The tall surgeon moved in a path to intersect that of the E.R. Attending physician. She acknowledging her colleague with a slight nod of her head, "Dr. Potter, would you be so kind as to be team leader for patient #3?"
The physician pushed her glasses up as she grabbed one of the lead aprons that hung outside of the trauma rooms, "Don’t mind if I do." She accepted the surgeon’s offer as she completed her preparations for the job of team leader in the end room.
Everyone snapped into attention as the loud speaker overhead blared out, "Trauma’s in the department, Trauma’s in the department."
"Alright, people, let’s do our jobs." The commanding voice of the Trauma Fellow was heard throughout the hallway.
The first patient-laden stretcher accompanied by the helicopter crew turned the corner and was met by Garrett who motioned them into the trauma room where Dr. Rob Kreger waited. Advancing speedily into the room, the Flight Medic gave a brief report of the patient’s obvious injuries and vital signs. The blood splattered and twisted body belted onto the backboard was swiftly lifted from the stretcher and placed carefully onto the gurney. Each member of the team with his or her own tasks at hand began their work. Garrett watched approvingly from the foot of the bed at the skills that the team leader was demonstrating, her smile shielded by the mask. Dr. Kreger was proving himself in her eyes. His quick assessment of the patient’s airway, breathing, and circulation began to reveal the critical nature of the injuries that the patient had sustained.
"I need a chest x-ray now," Rob commanded. His eyes glanced over to the trauma fellow at the foot of the gurney. Garrett subtly nodded. In the brief moment that the two surgeons locked eyes, Dr. Kreger had her approval of his actions and an exchange of confidence occurred. She had inspired him from that first day in the O.R. and now he felt as though he had taken another step up on the ladder that brought him closer to being her equal.
It was obvious to all in the trauma room that the woman was seriously injured. Her breathing was labored, and the large discolored area along the middle of her chest stretching from right shoulder to left abdomen was a sign of significant seatbelt injury, specifically that of a restrained passenger. The chest x-ray would be a guide to the appropriate treatment.
Rob Kreger decided to utilize the precious time that he needed to see the
X-ray. "Let’s set up for bilateral chest tubes, type and cross for six units of blood. Alert CT Scan that we will need to scan the head, and chest- abdomen-pelvis."
Garrett watched the electronic screen as the patient’s chest X-ray appeared. Her eyes turning a steely blue color as she studied it. Her voice came out tense, "Looks like she has a lot of broken ribs and bilateral pneumothorax." She peered at the X-ray again letting her fingers measure out something on the screen display. "The aortic knob looks pretty wide."
"That’s what I was afraid of," the team leader shook his head. "What’s her pressure?"
Rosie looked up at the monitor to her right. "Eighty over fifty and the heart rate is 126."
Rob’s eyes snapped up to the heart monitor, "Damn, look at those irregular complexes." His eyes quickly fell back onto the chest wall that he was inserting the tube in. "Call the O.R. and tell them to have a room ready for a ruptured aorta." Kreger hurried to finish placing the tube into the left chest and secure it from falling out. Blood now escaped from the chest via the tube as it drained into the holding container. "Damn!" He bit off the word, "No time for the other side to be placed. Call the O.R., we’re coming now."
As if on cue, the overhead speaker squawked again, "Trauma’s in the Department. Trauma’s in the Department."
Garrett turned to face the hallway leading from the door to the trauma rooms. Her eyes could barely see the patient through all of the bulky dressing wrapped around his head soaked through with blood. The only thing that she was sure of was that the patient was being assisted in his respirations by the medic that was bagging him. She motioned for the crew to follow her into Trauma Room #1.
Danni looked at the stretcher with the seemingly lifeless body on it. She noted the small chalky white hand that stuck out from under the cover that the flight crew had used to control his body temperature during the flight. Her heart sank as it always did when confronted with the ravages of trauma on a young person. Her thoughts drifted briefly to her own younger brother and she said her well-rehearsed prayer for his safekeeping. She quickly drew the soft cloth of the trauma gown sleeve across the side of her face, catching the single tear that lingered at the corner of her eye.
He had always been such a vivacious child, getting into trouble at the drop of a hat. It wasn’t that he was bad or ill mannered, trouble just seemed to follow him around. Matt was with her visiting with their grandfather at his cabin. She would have been ten that year and he had just turned five. Being the older sister, she always felt responsible for him, especially when he got injured. That was the first time she could remember having to tell her parents of Matt’s misfortune. He had fallen out of a tree trying to get an egg out of a bird’s nest. His grip had let go as he stretched out for it, thus resulting in a broken arm. After a while it became standard policy that Danni possessed in her hands a letter of parental consent for emergency care, just in case Matt had to be rushed to the hospital. She thought about how it felt to be in charge of her sibling, watching out over him like a mother hen. Perhaps that is when she first felt the urge to start collecting and helping lost, injured or wayward animals. It made her feel important, at least for a little while.
It was there, in the first emergency room that her brother was in, that she had made her mind up to be a nurse. Not just any old nurse, but the best and most skilled one that she could be. She always thought that she owed her brother a thank you for introducing her to the profession she loved and had brought so much joy to her. In fact, Danni made a mental note to thank him the next time she talked to him, but who would know when that would be. They were older now and with lives of their own. Twenty years had flown by and now they were both adults and living in separate cities. It wasn’t just the years that had them growing apart, but rather Danni’s choice of life at the cabin, out of the reach of all the materialistic goals that her mother tried setting for her, that had lost most of the ties of their teen years. She found the simple life with her Grandfather during the summer months to be so much more enjoyable than the loneliness of the city and her family for that matter. Her mother was always trying to push her daughters into meeting only the most promising young men from well-to-do families, thinking that only money could buy them happiness. She wanted a life of success for her daughters and in her mind that meant running a house and raising a family. Danni’s parents had always gauged their children’s success by the status that they lavished with on the social circuit. Unfortunately, she was never one to rise to the occasion of parties and dating with her classmates. She left that to her younger sister, Breanna, whom was seen as more favorable and brilliant in their eyes with her many interested suitors all vying to wear her on their arms. The bond of sisters was still between them, but each had always listened to their own hearts. Now, they all had grown and gone there separate ways. Matt was with his friends now, all working in law firms, Breanna with her boyfriend Marc who eventually became her husband, fathering her first child on their wedding night and Danni, mostly by herself, always wanting something that would make her feel whole.