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********************************************************************** From: "Patti" <theaterhost@voyagerliveaction.com> Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 14:08:06 -0800 (PST) Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive] Complications Johnny Gage bent close to the woman's face, holding her shoulders to prevent their muzzy patient from trying to sit up. "Hey there. Can you hear me? What's your name? Can you tell me that?" The girl groaned wetly, closing her eyes, still coughing weakily. Gage moved the O2 mask aside and cross scissored her mouth open, using her teeth, looking for blood or any other fluid that might be there. He accepted an active suction line that Roy shoved over to him with a foot but Johnny soon found that it wasn't needed. "Nothing's here Roy. Her airway's doing fine. Ma'am? Hey! Can you answer me?" Johnny asked again, letting go of her mouth. He dug several knuckles into her breastbone. The girl immediately shoved his hand away with only her left arm and her face screwed up at the painful rub. *choke* Ugghh.." and she took a deep breath from the mask Starsky replaced back onto her face. "Aaaah..." she sobbed. "My...hea..d-d.." Johnny rocked back onto his heels. "I know. Easy. Just lie still. Can you tell me what happened?" " I...mmmgh.." and fright suddenly filled her dirt crusty eyes as the rest of the woman's words faded into incoherency. "Just try to relax. My name's Johnny Gage and I'm a Los Angeles County paramedic. We're gonna take real good care of you, all right? Keep holding still until I can check you out a little better. Tell me where your pain is besides your head. Can you tell me that?" The woman, looking groggy and heavily stunned, didn't reply, but tears leaked out of the corner of one of her eyes as she finally tracked Johnny's. "You're still waking up a bit. Don't be scared. Try and take as many deep full breaths from this oxygen as you can, ok? It'll help you focus a little better." Gage suggested to her as he rechecked the status of her pupils. "I'm just gonna take another look here with a flashlight to see how you're doing. Just relax." Hutch picked up the girl's cut away clothes and started searching for a wallet in a jeans pocket. He found one. "I've got a name. Mary Malone. Age 22 from 14 North Crescent in Anaheim. The photo I've got here matches her in a positive I.D. Starsky, California driver's license." he told the paramedics and his partner. "There's also a student's pass here to the University down the block." Gage nodded while Roy called Rampart Base on the biophone. |
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After a half minute or so of watching Mary take breaths under the mask, Gage spoke again. "Mary. Talk to me now. Do you hurt anywhere else besides your head?" Johnny noticed that she was growing more and more agitated. Finally, her lips opened and she let out a fully coherent sentence. But it wasn't a reply to his insistent question. It was about something else entirely different. "...Tob... He's... Toby?!" she started calling out. "Where are y---!?" "Toby? Who's Toby? Mary! Take it easy. Don't move around so much. You're gonna hurt yourself!" Johnny grunted, keeping her shoulders pinned and immobile while Hutch kept firm hands across her forehead and over the dressing on top of the gaping wound ripped open on her temple. "Mary..." Hutch started in, being closest. "Who's Toby? Easy hon. Just answer the question without fighting us.." "My...my son. He took him.." she cried frantically. "Ohmyg*d. That man had a gun!" and she started wailing and struggling in her panic. Johnny and Hutch both restrained her tightly. Starsky took the wallet Hutch had dropped on the ground and leafed through its photograph section. He found several of a young boy with blond hair. "There's a couple photos of a kid in here,.... about four years old. He looks a lot like Mary. I'll put out an APB." and he got up to radio headquarters from the Torino. |
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Hutch nodded and then he looked down once more."Mary.. Mary! Lie still! We've got nearly a dozen police officers in the area and we'll look for him immediately. But you've got to start cooperating with the paramedics here so they can start treating you! I'm Detective Hutchinson and I promise you that I'll do everything I can to find your son, but my first concern right now is you, and your injuries. Let these firemen get you to a doctor and to some help at the hospital. The best way for me to help find your son is for you to start answering their questions about what happened to you, ok?" Mary Malone went limp, sobbing in resignation. "Please...I'll do anything you ask. Just find my little boy...." Hutch sighed and so did Gage. Ken let go of the T shirt over Mary's temple. "The bleeding's pretty much stopped here. I'm letting go." he told Johnny. "I've gotta go help my partner get out that possible kidnapped hostage bulletin. I'll be right back to help you with Mary's spine board. I'll also make sure an ambulance is well on the way." Johnny nodded to the fair haired policeman and got to work over Mary. "Thanks, Detective Hutchinson." "Please, call me Hutch. It's easier, Mr. Gage." "O.k.." replied Johnny. "I'll remember that." Ken got up and joined Starsky by the Gran Torino and a couple of other officers who were heading up the grid search for the rifle armed Metford. He also helped Starsky give Captain Dobey a preliminary report of the chase and circumstances surrounding the girl's assault, over their car phone. Johnny bent close to Mary's face once more, wrapping a Coban elastic wrap around her head to hold the blood soaked T shirt and dressings into firm place against her temple. "How are you doing, Mary?" "I...feel so dizzy, sir..." Gage smiled at her. "Well then it's a good thing you're still lying down now, isn't it? How's your neck?" he added quickly. "Sore." "How about back here?" he said, gently feeling the bones in the back from the base of her skull and down to the top of her shoulders. "It hurts just in front where he grabbed me. The left side of my neck's burning." and she pointed over the biggest of the angry fingermarks wrapping around there. Gage checked gently for equality on both carotid pulses with a couple of fingers. "Can you still breathe all right? Is your throat swelling up at all?" "No.. I think its ok. It's just my head. It hurts real bad." she gasped. "On a scale of 1 to 10, if one's nothing and 10's the worst, where's your pain right now, Mary?" Johnny asked. "A nine.." "Are you nauseated?" "Yes.." "Ok, just let me know if you think you're gonna get sick and we'll tip you over." "O.k.." and she grimaced rubbing her right arm with her left hand. "What's wrong?" Johnny asked. "I.. can't pick up my arm." "This one here?" he said, gripping her hand on that side. "Yeah.. it feels ...kinda tingly and numb." Johnny got both her palms in both of his. "Squeeze my hands. Hard as you can." he encouraged her. He noticed her grip was weak but still there on the right but her ability to keep her arm uplifted above her, was absent. He moved down to test both her legs' strength, moving the shock sheet aside. "Ok, can you feel me touching you down here?" he said pulling out a scissors point and tapping her shins and the tops of both her feet. Mary nodded yes. Johnny put the scissors back into his hip holster. "All right. Push both feet down onto both my hands. Ok, good. Now try and lift your legs against my holding them down, hard as you can. Good. That's fine." He looked for a Babinski's. Her toes curled down to his forceps point sweep check, normally, on both sides. "I'm ticklish." she said, trying to smile. The grin was nonexistent on the left side of Mary's face. "Sorry." Gage grinned, looking up. He didn't miss seeing the face droop and he didn't alarm Mary by mentioning it. He went on to get a full medical history, which he wrote down onto a small tablet with his neurological findings. Gage handed it to his partner. |
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Roy had reached a physician through the biophone line. "Rampart. We've a 22 year old female. Victim of an assault. She's got a large left temple wound due to a blunt force blow to the head. Bleeding has been controlled. I estimate her blood loss at under 500 cc's. Rampart, it seems she was a victim of a near strangling. "She was respiratory arrested for a couple of minutes but was aided by a bystander to spontaneous recovery. She's now awake and oriented to 12 on the Glasgow on 15 liters of O2. There's signs of non invasive crushing injury to the soft tissues of the neck. She's complaining of marked tenderness in the left anterior throat without airway distress. She's been cervical spine immobilized. Apparent restlessness has proved to be emotional in nature. "She's positive for vasovagal signs. Carotid pulses are equal. BP initially was depressed at 64/40. Pulse's now 50 beats a minute, up from 42, and regular. Respirations are 18 and shallow. Pupils were equal and reactive, but sluggish, when we first arrived, but now the ipsilateral side's dilated. She has contralateral hemiparesis of only her right arm with partial sensation and face drooping on the left. Negative on Babinski's. "There's no indication of further injuries or allergies. Nor does she have a prior history of medical problems. She's negative for any medications." Dr. Early replied back. ## Start a large bore I.V., 51, of Normal Saline. Run in 500 ml's to offset her carotid hypotension. Then turn the intravenous to TKO. Give her mannitol IV 1 g/kg in a rapid push once you're in transit. After she's been long board immobilized, raise her head up. Closely watch for signs of a deteriorating consciousness level. If she develops Cushing's, administer 1.0 mg/kg of Lidocaine slow IVP. Use 5mg diazepam for any agitation. ##If her Glasgow drops below 8, hyperventilate her, 51, and make preparations for a rapid sequence induction ET intubation. I'll advise you on what to use for a paralytic agent. ##Give her .5 mgs atropine IV for that bradycardia. Get a strip for me, 51, I want to look for any arrythmias. Monitor her vital signs every five minutes and transport as soon as possible, without sirens, to prevent possible seizures.## Roy repeated back all of Joe's orders and then he and Johnny, along with the two plain clothes detectives, got Mary situated onto a backboard. A minute later, the Hearse ambulance arrived and Mary was gurney loaded onto it with DeSoto and all the gear boxes. They used the squad's splint box turned onto one side to lift up the spine board's head end 30 degrees. Roy repeated to Gage. "Johnny. Doc wants silent mode in." "Ok.." said Johnny, putting on his helmet onto his head. Starsky looked at DeSoto, holding the ambulance door so the paramedic wouldn't have to shut it himself. "Traffic's not gonna do anything to get out of the way with just your ambulance reds flashing by themselves." "We've no other choice in the matter. Mary has to stay perfectly quiet and calm. She's got an active intracranial bleed ongoing and any further excitement, like loud noises, are liable to complicate things for her." answered Roy. "Mr. DeSoto, you have an alternative. We'll go ahead of the ambulance. Our siren faces forwards and isn't heard past the rear of our car. Now where's the girl headed?" Hutch asked, his question sounding more like a demand. "Rampart General Hospital in Torrance." said Roy. "Let see, that's.. 6th to Ventura Freeway North, to 101 North to 226th Street. Hang a right... Right?" Starsky asked the paramedic quickly after his mental map drawing. "Yeah, that's the shortest route. And if I can't talk ya out of an escort, I'll take it." DeSoto grinned and got on board the ambulance. "We gotta go anyway to talk to Mary for more details before she heads into surgery. We may not get another chance to learn from her about what actually happened if she doesn't make it." Hutch said grimly. |
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Roy frowned when his hidden paramedic worry was stated so openly. "If Mary's got just an epidural hematoma, she's got every chance in the world to survive it. The neurosurgeons at Rampart are absolutely the best surgeons around these parts." "DeSoto, we're counting on them to do their d*mned*st to save her. Those doctors, and my partner and I, are little different. Little Toby's now counting on the both of us,...to save HIM." said Hutch with conviction, meeting Roy's blue eyes evenly with his own. "Let's go. Time's wasting." said Starsky gently. "Be sure to let that attendant know that he's following our unmarked police car. It's the striped candy apple over there." Roy nodded. "I'll let him know." Hutch shut the door until it latched. He then patted the glass to let the driver know that he could start turning around back towards the main drag. Starsky sprinted ahead to the Torino to precede him in the same move. Then he picked up his partner in a spin of tires and dust and soon, the siren blaring Torino and silent, lights only running squad and ambulance, were off to Rampart as fast as Starsky and Hutch could scatter the city traffic. In route, Roy set up an EKG tracing off Mary. She had fallen into a litany of calling out her son's name. She no longer opened her eyes to Roy's questions nor followed any of his suggestions. Roy picked up the phone. "Rampart this is Squad 51, how do you read?" ##Go ahead, 51.## "Our victim's LOC is 9. Stand by for a Lead Two and vitals." ##Standing by.## The paramedic sent on the telemetry to Dr. Early and waited, biting his lip. Roy picked up his HT to Johnny. "HT 51 to Squad 51." ##This is Squad 51.## answered Gage driving behind the ambulance. "She's slipping into unconsciousness. We might have to pull over for that intubation before we get there." ##10-4, 51. Watching out for a curbside. I'll let the detectives know that we might emergency halt on their Tach Two. ## |
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the striped Torino, Starsky had one eye on the ambulance behind them and the other on the road. He shouted to a slow driver in front of him. "Come on, buddy! Move it!" he shouted, hanging his badge out the open car window for the startled motorist to see. "What part of the color red don't ya see?! Maybe this badge'll talk better!" Hutch ducked down in embarrassment. "Starsky, go easy on them. Scaring the other drivers'll only make'em slower in pulling out of our way. We're making good time. I estimate Rampart's only three minutes away." "More like six minutes, Hutch. Did you forget the seven o'clock coal train already? I'm speeding because we're a minute away from it cutting us off at the pass. Look over there buddy boy." and he pointed out to their left, where two city blocks sideways from their own position, the guard rails of the train crossing intersection, were already lowering and flashing red. Rows of cars were damming up in front of them in anticipation of their own street's train rails coming down. Then Gage's transmission about Mary's potential future ambulance emergency stop came over the radio through their police dispatcher. "O.K. Nobody's stopping for anything else that's as unnecessary as a freight train here." said Starsky and he drove onto the sidewalk to get around the halting cars. Then he threw the Torino into a sharp left onto the railroad tracks wooden rails as he waved on the ambulance and squad to start coming towards the tracks normally, via the street. Starsky jerked the wheel and spun the Torino sideways until the locomotive conductor was sure to see the red car obstructing his way. He pounded on the dashboard happily when he heard the blast of the train's klaxon bite down in rapid succession and when blue sparking arcs started to fly as the train's emergency brakes were frantically applied. Hutch paled, seeing that his passenger door was the side facing the oncoming train. "Starsky, what the h*ll are you doing?!" he shouted in a high panicked voice. |
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"Slowing him down. The gates won't flash for our street until he's an eighth of a mile away. Remember your train stats? I'm buying us an extra thirty seconds. At least." said Starsky. "You're crazy! Are you sure you didn't jam the tires into the rocks?! We might not be able to work free again in time." The smile of success faded from Starsky's face into a white wash. Until he tested the stick and the forward and reverse gears until the Torino rocked in response comfortably. "We're not stuck, Hutch. And we only gotta stay here long enough for the squad and ambulance to work past the traffic jam and get past that R/R crossing. Then we can rocket outta here.." Hutch just stared at his partner and back at the oncoming train again in a panicked flurry of glances. "St...ar..sk..That train's going over forty miles an hour!" he shouted. "Just a few.....seconds.....more..." said Starsky, watching the intersection crossing the avenue they had just left for the Hearse ambulance and rescue squad, in the rear view mirror. "There goes Mary.." he wiped his hands on his jeans. Then he started to re-grip the Torino's steering wheel, ignoring Hutch's shouts of alarm. The train's next horn blare all but split their eardrums. "StarskyyyYYY!" said Hutch. "....and there goes Johnny..." said the curly haired detective with a crow of delight. "They did it.." he laughed, highly pleased. "They beat the train!" Then he caught sight of the immense train bumper scoop and a whole lotta of steam boiling down on them less than ten yards away from Hutch's passenger door. Hutch was scared into completely frozen immobility. "GaahhhHH!" gasped Starsky and he punched the gas pedal to the metal with all the strength he had in his leg. The Torino scooted off the tracks mere feet before the train barreled by in a high speed squeal of sparking brakes. He caught the barest glimpse of its terrified train conductor before the young stripe hatted man in the locomotive was swept past and then beyond them. Clouds of dust roared into the detectives' car in an angry wind and made both men cough and choke violently. When the dust cleared, they both eyeballed each other from underneath a thick coating of grit and sand. The dusty assault had snapped Hutch out of his freeze. "....Starsk... if ..you ...ever...." he began, holding up a now trembling finger. Then he sneezed. "I promise. I won't. Not ever again. Hey, let's catch up with them now, Hutch. I can still see them on the merge ramp leading onto the freeway." And he spun the car's tires until they dug them off the soft soil of the intertracks and back onto a sidewalk. He cut over onto the merge lane and boiled up onto the freeway in long peels of noisy rubber. A plume of dust accented their departure from the car's interior. |
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Belatedly, Hutch fastened himself tightly into his seat's lap belt. "I should turn you in for reckless endangerment Starsky! I'm sure the captain will LOVE to hear about this latest stunt." he said, trying to brush off the dust coating his tan leather jacket in vain. "How can you rat on me? It'll have no credibility at all. There were no witnesses visible for the last fifteen seconds. The dust cloud was too big for anyone to see through." "I saw everything just fine with perfect one hundred percent clarity. That's all I'll need you big lummox!" "You mean you'd doom our six year long partnership to a dissolvement? Hutch I'm thoroughly surprised at you. I only made that move to save a risk to a life. Mary's." "By risking ours?!" "I had everything perfectly under control." "Let me tell you something Starsky. If you wanna go around rescuing lives, do it with your Wesson 39-9mm. You're far better at shooting than you are at playing chicken." "I am?" "Yes." "Oh." Hutch was still fuming when he killed the siren long enough for them to slide past the speeding squad and ambulance to get back into the leading escort position they had before the train crossing. "Or better yet. Why don't you join the firehouse guys to do that sort of thing and work it out of your system?!" he snarled angrily. "You know, that's not such a bad idea, Hutch. All this ambulance and emergency medical stuff's addicting." And he flipped their forward siren back on with a fancy florish. "I wonder if those two paramedics' stationhouse ever takes on police volunteers...." Hutch just stared at his partner in utter disbelief. "I was kidding, Starsky." "I don't think I was." Starsky replied back, keeping tabs on their two tails in the rear mirror. "When I was a kid, I always dreamed of becoming a fireman." "You've got the wrong kind of badge for that kind of work. Forget about it." "Guess you're right, Hutch. Ah, here's our exit." And he calmly signalled his right hand turn off the freeway. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ##Did you see that, Roy?## Gage came over DeSoto's HT. "See what, Johnny?" answered Roy over his radio as he counted Mary's pulse at her carotid. The woman had quieted significantly verbally and had accepted a simple nasopharyngeal airway without a fuss. So far, her Glasgow rating was staying a solid 9. ##That police car. It just took on a train so we could get across.## "I hadn't noticed. Mary's fair. Still a 9. And Joe's still going over her EKG. She's showing inverted T waves, and non-specific ST depressions. Pressure's rising." ##How high?## "In the hundreds palpated. She's still breathing ok. I put a nasal airway in and she took it." ##Keep me posted.## "I will." ##See you at the entrance. We're gonna make it in without that stop.## "That's my call, too. Whatever those detectives did back there bought Mary a whole lot of time." ##I'm sure they knew that, doing it. Man, I wish I could've become a policeman. Seems like a d*mned fun profession. I wonder if their department ever takes on fireman ride alongs.## "Policemen are useful sometimes, Johnny. But a lot of them are hot headed risk takers who'll do anything for the shortest outcome. They're not your kind of people." ##Who says? I won't know if I don't try..## "I've never heard of volunteer fire in a police station." ##Oh. That's too bad, Roy. I'll see you in one.## Soon, the Torino, ambulance and rescue squad were lined up at the emergency entrance and powered down. Mary Malone was quickly bustled inside to Dixie awaiting there. |
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****************************************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" <andacory@h...> Date: Mon Nov 22, 2004 7:11 pm Subject: Hallway Duty "Treatment 3." said Dixie quickly as she took the hanging I.V. from Roy DeSoto's hand so he could manage his chattering HT radio. The two other men, she recognized as police detectives. " Gentlemen, Dr. Early's called for a neurosurgeon and I'll be the one helping you fill out your crime report after we're through examining Mary. Johnny, could you stick around and help x-ray out with her films? I've already set out an extra lead apron." "Sure, Dix." "How's she breathing?" Joe Early asked as Gage and DeSoto wheeled Mary's gurney into the indicated room. "All right." Roy replied. "Still reacting to pain on both sides of her body. All except that one arm. She was talking a minute ago, but now she's just mumbling." And the three of them disappeared inside the treatment room. Detective Hutchinson sped up his walk until he was parallel with Dixie. "Ma'am. Is there any way my partner and I could ask Miss Malone a few questions? She's not unconscious yet." "That's seriously doubtful." Dixie said, as she whirled to prevent the two men from entering after Mary and the two paramedics when they tried to follow them. "Excuse us. We've films to get and then she's going straight into a ward for an immediate craniotomy." She nodded to the two policemen she had anticipated needing to thwart the detectives' meddling, to stand fast on either side of Mary's door. "Miss.....McCall." said Starsky after reading Dixie's name tag quickly. "You don't understand the urgency of the situation! Malone's four year old little boy has been kidnapped by her attacker and only Mary knows the critical details. This'll only take a couple of minutes. If she dies before we find out anything...." Dixie's hand slammed into the frame of the treatment room's door. "She'll die for certain if you two delay us or her treatment for even a minute..." she snarled. "Please! Go sit down in the waiting room! If she says anything during her exam and stabilization, I'll send Johnny or Roy out here to let you know about it!" |
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The richly varnished set of doors swung shut into their faces. Starsky was about to go barging in after Dixie, when Hutch grabbed his shoulders, and stopped him. Starsky knocked his hands away. "What are you doing?" he said with a low warning glare. "You know we've gotta get her side of it for the boy's sake." "Starsky. Think about it. Just how much could Mary've learned from Medford during the brunt of the attack? He was strangling her." "Adrenaline sometimes does some pretty powerful things on memory, partner. I'm banking on Mary having had a total recall effect because of her mother's instinct firing off for her child's protection." and he started to push on the doors around Hutch's larger frame. The two very large officers started to tense up their well muscled arms. Hutch once again prevented his smaller partner from moving. "Don't, Starsk. Be happy. We've managed to save Malone long enough for the doctors to get their shot at finishing the job. Let's go grab a cup of coffee." "No way in h*ll, Hutch. I'm not getting the wool pulled over my eyes by skipping an interview with another material witness against Metford again. Not this time. We lost the last one when he died on the surgical table." "I insist." said Hutchinson, spinning his partner around toward the front reception desk of Emergency's ward. "Sorry officers. He's a bit gung ho when it comes to cracking female victimization cases. Come on, Starsky. I smell coffee brewing over here and you look like you could seriously use some right about now." Starsky let himself be herded, finally realizing that he should retreat rather than embarrass them both with a public scuffle with two fellow policemen. Then he shivered. "I am kinda cold." "Stress'll do that." said Hutch matter of factly, grinning at the nurses who hurried by them, going about their business. He absently patted Starsky's shoulder reassuringly as he guided him away from Mary's room and the two head nurse appointed guards. "We've been hunting Metford down like an animal for ...what? Two days straight?" "Three. I remember that because that's how long it's been since either of us got any sleep." Starsky grumbled unhappily. Then he shrugged out of Hutch's grip, cooperating at last, and he adjusted his brown leather jacket back into comfortable place around his fatigue slumped shoulders. "Homicidal maniacs always give us a run for the money. It's the price we haveta pay before we get to nab the bad guy." Hutch reasoned. "Haven't you ever noticed that?" "No." Starsky reached out an arm in a grab and collapsed his weary butt on an empty gurney stored along the side of the hospital hallway with a sigh, before they had even walked thirty steps. He toppled over onto his side, nesting a cheek on an elbow and then he closed his eyes. "Wake me when those two fire monkeys get back out here, Hutch. I want a decent prognosis on Mary for Captain Dobey a.s.a.p. You know how he makes our life a living h*ll until he hears the final results or at least some decent progress news on any of our felony cases." "That may take a while. They've got to clear her C-spine before they can even move her." "That's ok by me. Why don't you grab the other end of the bed and lie down. This feels....absolutely....divine...." he murmured sleepily, curling up under the wheeled gurney's antiseptically clean white sheet. "Starsky?" Hutch inquired, staying on his feet. "I don't think you should be doing that.. I mean, what if it gets busy later and they need this stretcher?" A loud snore peeled immediately from Starsky's lax face. |
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"Starsk?" There was no answer. Hutch finally yawned uncontrollably and then he gave in to a mild grin. "All right. I guess you deserve a nap, pal. Looks like we've a long night ahead of us." he said angling Starsky's chin, so he slept silently without noise. To keep nosy hospital staff at bay, Hutch threw the sheet over his partner's face, took over a chair, and snatched up a magazine to read. Then he sat next to Starsky's gurney as if on a corpse watch. The shining detective's badge that he put out on his shirt's lapel kept anyone from asking any questions about either the man shaped lump under the crisply pressed sheeting on the bed, or him. --------------------------------------------------------------- |
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******************************************************************* Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 15:20:34 -0800 (PST) From: "Jeff Seltun" <finiterider@yahoo.com> Subject: The Lead.. Dr. Brackett was already in the Treatment Room on the phone. "Joe, I've got an anesthesiologist coming right now to get her squared away with an endotrach tube." "Thanks, Kel." said Joe as he began a funduscopic exam on Mary. "The sooner the better. There's retinal petecchiae in evidence." "Intracranial changes?" Dr. Brackett offered. Joe nodded. "At the very least, a linear skull fracture. I'm feeling a crack that's non depressed right along her parietal bone just above the left ear. With that same side dilated pupil and partial hemiparesis that Roy found, I'll bet there's a strong possibility that she's got an active epidural bleed going on." "No bet." said Kel. Then he turned to Dixie while he continued waiting for the X-ray tech to lay out the lateral and frontal cranial film series on the light board. "Dix, I want you to set up a foley before she hits the OR. Take care of that once she's under and intubated. Also draw blood for electrolytes, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, glucose, a complete blood cell count with platelets, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time. Have the lab do a toxicology screen and serum alcohol level and get a blood type and crossmatch. Her chart's not up from records yet." said Brackett. "Right away, Kel." and she went to the wall phone in the back of the room. He moved to the woman's right side and uptook her hand and fingers. "Johnny, what's her pressure?" "It's up, Dr. Brackett. 150/98. Respirations are only ten now. The heart rate you already know." he said pointing to the audible cardiac monitor that they all could hear pacing off a slow beat. Joe completed his physical check of Mary's head and he moved to her legs to test their reactions with a reflex hammer. He looked up when the anesthesiologist arrived with his equipment. Brackett pressed his thumbnail on top of Mary's middle finger nail bed, sliding it along until his clicked over the end of hers at the finger tip. The rest of Mary's fingers on that hand flexed, transiently exaggerated. "Joe, I've a positive Hoffman's response." |
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"Both sides?" Kel checked. "Yes." Dr. Early frowned. "That means there's a problem at C5 or above in addition to her head injury." "Good thing she was collared." Dr. Brackett said. "Did you get cervical plates, too?" "Yeah, they're almost set. Hang on." "Mike. Get her ready, fast. Cushing's is just around the corner." Kel said to the anesthestist. Right then, Mary moaned. Roy, by her right side, leaned in close. "Mary... can you hear me? The doctors are right here. They're gonna take real good care of ya. We're at the hospital now." Mary got more agitated, as if feeling Dixie's tap for the lab's arterial blood, and she started to fidget restlessly. "Tttt----Ttttoobbbb " "Keep her down." Brackett warned the two paramedics to hold her still. He drew up a 3 mg syringe of pentobarbitol and injected it into Mary's I.V. "Mary. Mary. Listen to me. You hurt your neck when you hit the ground. It's very important for you to lie as still as you can and don't move." "TTttttt---oob. Money's on the dress...e..r. Tooower's Plaazzz-zz." "Shhh.." Kel soothed holding her forehead. "Don't try to talk. We've given you some medication to relax you." "Brrrrriing....ittt th---" Mary's face slacked off with a sigh as Brackett's sedative took effect and she quit fighting actively. Mike deftly took out the nasopharyngeal airway and suctioned the blood and saliva out of her mouth and nose. He prepared for an in-line intubation with the endotrach airway tube he had ready to place. He nodded to Kel to signal that he was ready for the doctor to inject the second syringe full of succinylcholine to paralyze her the rest of the way until her breathing stopped. Gage pulled the sheet down so the anesthesiologist could see her chest for landmarks and its eventual rise for when the ventilator was turned on. He read off the numbers on the billows gauge. "She's got mild hypocapnea.. I'm reading,...30- 35 mm Hg, doc." "That's fine, Johnny.." said Joe Early. "That carbon dioxide level will prevent any severe vasoconstriction and it'll eliminate her existing cerebral ischemia. Do you have good breath sounds yet for Mike, Roy?" he asked as the tube doc finished his work. Roy listened carefully over both of Mary's lungs and her stomach with the stethoscope he still had around his neck. "There's no gastric gurgling. You've got your placement right first time." he shared. Mike nodded and taped off the breathing tube so it wouldn't move around during her transit into surgery. |
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"Ok, let's go. Dixie, make sure the lab results and those X-rays meet up with us while we scrub up. We'll stall with starting Mary's tapping burr holes as long as we can." Dixie nodded as the two paramedics bundled Mary up again in warm heated blankets and helped the orderlies gather all her tubes and IV from around the wheeled bird vent. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hutch rose immediately from his chair hopefully, as Mary was wheeled out into the hallway. But his smile died when he saw that she was tubed and not breathing on her own, hooked up to a machine. "Do you need us any more, docs?" Gage asked Joe Early and Kel Brackett from alongside her bed. "We got it from here." Kel said, helping to keep Mary's airway from jostling. "Tell those two detectives we'll give them a call as soon as Mary hits the Recovery Unit." Joe added as they put some fast distance between them. "Will do.." said Roy and the two fire paramedics slowed their pace as the surgical entourage entered the metal doored elevator. Hutchinson met up with them as the doors snicked shut on the sight of Mary's pale, still face. "Gentlemen? Did she speak anymore?" "Hmm?" Gage said, looking up thoughtfully. "Oh, oh.oh. Uh. Let me think back. We really had our hands full. Uhhhh. She was really worried about her son, Toby." he offered. "Yeah, she called out his name a few times." Roy agreed. "And..and and.. she mentioned something about some money.." "About what money?" said Hutch starting to walk back down the hall to where he had been reading. The two firemen followed, next to him. Gage blinked a few times. "She didn't specify.. but I think she said something like, 'It's on the dresser.' " "Yeah, and about a place that it had to go to." DeSoto frowned, rubbing his head wearily. "Did she give an address?" Hutch asked, pausing by the gurney along the wall. "Not exactly. We had a hard time making it out." Roy admitted. "She was getting doped up pretty good by that point. It was just a few syllables." |
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"Where?" asked Hutch amicably. "Well,... it sounded like Tauser's Pass or... Tower's...Pl..." Gage broke off, trying to remember. Hutchinson snapped his fingers. "Tower's Plaza?" "Yeah, that might have been it..." Roy nodded. "Thanks fellas. We'll get right on it." Gage stopped Hutch before he turned away again. "Uh, who's we? I don't see your partner around here anywhere." Hutch took his radio out of his pocket and said, "Zebra 3 to Headquarters. We've a lead on the Malone kidnapping. Tell Captain Dobey to call us on our automobile phone in two minutes. We're headed to Mary's residence right now. Come on, Starsk, rise and shine..." he said, tickling something on the gurney. "We've a ransom to deliver." Johnny Gage startled badly when the "body" moved and became Detective Starsky pulling off the sheet in a tangle of bleary panic. Roy steadied Gage as the two hastily departing detectives ran quickly down the hallway for the ambulance doors. "Easy, pal. Don't have a coronary. We've got that dinner bet to collect on, so don't die of fright on me. I don't wanna work that hard." "D-dd-ddid you see that?" Gage said, breathing fast and pointing down the hall. "Why'd they pretend a body was a sleeping guy like that? What a nasty trick." Roy shrugged mildly. "I don't think it was a trick. More like an inadvertant crash. I've seen you do it enough times around here." "What?" "Nothin. Come on and walk it off. Let's go, I'm getting hungry." DeSoto said, thinking about how bad the end of rush hour traffic was going to be and how long their ETA back to base was gonna take. "L.A., Squad 51's available." ##Squad 51.## Spap. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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*************************************************************** From : Cory Anda <andacory@hotmail.com> Sent : Wednesday, December 1, 2004 1:57 PM Subject : Mary's Deal Starsky and Hutch ran up the stairs leading to Mary Malone's spanish shingle house and to its vine wrapped front door. In their hands, they held a property search warrant, fresh from Captain Dobey's hands. Lock picking the door, they went inside steathily, guns drawn and hugging the walls. They put them away when they saw that things were completely undisturbed in every room they could see. Together, the two detectives sighed in relief. |
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"Metford hasn't been here yet." said Hutchinson. "How could he come around to look for the ransom money? He's got a kid in tow. And one who probably isn't very happy about being apart from Mary right now. Besides, Metford still knows he's got every cop in the city looking for him." said Starsky. Hutch frowned. "There's one thing about this whole affair that really stinks." he said, as he and his partner searched every dresser in each room for anything resembling something that could hold hidden money. "And what's that, Sherlock?" smiled Starsky. "If Metford kidnapped Toby on the spur of the moment, how could Mary have had time to make arrangements to have money available on hand to try and get him back so fast? We've all been assuming that attack on her was a first meeting between the two of them." reasoned Hutch, leafing through the stack of mail sitting on Mary's desk for clues. Starsky didn't like the feeling that washed over him. "A prior relationship of some kind?" Hutch nodded. "Not necessarily a romantic one. I can't see a college student getting involved with a man Metford's age. He's old enough to be her father. Perhaps she knows him as some shady, obscure family acquaintance?" "I'll buy that. But if that was true, why didn't she tell us about knowing him, when we were there, right up front?" "She had a head injury Starsky." said Hutch. "I speak from experience that you can't always think clearly having one. I was amazed that Mary could even talk after coming to like that after not having been able to breathe at all." "She sounded pretty lucid talking to that dark haired paramedic for those few minutes. What was his name again?" "John Gage." supplied Hutch, moving on to the next room. "Let's try looking in the bedroom." "Ok, Hutch, I'll go along with your line of thinking. So, ....You're saying, she changed her tune, once she woke up the rest of the way in that alley, because she wanted to try and handle the situation with Metford on her own. I'll buy that. She was scared for her boy." Starsky surmised. "But then, at the hospital, the seriousness of her condition must've convinced her to change her mind about getting some help with him when she realized that she was heading into surgery. She must've figured out that going under the knife would run over being able to keep Metford's ransom delivery deadline." "Most likely." Both detectives stopped when they spied a very masculine black briefcase, sitting on a nightstand by the bed that didn't jive with the rest of the floral or child's home decor around them. They rushed over to it and flipped open the lid. Jewels and a large sum of money sparkled up at them. "Bingo." |
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Starsky picked up some documents lying next to the case and started reading out loud. "I, Mary Malone, co-signer of the contents of this safety deposit box, so avow, affirm and agree that I have made this withdrawal in good faith and sound mind...." He looked up at his partner. "Metford coerced her to get into her dead grandmother's savings withdrawn." Hutch had found a notepad next to the phone, written in a curling feminine hand that was also shaky looking with stress. "This says eight o'clock, tonight, Starsky. At Tower's Plaza.. the 1010 Interchange Building." and his face fell into shocked angry lines. "This whole day's turning out so like Metford's usual MO. A targetless shooting spree for kicks to celebrate a heist going his way...." "He's gonna conclude this deal and then go back into deep hiding again where we'll never find him. We're taking all of this with us! Who can say Toby won't get on his nerves and get beaten up like Mary did?" Starsky said, shutting the briefcase and snatching up both the bank withdrawal papers and the phone notepad along with the money and jewels. "No one." said Hutch. "That little boy's still in danger even if it isn't deadly danger." "We don't have time enough to go to headquarters to get the FBI in on this whole deal. It's 7:10, Hutch." "We're gonna haveta find time," he said in a burst of an idea. "I know, we'll make arrangements on the way to the Plaza through Captain Dobey and call all the watch dog units to close on in." agreed Hutch. "Most of those offices at that tower are empty now and unoccupied. It's way after their business closing hours." "We'll startle Metford out of any target practicing on the streets by calling in the fire department." The two detectives ran out of the house, secured its front door tightly, and raced for the red Gran Torino as fast as they could in the falling night time darkness. |
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*********************************************************************** From: Katherine Bird <kathbird01@yahoo.co.uk> Date: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:50 pm Subject: Ring of Fire Roy DeSoto and Johnny Gage skidded into Station 51's kitchen, each doing fair imitations of Bonnie scampering claws on the slippery floor, but with their shoes, in their hurry to get to their plates. Marco was grumpy, having just finished peeling twenty potatoes to go along with the steaks Kelly had grilled up. "Hey, watch it you guys, you'll scuff up the tiles! I just got done mopping that." Gage and DeSoto ignored him as they scooted their wooden chairs a little closer to the table and their silverware. "Ah, I can't wait to sink my teeth into... Sorry for winning the bet, Chet. This looks absolutely fabulous." he said tucking a napkin around his neck. "What'ya sauteed them in?" he said reaching for the steaks platter for a taste of the marinate glistening there. Chet smacked his fingers. "Shittake mushroom and yellow onion. Mitts off until you get served." he said. "Cap wasn't too pleased about being suckered into the bet. But he did his part. He's got a couple of bowls of salad chilling in the frig." Johnny looked around, stuffing a dinner roll into his mouth as Kelly forked over two steaks onto the paramedics' blue and white swirled china plates. "Where is he? Usually he'd be here pulling rank on all of us to get the biggest steak." |
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