Ethan- An Open Heart Story

Chapter 3- Calamity Intern

The morning was a nightmare.

It took me almost 10 minutes to get away from the crowd of interns gathered in the atrium to log in at least. There were so many new faces that I couldn't even scan past anyone familiar at least distance of distinct vision. And the interns of diagnostic medicine had their eyes everywhere they were not supposed to be having.

"Dr. Ramsey! Dr. Ramsey!"

"Please sign on my coat! I am your biggest fan!"

Someone just screamed, "Marry me please!"

Lord.....

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I crossed the atrium towards the reception area. The interns flocked and blocked every corner, confused as the traffic lights in their heads beeped the blasphemous red.

The morning hour today was a surprise in case of the patients generally. There wasn't any rush and the people were allotting their admittance at the reception with slow pace though the nurses were fast enough to avoid the crowding.

Even the weather outside was calm and silent as if everything was supposed to be awesome today. The 6 am fresh morning light and air was a calming urn.

At the reception centre, I began re-checking the assignments for the new interns which Naveen and I had made up last night. Some of the interns were lucky enough to have less number of patients while some targeted interns had as much as 30 patients on the first day itself.

I had instructed Dr. Delarosa to be the welcoming committee outside. Her ever cheerful nature would at least be a help to the interns whose heart rates were spiking up every second. The faces equally held the excitement and edginess. There were few who had formed circles and one of them lead the front for being the potential candidate to be the leader leading forward. If that was what they believed, their dedication was equal to watering a potted plant every minute.

The day reminded me a bit of my first day too, but at my moment I wasn't nervous. I was nowhere near scared and had taken the day like a pro. But on the other hand, none of them here had ever received the training I had in my life.

The training which changed everything about me.

"How is our F.I.R.E.S patient doing? The progress on the chest intubation?" I asked as I signed off some papers the nurse had thrust on my face.

"He's stable. I think he may regain consciousness sooner in today." Danny, the nurse replied with a hopeful gleam in his dark coloured eyes. Danny was a good man, an honest and hard-working nurse. He joined Edenbrook the same time I had and at first had a bit of problem with the crowd. I was baffled still that these doctors alienated him because of his Mexican heritage but with the passage of days, he won over everyone here.

I looked down since he was several inches shorter than my 6'2 frame, "Good job. Stay alert in case infection shows back up. The chances are very negligible but you know the drill."

He was about to give me an answer when a sharp gasp echoed across the atrium. I turned in time to see a woman collapsing on the floor from her chair!

The instincts just took over and I ran in her direction, reaching just in time to find another doctor in intern grubs reaching at the same moment. I had my eyes trained on the woman who was gasping for air and trashing wildly as she suffocated without the supply.

I kneeled down and searched for her pulse. The crowd which was fairly less became surprisingly more and converged in my area. The hopeless whispers fell deaf to my ears as I said, "Pulse is weak. The patient is unresponsive."