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*************************************************** From : Mark <golfersluve2@yahoo.com> Sent : Monday, August 22, 2005 3:36 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The rescue continues.... "His pulse is weak and thready." John announced after checking his carotid. "We need to get him out of here, NOW! BP has fallen some. 84/40." Fortunately the last piece of the tree Mike had removed left only about a foot sticking out of Kel's shoulder. The back side had already been cut to enable them to get the backboard in place. Dwyer took a careful hold, supporting Kel, securely holding the backboard. Johnny quickly wrapped the portion of the tree limb that still impaled Kel, securing it in place and immobilizing Kel's arms. The car gave one final jerk as the engine crew worked the jaws, prying the dashboard off, freeing Kel. Johnny carefully placed the splints on and secured Kel's legs to the board. "Let's get him out of here." Johnny said tersely. ::I never dreamed how hard this rescue would be.:: Johnny thought to himself. ::I hope I never go through the rescue of a person I know again! If I can't have my partner, I'm glad it's Dwyer here. But I sure wish Roy was here instead.:: They carefully lifted Kel, setting him on the waiting gurney. "Cap, let's get the equipment in the ambulance." Johnny requested. "We'll update in route." Cap quickly transferred the biophone to the ambulance. Marco handed in the rest of the equipment. Johnny and Dwyer climbed in. Captain Stanley shut the doors and gave them the traditional two thumps. "BP is still 84/40." Dwyer advised. "His pulse is the same - 130 and thready." Johnny listened to Kel's heart and lungs again. "Drat! I'm hearing more stridor." Johnny said. He picked up the receiver to contact Rampart. "I'll get him patched in." Dwyer said. "Rampart, this is Squad 51." Johnny called in. ##Go ahead, 51.## answered the anxious voice of Dr. Early. "Rampart we have extricated victim and are in route. Our ETA is 10 minutes. Just prior to extrication patient was conscious and oriented. Patient advised he had a headache before the crash and believes he is very sick. He advised us to use safety precautions. Patient has lost consciousness. BP is now 84/40, pulse 130 and thready, respirations are labored with increasing stridor. We have him patched in and are sending you a strip. This will be lead two." ##10-4, 51. We're standing by for your next update.## ----------------------------------------------------------- |
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----------------------------------------------------------- Roy DeSoto was awakened by someone pounding on his front door. He'd just dropped off to sleep after spending an hour tossing and turning. "I'll get it." he told Joanne. He threw on his robe and went to answer the door. Opening it, he saw his neighbor, Bill, anxiously standing there. "Bill? What's wrong?" he asked. "Judy's in labor." he told Roy. "She says it is time but our car won't start." Roy smiled and held up his broken left wrist. "It's your lucky night, Bill! I should have been at work, but for this. I'll be over with the car in a flash." Roy dashed back to his bedroom. "Judy is in labor." he told Joanne. "Bill says the car won't start so I'm going to take them to Rampart." He quickly dressed, leaned over to give Joanne a kiss, and then headed out. He grabbed his keys and wallet from the kitchen and hurried to the car. He drove next door, jumped out and helped Bill get Judy situated in the back seat. They quickly headed to Rampart. |
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"They told us to come to the maternity entrance." Bill advised Roy. "Sure thing, Bill." Roy said. The drive was short and soon they arrived at Rampart. Roy dropped them off. "Give me a call when you need a ride home, Bill." Roy told him. "Thanks for everything, Roy!" said a thankful Bill as he helped Judy out of the car. ::It's after midnight and I'm wide awake:: Roy thought. He drove around the hospital and found himself going past the emergency entrance. ::Oh, what the heck. I might as well go in and see who is here.:: He parked the car and casually strolled in the entrance. ::It doesn't look very busy right now:: he thought to himself. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Kel moaned, starting to surface to consciousness once again. "Wake up, Doc." Johnny said. He gave Kel a sternal rub again. "Come on, Kel! Talk to me." ordered Johnny. Kel looked up into the lighted ambulance and moaned, "My head hurts." he complained. "Ahhh, the lights!" "Hang in there, Kel. We're almost there." Johnny told him. "Oh man, Johnny. I really messed up this time, didn't I?" Kel said. "Hey, Doc, give yourself a break." Johnny replied. "You're human. You know as well as I do that when a person gets sick, they don't always use the best judgment. Remember, you're talking to the man who rappelled down a high rise with that monkey virus." "Yeah, you're right." Kel sighed. "Dixie's gonna have my head on a platter, though." "It's o.k., Doc." Dwyer chipped in. ::I need to think of something positive for him to focus on.:: thought Dwyer. ::I know!:: "You'll be able to make it up to her with a nice dinner. You know how much she loves that swanky restaurant you've taken her to in the past." "Rampart, this is Squad 51." Johnny spoke into the biophone. ##Go ahead, 51.## "Rampart, victim has regained consciousness and is complaining of a headache as well as light sensitivity. Vitals remain the same." Kel found himself suddenly feeling very nauseous. He tried to voice his difficulty, but as he opened up his mouth to say something, he realized he was too late. He weakly began to vomit. Johnny dropped the biophone and grabbed the suction wand. Dwyer quickly unstrapped the backboard from the gurney and turned Kel up on his side. ------------------------------------------------------------------ ##Easy, Kel. We've got you.## Dix and Joe heard Johnny say over the sounds of retching. "They'll be here soon, Dix." Joe commented looking at his watch. "Treatment one is ready." Dixie answered. "I'd better prepare the nurses." ##Rampart, this is Squad 51.## "Go ahead 51." Joe answered again. ##Rampart, vitals remain unchanged. Patient has vomited. ETA about 1 minute.## "10-4, 51. We'll be waiting." Joe replied. |
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Dix went out to the desk. Carol and the newly promoted nurse, Sharon, were at the desk. "We have a patient coming in." Dixie told them. "This one isn't going to be easy for any of us. The patient is Dr. Brackett. He has multiple trauma injuries and probably some kind of infectious etiology. We'll be taking him straight into room one. Please head in there now and double check that everything is in order." "Yes, Miss McCall." came the shocked reply from both nurses. They hurried into room one. Dixie looked up to see Roy heading down the hall. He stopped at the desk and gave her a grin. "Quiet right now, huh? I just brought my neighbors into maternity." he said. "It's their first baby. Guess it is a lucky thing I broke my wrist last shift because their car wouldn't start." Roy stopped and studied Dix. It dawned on him something was not right at all. "Dix? What's wrong?" he asked. Roy had rarely seen Dixie this upset before. ::The last time I saw her this upset was when Joe needed heart surgery.:: Roy thought. "It's Kel, Roy." Dixie said. She bit her trembling lip. "Dix?" Roy anxiously questioned. "Johnny and Dwyer are bringing him in now." she told him. "He crashed into a tree. Probably because he is pretty sick." Shocked, Roy could only say, "Oh, no!" Joe came out of the base station. "Hi, Roy." Joe paused and took a deep breath and tried to mentally prepare himself. "Let's go. They're here, Dix." He said. They heard the ambulance backing up by the doors. "We're set up in room one." Joe called out as the ER doors opened. They rushed him into the room and quickly transferred him to the treatment table. Kel gasped for breath and cried out, "I...." -------------------------------------------------------------- |
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*************************************************** From : patti keiper <pattik1@hotmail.com> Sent : Wednesday, August 24, 2005 4:14 AM Subject : The Heart of the Matter is..... "What, Kel?" Dixie said immediately after she pointed to Carol and Sharon to switch over Brackett's oxygen supply to the wall's port hub. "Can you tell us what's happening now?" But Dr. Brackett wasn't able to voice anything more. Joe Early looked to Roy, who had followed them into the trauma room. Early quickly listened to Kel's chest for signs of why he was having so much trouble breathing. "Roy, would you call for the respiratory therapy and anesthesiology team stat? He can't wait until he gets to surgery for that endotrach tube. We need to put him under sooner rather than later. " "You got it.." DeSoto said, moving swiftly to the phone. "Want me to help him, doc, until they get here?" Gage offered. "Yes, on that ambu again, but real light. I'm hearing a definite pericardial friction rub with Kussmaul's and Ewart's sign with developing aortic regurgitation." Joe said firmly as he checked and double checked the entry and exit points of the tree branch into and out of Kel's shoulder. "Something's bringing on this cardiac tamponade but it's definitely not trauma related. His vitals don't add up for that. He's got an area of dullness to percussion at the tip of the left scapula and a clear rise in JVP on inspiration forming. See?" said Joe as he pointed to the veins in Kel's neck ballooning out when Johnny helped him breathe in on the bag. Dwyer whispered. "Sorry we missed that out there, Doctor Early. Things were noisy with the jaws and all the car cracking." "Effects nothing. This is probably a new finding that just started happening because he's been physically active trying to vomit. You fellas did an absolutely terrific job out there...and from the both of us,..we thank you wholeheartedly." Joe said about Dixie and himself. Then he began to snap out lab orders to Carol and Sharon. "Carol, draw bloods and have the lab run a creatine kinase and isoenzyme levels series, a CBC with differential, a PT, a PTT, an antinuclear antibody assay, and an erythrocyte sedimentation rate." "Yes, doctor." Carol said. |
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Early turned to Sharon. "Let's stave off volume depletion, right now. Confirm type and cross him off the I.V. line then set up a piggy back TKO blood transfusion. Then I want you to begin another NS with dobutamine at 0.5-1 mcg/kg/min IV and titrate until you hear better compliance in his pericardium by auscultation. That med will definitely get his heart, stroke volume and cardiac output increasing without dilating the blood vessels in the rest of his body where any internal bleeding we don't know about yet, might take hold." Sharon the R.N., nodded. "Yes, Dr. Early. Right away." Johnny tried to smile around his obvious, silent worry. "You have a medication that acts like a chemical mast suit? I didn't know you guys had stuff like that in your drug arsenal.." "It's a brand new therapy, Johnny. Kel okayed the preliminary human trials himself two months ago. I'm just glad the whole experiment worked out fast enough to help the man who instigated it all. " Early said calmly even as his hands worked fast to assess his best friend. "And how..." Dixie said in agreement. Joe went on. "Dwyer.. get him going on a twelve lead. I wanna see the whole picture as soon as we can get it." he looked up. "Roy, add a cardiologist and senior radiologist specialist to interpret the films we'll be getting of his chest, complete spine and bilateral legs and get Kel's cardiothoracic surgeon in here a bit faster!" he called out to the paramedic. DeSoto picked up his pace with the switchboard nurse over the black stat phone. Meanwhile, Dixie was getting another set of vitals and she wrote them down on the skin of Brackett's shivering stomach with a pen so the surgical team would have them in plain sight along with the time they were taken. "Kel, try to settle down and let Johnny do the work of breathing for you. Just a few more minutes,.. then it's off to sleep. It'll be a fast end to all this pain you're feeling, I promise you." Brackett ignored her in a shock delirium. "Joe.. *gasp*.. J-.." he waved a weak hand to his sweating forehead and his eyes asked, ::What about the fever?:: Joe grabbed his hand and pulled it back down under the backboard straps. "I know, Kel. I know. I don't think what you have is contagious. Think about it. You have a classic Beck triad going on....Little, if any chest pain, in spite of this shoulder involvement, along with a prominent fever and chills without any other clearly obvious cold or flu symptoms.. What does it add up to? And no, this isn't meningitis. Your stiff neck was probably just you sleeping twisted up wrong on a pillow last night. Your deep tendon reflex reactions don't float that theory one iota." Brackett's eyes squinted into a faint frown of confusion. Then his features folded into self discovery as he put two and two together. "Yep." said Joe. "You've probably got an acute case of purulent pericarditis going on. The blood work will show us exactly what bacteria's the annoying culprit. Although I'm suspecting Neisseria since you felt lousy enough to wrap yourself around that tree with your brand new sports car." he quipped. "I'll have the surgical team tell us what they plan on the table when they explore and repair that left shoulder so we can tell you all about it when you hit recovery. Ok? You aren't gonna die here. Not with these findings. That falling tree missed the bullseye and the whole target for that matter. And I'll prove it to you with your slides. I'll just bet your left subclavian and left carotid arteries' integrities are unscathed apart from a little bruising. And I now know that you have absolutely no aortic hemorrhaging going on. Look..." he said, tearing off the running EKG strip that Dwyer had collected. He held up the roll like a scroll over Kel's pillow so he could read it. "You're just in sinus tach with simple PR segment depression with an alternation of your QRS complexes, in a 2:1 ratio." "Electrical....alternans?.." gasped Kel. He used the next breath Gage gave him on the bag to whisper. "...are you ...sure?" "Is my hair gray?" Joe smiled. "It's alternans. Your heart's slipperier than an eel inside its sac. But not grossly so. And I didn't hear any aortic complaint, at all. Not even a whisper of any. Your tamponade will be an easy fix. Maybe just an echocardiographically guided pericardiocentesis. I'll authorize the Swan-Ganz catheter myself anticipating Dr. Weathers. That way we can sclerosely effuse your pericardium with a family of tetracyclines and corticosteroids through the pericath to get ahead of whatever heart germ you've managed to pick up. There'll probably be no chest cracking this time around, you lucky son of a---" |
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Kel tried to chuckle and finally, he let go of his consciousness. Gage changed his head hold to compensate for that as he kept Kel's lungs expanding enough to matter without causing any more jugular vein distension with all of his ambu work. The ekg began to slow from its frightening, racing level. Dixie sighed in relief as she handed Kel's stat chart for Joe to sign for all the labs and treatments Carol had scribbled down at his recitation. "Now that's the only benefit I've ever found having a doctor for a patient. I've learned a milestone lesson this morning everybody. Seems no one can calm a doctor down ...better than another doctor." Joe ordered another medication set. "Sharon. Start him on Ampicillin, given IV every 4 hours plus Gentamycin, given every 8 hours. It's time we nip this transient pericarditis in the butt." And about Dixie's calculated commentary, he telegraphed absolutely nothing at all ...past a pair of faintly raised eyebrows. Soon, the x-ray, respiratory and surgical teams got working as one in a smooth, orchestrated knot of aid, around Kel. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not long after, the three paramedics retreated back to the station to come to terms with the whole unreal ball of wax with the rest of the gang. Roy was more than willing to hang out and talk about it. He said.... *************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" <andacory@hotmail.com> Date: Wed Aug 24, 2005 12:09 pm Subject: The Cookie Chat.. "I still can't believe I walked into that stone cold and still managed to function properly.." DeSoto laughed, sitting at the table sipping on coffee. The rest of the gang, now filled in on the surgery Kel was heading into, chuckled good naturedly. Chet Kelly pointed to the cast on Roy's left hand. "So how's the old wrist? I still get shivers remembering how it sounded when you popped that bone catching yourself on that rappelling rope when the gear gave way." "This?" Roy said waving his arm around. "The ortho says it's just a stress fracture, a crack in one tiny bone. I still have use of the hand and all. This splint's just a reminder to keep it still to keep all the swelling down. I'll be back on the job on light non fire duty after the weekend." Dwyer spoke up. "And that'll be just in time, too. You know, Roy? Gage is driving me nuts. Talks about you constantly." "I do not. Did I even mention Roy once while we were getting Doc Brackett out of his car? Huh?" Dwyer ducked his head. "Well, no. But that's because you were so busy, you didn't have time to." Roy smiled. "Wow..Gee, Johnny. I ...didn't know you cared so much." he teased mildly. "Usually you complain about all my bad habits when I'm around." "The grass is always greener...." Chet quipped. "Oh, knock it off." Johnny said. "I'm just used to working with him and miss it a little bit, that's all." he said to them all, flinging a careless hand at Roy. "More than a little bit.." Dwyer said. "Anyhow, just two more days and I can get back to B shift." Hank Stanley got up and refilled everyone's coffee mugs. "So, Dr. Brackett's gonna be fine? Really?" "Really.." said Gage. "He's probably just got two bandaids, one on each side where the tree branch was sticking out and another one where the cardiac needle went in draining out his pericardium." "It's a little more involved than that, Johnny boy." Dwyer prompted. |
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Gage relented. "Well,...Maybe a few stitches in front under his collar bone and a support wrap for his ribs. He'll have a needle cath for his I.V. and blood supply, another very small tube for the shunt draining and treating the sac around his heart ...and a foley in.." The guys cringed. "But that's only until he wakes up from his anesthesia." Johnny added hastily. "He'll probably be back to work in a week just like Roy, on light duty, consulting on cases from his wheelchair." "That's a relief. He looked pretty bad when we were there." Hank replied, snatching one of Stoker's chip cookies from the platter in front of him. "That was just the heart infection working on him, making him a little too tired to breathe." Dwyer told him. "And he got a little cold waiting for us to spring him free to get him onto that backboard. That's why he looked gray." "I thought he was a goner man, the way Johnny kept hollering." Chet said. "You think he thought the doc was dying." "There was every chance he was....until a certain point." Gage admitted. "I didn't know what was going to happen until Dwyer told me all the blood pressures in his arms and legs were reasonably fine and equal." "Well, what did that mean?" Stoker asked. "It meant that he wasn't heart stabbed. Sometimes the aorta above gets nicked and people bleed out into the pericardium and are dead in very short order. They just up and quit with little warning and no amount of defibrillating and CPR gets em back. You had two cases like that last year, remember Dwyer?" "I remember, I thought I was cursed." "Yeah, I remember you telling me about them. That's the first thing I thought when I got to Brackett's side and saw that tree branch sticking out of his chest." Johnny said. "I couldn't trust my instincts about him at all, thinking about it. That's why I was yelling so much at Kel, Chet, trying to keep him awake. I was getting myself convinced that he really wasn't gonna crash on us because of a cardiac bleed out." "Well, I'm sure when he wakes up in his room, that he'll remember you cared to a great degree." Hank said to Gage. "Yeah, that's probably after he nitpicks the kind of care Dwyer and I gave him earlier." Roy spoke up. "He'll do nothing of the sort. Johnny, Dr. Brackett's not the complete ogre everyone thinks he is. He's good at what he does and he tries to draw that out in others, but he's no Craig Brice to tell a guy about how to do it. Not when it boils right down to the fact that he found himself on the receiving end of it from Joe Early." "Hey,,... I never thought of that.." Gage said, snapping his fingers. "That's right. Didn't Kel think he was coming down with meningitis or something like that on the way in? He sure mumbled something to that effect.." he said, looking to Dwyer. "He did. I passed it off as a shock effect." "Well, then we can go visit him with a clear conscience without fear." Johnny said, stretching back into his chair with a sigh. "I'm feeling better about the whole thing already." Mike Stoker spoke up. "Hey, guys. We all got the weekend off. I got a great deal on a bunch of steaks before shift last night . Why don't we all get together at my place to celebrate Brackett's recovery with a genuine backyard barbeque. Maybe we can get in a few rounds with a set of clubs, too. I live on a golf course." |
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Chet brightened. "Oh, yeah! Didn't you tell us that you built an incredible outdoor stone fire place along with the outdoor kitchen patio last week?" "I did. Only everyone was so engrossed in the Marco versus Johnny chess game, that I thought no one even heard me say it." "I did, Stoker. Didn't you see me nodding?" Chet insisted. "No, I was watching Marco here swooping down to murder Gage's black queen." Johnny squirmed in his seat uncomfortably. "And she died a noble death, too. I tried to take out Marco's attacking bishop before he moved onto a pawn to checkmate my king. I don't like to lose my patients or my chess games." "No one does." Roy remarked. "Say, Stoker. Count me in. A steak dinner sounds absolutely fabulous. Can I bring the kids?" "Uhhh.." Stoker stammered. "Well..." "No problem. The newly post pregnant neighbors still owe me a favor. I'm sure they can keep an ear out in our yard for the kids in between their newborn's diaper changes." DeSoto said. "But I get out of doing dishes. Walking wounded, remember?" he said, holding up his wrist. "But I thought you said that you have full use of that hand." "The cast still isn't waterproof, Johnny. I wouldn't want Brackett to get mad at me for wrecking all his nice handywork. You know how he reacts to people ruining their broken bone casts. He practically chewed up the last guy who went surfing with one." said DeSoto. "If we're gonna visit Kel, I want my cast still smelling like new plaster, if it's all right with the rest of you guys." "Fine by me." piped Stoker. "Dishes are my game. Cooking, too, for that matter. " |
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Chet spoke up from the depths of the frig where he was hunting down some milk for his pile of cookies. "Stoker, I'm not coming if you aren't grilling chicken." "I'll get some just for you, Chet." Stoker promised. "Just show up without your rubber ones." "Deal. The Phantom needs to take a break for a while. I need a night out to relax some." "Then it's a plan. Sunday afternoon..." Cap said rubbing pleased hands together. Stoker jumped in happily. "My place. Bring your own beverage... I hear the weather's gonna be fine.. And the golf fees after dinner, are on me.." *************************************************** From : Roxy Dee <laterrapincabesa@hotmail.com> Sent : Wednesday, August 24, 2005 2:47 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Out of the Blue~~ Soon, it was Sunday, under a glorious, cloudless blue sky around two p.m. in the afternoon, at Engineer Stoker's house. "Man, that was fantastic, Stoker.." belched Cap from the wooden bench as he lazily stared into the stone fireplace on Mike Stoker's earthen patio. "Can I hire you on as my personal house chef?" "Sorry, not enough pay.." Mike replied. "But you're not making any kind of pay now, Mike, as an engineer. Maybe becoming Cap's kitchenhand and butler has its merits there, pal." Chet chuckled. "No thanks. I prefer a firehouse setting or a natural one for cooking. That's why I moved out here to Torrence. So do you like the new place?" "How can you keep up with the payments, Stoker? Man, this house is simply..incredible! And you've got a den, too." Gage sighed in amazement. "I don't live alone. A pair of stewardesses help me with the mortgage payments. They fly PSA on weekends and are home when I work during the week at the station." Chet nearly choked on his beer. "St-stewarDESSES? As in female? Wow, didn't know you had it in you, Stoker. Living in sin...." he egged. "We're just roommates, Chet. Just like Three's Company the show? With the cost of living nowdays, getting a pair of roomies seemed like the smartest thing to do. I even had enough saved up to design and build this stove and fireplace for the backyard." "I like it." said Marco. |
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Cap jerked his head back at Johnny and Chet still mulling over Stoker's living arrangements with two members of the opposite sex. "Say, you two. Why don't you copycat like him for a while. L*rd knows I can use some peace at the station from you two yammering all the time about how poor you are." Gage froze, considering his libido. "Uhh, I don't think that would work out too well for me." Roy sniggered. "Why, don't you trust yourself to behave like a gentleman, Johnny?" "Well,..no, it's not that I don't trust myself, it's just the fact that my place is so small.. Th- there'd be no room for two more people moving in." Gage said. "Uh huh, a likely story.." said Stoker. "We all know how you are, Mr. Nurse Stalker. Maybe it's a good thing that you lock yourself away from society in that apartment of yours all alone." "Very funny. Why don't you go....play golf or something and make yourself useful." Grinning slyly, Mike did. "I'm up for a few rounds of golf. Cap? You coming?" "Sure. Let me get my jacket. How about the rest of you guys?" "Too full." sighed Marco. "My wrist's itching. I'd get distracted and probably hit one through one of Stoker's expensive bay windows." said Roy. "I think I'm too drunk to play. I'd probably do the same thing as DeSoto. " said Chet. "Don't look at me. I play chess, not golf. In fact, I don't think I've ever played a game of real golf my whole life." said Gage. "Suit yourselves. We'll be back in half an hour." said Stoker. "Come on, Cap. We'll catch up with these guys later. We'll leave the second golf cart here in case any of these turkeys changes their mind and decides to join us." Hank grinned and soon, they were gone, zipping away in the first golf cart, for hole number one. |
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A few minutes later, Gage fell back from the stone balcony railing and into a contented sigh. "Boy, this is a slice of heaven. I hope Stoker knows how good he has it." "He does. He put in all of this stonework, remember?" Roy said, snoozing in a plastic and metal slat chaise lounge. He set his bound wrist up over the back of his head to ease the itching. "I remember, I remember." said Gage irritably. "I'll ..go do the dishes or something. Chet, burn off some of that alcohol and get up and help me or you won't be fit to drive home later tonight." A snore peeled from Kelly as he lay on the wooden bench in front of the cozy outdoor fireplace. |
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Johnny kicked his foot with his sneaker. "Come on, up! Show some hospitality and help me dry all the dishes.." Gage told him as he filled the chrome steel outdoor kitchen sink next to the mesquite coal glowing grill, with soapy water. "We can probably clean up and have dessert laid out by the time they get back." Kelly snorted and finally sat up and reached for a towel. "Do I have to? I'll get all hot and s-sweaty working like that, man. I wanna snooze. " "Yeah, it is kinda humid, isn't it? That's odd." said Gage, peering up into the pure blue sky. "Don't worry about it, Johnny. I'll help ya." said Marco, moving to tie on the apron that Stoker had left hanging on a hook off the stone chimney. |
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Lopez had just moved away from the side of the patio where Chet and Roy were snoozing, when a bolt of energy from the sky cracked down and blew apart the pine tree framed by the deck. Johnny was thrown backwards ten feet by the concussion and his ears began ringing even as his nerves vibrated with a furious buzz of electricity. ::Lightning!:: he thought frantically as he rolled over. He lifted his head dizzily. "Marco?!" "I'm right here next to you!" Lopez shouted over the ringing his own ears were suffering. "You okay?" "Yeah! What was that?! A power surge from the circuit breaker?" "No, It must have some lightning. Just look at that tree!" Gage coughed. He dragged himself off his stomach. "Did any of it touch you?" Marco rubbed bark out of his eyes and he, too, coughed on ozone. "No. I think I'm ok...How are the others?" "The others?!" Johnny shook cobwebs out of his head. Marco crawled over to Chet where he lay and touched his shoulder. Kelly immediately began screaming. "I can't see?! Oww!! Ohmyg*d. Am I talking? I can't hear.. Ohh hoo...GGHH!! I can't feel anything!!" |
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Marco grabbed Chet's shoulders. "Go check out Roy, Johnny. I got him." Shaking his head, Lopez looked up onto the golf course to see a bunch of heads turning in their direction. He looked up higher and saw that Mike Stoker's chimney as well as his Ponderosa pine tree, were smoking. And he noticed that there wasn't a single solitary cloud in the sky. Not even a white one. ::How can that be?:: he wondered. Then Chet's panicking drew his attention downward. "Easy, Chet. I'm here.. Lie still. I got you. You're ok.." Chet erupted into a new horror. "I can't move my legs, Marco. I'm deaf!..*gasp* ..Blind! I can't move my--" his body seized into a spasm and he grabbed Marco by the arms, yelling in pain. Johnny ignored them both. He staggered to where he could see Roy's feet lying toes down underneath the lounge chair. The cast on his wrist was completely blown away. Fine bits of dust and debris from it had settled onto his clothing. And his jeans were shredded down one pants leg. DeSoto wasn't moving. "Roy?!" Gage got to his side and rolled him over, feeling for a carotid and he quickly began using some fingers to feel at his nose and mouth since he still couldn't hear well. "Can you hear me?" |
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Marco waved at Johnny to get his attention while he held Chet down with a second hand on his chest. "How is he?" "Just a sec! " John gasped, trying to get the stink of heavy ozone out of his chest enough to talk louder. "He's got a pulse......but he's not breathing. Not at all... Must have been some step voltage shooting down the tree into his chair. It's knocked out his respiratory muscles.." He bent down, tilted back Roy's singed head, and gave him a couple of firm breaths until he got his chest to rise. He kept at it while his ring finger kept tabs on Roy's heart rate while he worked to support his partner until his nerves could recover the ability to breathe again. "Chet's paralyzed, Johnny! What do I do?" "Stay with him. Make sure he keeps breathing. It's probably..........keraunoparalysis working on him big time. He'll be ........all right. It's all temporary. Keep him from hurting himself!" Johnny said, still keeping up his mouth to mouth. "When he calms down, go inside and call for help. I'm fine here......... Roy, come on now. Start breathing! Tell me you can smell my morning mouth! ..........Start waking up for me, pal. The main part of that bolt missed ya completely!" he told him. "..so.........I know you aren't hurt that bad. Come on. Pick it up again.." Roy stayed still and Johnny was forced to stay on his head, and stay being his lungs. ::At least you didn't sick up when you fell off the chair.:: He could hear Marco talking to Chet and holding him down onto the stones until Kelly could get a grip on himself. Finally, he heard Chet ask a question. "Marco? Are Johnny and Roy ok?" Lopez took that as his cue and took off running for the house. And the phone. Then, just as fast, he was back. He said. "I'm looking for Cap and the others. I think I see them on the second hole. L.A. says Station 127's on the way!" "Good going! Yes! Go get them!" Gage shouted, pushing the seared chair out of the way of Roy's legs. In between delivering breaths, Johnny felt down DeSoto's limbs for fractures or other problems. He knew that tetany of the strength that convulsed his partner would have done some kind of harm if the current had been strong enough to cause it. He found only spidering burns on both of Roy's ankles. He got up and dragged Chet closer to him so Kelly would know that he hadn't been abandoned. Then he concentrated on outwaiting Roy's breathing paralysis by offering breaths every few seconds. He knew they would return by themselves soon. ::That's how it works. If I prevent secondary hypoxia, we got it made. He won't lose a pulse a second time..:: he thought eagerly. ::There's no way that bolt didn't zap his heart still the first time. It must have started up again when he hit the ground so hard.:: |
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Two minutes dragged like years, but then Gage spotted Marco's cart coming fast with Stoker's immediately behind him. "Get my kit from the land rover! I got airways in it!" he shouted to them. The dots they were, quickly grew larger, until suddenly, they were all there. |
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