Bane's Regret, Stone Mountain Shifters

Chapter 3 - Surgery

Dr. Frances

Sparksburg Hospital

Six Years Prior

My goddess! What's wrong with these young pups these days? I have two females being brought in by chopper from two different packs. Both of them are newly pregnant while their respective mates have been cheating.  Both of them suffering from Cheating Mate Syndrome.  This is a death sentence for the baby and mother if the cheating carried on for too long. It should be a punishable crime.  Mates should not be allowed to do this to each other. I pace back and forth in my office. I already have my teams in place and the operating rooms are ready. I'll start on whichever gets here first.

My med tech, Grimes, sticks her head in my office door. "Dr. Frances, the first chopper is landing." She disappears and I follow her out, trotting down the hallway. I enter the emergency room just as the patient is wheeled in. I look at her bloodless face. So damn young!

"Status?" I demand.

The EMT begins spouting, "Skye Roberts. Unresponsive 20 year old pregnant female, post 2-3 weeks. Severe abdominal bruising, suspected internal hemorrhaging. BP 55/40, coded once in the chopper. Pulse tacky, breathing erratic. Fetal heartbeat is weak."

I immediately begin ordering meds to try to stabilize the patient so I can get her into surgery. I cut off her shirt and winced at the damage to her torso. If I can't get her stable enough to repair the damage from Cheating Mate Syndrome, this female will die. After a few minutes we have her hooked up to oxygen and I have an O+ blood transfusion underway. I have administered some fetal safe medications that will help her heart handle the pressure it is under right now. "Status update?"

"Blood pressure 100/65, pulse even, and breathing close to normal. Fetal heartbeat is still weak." the nurse reports.

"Alright! OR 10 is set up and ready. Let's get her in there." I order. My team races down the hall toward the operation suite. I follow behind pulling on my surgical gown, cap and mask. I hit the scrub sinks. Members of my team are scrubbing in as well. I dry my hands and pull on my gloves. Approaching the patient, I know she was out cold, but I see that the anesthesiologist already has her chemically sedated. Pulling back the surgical sheets, I extend my palm. "Scalpel!"

After about 45 minutes, I repaired a severe laceration that had developed on the anterior of the womb, too close to the fetus for comfort. "We need to keep an eye on this one." I point to the affected area. I have all of the other many tears repaired as well, the excess blood mopped up and am getting ready to close. "Doctor, the second chopper is landing!"

"Grimes," I address my med tech, "I need you to close. I don't have time to talk to the family right now. Just take her to recovery and let the family know I will talk to them shortly."

"Will do doc!" Grimes steps up and begins the closing. This female is stable. We will have to watch the fetus.

I tear off my bloodied surgical gown and accessories and trash them as I step up to the scrub sink. After drying my hands, I walk out the door and race down the hall, pulling on another set of gloves.

As I walk into the ER, another nightmare, just like what I just went through, plays out before me. "Status?" EMT begins quoting a near identical report as the one before. "Rae Hammons. Unresponsive 20 year old pregnant female, post 2-3 weeks. Severe abdominal bruising, suspected internal hemorrhaging. BP 50/30, coded twice in the chopper. Pulse tacky, breathing erratic. Fetal heartbeat is very weak."

The poor female is pale, her breathing is ragged. I do the same exact thing as before as we start hooking her up to oxygen and giving her a blood transfusion. Pumping her with meds to ease the burden on her heart. "Status?"