“No!” the little boy yelled. “Its gonna hurt! DONT!”
Looking poignantly at the boys father, Kate nodded. “I promise it wont hurt. Ive done this a million times. Trust me, Im an expert at this kind of thing.”
The child sniffed awkwardly. Looking at his father, he frowned, his bottom lip sticking out in the way only a small childs can; making you feel sorry for them and making you try not to laugh at them at the same time.
“Are you ready?” Kate encouraged, trying to reassure the child.
“You promise it wont hurt?”
“I promise”
With a resigned sigh, the child looked to his hands. “Fine”
The child reclined on the stretcher, looking quickly between Kate and his father. His father held his hand, and put the other on his shoulder reassuringly.
“Ok, we’ll do this on three.....” Kate said, leaning close to the child, her tools in hand. “One. Two. Three.”
And with that, Kate pulled the raisin from the childs nose with a swift movement. Clutching the object tightly in the tweezers in her hand, she held it out for the child to see.
Looking at it, the child smiled. Turning to his father, he laughed. “Can I still eat it?”
The father broke out laughing. “No, I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
After a quick check that the child had nothing else lodge anywhere else that needed removing, Kate discharged the patient and headed to the nurses station to retrieve the next chart.
It never ceased to amaze her what children chose to put in their orifices. She had removed peas, raisins, bits of carrot, and most recently, before tonight, a crayon. Unfortunately, not all people outgrew this habit as they got older. She didn’t even want to think of some of the things she had had to remove from some adults.
Reaching the desk, she grinned at Heather, one of the nurses on duty, who was also a close friend.
“Thanks for not warning me, you bitch.” She said teasingly. “I go in there with just ‘foreign body in orifice” on the chart, and almost peed when I realized it was a raisin in the kids nose”
Heather laughed. “Its funnier this way.”
Sitting at the desk, Kate began to chart the encounter with the child. This was probably the worst part of her job....the paperwork. She was sure probably 80% of her time at work was spent writing, or in some cases, doodling, as some times words just didn’t describe an injury accurately, so doctors took to drawing what they saw. This prompted comments and teasing from the nurses, more often than not doctors being asked if the drawing was a nose, or an ass.
It had been that kind of night. Nothing too drastic, nothing too hectic. Kate had spent most of the first part of her shift in fast track, where the least urgent patients were gathered. Only a few times had she been forced to go to the main ER area for a more acute patient, and luckily (fingers crossed) she had had no problems in resus, where the most critical patients were immediately taken. Nights were usually long, but the docs preferred when they were uneventful. Because in an emergency room, events usually weren’t good things.
“So, did you talk to Jess?” Heather asked and she grabbed the nursing note portion of the chart Kate held, filling in the childs vitals and status upon discharge.
“Yeah,” Kate said as she scratched out an error. “She called me before she left for the concert. Either to rub it in that I had to work and she was going without me, or to genuinely say she was sorry I couldn’t come. Im not sure which it was yet.”
Looking at the clock, Kate figured the concert probably ended a few hours ago. It was now a little after 1am, and she had to admit she was surprised that Jess hadn’t called yet with a complete play by play of every tantalizing moment. She would probably leave a very long message on Kates machine to welcome her home after her shift.
“Doctor to triage please” called over the overhead speakers, ringing throughout the department.
Kate looked at Heather curiously. It was rare for a doctor to be called directly to triage. In almost all cases, patients were triaged, then sent to one of the patient care areas: resus, main, or fast track, depending on acuity.
Resus had access either down a short hall from the triage desk, or in extreme cases, through a sliding door directly inside the entrance to the emergency department. Inside was 4 beds, with one isolation room which could be vented to negative pressure in the case of a possible outbreak. Main was located further down the resus corridor, stretching across the back of the department. Since this was usually the busiest area, with the high to moderately acute patients, it took up the most space, and had the most beds, 15.
There were 2 beds in a small room behind the triage nursing station, where patients could have blood work, oxygen, or general initial ‘workups’ done if there was a backlog in their destined patient care area. This helped expedite the ER process and cut down on wait times, something both patients and staff preferred.
But it was almost never that a doctor was called to see a patient directly in this back room. That was never good.
Heather shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe they just want to know if you’ll spring for the night coffee run.”
“Screw that, I paid last time”
Tossing the chart to Heather, Kate headed out of the fast track area, through the doors that cut the area off from the rest of the department, and turned towards the triage desk, which was immediately outside and to the left of fast track.
Looking around the triage and main waiting room areas, Kate saw nothing worrisome. She had expected to see a patient on the floor, in the fits of a seizure or something. But everything seemed fine. Except the nurses behind the desk. They looked a little frantic.
Coming up behind the desk, Kate approached the nurses. “Whats going on? Why did you call me out here?”
Michelle, a lovely nurse, about 24, with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes turned to Kate excitedly. “Dude, you SO wont believe you we just triaged!” She was practically ready to spontaneously combust with every word.
Michelle, Kate, Jess and Heather spent most of their time outside of work together, and Kate considered them all her closest friends since moving to Orlando. Since she was at work so much, it seemed logical to her to have the majority of her friends be from her place of employment. She never saw anyone outside of work anyways, since she was always there, this way, she still saw her friends.
“Dude,” Kate mocked. “Who?”
“Are you ready for this?” Michelle said, grabbing Kate by either arm tightly. “Joey Fatone!” Michelles jaw dropped open dramatically at the announcement.
Kates eyebrows came together, confused.
“Dude, didn’t you hear me? “ Michelle repeated, giving Kate a little shake. “Joey FUCKING Fatone is in the back triage room!”
“Is that his full name?” Kate mocked, gently removing Michelles hands from her shoulders.
“Why aren’t you freaking out?” Michelle frowned disappointedly. “You’re as much of an NSync freak as I am. Freak out with me, dammit!”
“Why is he here?” Kate said, trying to keep her composure and not laugh at her friends enthusiasm.
Leslie, a senior nurse, stepped in, smirking at Michelle. “Apparently, he twisted his knee.” Leslie handed Kate the chart. “He was playing around with some other group member, rough housing, and fell over a couch or something. He said he heard a pop. He has a history of issues with his knee in the past.”
Taking the chart from Leslie, Kate smiled. And here she thought this was going to be a boring night. Oh, how Jess was going to die when she told her this.
“Im gonna call Jess!” Michelle clapped, turning back to her desk and reaching for the phone.
“No!” Kate hollered. “First of call, patient confidentiality ring a bell?” Smirking evily, she continued. “Second, I want to tell her this in person.”
The thought of Jess, having a great time at the concert without her depressed Kate enough. But the chance to tell her that after the concert, she actually got to meet one of the members, albeit in a less than ideal setting, was just too good to pass up. This was definitely an in person conversation.
“OH! Good idea!” Michelle agreed, coming back to look at the door to the back triage room. “Can I come with you? I wanna see him again!”
“I think you should wait here.” Kate laughed. “I promise, if he needs a sponge bath, you’ll be my girl.”
Kate turned towards the door which lead to the back triage room. There were two doors, one in front and to the right of the first triage desk, and another back door behind the nurses station. This allowed stretchers to be pulled in and out easily, as the second door lead towards the hall to xray.
Suddenly, Kate felt a little nervous. She was about to meet one of her favourite singers. Wow. She had to admit, this was pretty cool. Giving herself a mental scolding, she reminded herself quickly that she was a doctor, and he was her patient....that was all.
Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Kate reached out and opened the back triage door and entered the room.
There, she found the real Joey Fatone, lying on a stretcher, talking into his cell phone.
“No, mom, Im fine.” He assured. Noticing Kates entrance, he continued quickly. “I gotta go, the doctors here.....No, you don’t need to come here......NO, Chris isn’t here for you to yell at....MOM, I GOTTA GO!....Ok, bye.”
Closing the phone, Joey set it beside him, and turned to Kate. “Sorry,” he said with a regretful smile. “My mom. She likes to worry.”
Kate looked around the room. On a seat beside Joeys stretcher was the biggest man she had ever seen in her life. He was like a refrigerator with arms. Beside him was another, noticeably smaller, man.
“Its no problem.” Kate answered, trying her best to sound professional, although she did notice her voice was a little higher than normal. Clearing her throat, she took a few steps forward, and turned to the chart to regain focus. “Im Dr. Foster. So, Mr. Fatone...”
“Call me Joey, please.” He interjected.
“Ok,” Kate couldn’t help but smile. ’Stop it, you idiot.’ she scolded herself. “What happened tonight, Joey?”
“Well, it was the last concert of our tour,” he started. “After the last show, we usually hang out and have a little party. Our way of thanking the crew and stuff. Long story short, me and Chris started goofing around, wrestling and stuff, and he had a hold of my leg. I tried to kick him off, lost my balance and fell over the couch. For some reason, the reason being that Chris is an idiot, he didn’t let go, so I twisted my knee.”
“And you’ve had a similar injury before?” Kate asked, eyes on the chart.
“Hes had alot of accidents before.” The refrigerator said.
“Hes a little accident prone.” The smaller man added, smirking mockingly at Joey.
“Dont mind them, they’re just bitter that they don’t get the cute doctor.” Joey flirted. “This is Tiny, my bodyguard.” Joey said, pointing to the refrigerator. ’Tiny?’ Kate thought. ’Huh. Fitting.’ “And this is Anthony, our tour director.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Kate said, setting the chart at the foot of the bed, she reached for Joeys knee. Luckily, he was wearing shorts. Things were always much more complicated when patients wore jeans when they had leg or knee injuries. It was never a popular process trying to remove the pants of a screaming guy with a broken leg.
Examining the area gently, Kate continued. “Did you hear a pop?”
“Yeah, unfortunately. “
Retracting her hands, Kate turned towards the chart. “Ok, Joey. First things first, Im sending you for an xray. We can have the tech do a portable xray, if that is preferable to you. There may be other patients that may recognize you.”
“I think that would be best” Tiny interjected. “I don’t want to have to protect you when you’re jacked up.”
Laughing, Kate closed the chart, tucking it under her arm. “After the xray, depending on what it shows, we can discuss what options are best for you in terms of immobilization. Im pretty sure its just a pulled ligament, so you wont need anything drastic.”
“Sounds good to me. Thanks very much, doc.” Joey said, reaching out to shake Kates hand.
Immediately, she started grinning like a fool. Grasping Joeys hand, she felt herself stifle a giggle. Goddammit! She was a grown, educated, mature, woman! She was NOT going to giggle because she was shaking the hand of a singer....
“I’ll see you again in a little while.” Kate assured, turning towards to door.
Just as she reached for the doorknob, the door swung quickly towards her, narrowly missing hitting her. She was about to tell off whoever was on the other side, until she looked up and realized who it was.
There, on the other side of the door, was Justin Timberlake.