Doctor's Order

Chapter 2

At exactly 5:30 the following day, the new residents arrived and they were immediately assisted by the hospital staff to their various assignments. Even at that early morning, the hospital was already bustling with so many patients. The feeling of organized chaos and frenetic movements can be seen anywhere a person turns its head. The residents where somehow astonished that a hospital can be this busy on an early morning.

Dr. De Leon pass by the new residents and suddenly spoke, "Good Morning Doctors. Looks like you're all overwhelmed. Like what I said, you will all be overworked here. Well, good luck on your first day." And before any of the residents can respond, Dr. De Leon already walked away towards the opposite direction.

One by one, the residents were being fetched by the senior residents. And after 15 minutes, the only remaining residents standing were Maine and Valeen.

"Do you think they forgot about us?" Valeen quietly whispered to Maine.

Maine, didn't know what to answer as she was also puzzled as to why there's no one have approved them yet. But before she can respond, a senior resident walked to their direction and spoke, "Which of you is Dr. Montenegro?"

Valeen raised her hand and spoke "I'm Dr. Valeen Montenegro."

"You're planning to go into cardiac surgery?"

"Yes." Dr. Montenegro answered.

"Well, welcome aboard." The senior resident then turned to the other woman. "Dr. Nicomaine Mendoza. You're planning to take on internal medicine."

"Yes, I am." Maine replied.

"Well, I will tell you know, you will gain a lot of experience here."

"Looking forward to it."

"Okay, then that's settled. Follow me please. Dr. Montenegro you will be assigned with Dr. Napoles. While you Dr. Mendoza, you will with me. I'm Doctor Joaquin Torres III."

"Nice to meet you Dr. Torres." Maine said.

"Well, Dr. Montenegro. Please proceed to the Cardio division." Dr. Torres instructed Valeen.

"Okay. Thank you." Valeen then turned to Maine and said "Good luck. See you later at home." And then she walked towards the opposite direction.

"Right. See you. Good luck as well." Maine immediately said.

"So Dr. Mendoza, please go directly to the nurse station and look for the head nurse, Ruby Rodriquez. Afterwards, please follow me on Ward 3." Then he added, "See you in a while."

Maine walked towards the nurse station and when she arrived, she immediately spoke, "Excuse me. I'm looking for Nurse Rodriguez?"

"I'm Nurse Rodriguez. How can I help you?"

"Oh. Hi. I'm Dr. Mendoza. I was asked to report here."

Nurse Rodriguez consulted a sheet of paper and said, "Just a moment." She walked through a door and returned after a while carrying some white coats and scrubs.

She then handed it to the doctor and spoke again "The scrubs are to be worn all the time whether during operations or rounds. Also, when doing your rounds, you put on the white coats over scrubs."

"Thank you." She said with a smile.

"Oh, and here." The nurse reached out and handed her a metal tag that reads "Nicomaine Mendoza, M.D."

"Here's your tag doctor."

Maine looked at the tag she's holding for a long time. She read the tag silently Nicomaine Mendoza, M.D. She felt like she has been handed the Valor of Honor. All the hard work she had put in all those years is being summed up within that tag, Nicomaine Mendoza, M.D.

Nurse Rodriguez can't help but look at the doctor. When she saw that the doctor was staring at the tag she then spoke, "Dr. Mendoza, is there a problem?"

"N—no, no." she replied while shaking her head. "I'm alright. Thank you. Ummmm, where do I...." she was trying to asked while lifting the clothing she's holding.

"Doctor's dressing room and is down the corridor to your left. I believe you're about to do your rounds so you better change."

"Yes. Thank you."

Maine walking towards the dressing room and was amazed with the hustle and buzzling around her. It's still early in the morning but the hospital is already alive. The PA system is calling doctors non-stop. When she arrived outside the doctor's dressing room, she immediately opened it.

Upon opening the door, she was shocked to see what's inside. The room was full of doctors and almost all of them were naked and is about to change into their scrub suits. When the doctors heard the door opened, everyone turned to look at it.

"Oh! I ... I'm sorry." Maine mumbled and quickly closed the door.

She stood just outside the door, not sure on what to do next. A few feet down the corridor, another door is visible which is marked 'Nurses Dressing Room'. Maine walked towards and door and opened it. However, before walked in, one of the nurse spoke, "Hello. Are you one of the new nurses?"

"No." Maine replied tightly. "No, I'm not." She closed the door and walked back to the doctors' dressing room. She inhaled deeply before she entered. The room immediately became silent.

As Maine walks towards one of the lockers, one male doctor spoke, "Sorry honey. This room is for doctors only. The nurses dressing room is down the hall." And most of the room's occupants laughed.

Maine smiled at them and spoke "I know. I can read. I'm a doctor."

The men turned to look at one another and finally one spoke, "Oh! Well, Wel—Welcome."

"Thank you." She hesitated a moment and looked around as she placed her things on her locker. She again looked around then slowly started to unbutton her blouse.

The doctors stood there not knowing what to do. Until finally, one of them spoke, "Maybe we should give the little lady some privacy, gentlemen."

Wow! Little doctor, ha. Maine thought. "Thank you." She said instead and smiled. She waited for the doctors to finish changing until they went out of the room. Do I have to get through this everyday? Oh. God. She wondered.