Journey Of Hearts

11. Night Shift

"Thank you Aunt Rachel." I sigh as she hugs me.

"I am happy we can help." Uncle Josh smiles and hugs me. "Safe shift."

I nod and then squat down and hug Blaze tight. "Be good for Aunt Rachel and Uncle Josh, okay?"

"Always am." He smiles. "Uncle Josh can you show me how to play the car game?" He walks in and Penlope waves him to the couch, telling him she would help him race against Uncle Josh.

Aunt Rachel looks to me and smiles. "I will make sure he gets to school."

"Thank you." I hand his backpack over for school along with his sleep over bag. "I should be off before then and can take him to school."

Aunt Rachel nods. I wave and leave their house. The drive to the hospital is a breeze.

As I put on my doctors coat, another doctor walks in with a heavy sigh. "Rough shift?" I look over as I reach into my locker for my stethoscope and pens.

"We lost a couple patients and I fear it will be a long night." The doctor nods. "The town over is having their carnival today and it is still going. Their hospital is full of dehydrated patients or ones sick from to much sun."

"That one north of us can't handle trauma's?" It is something I had been meaning to ask, having noticed patients being transported here from a town north of us.

The doctor shakes his head. "They can but not major ones as that hospital doesn't have a surgery center like ours here. Some of their patients come here or will go to the town just west of us or if the patients can they travel to the city an hour away for surgeries."

I nod and the doctor pats my back as I head out to get a tablet and find the doctor I am taking over for to get a run down on current patients I will be seeing too. The night shift not one I am normally to have but I was called in by the supervisor as another doctor is out on a sick day.

It is a Thursday night and I am supposed to have my date with Stella Friday night. Last Saturday has been on repeat in my mind. Blaze's face when he helped to reel in a fish was another level of happiness and one I want to see everyday.

"What patients do I have tonight?" I snap from the thoughts and sit next to the doctor that has worked a twelve hour shift.

It takes a short amount of time and I am making rounds to check on patients. Some get their results and others I inform we are waiting on results still, then there is some I order some additional labs for. As I take a seat at the counter a nurse walks up and lays a coffee down.

"This is for you doctor."

"Thank you." I nod and take the cup as she walks away.

"She does that for all the doctors on the night shift. Anytime she sees that cup empty she gets you more." Another nurse leans over and smiles. "It is something she has done every since starting here fifteen years ago and definitely the go-to nurse when needing something quick and not used to the area."

I smile and we talk a bit more as she explains more of the night shift which isn't different from the day shifts I have. "Is the labs in for room two?"

"Just a minute doctor." The nurse goes to typing on her computer.

I look over the tablet and it has yet to come in.

"Not yet." She shakes her head.

"Can you call and see what may be the hold up?"

She nods and grabs the phone.

"I am going to see room nine." I inform her as she nods.

Walking into the room, I hold the tablet. "Hello, my name is Jade. I heard someone has a sore tummy?" I look to the mother and the small child in her arms that is curled up.

The child doesn't move but the mother nods. "It started right after dinner and has progressively gotten worse when the fever started I brought him straight here."

I nod and ask a few more questions before examing the child. When my hand gently presses over the lower right quadrant the child jumps and screams. I remove my hand and frown. "I am going to have my nurse in here to get a CT scan done. Does your son have any allergies we need to be aware of?"

She shakes her head and I pat her shoulder as tears form in her eyes. "What is wrong with him?"

"Let's run the test first okay? It could be a number of things."

My feet go to the desk. "The lab is still running the tests." The nurse informs me and I nod in thanks.

"I need room nine to get a stat CT of the abdomen."

The nurse jumps up and goes right to it without another word. I rub my hands down my face and sigh, my mind running over the chances of different things that could be wrong. Test results first. I pick up the desk phone and call the pediatrician down from their floor for a extra consult.

Time goes quickly and I am looking over the CT scan with the pediatrician. "Appendicitis. We will need to get him into surgery soon." The peditrician gets up from the chair and we walk to room nine together.

We inform the mother of the test results and the pediatrician takes over as they move the patient up to the pediatric floor and I hand over that chart.

I get to the desk and look over more results and going into more patients rooms as the night wears on. Finally as the sun is risen again, I clock out and look at the time. I don't have time to change from my scrubs as I want to see Blaze before he goes to school. I grab all my belongings and rush from the locker area to my car.

I make it to Aunt Rachel and Uncle Josh's house just as they come out the front door.

"Dad!" Blaze runs to me as I get out of the car and hugs me tight.

"Hey Blaze." I smile. "Were you good?"

He nods. "I even got to have ice cream before bed."

I laugh and Uncle Josh chuckles. "Let's get you to school."

Blaze tells me all about his night on the drive. As I park the car and get out, Stella walks by and smiles with a wave. "Doctor."

"Ms. Stella." I smirk and her cheeks heat up. "I will see you this evening."

She nods. "I can't wait."

Blaze hugs me tight. "Have a good day in class." I rub his back before he lets me go and takes Stella's hand walking with her to the front door.

With a sigh, I sit back in the car and drive home. Once inside my house, I shower and move to the kitchen in need of food. With a glance around the house, I decide to tend to things around here before getting a couple hours of sleep.