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Detello, following behind them, glanced up and saw the five children that managed to get out of the wreck unscathed. They looked older than their years. One, almost looked like DeSoto's son from where he stood, numb and confused in a muddy pool by the side of the road. Detello gave him a small smile he hoped would be reassuring and offered the glassy eyed youngster a salute off his crusty helmet's rim. His smile faded when the boy didn't grin back. ::So many have died today. How is this going to effect us?:: he thought. ::I was a medic for three years and I've never seen a run as bad as this. Please.. g*d. Make us forget the details of this one, fast...:: It took twelve minutes to get to the hospital. Then....... |
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************************* From : "patti keiper" <pattik1@hotmail.com> Subject :[EmergencyTheaterLive] The Breaking Point.. Date : Sun, 12 Jan 2003 08:29:28 +0000 Dr. Morton opened the ambulance doors to receive the two gurneys from Roy and Johnny. "We'll take the boy into Treatment One, Gage. DeSoto, how's Lopez?" "Fine, doc. Once we got those wet clothes off he started to warm up. He's fully time and place oriented; never lost it and there's still no signs of pulmonary edema." Roy reported. "Good. Dixie has Treatment Two set up for him with Dr. Early. Stay with him." "But-" " DeSoto. Carry out my orders." he snapped. Then he said more gently. "I won't keep you in the dark about Chris, Roy. Know that as a promise. But you know the regulations.. " Roy grumbled, reciting.."No treatment contact is allowed at all in a hospital setting for anyone who's kin of a victim. I know that doc." he said as they rapidly wheeled their two patients inside Rampart through the emergency doors. Morton angled his dark head."We'll let you see him once we've determined he's truly stable and only after he's been fully treated." "Doc.. I don't want to leave him.." Chet opened the door of the squad he had driven in and jumped out of the seat. The plastic sheet he had used to keep mud off its upholstery had dried to his back and legs and he hastily peeled it off, leaving it on the hood. He hurried past where Morton and Roy where debating. "Roy, just hush and let the man do his job. I'll be your eyes in there FOR you man." Morton looked up from his quick exam of Chris's eyes as they walked inside the hospital. "Why are you planning on following us, Kelly? There's nothing wrong with you..." Morton challenged. "Oh, gee. Didn't Gage tell you? He and I were sandwiched in debris pretty good when the hill came down on us. I might keel over any second, doc." he said factitiously. For once, Johnny backed him up by keeping a straight face to support his fast talking job on Morton. "Is that a fact......" Mike sighed in resignation, knowing he couldn't stop anyone ELSE who wanted in on current news about a coworker's family member's medical status. He surprised himself by not retorting further at Chet as he, Gage, Chris and an ambulance attendant, got the longboarded boy transferred to the large room's exam table. Kelly shouted before the door closed on Roy's face. "I'll be right out and I'll meet you in Marco's room with an update, DeSoto!" "I'l..l.. h..o..l..d.. y..o..u.. t..o.. t..h..a..t, C..h..e..t." came Roy's muffled retort through the door. Kelly gingerly held up defensive hands in appeasement and backed away self consciously from Roy's angry voice to carry out his promise to him. He strode to the foot of Chris's bed and quietly watched his medical care take place. |
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"Chris.. the man who's poking and prodding you is Dr. Morton. He'll take really good care of you.." Johnny introduced quickly. "Hi, Dr. Morton.." "Hello..." Mike answered. "The nurse to my right is Carol Evans." "Hi Ms. Evans." "Hi Chris.." she answered. "Warm enough?" "Uh huh.." Carol Evans smoothly moved Chris's IV to a pole and switched around his O2 supply to a wall port while Gage helped Morton expose Chris's leg laceration. "He still tachycardic?" Morton asked. Gage was about to reply when a voice piped up from tiny form bundled inside the longboard. "Yeah..." Chris said firmly. "I'm 140." Johnny grinned at Morton's surprised look and the dark skinned doctor said. "You won't mind if I confirm your findings on an EKG, son?" "It's what dad would do..." Chris agreed. "Is that so.." Morton said, casting amused eyes at everyone in the room. "Well you're absolutely right young fella. That IS the next thing we'll do." Morton smiled. "You're a very smart young boy.. How'd you come to learn so much?" "Classes. I hang out when dad recertifys or when he's gotta teach the new FD trainees to become paramedics." "You do?" Chet asked surprised. "Uh huh.." Chris told him. "It's fun.. Sometimes they use me to practice their dressings and neck/back immobilizing. Last month, I was a play victim in a fake airjet crash at LAX." Chet Kelly was very thoughtful when he heard what Chris had accomplished and what he had learned. "So, you wanna be a medic when you grow up?" Morton asked, palpating Chris's abdomen for tenderness. "Nah,.. I wanna be an architect like my grandpa. I'll just keep what I learn now handy for when I have my own kids. You know how much trouble we can get into at my age." Chris said wisely. Johnny practically burst with mirth and pride at that little gem coming from his partner's first born. Chris's worldly personality had finally charmed Dr. Morton. "Son, I can't believe you'd EVER get that way." Morton said, leaning close to his head with a confidential smiling whisper. Chris motioned with a crooking finger, and when the young doc had come closer, he whispered into Morton's ear. "I sometimes do. But it's my sister who always starts it." Morton patted Chris on the shoulder. " Yeah? Well she's not here right now to work her mischief, so you can let your guard down. We're going to get some xrays of your leg to confirm non fracture injury to that thigh and knee and if I like your pictures, we'll see about getting you free of those straps and that C-collar." "Fair enough. I'm tired of being strapped up like a mummy. What after that?" Oh,.. let me see.." Morton sighed, tapping a finger on his lips. "Most likely, since you're doing so well, it's up to surgery for a repair job. How does that sound?" "Like I'm not going to enjoy it too much. Don't think I wanna go." |
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"Ice cream after.." Chet promised. "Ok, ok, ok.. I'll go. But make sure the gas man doesn't give me the stuff that makes me sick afterwards." Chris said, watching his Uncle Gage tape EKG patches onto his chest gravely. "I watched my sister puke for an hour after she had her tonsils out.." "I'll work out a deal with him.." Morton said, with a wink and nod. Then he turned on the EKG and studied Chris's rapid heartbeat on the live screen. For a cross reference, he got a paper strip reading, too. "Hmmm. " he said after a minute or so.. "Just simple sinus tach here, Gage." he mumbled. "That's what we figured, even just listening apically." Johnny admitted. Then more loudly, Morton looked up. "Guess what Chris? Your EKG's telling me .... that you're just ...thirsty..." he concluded to his small patient, setting hands on his hips. "Thirsty?" and a serious puzzlement filled the young boy's face. "I don't think I am.." Chris said with amazement. "I haven't been playing any softball today." "You're forgetting that leg cut of yours. You must have bled some while you were still buried in the mud. Most likely, with all the excitement going on, you weren't even aware of it." "Oh. I WAS scared a lot, doctor. But Detello, Uncle Johnny, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Lopez and dad, found me and then I wasn't afraid any more after that." "Good.." Mike soothed. "You're doing fine here, too. You're very calm." Chris DeSoto's face fell into a serious expression. "So, Dr. Morton...." "Umm hmmmm." Mike replied, looking into the boy's ears for liquids other than mud with an otoscope. "You say I lost some fluid vul...vel...." "Volume.." Morton completed. "A bit.. About as much as three soda cans, I suspect." Mike straightened up on his exam stool and wheeled it around so he could recheck a pedal beat in Chris's effected leg and to test range of motion in the swollen knee. "And that's why my heart's working harder right now?" the child said, carefully thinking. "Yep." Johnny said. "You nailed it, Chris." The tiny boy's muddy face furrowed as he thought about his situation."Then shouldn't those drops be going faster?" Chris said pointing at his IV hanging near his head. Kelly and Gage laughed when Morton sputtered as he told Nurse Evans to increase the flow into the drip chamber. They immediately piped down when Mike glared at them in offense. Chris was oblivious to the innocent commotion he caused, suddenly very interested in the great Xray machine wheeling into his exam room. |
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Marco Lopez was raised semi sitting on his gurney beneath a pile of heated blankets. The torn, ripped field oxygen mask had been replaced with an in house cannula on low flow. Doctor Early was carefully listening to Lopez's breath sounds through the front side of his chest. "Take a deep breath. ...... And another one.... Good.." the doctor encouraged. Then he thoughtfully pulled off his stethoscope. "I'm not hearing anything abnormal here, Marco. How do you feel?" "Fine.." the fireman replied. Dr. Early began examining his ribs and abdomen, and Lopez flinched and caught his breath, when Joe found a band of tenderness around his diaphram. "Except there. Just a little sore." "Roy, I thought you said he was uninjured." Joe remarked looking up at DeSoto standing near Lopez's head. "He isn't injured. I think he's just a little tender because Johnny had to clear his throat a bit when we first got him free." Roy said timidly, crossing his arms over his elbows, nervously. "Heimlich?" "Yeah..." Joe felt all over other areas of Marco's abdomen but found nothing else wrong. "Most likely, this is just the typical bruising from that kind of maneuver. Marco, does it hurt when I do this?" Dr. Early asked as he prodded and pressed on his liver and spleen. "Not much.. Hardly at all." "Hmph.." and he put his stethoscope back into his ears. Roy and Chet and Marco all waited in silence. Joe sat back on his seat after listening to Marco's bowel sounds. "Everything sounds normal. So, that's probably what it is. Roy, was his orthostatic BP, when you checked it last, wide spread?" "Not appreciably. It didn't sink into the basement if that's what you're looking for.. Hardly moved ten millibars, systolically or diastolically." Joe's face lost his doctoring look and melted into a casual bent. "Now I'm convinced. " And he sighed in relief.. "You're a lucky man Lopez. Mud inhalation has a tendency to cause a nasty case of pneumonia. And both your lungs are completely clear. But, I'd like to ask you just a few questions to put my own mind at ease." "Ok, doc." Marco nodded. |
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| Click the Resuscitator to go to Page Seven :) |
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