Love, me.

Get me some Adrenaline

Rae

As I stepped into the office where my other colleagues were, I felt a shiver run down my spine. It was the familiar dark hair now tied up neatly in a bun. Her back faced me as she powered on the computer, in a lighthearted conversation with Jem, my classmate from university where we spent countless of hours in each other's dorm. She was there with me through laughter, tears and drunken shenanigans. 

"Hey Rae! We have a new colleague today who is just starting her rotation on our unit! Come say hi!" Jem excitedly waved me over as dread washed over me as I saw the tanned figure swivel her chair around to look at me- the object of Jem's excitement.

"Umm, hi", I waved meekly as I felt the familiar hotness spread across my cheeks.

"Hello, Rae." Somehow hearing her deep voice saying my name activated some butterflies in my stomach. I never knew my name could sound so good.

"Alright, guys, could we please start our handover so that the night team can head out here as soon as possible? They have had a hell of a night and I'm sure they would love to see the back of this place," Anton, our Intensive Care lead consultant nodded towards Nic, who was stiffling a yawn.

Forty-five minutes and ten patients later, we split into two teams and made our way to review our allocated patients. The day could not have turned out any better, when I realised George was on the same team as myself. Being on a thirty-bedded unit meant that we had three teams of Doctors, Nurse-in-charges, and Pharmacists, on a twelve hour shift to ensure that the patients receive quality care. Jem had headed off to her side of the unit after promising to catch up over lunch IF, the ward rounds ended on time.

The cardiac arrest buzzer jolted me out of my reverie as I looked up to see George bounding past into the room across me. As I stepped into the chaotic scene before me, I could see that chest compressions had already been started and the dialysis machine paused. "It's a PEA arrest, I need 1mg of adrenaline push, and get back on her chest for two minutes after," George spoke firmly to the bedside nurse stood in front of the crash trolley as she prepared to intubate. As I snap into work mode, we moved together in synchrony as she bagged the patient whilst I checked the cuff of the endotracheal tube which would end up in the patient, in less than five minutes, connecting her to the ventilator.

By then, Anton had taken over and we went through the Hs and Ts to uncover what the cause of cardiac arrest was. After the patient was safely connected to the ventilator and vitals had stabilised with a Noradrenaline infusion to keep her blood pressure happy, we continued reviewing the rest of the patients on the unit. I glanced up at the wall clock and noted that it was only ten past eleven. 

"It is going to be a long day," I thought to myself, as I trailed behind Anton, George and Luke, the Nurse-In-Charge for the day.