes go wide as he connects the dots, "pneumonia?" he answers, more as a question. Luke just gives him a nod before walking away, obviously just as done with this man as I am.

I leave Baker to his thoughts as I go over to my computer and put some general antibiotics on Ellie's chart, just to get her started. I will order her more targeted meds when I get more results back. I then send a nurse to go get me the antibiotics and meet me at Ellie's bed before I walk back to her. I sit on my stool next to my patient, "Ellie is a beautiful name" I say and she smiles at me. I sigh, not knowing how she is going to respond to what I have to say next, "you have pneumonia sweetheart, do you know what that is?" I ask and she nods, not seeming phased though. "A nurse is on her way with some medicine that I want to give to you, would that be ok?" I ask to which she nods. The nurse quickly enters the room with a kidney dish, containing an alcohol wipe and a syringe filled with her first dose of medication. I grab a pair of gloves and take the wipe. Ellie takes no mind and falls into her thoughts as I push the medicine into the burette and let it slowly infuse into her bloodstream.