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************************************************** From: "Mark" <golfersluve2@yahoo.com> Date: Fri Aug 12, 2005 12:41 am Subject: ( Episode 24 opening scene ) Dr. Kelly Brackett stumbled into the shower. His head was pounding and he knew his temperature must be at least 102. He grabbed the bottle of Tylenol and swallowed them with a gulp of water. He felt that he had to get to Rampart, not as a patient, but because the ER was short staffed. Mike Morton had left for vacation in New York last Saturday and wasn't due back for a full ten days. It didn't enter his fevered mind that Dixie would take one glance at him and chew him out for even attempting to come to work. Perhaps most of the lecture would take place the NEXT time he came to work though. After putting on his plaid suit, Kel picked up his medical bag and trudged out to his car. Checking the clock, seeing it was 11:30 p.m., he muttered. "If only I hadn't scheduled myself on the graveyard shift." He got in his car and carefully backed out his driveway. After driving for a few minutes Kel started to wonder if he was doing the right thing. He stopped at a red light and started to alertness when the car behind him honked. It was a couple of teenagers in a convertible. He looked up and realized that the light had turned green already. As soon as he passed through the intersection, the other car whipped around him, effectively cutting him off. Kel grimaced as he saw one of them make a rude gesture at him. He slammed on the brakes to avoid a collision. Shaking from the near miss, it occurred to him that maybe he had not made the right decision. "I'm so tired of feeling this rotten," he stated to the empty road. Flexing his stiff neck he slowly continued down the road. ::Oh, no.:: Kel thought, as his physician mind kicked in, ::Please don't let this be meningitis.:: His dread grew as he added up his symptoms. Suddenly he realized he was driving much too fast. His car careened, narrowly missing an oncoming car. Unfortunately, feeling the way he did, his reactions were slowed and he realized too late, that he had launched his car over the curb. As his car began to flip, it glanced a parked car, then crumpled into a large tree. The car landed on its right side, the front of the car crumpled in, breaking both legs. His windshield shattered on impact, spraying Kel with glass. Pinned against the steering wheel, he drew a ragged breath. He knew he had broken ribs. Pain ran down and radiated through his body. ::Why is a tree branch sticking out of my shoulder?:: he wondered, as the darkness claimed him. ------------------------------------------------------------ |
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------------------------------------------------------------ ##Station 51, single car accident, 110th block of Torrence Blvd. Time out: 23:59.## John Gage bounded into the driver's seat, joined by Dwyer because he knew Roy was at home recovering from a minor injury he had taken during a prior shift. He led the engine out of the bay, unknowingly, to rescue his boss and friend. "Station 51 at scene." Captain Stanley radioed to dispatch. John and Dwyer looked at crumpled heap of metal in front of them. A feeling of dread came over Johnny. "Please don't let me be right," he spoke out loud. "Right?" Captain Stanley said, "What do you mean, John?" "I think that is Doc Brackett's new car," John replied. |
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************************************************** From : wone3 <jwilds@starpower.net> Sent : Sunday, August 14, 2005 10:59 AM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Start of an Long Night As Dr. Brackett's accident was happening, Dixie McCall was pulling into Rampart's employee parking lot. Though she loathed the graveyard shift, she still scheduled herself to the shift in regular intervals. It was one of many reasons that she had the respect of her nursing staff, as most supervisors wouldn't work the shift unless they were needed. Of course it didn't hurt that both Kel Brackett and Joe Early were working the shift with her. The three of them were the closest of friends and did a bunch of activities together. Dixie looked around the parking lot and spotted Joe's car almost immediately but didn't see Kel's. :: That's strange, he's usually here by now in his office.. :: she thought. :: Of course, he could have had car trouble and his car isn't here. :: she continued her thought process. She knew the only way to find out was to go inside. She exited her station wagon, locking it up as she went and headed for the emergency room doors to get ready for work. As she headed for the nurse's locker room to change, she walked by Dr. Brackett's door. She noticed it was shut, but knocked at the door and tried turning the handle. She was surprised to find the door locked but figured that he must be running later than she was and went to get ready for work. About ten minutes later, she left the room ready for work. As she exited the door, she nearly ran over Joe Early in the hallway. "Hi Dix, I see you got stuck, too, huh?" "Yeah, Joe. I scheduled myself to work with my two favorite doctors though, so at least the shift would be bearable. But it looks like I might be pulling a double shift since I hear we are down four nurses to this flu. Hey Joe, You haven't seen Kel yet have you? I needed to ask him a question." Joe was about to answer when they were interrupted.##Dr. Early and Nurse McCall to the Base Station stat. Dr. Early and Nurse McCall to the Base Station stat.## They both hurried down the hall to answer the call. ------------------------------------------------------------ |
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************************************************** From : Champagne Scott <chameleonkate@hotmail.com> Sent : Thursday, August 18, 2005 2:35 PM Subject : The Woody Jumble.. The night was thick with late evening darkness. Gage peered into the cab of the shattered maroon sports car and recognized Brackett's leather jacket and cologne right away. He heard an effective rate of labored breathing but the doctor didn't answer to his name at all, nor did Gage see any attempt at voluntary movement, from where he crouched. "It's his. Positive I.D., Cap." Cap tried some wry humor. "Looks like lightning's struck twice here for the doc, unfortunately. Ok, let's get to work, gang!" Stanley immediately stopped Gage with a hand on his arm when the dark haired paramedic stuck his head in to climb inside. Johnny licked his lips with uncharacteristic stress and more than a little dread. "John, you guys gonna be all right working on him like this?" he asked, realizing the huge weight knowing a victim would have on his paramedic team. "Cap, don't call another squad." swallowed Dwyer. "We'll handle it. In fact, we'd rather know what's going on with Brackett, good or bad, than let a total stranger station learn about it first. Besides, who can care for him better than the best possible people he's trained personally to date?" insisted Dwyer as he began to jack open the driver's door frame with a crowbar. "Roy's not here, but I'll do.." Hank hesitated, but as the sounds of difficult breathing began to falter due to the awkward positioning Kel lay in, he held up a warning finger. "Just this once...Let me know what you need the instant you figure it out." he ordered. Dwyer and Gage nodded mutely and squirmed into the car even before the gas had been pushed away with water. Their flashlights disappeared inside as they got to the injured doctor's side. "Marco! Stoker! Get a covering inch and a half. There's gasoline all over the place. Then grab the spreaders! We're not using a K-12 on this tree unless we absolutely have to!" Cap got on his handy talkie. "L.A., Engine 51. We have a single vehicle crash with a live victim. Notify the ambulance company. Station 51's out one hour.." |
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##Engine 51. Your ambulance ETA is reported at twelve minutes.## "10-4, L.A." Hank got busy grabbing the resuscitation gear. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Oh, man. Would you look at this?" Johnny said to his partner. "A tree branch's been shoved clear through a shoulder." Dwyer immediately got on Brackett's head, opening his airway with a modified jaw thrust and provided firm immobilization for his neck. "The left side...Above the first and second ribs?" he asked as he bent to listen closer for the exact quality of Kel's shuddering respirations. Gage knew that below meant cardiac damage, a pneumothorax, or worse. He got out his clothes shears and started cutting. "Above,.. and the blood's not bright or frothy." "Brownie points for us. Come on, Kel. Show us more......" Dwyer mumbled, as Johnny searched lower, slicing down to bare skin as he got rid of the doctor's clothing. "Some rib involvement, but no sucking chest wound ...... and two broken legs.." Johnny spoke swiftly as he gingerly shucked off both of Brackett's shoes to check for a Babinski's. His reflexes, were normal. "Back so far, seems clear. Let me check it out closer. " said Johnny as he felt and examined Brackett's spine under the bright swathe of flashlight illumination. "Any pulmonary blood?" "No, but he's getting cyanotic for some reason, in spite of a good airway. And he's awfully warm to me." Dwyer said. "Head injury?" Johnny asked, adding the elevated temp and slow, noisy breathing symptoms together. "Don't know yet without a BP..." "I'll get it.." murmured Johnny, hurrying even faster than before. "Check his head once Marco gets in here with a collar." Dwyer shouted into the air. "Cap! O2 on the fly! His color's turning!" Hank fed the unit through the side window that Stoker had just compromised. "Here.. He awake?" "Sort of.." Dwyer stated, "He makes noise on pain. See?" he demonstrated by rubbing a firm knuckle into Kel's breastbone. At the same time, Johnny pinched his Achilles tendon, hard. Brackett moaned but didn't try to push the saliva or blood, out of his mouth. This Johnny drew away with suction. "Cap, tell Rampart that he's reactive only to pain. And read this off..." he said, handing his notepad out of the car. "We'll have vitals for ya in a second. We're gonna vent him for a minute or so until his color improves before we do that." Hank set up the biophone and started giving a report to a very very quiet Joe Early. Gage professed confusion as to Kel's mild stridor. "His chest's clear." he said pulling off his stethoscope. "No artifact at all. I can't tell if his heart sounds are muffled. Not with all this noise going on.." he said of the working jaws and chain springing the dashboard away from them. "I'm putting in a nasopharyngeal on the right side. His gag's negligable." Dwyer said. "Here's the demand valve. I got a mask on his stomach whenever he's set for that. Marco!" Johnny shouted. "Yeah!" hollered Lopez. |
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"Get in here with a short board and that C-Collar. We're ready for ya!" he said as both he and Dwyer checked the placement of the NP and the effectiveness of the light ventilations Johnny was triggering on Brackett's inhalations. "He's gonna need full spinal immobilization! And that's after we deal with a shoulder impalement! It's got him pinned in here real good!" "You got it, pal. Collar coming first." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hank could drop a pin over the airwaves as the gray haired physician and mouse quiet nurse stayed that way while he reiterated his patient report off of Gage's notes.... " C-spine's clear so far, all reflexes are intact. However, he needs some airway support with an NP." Joe's voice literally cracked after a sigh of relief that he couldn't hide to save his soul. ##...10-4, 51. What are his vital signs? ## Hank got another scrap of paper from the dark hole and he plugged his ear as he read the information in the glow of the Ward's headlights for Rampart. "..BP's 88/46, respirations unassisted are deep at nine. Pulse is 130 and thready. Rampart, my paramedics note that our victim is semi comatose but febrile without a head injury." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie was afraid to move while she wrote down the information in a haze of surreality. "Sounds like he's got that d*mned flu going around. Maybe that's why he crashed..." she whispered. Joe thumbed the talk button again on the base station receiver. "51, I suspect an infectious etiology to explain the fever. Ignore that for now. Monitor vital signs, splint both legs and get him on a spine board, with full head, back and neck immobilization. Start two large bore I.V.'s of normal saline, on the uneffected arm. Run them in until you've reached his haemodynamic stability level. Immobilize the tree branch, without removing it, as best you can, once you get him free. Re-evaluate his chest , heart and lungs every minute. Keep an eye on his consciousness level and let me know when either that or his cyanosis improves. Any muffled heart sounds may indicate developing tamponade. Watch for it and treat accordingly." ##10-4, Rampart. Two I.V.s of NS, leg splints, complete long board and relative stabilization of the stabbed shoulder. Re-examine breathing and heart sounds continually. Stand by for another vitals set, Rampart...## came Captain Stanley's voice. "Standing by." |
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In the few seconds that took, Dixie started shaking. "Oh, my god, Joe. This is really Kel, isn't it? I- I mean ....couldn't they be mistaken about him? It's full night out there." "What do you think, Dixie? Now you know and I know that those firemen out there are just too good to make a mistake like that. Ever. Let's just concentrate on getting Kel the best surgeons possible and take things one step at a time, once we get him in here, ok?" Dixie nodded, but then she frowned. "Can you treat your best friend, Joe? Regulations say no." "The regulations be d*mned. It's nearly midnight and there's no one else readily available with my qualifications. I'll weather that administrative storm once Kel's been stabilized in surgery and is resting comfortably." That ended the conversation most effectively. Both the stunned doctor and nurse turned back to the speaker phone and tried not to bite their lips as they heard the sounds of shouting, sawing and orders coming over the open phone. For some reason, Cap hadn't muffled the mouth piece. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Get a hose on that, now!" Hank yelled to Chet. A spark had ignited a puddle under the door opposite the driver's open one. "Cap!!" shouted Johnny and Dwyer. Gage pinched off the O2 line, even as he pulled in his feet from the bottom of the fire on his side of the car. "We've got a burn here!" ##Kelly's on it! Keep sawing in there..## Cap reassured through his belt HT. ##He's pushing it out from under ya as we speak!## |
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Johnny blinked as blood droplets sprayed his face from the wood and bark stake's base as Marco bit into it once more with a handheld hatchet saw. "Easy...easy... go slower! His BP's dropping with all the vibrating going on!" Brackett began to moan in pain. And he began to speak. "..fire, Johnny....got to get out.." he gurgled on dirt and blood. Gage sucked it away with an active wand. "Doc. We're ok. They're not gonna let us burn. How's your chest doing?" "You mean ...besides feeling that d*mned tree driving ...clear through it?" "Yeah.." "I'm still breathing..." he gasped. Johnny cracked a grin. "A lot better than you were before." "What-- what else is wrong with me?" "You've got a broken tib on the left, a tib/fib on the right. Both closed. And some uncomplicated rib fractures on the left. How's your head?" "I....got a headache. But Johnny.. I had that before....the crash.." Kel whispered. "I think I'm sick... Very sick. You both protect yourselves. You hear me?" "Too late for that, doc. We're already in the thick of it. Besides, there ain't a bug alive that can keep a fireman down. I speak from experience, remember?" Gage grinned. "Now you just concentrate on breathing in this oxygen. We're starting to get signs of pulsus paradoxus on you and that may not be just because we're moving this maple off ya." "H-how bad?" Kel gasped. "Around a twenty point drop in your systolic on every inhalation..." Brackett sighed.. "I'm tamponading or..I've...most likely got ..an aortic contusion going on. How's my pressure ..reacting in my arms and legs?" he asked weakly while Marco slid a Kendrick short board next to his head around the snugly fastened collar the doctor now wore. Dwyer responded, looking up from a set of thigh BPs he had just taken. "All four are equal, doc. No drop in the legs and no hypertension in the arms." "That's a relief... but, we all know I'm....not out of the woods, yet.." he said swallowing around the uncomfortable soft rubber nasopharyngeal airway hanging partially down the back of his throat. "That a pun, doc?" Lopez quipped. Brackett tried to smile. "Who's on, tonight, who's....got me?" "It's Joe, doc. An ortho and thoracic surgeons team is already standing by." Johnny replied. "Let me talk to him.." |
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"Sorry, doc." said Dwyer, turning up both of Kel's I.V.s. "Can't oblige. Against regulations. And besides, there's a fire between us and the phone.." "No there isn't....about the fire, I mean. I just heard Chet Kelly announcing that he smothered it out a minute ago with some foam." "Still too far away.." Gage teased seriously. "Cap's out there and the reception'll probably be cut off in here. So, answer's still...nope." "Come on, Johnny. I order y--" "Wrong, doc. You're not my doc anymore. Not since you started bleeding and we started trying to stop it. So hush up and quit twitching your good arm around like that. You'll infiltrate your I.V.s." Johnny said. Brackett's ire was squashed as a fresh jolt of agony lanced through his shoulder as Stoker shifted a large piece of tree away from his body. His awareness started to fade. "Round two, later, Johnny. Use an ET, rapid sequence,...if I ...." Kel blacked out. "Dr. Brackett?...Dr. Brackett?" Johnny prompted, feeling for his carotid. "Can you hear me?" he shouted over the loud buzzing of the jaws. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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