Saving My Hope

Chapter 9- New Arrival

Bright and early just like any other day, but this time I am extra eager to meet this patient.

I scan his chart and indeed he is a Orthopaedic doctor.
The poor guy has pneumothorax and needs excess air removed from his lung. As I did last night with my tampon case which is now removed and the incision is patched up with a glue substance, stitches, and gaze.
He has a small oxygen tube inserted in his nostrils.
I can only imagine how uncomfortable that would be.
Luckily he is breathing pretty darn well on his own so he doesn't need to be hooked up to a ventilator.
His eyes are closed and his head leans towards the direction of the window.
I walk quietly over to the t.v. on the wall directly across from him, and turn on the power.
I lower the volume and put on Just For Gags (laughs).
A comedy show seems good, especially in a hospital full of sickies and injured patients.
I hear the bed creak from a shift in weight, so I look back and see Dr McCall awake and groggily staring back with his gorgeous brown eyes.
(Nathaniel Buzolic)
I walk towards him, "Morning Dr McCall. Sorry I get didnt the chance to introduce myself last night; Im Dr Shaneria Blenco. How are you feeling?".
"Like I got hit by a car" he says, tired still.
"You did" I state and smile a bit.
"Youre a beautiful girl, Shaneria" he says, and sits up in his bed.
I push the head of his bed up so it would be easier on his back.
"At least I know youre upfront and confident" I state.
"Very" he agrees and watches me.
I plug in the buds to my ears from my stethoscope and tell him, "you know the drill".
He nods and sits up straighter so he can breath better.
I press the cool metal to his chest and get him to breath deeply.
Then I do the same for his back.
I also gently feel around the left side of his ribs to feel for any damage at all that we may have missed to chart.
After a definite check, I chart my analysis and observations.
"You seem very good for being new" he tells me.
"Well, I guess you could say that. I have 1month to go before I can do my own thing, unmonitored" I explain as I finish charting.
"Oh, ok. I wouldn't know you see. I work in a different section of the hospital than you but I have caught glimpses of you around" he says.
Oh how I love his accent!
"Oh so you've already been working?" I comment, nothing ringing a bell with me.
"Yes. This has been my 2 week into my transfer from Norway UK" he replies.
"Cool! So youre a European" I add.
"100%" he smiles with a nod.
"And you came here...." I trail off.
"To get a full time position and give pointers to Dr Goran. Make more money over there but here definitely is more interesting...More exotic injuries..." he tells me.
I head towards the visiting chair, accidentally ramming my side into the metal arm before I sit down on it.
He looked at me as if to ask if Im alright before continuing "the common accidents where Im from, are sports and farm related. Not gunshot, stabbing, or crazy like here in Toronto".
"That's for sure. You'll see a lot in cities like these. But America is supposively worse. Gangs coming out their ying-yangs. Plus doctors get sued like crazy over there. Working in Canada definitely has its perks, Dr McCall" I explain to him, kindly as I try not to scare him onto the quickest flight home.
"You can call me: Nate, Dr Blenco" he smiles.
"Well" I say give him a wink, "Nate, you can call me Shaneria or Shan for short".
"Sounds great, Shan. But uh, when can I get back on the job?" He asks and wiggles up further on the bed to sit with more comfort.
I said the same thing after my accident.
"Unfortunately for you, 1-2 weeks. Looks like you better get acquainted with the beds here" I say, and write it down on his chart.
"Are you fricking kidding me!?" He groans.
"Hey. Its a mini vacation...except you never leave work..." I say, trying to cheer him up.
"But I dont want a vacation. I want to be ot there helping people" he says with little breath.
"Im the same but--ohh" I groan and hunch onto my right side a bit.
"Are you okay?!" He asks me, not expecting me to double over in pain all of a sudden.
"Yeah" I lie and still hold my side.
"Let me ring a nurse" he says and goes to touch his call bell.
"No, no, Im good" I continue and manage to straighten up my spine.
He watched me for any suspicious movement of pain.
"As I was saying. Im the same way but you need to listen to your doctor's orders. Its in your best interest" I tell him, wishing I wasnt stubborn back when I was the one on the bed.
He takes in a deep breath and looks out the window.
I can tell he was thinking.
Moments later, he looks back to me with no emotion and says, "Okay. But come visit me and tell me whats-a-going".
"For sure" I smile and tap his knee gently with my clipboard as I rise from the chair.
I feel his gaze on me as I exit his room and shut the door behind me.
It isn't until Im clear of his sight that I lean against the wall and fall into a squat, holding my side.
Joel comes walking by and stops at the sight of me.
I look back up at him and notice he has a slight black eye and has a splint his right hand.
"What the hell happened to you?" I say through spirts of jabbing pain.
"Never mind me. What happened to you!?" He asks and crouches down infront of me.
He put the metal of the stethoscope to my chest to hear my breathing.
"I..dont know. It...just happened" I swallow thickly from feeling uncomfortable.
"Your heart rate has increased" he says and uses his good hand to feel around my right side.
He gets to my hip and I slap his hand away because its too agonizing.
"Thats my only good hand ya know" he says with light of the situation.
I slip onto my bum and extend one leg as I lean over, groaning.
"Nurse!" He shouts and one male and one female in scrubs come rushing over.
Joel grabs a stretcher not too far down the hall and rushes it back to me.
"Can you stand?" The female asks me, holding my head up so I wouldn't have a hurt neck later on.
"No" I wheeze.
Joel tells the male nurse, "you grab her legs. I'll get her arms and we'll lift her onto the stretcher".
He nods and they get into position.
"No, Joel. Youre hand" I argue and lean away from him.
"I could honestly care less" he says and grabs me under the arms, regardless.
I get hauled onto the stretcher and thats when Dr Zach Miller comes running up to us.
He stops at the sight of me and with arms extended, "what the hell!?".
"Get bloodwork, give her some pain meds and then book an ultrasound. Then immediately get a x ray done of the whole pelvis" Joel orders and Zach nods.
"I must go to my first patient and then Ill be right with you" Joel tells me and watches my face contort with pain.
I mange a nod and Zach holds onto a bar near my head as I am wheeled into an emergency examination room.
* * *
After being doped up on pain killers and curled under the hospital blanket, Joel comes like he said he would.
He gently pulls back the blanket to reveal my head.
"Boo" he says, not actually trying to scare me.
I slowly sit up as he sits in the visitor chair next to me.
"And what is messed up with me?" I ask, groggy from all the meds.
"You may have polycystic ovaries" Joel answers, looking to my dull eyes.
"Ok then..." I answer and wonder why he seems like he has more to talk about.
"This discussion will be really embarrassing and awkward but I need to ask you these questions in order to give you a full diagnosis" Joel states, not losing eye contact.
"Alrighty then..." I reply, cross in my arms over my chest and bracing myself for what I imagine to come.
"When was your last period?" He asks, clicking his pen and getting ready to write on my chart.
"Isn't there someone else who can do this? Like a girl?" I ask.
Joel looks up from my chart.
"There is but that would lead to a longer wait because she would have to read all of these papers I have accumulated" he answered, not seeming phased by asking me these super personal questions.
I sigh and then answer as I look at the wall infront of my bed, "I just started spotting today".
"Would you say your cycle is normal?" He asks.
"Yup" I reply and pop the 'p'.
"Are you sexually active?" He asks again.
I wonder how he didnt hesitate in asking these womanly stuff.
"Ew gross" I state.
"So is that a 'no'?" He double checks.
I nod.
I hear the scribble of his pen and watch his hand move across the first sheet.
He then sits back and glances it over.
Taking in the information and processing it.
"I believe you have polycystic ovaries. The pain and lack of movement is caused by a cyst rupture. The ultrasound shows it to be a dermoid cyst on your right fallopian tube" he explains to me.
I sink back into my covers and sigh.
"Just another thing I need wrong with me" I groan.
"We all have things wrong with us, Shaneria. Just some more than others" he says and pats my shoulder before I hear him walk to the door frame.
"You can get back on the floor right now if you want. But just to let you know, your body was just in survive mood...you may not be too flexible" he tells me and then shuts the door behind him so I can get back in my scrubs.
* * *
I suddenly walk into a church choir singing with a patient in an emergency room.
Dr Miller is clapping along and Joel tells him, "uh, man, can you just ask the holy spirit to take it outside for a second, we kinda have business to do".
"They're just trying to cheer me up" the coloured woman said from in the bed.
"Loosen up for 5 minutes, Joel" Dr Miller says, still clapping along.
"We have to put a cast on this woman's arm" Joel finally says, loudly and that causes Miller to look at him disappointed and then tell the singing ladies, "Alright. Thank you very much for your singing but unfortunately it is a bit too disruptive and I'm gonna have to ask you to please move out into the waiting room. I'm sorry".
The women give encouragement to whom they call, Nadia, before beginning to exit.
"Thank you" Joel says to them.
"That better?" Dr Miller scoffs.
"Yep" Joel replied.
"Such a buzz kill" I joke and take Dr Miller's place.
Joel rolls his eyes and I introduce myself to the patient.
He hands me Nadia's chart and then pulls me aside,
"Look it over and then meet me at the X ray room".
I nod and then walk away from him with my eyes scanning the paper attached to the clipboard.