The Night Shift

Chapter Three: Kinsley

After talking to Josh, I hurried back to the OR. Even though Tyler was unconscious, I made him a promise to stay with him through everything. Technically we aren't supposed to promise our patients anything, because promises aren't always able to be kept. Of course, I was the one on the very bottom of the chain of command in this situation, so I had to be the one to update his family. I didn't even bother to ask Josh if he was family or not, but I'm sure if I did he would have lied about it. He looked like a broken man already, and the last thing I wanted to do was shatter him anymore. He seemed so relieved to hear that Tyler would overall be okay. Tyler may never be the same man he was before he came into this hospital, but he would still be alive, and I think that's all Josh really cared about. I know that's all I would care about. I was pleasantly surprised that everyone agreed that we should continue Tyler's surgery in a few hours. It gave not only Tyler time to rest up, but also the rest of the surgical team time to plan for the next surgery, and get some rest.

I went back into the scrub room, and started scrubbing in, making sure to follow the procedure that was plastered above the wash tub, even though I knew the procedure by heart. I looked through the viewing room and into the OR. I looked up just in time to see Rick and the other men getting ready to turn Tyler over to where he was lying on his stomach. I flicked the excess water off of my hands and my arms, grabbing for the sterile drying cloth, drying my hands as fast as I could in order to enter the OR. I burst through the door, grabbing a clean blue overcoat, gloves, and a surgical mask. I quickly put them on, struggling to get the gloves on because my hands were still a little damp. 

I rushed to the table that was centered in the middle of the room. "What do you think you're doing? We all agreed that we should wait until later in the day to do surgery on his back. We don't know the severity of his injuries yet! You can't go in blind." By this point in time, Rick had finally looked up, his arms holding onto Tyler's right hip and shoulder for the turn.

"While you were gone, we talked about it, and decided it would be better to just get it done with." Rick's dark eyes stared directly into mine, "You've done your job here, now stay out of the way, and let the professionals do theirs."

They continued to turn Tyler slowly to where his back was facing the ceiling. I glanced at the vitals machine that was positioned behind Rick and Andrew. Since Rick wanted me to 'do my job' I would. "His pressure is dropping." When there was no response from anyone around the table, I continued, "90 systolic; 60 diastolic." They still refused to listen, "80 systolic; 54 diastolic." His blood pressure was way below the normal values for an adult. 120 systolic over 80 diastolic is considered a healthy pressure. I watched as the numbers kept dwindling down. "VFIB!" The moment the acronym for ventricular fibrillation left my mouth, the vital machine started the alert for a flat line, one long constant monotonous beep.

Rick and Andrew both glanced back at the vital machine, a concerned look being shared between the two. They quickly rolled Tyler back onto his back, fear evident in their eyes. I grabbed the crash cart from the corner of the OR, and rushed to get to Tyler's side. I started to feel nauseous, as I grabbed the defibrillator pads and quickly started placing them on Tyler's chest, avoiding Rick's hands that were laced together and pushing deeply into Tyler's chest. The ambu bag that was being manned by Andrew gave two breaths into Tyler's airway before the pads were completely in place. Rick continued doing compressions, and before the machine told us to clear, I heard the cracking and breaking of Tyler's rib and sternum cartilage—Rick was going just deep enough to do effective CPR.

As soon as the machine finished saying clear, everyone removed their hands from the table and Tyler's body. I watched as the machine sent a jolt of 200 joules of electricity through Tyler's body. The machine started to re-analyze Tyler's heart rhythm. "Reanalyzing. Reanalyzing. Re- Start CPR." Rick began doing CPR again right away, and Andrew continued to give two rescue breaths to every thirty compressions Rick gave. After four rounds of CPR, the machine began to reanalyze again. "Clear. Shock advised. Charging. Clear. Administering shock sequence." Everyone in the room was holding their breath.