Part Nine
By Pebbles
Pebbles@ukgateway.net
It was all Kerry could do to stop herself from grabbing the paddles as the British team flew into action. One doctor performed CPR whilst Dr Booth stood ready with the defibrillator. All attention was fixed on the monitor, which continued to beep wildly as Luka’s heart beat frantically and without rhythm. The seconds seemed like hours.
"Shock him!" Kerry put her hand to her mouth as she recognised her own voice rising above the noise of the monitor. She felt Carter’s hand pull gently on her arm.
"Clear!" Booth called as he applied the two paddles to Luka’s chest. The first shock pulsed through his body. All eyes returned to the monitor. One second, two seconds, three…
"Charge to 200! Clear!" Again Booth pressed the paddles to Luka’s inert body. This time the shock sent caused his body to jolt with it’s power. One second, two second, three…
"Charge to 300…" Booth began, a note of desperation creeping into his voice.
"Normal sinus rhythm!" The junior doctor called out triumphantly. There was a sigh of relief all round. Kerry started to breathe again.
"OK, lets give him Bretylium – 10mg/kg." The relief showed in Booth’s voice too. This man was a fellow physician even if he had never met him before. He turned back to the two American doctors who had brought their colleague in. "Blood pressure’s improving and his temperature is up one degree already – let’s go and see where the surgical team has got to.
Carter and Kerry followed him out into the hall and towards the administration desk. As they walked down the hall they became aware of raised voices at the desk. Even before the owner of the clipped English accent came into view Kerry had recognised the voice.
"Well either you page Dr Booth now or else I’ll bloody well go and look for him myself!"
"Elizabeth!" Kerry crutched towards the taller woman a huge smile of relief on her face. Looking round and seeing Kerry and Carter approaching, Elizabeth Corday returned the smile"
"How did you get here?" Kerry asked in amazement.
"The hotel manager lent us his Porsche 911. Doug’s just finding somewhere to park it." Elizabeth grinned "Doug and that car were made for each other!" Seeing the others concerned faces the smile disappeared from her lips. "How is Luka?"
"Just about holding his own. They are trying to get his body temperature up a couple more degrees before he goes up for surgery but we’re running out of time with his leg. It’s been without a pulse for at least three – maybe four hours now." Kerry tried to retain her professional composure but she felt her hand beginning to tremble as she grasped her crutch.
There was a rumble of voices behind them as Dr Booth approached with two other doctors – both in scrubs. "Dr Weaver and Dr Carter," He called to them. "Let me introduce our Surgical Registrar Mr Brodrick and this is Mr Singh." There was a flurry of handshaking and pleasantries and Kerry introduced Elizabeth to Dr Booth and his colleagues.
"I should very much like to scrub in." Elizabeth politely requested once the introductions were over. "Although I practice in Chicago I have retained my Fellowship."
The English doctors exchanged glances. Seeking to head off any possible objection Elizabeth drew her self up to her full height. "I have considerable experience in this type of trauma – I would be very willing to assist in any way I can."
"Of course Dr Corday – we would be delighted to have you on board." Brodrick smiled. "Now, we must see how our patient is shaping up." The whole group moved back up the hall to the trauma room where Luka was being treated.
Kerry found herself at the back of the group, barely able to see Luka for all the doctors crowding around.
"I would like to see him regain consciousness before releasing him for surgery." Dr Booth was saying.
"We can’t be sure that will happen within the next hour – after that we risk losing the leg." Brodrick sounded indecisive.
"What is his core temperature now?" Elizabeth enquired
"33 degrees and his blood pressure is rising steadily."
"OK. Well let’s get some x-rays done and then prep him for surgery." Elizabeth paused. "If you’re in agreement with that Mr Brodrick?"
"Fully, Dr Corday. And please, you may call me Stephen as we shall be working together." He smiled, not able to hide his admiration for this extremely confident and striking looking woman.
"It’s Elizabeth. And thank you for letting me help – not many surgeons are so…er.. accommodating." She grinned back, forgetting for the moment the complete ruination of her wedding night.
There was a surge of activity as all the equipment was rearranged so that it could be moved with Luka in preparation of the move to the OR. Brodrick and Elizabeth went on ahead to scrub and discuss the procedure. Carter excused himself to go in search of a coffee machine. For a moment Kerry found herself alone with Luka except for a couple of nurses who were making adjustments to the IVs etc and certainly paying no attention to her.
She moved closer to the bed. Luka looked so peaceful now - if you could ignore the various tubes and lines which snaked in and out of his body. His hair hung limply over his forehead, almost reaching his eyes and Kerry felt a strong urge to smooth it away from his brow. She studied the strong line of his eyebrows, which normally leant so much expression to his face. Her eyes swept over the fine chiselled nose and wide sensitive mouth.
She longed to touch him but held back. It would not be appropriate. After all there was no relationship between them beyond friendship. Kerry reassured herself that they were at least friends not just colleagues but – oh she just wished there could have been something more.
Finally she plucked up the courage to take hold of his hand – holding it lightly between her two much smaller ones. She massaged the fingers between her own. "Luka" her voice creaked with so much emotion held in check. "You’re safe in the hospital now. Elizabeth is going to fix up your leg and everything is going to be just fine." She breathed rather than spoke these words of comfort as if scared that someone else might hear her. "I’m going to be here when you wake up so just you hang on in there – OK?"
Kerry willed him to wake up and open his eyes - just to acknowledge her presence but there was no sign that he was even near reaching consciousness. Squeezing his hand a little tighter, Kerry raised it briefly to her lips planting the softest of kisses on his fingers.
"Hey, how’s the big guy doing?" Doug’s voice behind her startled Kerry and she nearly dropped Luka’s hand like a hot coal. Instead she quickly replaced it on the bed and shoved her own hands into the pockets of her sweats.
"Doug! You startled me!" She turned to meet his mischievous grin.
"I can see that. Don’t look so guilty, Kerry. I’m sure he wouldn’t object to your …er.. ministrations." Doug’s grin was even wider letting Kerry know exactly what he was thinking.
Kerry knew nothing she could say would throw him off the scent so she decided to try and distract him by other means. "I’m so glad you brought Elizabeth. She’s going to scrub in and assist with the re-vascularisation."
"Yeah, well it was the least I could do. Mark may never forgive me but I can live with that!" He shrugged. "Anyway, you haven’t answered my question." He nodded towards Luka. "How’s he doing?"
"OK for now. It was a little scary when we first arrived – he went into V-fib and they had to shock him." Kerry swallowed remembering the feeling of utter panic that had swept over her. "But he seems stable now and his temperature is rising."
The two doctors stood in silence side by side – each lost in their own thoughts. It was Doug who first broke the spell, his voice low and serious. "I’m sorry Kerry. If I hadn’t been such an asshole none of this would have happened."
"Yeah." Kerry was not going to deny it. She turned to look Doug in the eye. "There’s no point dwelling on it though. We just have to do the best we can for him now." She tried to smile but just the effort of it brought tears to her eyes.
Seeing her distress Doug held out his arms to her and to his amazement Kerry allowed herself to be held. No words were spoken as they embraced and Doug gently stroked her back. After a few moments Kerry pushed herself out of his arms and this time she was able to pull a little lop sided smile.
"Hey," Doug smiled back "he’s going to be alright."
"Doug!" Carter called out as he returned with two cups of steaming coffee. "Here, have one of these – I can go and get another." He handed Doug and Kerry a cup each. He grinned at Doug. "I hear you got to drive a 911?"
"Yeah! What a babe! I gotta put my name down for one of those when we get back home."
Dr Booth returned and after checking on his patient one last time authorised his movement to the OR. As Luka was pushed down the hallway, Kerry, Doug and Carter followed. There was a waiting area outside the OR and they resigned themselves for a long wait. Kerry sat down first, her leg aching from the long day on her feet. She shut her eyes but sleep would not come.
Time dragged by. Kerry was alone with her thoughts – both Doug and Carter had fallen asleep after a desultory conversation about the merits of various sports cars. She stared out of the window at the lights of the city below and shivered. The night was cold.
Kerry didn’t like the way she was feeling. Up until now she had made sure that her private life was uncomplicated – devoid of wayward emotions. There was enough stress in her job without having to worry about a ‘significant other’. She liked to come home to a quiet empty house – didn’t she? To retreat into her shell, lick her wounds and gain strength for another day in the trenches.
When she was younger – well that had been different. Then she had longed to find a soul mate. A handsome man to sweep her off her feet and take her to his bed. Someone to share her life with and make babies together. But it was too late now. Kerry had resigned herself to a single life. A life she had control over – with no surprises.
This feeling inside her – the tightness around her heart every time she looked at Luka. This was not a part of the plan. She felt out of control – raw emotions coursing through her veins – she couldn’t handle it. Sighing she let her head rest in her hands.
"Kerry." Elizabeth’s voice cut into her reverie. Looking up she saw her friend approaching with a smile on her face. She sat down next to Kerry. "It went well. The leg is going to be fine although he’ll be in traction for some time."
"Oh, thank God." Kerry felt a huge wave of relief sweep over her. "And how’s he doing, otherwise?"
"Pretty well considering. His core temp is back to normal and so is his BP – we just have to wait and see now." Neither woman wanted to say aloud the niggling fear that Luka might not come out of his coma - might have suffered some brain damage. It was early yet – no reason to suspect the worst.
Doug woke up at the sound of their voices and Elizabeth filled him in on how the surgery had gone. Carter continued to sleep – stretched out full length on the easy chairs.
"You might like to take a look at these." Elizabeth waved the packet of X-rays she held in her hand. "His leg was quite a mess." She stood up and pinned the films to the nearby light box.
Doug and Kerry joined her to study the images. "Oh my.." Kerry started, seeing the confusion of splintered bone.
"Yes, it was quite a job to fix this up. Fortunately Stephen Brodrick is an excellent man and did a great job." Pointing at the film she continued. "Look here and here. The bone has been broken before and not well set. Actually it doesn’t look like it was set at all – see here the deformity?" She glanced at the others to see their reaction.
Doug stared hard at the image for a while and then rubbed his chin. "Yeah. He told me it was broken before." He paused wondering if he should share the information Luka had shared with him. Figuring that he would not mind if he told the story he turned to face the women. "It was in the war - Vukovar I think he said. He was taken prisoner and.. er, while he was there the guards beat him up – smashed his leg with a riffle butt."
Neither Kerry nor Elizabeth said a word – just stared at Doug in disbelief. He shrugged. "Guess none of us knows the full story about him."
"He’s been through so much – it’s hard to imagine how much pain he has suffered." Elizabeth spoke softly. "Um, he’ll be moved to recovery by now. Do you want…..."
"Yes." Said Kerry, cutting short Elizabeth’s question.
"I think it’s this way." Elizabeth led the way.
"I’ll wake up Carter," said Doug to their retreating backs.
End of Part 9