Wrecked life

Chapter 3

Dr. Donovan Malloy cautiously made his way to the neuro center of the hospital. He never moved too quickly for fear of knocking someone over. He was a big man. Some said monsteriously big. His hands and arms were thick as his legs. Kids in school had nick named him ape. If he where more defined in the muscles on his torso he could have passed for a professional body builder or wrestler. Being honest he HAD been a wrestler in school and a god damn good one. He never worked out he just took after his father, as his mother liked to say the family produced big men and smart women! He never failed to grin at that since his mother didn't pick a smart career, she was a artist and a darn good one too. He loved his momma.

As a doctor he had little time to work out so he had developed a bit of a gut. He found himself fiddling with his coat nervously trying to hide his gut some. He paused in front of a mirror and winced. As usual his broad round face was framed by a messy shock of thick brown hair with ginger highlights. He kept it crop short except on top where it stuck out in spikes no matter what he did to try to keep it tamed. He hastily smoothed in down trying hard to look professional. Sometimes people didn't take him seriously because of his slight baby face but damn it he was good doctor.

He had intended to become a pediatrician but during his training much to his embarrassment he had found himself crying over a little baby dying from cancer. That had done it for him. He had switched to neurologist.

Knowing he looked as professional as he ever would he opened the door to his patients room. He glanced at her chart and winced. One Daniel Mcdeal, 48 years old computer and video game technician divorced, no next of kin. Here because she had apparently taken a lightning strike right through her right shoulder down her arm and had been unresponsive since found. Who knew what kind of damage that had done?

Malloy frowned and walked up to the bed to look at her. He personally thought she was pretty and it was clear that somewhere along the lines her blood contained a bit of Asian flavor to it. She also managed to look younger then her 40 odd years. Her hair was snow white and he found himself wondering if the color was true or if it was dye. He studied her a moment longer placing his stethoscope against her chest. Her eyelashes were a pale almost platinum blonde.

Ok natural color then. Her heart sounded good her breathing was doing fine. Malloy sat back and tried to wake her keeping any eye on the EEG she was hooked up to.

" Mrs. Mcdeal? Ma'am? Can you hear me? Hello? Ok If you can hear me can you squeeze my fingers? No? How bout with this hand?"

He frowned at of the lack of response. Her face was that of a dreamer in perfect beautiful repose. He tried various stimuli next. Some where painful but she nether cried nor moaned or showed any response to him.

He ordered a CAT scan and an MRI so he could get a better idea of what was going on in that pretty head.

Finally he carefully lowered himself into to the chair. The chairs they had for doctors were not suited for his size and he had broken 2 already. The hospital had turned a blind eye to the destruction since he was one of the best they had and most of the patients loved him despite the fact he looked like a big simple country boy who had stumbled in and slipped on a doctors coat to play dress up. No doubt they thought he would look more at ease in a tree cutter's getup complete with heavy boots and overalls.

He hemmed a bit checking her chart again. They had her on pills to control her blood pressure which was spiking up and down but other than that and the coma she was in perfect health. He sat the chart down and pulled out his pen light to check her eyes again. Head cases were tricky and could change hour to hour. He opened her eyes and stared for a moment. She had the most beautiful crystal blue eyes he'd ever seen.

He briefly shined the light first in one eye than the other. No response. He sighed. " Look Mrs. Mcdeal I'm gonna be back to check you again. There's a few things I'm going to try, they won't be pleasant but I won't give up on getting you out of this coma." He picked her hand up and patted it wincing slightly at how small her hand was in his.

" Don't you fret none cause I'm damn good at what I do. You're young and strong and I just know you're going to pull through."

He didn't know any such thing but he also knew it never hurt to be optimistic for the patient. She might not be able to hear him but then again she might be able to. He personally believed that every patient had a place inside their mind that heard everything good or bad. Even if they didn't respond.

Dr Malloy backed up and quietly closed the door. To compensate for his size he had learned to move as silently as possible. An RN jumped slightly when she turned around and found him looming over her.

" Oh! Dr. Malloy I didn't hear you! How's our patient?"

Malloy shrugged a little bashfully. Beautiful women made him nervous. Well actually all women made him nervous.

" No change but I'll work with her and see if we can't get her awake and aware. Can you call me when her CAT scan and MRI results come in?"

The nurse beamed at him "Of course!"

He started to walk away then paused and turned back to her " I'm sorry I forgot to ask, how was your brother's wedding?"

The nurse beamed at him " It was steller! John the respitory specialist went with me. We had a blast!"

" Oh, that's great really!" Dr. Malloy nervously played with his notebook. He had half hoped that she would ask him to be her date but of course that had been wishful thinking on his part. He wasn't the sort of person women asked out. He was the ' nice guy.' The guy women introduced as a friend and he had a horrible suspicion most of his colleagues thought he was gay. Of course it didn't help he had a roommate who was gay but Thomas was his best friend and was a fine PA.

Still it irked him sometimes when his lady friends were crying on his shoulder about some asshole who had treated them badly and bemoaning about how there were no nice guys around even though they were soaking the big broad shoulder of one. He forced his attention back to the RN.

" I'll show you pictures from my phone if your in the cafeteria later! The cake and dress were to die for!"

" Oh that sounds great really! Well uh I better be on my way gotta do my rounds."

Malloy gave her a friendly wave and then made his way to the desk to pull up his records. He hoped Mrs. Mcdeal wasn't going to be one of his cold case files who would get moved to a nursing home never to open her eyes again. He rolled his shoulders nervously. That was almost to awful to think about.