Mates of a Human

Part Five. Chapter Three. Michael

It hadn't gone unnoticed by me that my shifts had turned considerably unfavourable of late, nor that more than half of my shifts did not coincide with Alex's shifts. At first, I thought that it could not be helped, after all, as a Doctor my hours were generally long and unsociable hours were to be expected. The hospital was also very busy. There had been an upsurge in admittances. Accident and Emergency were inundated with new arrivals; severe sunburn (as everyone thought it was a great idea to go without suncream when the sun finally came peeking out from the clouds) and severe dehydration, not including actual accidents, such as the gentleman who lost control of his car as the sunlight dazzled him and he sent his car into the side of a truck.

There was also the fact that there had been an outbreak of an infectious condition at a hospital a couple of towns over.  Although it was not life threatening, patients trying to enter their A&E had been turned away, told to come to our hospital.  They would only take in patients that would suffer worse fates if not seen immediately by them.

With an increase of admittances, the number of beds available went down. And the number of operations that were scheduled to be performed also dropped, with surgeons helping cases from A&E or other emergencies. Non-serious cases got delayed, including ones where the patient might already be situated in a bed, some of those even got turned out to allow for more serious recoveries. In the case of geriatrics, the patients didn't get discharged, they simply added to the number of bed blockers, who are actually waiting to be discharged but need care arranged outside of the hospital.

In simpler terms, geriatrics was full and we were daily asked to make room for new patients, but were struggling to. Myself, Doctor Simmons, Kingsley and a couple of others who I was not so acquainted with became go-betweens, trying to communicate with surgeons, A&E, the nurses and the patients and their families and social services. Several times, I had to speak with irate next of kin's or my patients adult children in my office about the delays in care and after care. Honestly, for most, I had no answer for them.

Each time that I managed to see Alex's face at work or both my mates at home was like taking a deep breath of air and regaining some of my lost energy. But each opportunity to see them, to hold them, to kiss them was becoming less frequent and with my work load as it was, I was seriously feeling the strain. Even Nadine Taylor had stopped coming for advice in the past week, seeing how busy I was and unable to speak with her about her few supernatural cases. Frankly, though, that was a blessing. How did they justify giving the woman cases that she just wasn't able to handle? She either needed additional training, if they expected her to continue in that role or transfer her to a department in which she could be of use. Neither was my problem to bear, however.

By the end of the third week, Doctor Kingsley sent me home to recuperate. Snuggling into bed with Alex was a wonderful feeling, even if it lasted no more than a few minutes until I lost consciousness. I was also out for the entire day, but at least I was able to eat dinner with my beloved mates, before snuggling up with them on the sofa. Things did not turn sexual, we simply enjoyed each other's company, laughing and joking and by the time we turned in for the night, I felt refreshed.

Unfortunately, that feeling did not last.

"What the hell is with these shifts?" I demanded of management after receiving yet another schedule filled with a two week pattern of double shifts that included nights. I was given a few days off, the whole of Wednesday and Thursday, Friday during the day on both weeks as well as the Monday daylight hours, all of which Alex usually worked and Eric most certainly would. My weekends would be mostly spent at the hospital or asleep in bed.

"Well, you can't expect Doctor Young to work them," came the snotty reply. "He's a family man, with a young child. The other Doctor's have worked or are working their fair share of night shifts and covered the weekends during your vacation."