Before the Battle

Reckoning 15/20

--Maya--

"Give him blood from me."

During the war I'd heard this line so many times. Soldiers offering to give blood to their wounded comrades and friends. But now, as so often before, I had to refuse.

Although a direct transfusion, from the body of the donor directly into the body of the recipient, was theoretically possible here, I would never suggest it myself. The method was dangerous and ineffective, not to mention the risk of infection, disease transmission and such.

It might look good in novels and films, but in reality it was only used in extremely rare cases.

"Shira, it doesn't work like that. I know you want to help him, but..."

"I want to do it for him," he insisted.

"Maybe you can't. I think Taira is an A+ or..."

I paused as I quickly tried to remember his blood type.

"It doesn't matter. I'm O-, so..."

"You're a universal donor," I understood.

Yes, in that case it would work. As Shira said, it didn't matter what Taira's blood type was, blood O negative could be given to anyone.

Still, I had my doubts. Although it might help the wounded in our desperate situation, Shira was exhausted and he shouldn't be giving blood in such a state.

If we were to proceed with a direct transfusion, it would be better to find another donor, and each of our soldiers would do it for their general.

But I didn't think Shira would allow that.

He wanted to help him himself. He needed to do this, and not just for Taira. He had to do something, because now all we could do was wait for a miracle and pray that Taira's heart would still be beating when the helicopter arrived.

And even if the transfusion didn't work, and all my experience suggested that it wouldn't, Shira would feel that he had done everything he could for Taira. And if the love of his life was going to die anyway, and the likelihood of that was increasing by the moment, perhaps that knowledge would help him to cope with it.

"You're not hurt?" I asked him as I prepared my tools. I wasn't going to open his vain only to find out later that he was bleeding internally somewhere. 

He shook his head, his eyes fixed on the man he loved as he gently stroked his auburn hair.

"Very well then. It is a direct transfusion from the donor's vein to the recipient's. The most suitable site is the one in your elbow or wrist," I began to explain, as I was used to doing with my patients in hospital.

"Maybe we'll choose the one in your left wrist for accessibility, I'll give you an injection..."

"Do what you have to do," he interrupted my explanation, which he didn't seem to notice at all.

Shira didn't care about the risk, so I continued the procedure without another word.

I berated myself for being unprofessional.

What am I doing?

I should never have agreed to this. I was letting my feelings for the patient get the better of me, the first rule of what a doctor shouldn't do. I could end up killing them both.

"Hold your hand like this to keep the blood flowing," I instructed Shira when I was finished. "And don't move it too much."

We both stared at the clear tube filling with red liquid, which then ran down to a cannula in Taira's elbow.