Stranger Danger

An Unexpected Twist

The 15 minute ride from the park to Charing Cross Hospital seemed to take forever, as far as Ant was concerned, as he took in his friends waxy, almost translucent features. The paramedic carefully cut through the remainder of his shirt to reveal Dec's chest, which was unmarked save a couple of nicks along is right side. The paramedic quickly added electrodes in record time to Dec's chest then hooked him up to an ECG machine before placing blankets back over the still form. The heartbeat was somewhat irregular but Ant was so thankful to hear his friend's heart beating it's unsteady rhythm. The paramedic then used his shears to cut through the tattered shoulders of Dec's shirt and the true ugliness of his dislocated right shoulder was revealed and it looked extremely bad.

Once at Charing Cross, Dec was wheeled into the hospital and taken directly to the emergency area where Dr. Shannon was on duty. He hadn't been notified on who was coming in as the hypothermia victim so, upon seeing Declan being wheeled in, followed by a flustered Ant, wrapped in a blanket and  being hustled into another cubicle, more than stunned him. His surprise then quickly turned into anger when details of how Dec had been found were being disclosed as treatment began.

"I just want to know what's going on...I need to call my wife...I need to call his wife," Ant said as the blanket was removed from his shaking shoulders by Judith, a nurse he was fairly acquainted with. The older woman helped Ant up onto a gurney...his body shaking under her gentle hands. From experiece, she knew that it wasn't just the cold that was causing the tremors...Ant was in shock and needed to be taken care of in more than just way. She guided him to lay back against the gurney then left the cubicle briefly then returned with a heated blanket which she spread over his quivering form.

"Please...I need to call Lisa and Ali...they need to know what happened," he repeated himself, looking directly into Judith's eyes. She pat him on the shoulder then went to work checking Ant's vitals as she quietly spoke to him.

"We'll let you call your wife and Declan's wife in just a few minutes and we'll find out what's going on very soon with Declan, Anthony but Dr. Shannon wants me to make sure that you're okay, too. I'm checking your blood pressure, pulse and temperature. If everything looks good then we'll move on from there...agreed, son?" she said kindly but there was a firmness about the tone that didn't leave him any wiggle room. Rather than go to battle with her, Ant lay back on the gurney and submitted to Judith's examination. Of course, his blood pressure proved to be high, his temperature low and his pulse rate all over the place but the results were all understandable and, after several more checks, within an hour, her tidbits of information on Dec's condition and the knowledge that his best friend was in Dr. Shannon's more than capable hands, he was allowed to sit with Dec as he was being monitored by the staff after calling Lisa and Ali. Although, the move was rather unorthodox, the staff had been made aware that the assailant was still on the loose and there was enough concern that a few officers had even been assigned to watch Ant and Lisa's home until Ant himself could be there with Lisa, or if one of their bodyguards made it there first. And, as far as Ali was concerned, after speaking with Ant and an officer, it was decided that she would remain with her family as planned since the only one who actually had any knowledge of the incident was currently unable to provide any information on what had happened. She was understandably upset but agreed to do as she had been asked but she demanded that she be kept completely in the loop with frequent daily and or nightly phone calls not only from Ant but also from Dr. Shannon.

From his seat across the room, Ant watched as his friend was being very carefully watched over by the medical staff standing around him. Dec had a mask strapped securely to his face that was delivering warm, humidified oxygen. His dislocated right shoulder was tightly secured to his chest until he could have surgery to repair the torn tendons and ligaments he had sustained but no one was sure how the injury had happened. He had electrodes on his chest monitoring his heart, an pulse oximeter taped to a finger measuring his oxygen saturation, an IV in his left arm arm, delivering warmed fluids into his body as well as a foley catheter that was delivering warmed fluids into his bladder. Lastly, his core temperature was being monitored with a rectal thermometer which Ant had been told was the very best and most accurate way of keep up with Dec's fluctuating temperature. The last two treatments rather made Ant cringe but he was thankful that there were means to monitor and warm up his friend as quickly and as efficiently as possible...even if the methods made his stomach flip flop.