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************************************************** From : patti keiper <pattik1@hotmail.com> Sent : Friday, February 10, 2006 4:29 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Little Wager... Rec-time at Station 51 was in full swing...with a catch. "You guys are all absolutely nuts, you know that?!" warbled Cap across folded arms from where he was leaning just inside of the ample curtain of rain falling from the lip of the rear garage door's opening. "I should have McConnikee come out here right now to see this to evaluate the whole lot of ya for sudden crisis behavioral changes. Stress is definitely playing a factor here." he chided, without an ounce of humor. "What stress, Cap? We haven't had a run all day." said Stoker, grinning as he readjusted the blue hat on his head to deflect more of the lightningless shower threatening to drown out his line of view of homeplate by the old engine. "We're playing a little game. Softball to be exact. Even ol' Henry's getting into it. See?" he blinked through thick streams of cascading downpour. Stoker was soaked to the skin along with the rest of the gang, and grinning like a banshee. Mike pointed to the ample bellied bassett, who was rolling with pure doggy pleasure in a rapidly filling rain puddle with an out of play ball clenched firmly in his teeth. "Ohmyg*d... Guys, he's rolling in pure mud!" Hank fretted like a cat spooked hen. "Who's gonna mop up all his paw tracks afterwards?" "That's what fire hoses are for, Cap." Marco chuckled, opening his mouth to catch enough of the rain to fountain it out of his mouth again in childish pleasure. "They're real good for fast cleanups." Hank just harrumphed low in his throat and took another step away from the open backyard doorway to avoid getting his shoes wet. Gage got into needling Cap, too. "Yeah. We promise we'll open up the front doors and .....blast them all away into the street when we're done." he crowed absently, almost giddy from the ample downpour that was practically drowning him. "Oh, and can you do that in thirty seconds after we get toned out...?" Cap shot back acidly, "Around both the fire trucks and everything?" "Come on, Cap. Look..He's loving every second of it here. And so are we I might add. I feel at least, twenty years younger." smiled Roy, leaning up to the garbage can lid that was serving as a plate for his turn at bat. "Just think, it's the one kinda bath Henry'll take here without causing us a major battle." he grinned toothily, blinking away the warm rain's deluge. |
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Cap had a comment for that, too. "Oh no!" he quailed. "Now look at him, ya twits. He's rolling in the ash pile. He's gonna smell real good come the third inning. I oughta order you all back in here right now.." he threatened with a note of seriousness. Chet, just grinned as he wiped away thick droplets of rain that were trickling into his eyes from his water flattened hair. "Aw, Cap. Don't go and spoil things for the rest of us just because you don't like to get wet without good reason. We can't help it if your dislike for fish and what they live in runs through ya like water.." he grinned at his own pun. "Why don't ya come out and join us?" Kelly challenged, pulling down his catcher's mask again over his face and spitting out a stream of mouth gathered rain. "Don't knock it unless you've tried it. It's great! Roy's right about feeling invigorated. I feel like a million--" "Five minutes.." finger stabbed Cap. "Five minutes, and then it's back into the locker room for all of ya. I'll never live it down if we show up at some poor old lady's house on a kitten stuck in a tree call looking like a pack of drowned rats." "I don't think a cat's really gonna go out into weather like this, Cap." Gage remarked honestly with a straight face. The others were trying to hide infectious sets of grins. "Oh, you all know what I mean.. My order stands. Just make sure you obey it to the letter.." he growled. Then he disappeared into the bowels of the apparatus bay. Moments later, they heard the coffee pot jangling when Cap snatched it off the burner it was warming on to pour himself some. The five firemen frolicking in the storm immediately got back into the thick of things and the current play in the game. Chet smiled. "That was easy." "It always is when Cap's had a bad night's sleep. All that wool muddling his brain conveniently gets in the way of his handling us during station downtime. Remember? You know he only gets sharp as a tack mentally during a fire or medical call on days he seems like that." chuckled Johnny. Roy bit his lip. "I wonder why he's tired today... It's not like we were busy or anything last night. Not at all. I wouldn't count the three dumpster fires we responded to as having been very taxing." "Cap? Tired?" Chet piped up, tossing his softball up and down into a testing catch in the rain. "Man.. Roy, he slept like a newborn babe last night. Didn't you hear how loud he sawed the wood around two am? And that was only about five seconds after his head hit the pillow. I think he was studying those mystery books of his again." "What mystery books?" asked Marco. "Don't be dense, Marco. You know what books. There's probably a chief's spot opening up at Headquarters and Cap's probably been trying to hide the fact that he's putting in for such a promotion from us by drilling from them whenever he thinks the rest of us are all still sleeping.." Kelly replied. "Hey,.." Lopez looked up, puzzled. "I just thought of something else." |
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"What, Marco?" Roy asked. "If Cap gets that white helmet spot he's supposedly going after, who'll get his skunker stripe spot here?" Lopez wondered. There was a pause in the storm for a long, single beat.. Then.. Chet and Gage eyed each other in a new light of appraising competition instantly that had nothing to do with the storm sewer cover softball game. Kelly smacked his rain wrinkled hand into his soggy ball glove. "You gonna go for it, too, Gagey boy?" he said, narrowing his eyes at Johnny and not looking away. "Yeah,.. I think I will." Gage said, beginning to grin. "Let's put a ....friendly little wager on it there, Mr. Chester B. Kelly. And may the best man.....win." Roy's eyes got real big. "Oh, boy. Talk about opening up your can of worms here." he said, looking from his far too serious partner looking back at an equally, pure ironized, Chet Kelly. "Uh, guys, you're just kidding about following through with all this becoming-a-captain stuff,....aren't you?" The clap of thunder that finally drove them all pell mell into the safety of the garage, punctuated his feeble statement, soundly. |
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*************************************************** From: "Monster Moofie" <monstermoof4me@comcast.net> Date: Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:43 am Subject: Who is Johnny's date? Three days later, 51's A-shift was back on duty. The day, however, bore a completely different change of weather and call-outs for them. The weather was beautiful and the station had been run ragged for the last twenty four hours. And for a change, even Johnny and Chet had arrived early. Captain Stanley called the guys together for roll call. After giving out the assignments, he advised. "Hey guys. Just so you know, C-shift has been as busy as we were slow the other day. It looks like we're going to be kept hopping today. Also, you two twits can put 'gonna be captain' thoughts out of your minds," he looked directly at Chet and Johnny."We simply aren't going to have the time for any of that today." Hank said, biting his lip. ::Heck, when we DO have time, I'll be glad to place some wagers on them myself.:: Cap thought. "I'm going to go do some paperwork I need to get done." Cap advised the guys as he headed towards his office. "I suggest that all of you be ready to take over from C-shift on the fly when they get back." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "How in the heck did Cap know about our little wager?" Johnny pondered as the five firemen headed into the kitchen. "He always knows everything going on around here it seems. At least, to me." Marco commented. |
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"Yeah, I think you are right, Marco." Roy agreed. "Well, we'd better grab some coffee and donuts while we can." They all dug in, enjoying the usual station morning ritual of Chet feeding Henry pieces of his donut. "At least Cap can't complain about Henry being muddy today," Kelly stated to the others. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Several hours later, Johnny was in an ambulance heading to Rampart with a trip and fall patient. "You are going to be just fine, Mrs. Jackson." Johnny calmly soothed the anxious woman. "It looks like you've broken your leg but the baby seems to be fine. We're arriving at the hospital now. They'll take good care of you." The ambulance doors opened and he quickly wheeled the gurney into treatment three with the attendants, where Dr. Brackett was waiting for them. "I'm Dr. Brackett." Kel introduced himself to the expectant mother as he smiled. "Betty, please get me another set of vitals on her." "Doc, do you need me?" Johnny asked from the door. "Nope. See you later, Johnny." Kel responded as he prepared to check the mother's fetal heart-tones with his stethoscope. After a minute, he said. "Your baby's heart sounds just fine. He or she seems to be very active right now. We've contacted your doctor and he'll see you when you get up to Maternity. Meanwhile, we are going to get your leg x-rayed and then get that bone reset." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny headed out of the treatment room and was joined by Roy who was just entering the hospital. ::It has indeed been an extremely busy shift for the entire station.:: DeSoto mused to himself. ::Thankfully, the weather's beautiful and its forecasted to stay that way for several days.:: he thought. Now that they had delivered their latest patient into Dr. Brackett's care, Roy and Johnny decided to dare taking a break. They had been going non-stop since their little donut-fest that morning. Ten minutes after Cap's little talk, the squad and engine, manned by C-shift, had pulled in and their own shift had been toned back out just two minutes later. Besides Mrs. Jackson, Squad 51 had responded to : a house fire, thankfully with no injuries, a man who had cut himself with a jigsaw, a toddler who locked herself in the bathroom, two heart attacks, and an MVA. They hadn't even had time to stop for lunch, although they had been back at the station for five minutes at noon. ::Just long enough to hope for a lunch break and then have those hopes dashed.:: Johnny sighed mentally. Heading into Rampart's staff lounge, they grabbed some coffee and fruit and sat down with another weary pair who entered the room as well. "You two finally caught a break, huh?" Dr. Early asked the two paramedics. The hospital had been equally busy and Joe and Dixie were enjoying their first break of the day. Both had been on duty since 6:00 a.m. and had been running non-stop. "Doc! You'll jinx us!" Johnny exclaimed. Dixie laughed at Johnny's paranoia. She didn't address it out loud, however, choosing instead to ask, "So how are the plans for the fireman's ball coming?" |
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"It's looking good, Dixie." Johnny replied. "We've got the hotel ballroom rented and we've got a nice little band reserved. They'll play quite a variety of tunes.. everything from jazz to some of the modern pop numbers. I'm really looking forward to it." "Lucky for us, Joanne and Cap's wife, as well as several other firemen's wives from C-shift, have taken over most of the planning," Roy stated. "They've taken on the menu, all the decorating and buying the prizes. Pretty much all we guys have to do, is show-up in our tuxes." "Now that's the kind of planning I like to do." Dr. Early said with a laugh. "I've asked a friend to go with me. It'll be nice to take her out to a ball like this. I hope this band's jazz is good." "Kel is taking me, Joe. And I know he bought our tickets already." Dixie added. "I'm glad for the excuse to go shopping for a new formal dress tomorrow. Not to mention the fact that I'm looking forward to dragging Kel away from this hospital!" Changing tactics, she slyly said with a smirk, "So Johnny, who's the lucky lady?" |
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Blushing, Johnny stuttered, trying to think of an appropriate reply. He really didn't want to reveal who she was just yet. The guys had been trying to drag her name out of him for weeks and he had been successful at deflecting their inquiries. Dixie, however, was another matter. "Well, Dix, let me tell you about her." he replied. "She's...." ##Squad 51. Stand by for a response.## squawked the radio. "Squad 51, standing by." Johnny answered as he and Roy quickly headed out the door. "Thank goodness! Saved by the bell," Johnny muttered under his breath. "Wow,.. that break lasted almost five minutes! See you later Dix, Dr. Early.." Roy called as the paramedics rushed out the door. "Ohhh that darn radio! Joe, did you get the feeling Johnny didn't want to answer my question?" Dixie asked. ::I'm going to have to look into this.:: she thought. "Yep, I sure did." replied the thoughtful doctor. "I'm not sure why though. I guess time will tell. He's an eligible bachelor, so I suppose anything is possible." ---------------------------------------------------- ##Squad 51, Engine 51, child trapped. 3414 Parker Avenue, Cross street, 212th. Timeout :15:20.## came the call a short time later. Arriving on the scene, Johnny and Roy were met by the frantic mother of a trapped little boy located inside a residence. "Please, hurry! You've got to help my son! He isn't moving anymore!" she cried. |
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"Ma'am, please, you've got to calm down." Johnny soothingly said. "Why don't you show us where he is?" Quickly gathering their gear, Roy and Johnny followed the distraught mother into the house. Leading them into the family room, she pointed towards the floor. A small pair of sandal clad legs hung out of what appeared to be a heating vent, approximately a foot above the floor. Around the vent, was a large, heavy bookshelf full of books. They could see telltale prints showing how the boy had scaled the bookshelf to reach it. Lying on the ground beside the bookcase, was an ornate brass vent cover and a screwdriver. "I was in the kitchen doing the dishes when I heard a thump in here. Johnny was supposed to be taking a nap! I checked on him not half an hour ago and he was asleep!" "There's the engine," Roy said as he headed for the door. "I'm going to get the tools and talk to Cap, Johnny. I'll be right back." ::Oh great, if this kid turns out to be fine, the guys are going to have a field day with me about us having to rescue a stuck kid with my same name.:: Johnny thought as he appraised the situation. "Johnny! Can you hear me? My name is Johnny, too." Johnny called out to the boy. Seeing a step stool nearby, he shoved it out of the way and kneeled down, checking the pulse in the boy's leg. "Ma'am how old is he?" Johnny asked the mother as he felt its quality under his fingertips. "He is six and a half." she replied. "Please get him out of there." |
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, back at Rampart, Joe and Dixie were already returned to work. Joe headed upstairs, having been called to consult on a case in the Neuro step-down unit. Dixie headed back to her desk in the ER. Kel was there, making notations on a chart. "I just sent Mrs. Jackson upstairs to maternity," he commented. "Looks like she is going to be fine but they want to monitor her for a day or so. And yes, the cast should be off her leg by the time she has the baby." "Poor lady. It must be hard enough to be pregnant, let alone breaking your leg, too, in a fall." Dixie observed. "By the way, don't forget that I'm off tomorrow. I'm looking forward to a full day of shopping. It isn't everyday a girl can look forward to being escorted to a fancy ball, and by a handsome prince no less. " she grinned at him. Brackett was good enough to blush. Dixie leaned closer. "You do realize we're going to have the entire Rampart staff and half the fire department speculating again about whether or not we're an 'item'." she said saucily. Kel laughed. "I'm glad you are looking forward to it." he commented. "You definitely deserve a fancy ball after all you do for us around here. Oh, by the way, be sure to let me know what color dress you come up with. A pretty lady deserves some pretty flowers to go with them. As for all the speculation, let them wonder! I don't care if they think we are having a torrid affair or not. They were going to gossip even if we never spent any time together. Actually that probably would have made things even worse. Then,.. they would think we were having a wild affair while acting like we didn't like each other. So,.. we might as well just spend our time together when we want to and hang all the gossip!" he grumbled. |
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"True on all counts. I'm glad you feel that way. You are pretty important to me, too. Although I do have to say one thing...There had better not be any emergency deliveries or any other such thing this time once we're there." Dixie stated. "With my luck, the ball will end up like our lunch did last month at Manny's." Just then, they were interrupted as the ER doors opened and a woman entered. She looked barely able to stand and they quickly ran to meet her, attempting to get her into a convenient wheelchair before she collapsed. Barely able to speak, the woman moaned. "He's in my car.." Then she passed out. She would have fallen if Kel hadn't been there to catch her. Dixie grabbed a gurney and they got both the woman onto it. Typical for the way the day had been so far, the base station chose that moment to start squawking. Fortunately, at its beeping, there appeared several other nurses and Dr. Morton. "Here we go again!" Dixie said to no one in particular as she started taking the fainted woman's pulse while Dr. Brackett ran outside to the still running car. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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*************************************************** Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 10:09:51 -0800 (PST) From: "Sam Iam" <lafddispatcher@yahoo.com> Subject: The Control Factor Kel Brackett had to search only a few seconds to find the car the woman had spoken of. It had crashed into the wall outside of Emergency and was steaming from a violated radiator. He glanced into the back seat where a man lay sprawled only long enough to reassure himself that he was still breathing. "Hey,..what's the problem?" "M--my chest.. Hurts...real bad." gasped the man. His pallor was gray and he was sweating profusely. "Ok, I'm gonna get you out of here. Did you get hurt when she hit the wall?" "N...no.." he moaned. "But I think ...my daughter did. She hit her head on the steering ...wheel." he whispered. "Ok, I'm getting you out of here. Just let me do all of the work. The car might not be safe anymore." The slight sized, sick man nodded and let Kel take him into his arms like a child. Dr. Brackett stood with his burden and moved quickly into a patch of sunlight and turned in a circle until he spotted a couple of hospital staffers arriving to work from the employee parking lot. He whistled. "Hey! I need some help here with this man!" The young intern and an orderly ran the remaining distance to the emergency entrance, dropping their books and bagged lunches, and took the gasping man from Kel. "What happened?" they asked, rushing to support the man's head and airway so he could continue to breathe without any problems in their arms. "Possible cardiac. Looks like a relative panicked and smacked their car into the wall trying to find some fast help. Bring him inside.. Dixie'll tell you where to put him. I'll be right in. Max, get him on some O2 a.s.a.p. and inform Joe Early. I gotta handle this car first." |
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Kel paused only briefly to watch the two staffers carry away the older man. Then the dark haired doctor leaned down to shut off the running motor. He kicked the gear into neutral so he could push the overheating Oldsmobile into the center of the ambulance lane away from the building. Sure enough, there was leaking gasoline underneath where the car had been. He barely had it a safe distance away from a parked ambulance and a squad when it burst into flames under the hood. Brackett snatched down the fire alarm lever next to the ambulance doors. A few seconds later, 99's paramedics, whose squad it was in the receiving space, dashed out at the sound of the alarm. They immediately ran for the hospital's exterior glass encased hose, giving out the situation they were seeing through their HTs to L.A. as they turned off the auto-alarm with a jacket key so a hospital evacuation wouldn't start unnecessarily. One of them shouted to Brackett. "Anybody inside of there?" "Not anymore." Kel sighed, resting in a crouch leaning over his knees. "There's some spilled gas on the ground all the way up to the Cadillac ambulance parked next to your squad. I had to push the car back out of range." "Good thing you did, doc. If this explodes, it'll only take out itself now." "Need anything else?" panted the doctor. "Nah, we got it from here. Go treat the people who own this car. The rest of our station's only a minute away." said one of the fire paramedics. "Most likely, we'll have this out before our engine arrives on scene." he told Kel, pouring hose water over the engine his partner had exposed by popping the smoking hood open with a crowbar from their nearby squad. In an angry growl, the car exploded, chasing Brackett into the safety of the hospital's entryway. The firemen, were fine, having known instinctively where to stand to wait it out to attack it afterwards with the charged emergency fire hose. |
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Dixie noticed the orange flare from where she was taking a blood pressure on the woman, who was still unconscious. "What was that, Kel?" "Nothing we need to worry about. How's she doing?" he said as the two of them began to push her gurney toward the same treatment room as the man's. "BP's low and staying there. Too long for just a faint. Did she hit her head?" "Yes. She decided to argue with a wall on her way in here." "She what?" "Never mind. Let's get cracking. The man she was with's a possible MI. And he's even more critical than she is. Any sign of Joe down here yet?" "Yeah, I saw him go inside the man's room a few seconds ago. He's got an intern and an orderly with him, I think." Dixie said, reaching down under the gurney for an oxygen mask to start on the girl. "You're right about who else is with him. Those two, I flagged down from the parking lot." Doctor Brackett said as he connected the mask's tubing to the oxygen tank latched at his end by her feet. "It's high flow, Dixie." "I'll chart that just as soon as we get back in control of things here, Kel." Then she wrinkled her nose. "Are you ok? You smell like a barbeque." "I've got nothing that a long, hot soapy shower won't cure." he said, wiping his sooty hands along his white jacket's front to clean them enough so a future pair gloves would slide on a little easier. "I had to play fireman for a bit out there with this girl's father. It made me glad I'm just a simple city doctor." he said, keeping a grip on her wrist to monitor its weak, rapid pulse. "Fireman? Kel,..what happened out there?" Dixie chided. "I'll tell you about all of it...later. That's if, we ever get another break in today." |
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The door of treatment room five soon opened after they pushed the woman's gurney against it. They found they had walked straight into a full cardiac arrest response on Kel's man from the car with Joe Early orchestrating things efficiently at the head of it. "Ok, zap him again..." Early said to the attending intern standing next to him. Kel and Dixie started right in caring for their injured girl positioned next to the man once the outer door snapped back shut behind them. "Any recapture, Joe?" Brackett shouted over the aggressive CPR and noisy ventilations being given to the man. "Not yet. Stop CPR. I'm going in with an eppy IC." he told the orderly and intern. "Let me get her squared away with finding a decent reason for her syncope and I'll come over there to help." Brackett offered as he checked the daughter's pupils with his penlight. "What happened to you? You're filthy." Joe asked, finishing his IC injection of epinephrine into the man's heart. "Ok, begin CPR again.." he nodded at the orderly. "I decided to try out Roy and Johnny's other job description outside a few minutes ago. I can't say I like that kind of work. I didn't feel in control of anything out there. Not at all." "And you think we all feel that way in here today, Kel? You'd be wrong. What's her story?" asked Early, as he watched the intern hit the charge button to get the defibrillator paddles ready to fire off again. "A full blown case of daughter panic with a little MVA to spice things up a bit." "Oh, so that was the fire alarm I heard going off...Don't tell me. The wall parked the car for her." said Joe. "You got it." said Kel, checking out the girl's neck and head. He found a small pool of blood under the skin just above her forehead under the hair line. "Looks she's got a front impact concussion. But there's no fracture here." he said, palpating the area gently. "Dixie...." "Already ordered. A full upper C-spine and skull series." McCall answered from the black lab phone. |
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"Ok, is everybody clear? 400 watt seconds.." Early said calmly. Then he delivered his fourth defibrillation attempt on the girl's dad after taking the paddles the intern handed out to him once more. Shock! And the man's body jumped on the bed before it settled down again. The intubated father's EKG wavered into sputtering life with a slow rate of thirty. Early snapped out his orders. "Max, get an Isoproterenol Drip going into that I.V. Dixie, could you call for a respirator for him? He's not picking up that part of things yet." he said, listening to the father's chest for lung sounds not being made by an ambu bag. "On second thought, I don't think he's gonna do any breathing today. I'm reading a third degree right bundle branch block creeping in on his monitor." "I'll get a bird right away, Joe." replied Dixie. "CCU for him or surgery?" "CCU. He's perfusing well enough for me for the moment. I want to get his strength up a bit before cracking into his chest." "I'll take a surgical ward for my gal if her x-rays don't pan out." Kel volunteered. "I'll reserve one." McCall nodded. "Labs, Kel?" she said, looking at him. "The works." Brackett answered. "For dad, too." Early piped up. "We didn't have time to get any done before he arrested on us." said Joe. "I'll do them myself." Dixie said. "I'm faster." she said seriously. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Out in the receiving alcove, it was just as busy. Doctor Morton leaned into the biocom. "Unit calling in, please repeat." he said, thumbing the radio's talk button. Chet Kelly's voice came over the frequency. ##Rampart, this is Squad 51.## "Go ahead, 51." said Mike as he pulled out a notepad from his pocket. ##Rampart, we've a child approximately six years old trapped in a heating duct. He's unconscious and still partially inaccessible to our paramedics at this time. We have rudimentary vital signs. We've found a popliteal pulse of 142. We're assuming that he has adequate respirations. The boy's color in his lower extremities remain shades of fair to good without strongly evidenced cyanosis. Please stand by for more information.## "10-4, 51. Standing by.." sighed Morton. He reached over and pulled up a stool and tried not to look up at the chaotic emergency ward bustling around him through the glass windows. |
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*************************************************** From: "andacory" <andacory@yahoo.com> Date: Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:16 pm Subject: Spelunking For Children... Johnny Gage looked up as Roy returned with the gang and a slew of manual extrication tools. "How's he doing?" Roy asked, pulling off his helmet. He got out a thigh blood pressure cuff to take a quick reading off one of the boy's exposed legs. Johnny glanced up, very aware of the fact that the boy's mother was watching and hearing every word. "He's still unconscious, but I'm not finding any obvious bleeding from anywhere that I can reach. Don't worry, ma'am. We get children out of tight spots like this all the time. The only thing that makes your son's situation different from others is that ..." he grunted while he pushed and prodded around the child's limp legs.."an application of soap's not gonna be the obvious answer for getting him outta here. I'm afraid we're gonna haveta make due with just a Phillips screwdriver." he said with a grin, holding up the one the boy had used to twist open one side of the heat vent cover. The mother laughed a short nervous laugh and sat down onto the bed next to the bookshelf. "Johnny is just like his father. Always tinkering with things around the house. But this..." she said, her composure breaking again into sobs."..is something else." Cap knelt by her and smiled. "It's ok to be a little upset by all this. But my men and I will have some answers soon about how he got this way and how he's doing now. But first, there are some questions you need to answer for us.." Roy stepped right into the medical history opening. "Does Johnny have any illnesses or pre-existing medical conditions that might be causing this unconsciousness? Any allergies?.. Is he on any medications or has he been sick or hurt recently?" "No.. no. Nothing. The only thing I can think of is that he's autistic. He never gets into anything that would be bad for him. At least, not intentionally. He always listens to what my husband and I tell him very closely. Only this time, I think his overwhelming curiosity about mechanical things got him into this trouble..." she sobbed. Roy looked up. "Johnny. 90/52. Pressure's normal. Ma'am, is he severely autistic?" The mother looked uncomfortable. "Well..he's not bad. M-maybe moderately according to his doctors." she shrugged helplessly with more than a little embarrassment. "It's nothing to be ashamed of." Roy smiled. "I've a neighbor who's daughter has some autism at about the same level. She's the best painter I've ever seen. I have one of her landscapes hanging in my living room." |
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"Oh?" sniffed the mother. "How old is she?" "Only about a month or two older than your son is here. And her condition doesn't effect anything she's truly interested in. Johnny seems to be very handy for his age with these tools. Maybe giving him his own garage workshop after today'll keep him from exploring the ventilation ducts." DeSoto said, helping Johnny unscrew the outer rim of the vent. "That was my husband's idea, too. If only I had listened.." she sobbed. Gage motioned for Chet to give him a flowing oxygen tube without a mask on it. This he shoved under the boy's shirt back through a gap in the intricate brasswork mesh and fed it further until the end of the tube thrust out around the boy's collar to poke against the child's cheek. "Ma'am. Johnny's doing fine for us so far. It's probably a simple reason why he's out cold like this.. " Johnny said. "He might have gotten scared a bit at being jammed in here so tight. He could have suddenly discovered some claustrophobia he didn't know about before and just fainted. His vital signs so far, are matching that profile." "That might be true. I.. I.. don't like small spaces much myself." "At any rate, I'm not worried quite so much about his condition as I am about how we're gonna save all your ductwork getting him outta here." Johnny smiled. "Please. Tear away. My husband will have a fit about having to replaster the wall. But if Johnny helps him, some of the sting will work out of having to do the repair." "Now that's what I call being optimistic, ma'am." said Cap kindly. "This probably isn't as dire an emergency as you first thought it was. Kids getting stuck in weird places always looks scarier than they sometimes actually are. I think we can get him out of there without demolishing anything." "I dearly hope so, captain." said the mother. Even after the screws were removed, the venting cover still didn't pull free, even with an encouraging crowbar. |
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"Man,.." Gage grunted. "This is really nailed down here." "Yeah, but I'd hate to cut this grill. It looks like an antique." Roy replied. Then he reconsidered. "Maybe there's another way to approach this.." He looked up. "Cap?" "Yeah?" "In split level ramblers like this, aren't the heating ducts built double wide for better air exchange when the furnace kicks in?" "I'm pretty sure they are. What are you thinking of?" Hank asked. "Maybe we can get through the vent opposite this one from the room behind this wall. We might be able to spot the rest of him and figure out how to get him out without damaging the ventilation system unnecessarily." DeSoto speculated. "I'd hate to cut into things when we might not have to." "Give it a try." Hank said, "Marco, Stoker. Go with him with the small tools. He's gonna need another screwdriver most likely." "Ma'am?" Roy asked. "Could you show us the way to the other vent?" "Oh.. uh, sure... That would be the master bedroom. I'll show you." she shouted. "Johnny...Mommy will be right back. Please wake up for me. Mommy's so worried about you." Then she bravely left her son in Johnny, Chet and Cap's care. Meanwhile, Kelly gave Dr. Morton an update. "Rampart, we have more on the little boy." Then he read the notes Roy had written down onto his notepad. "Unconsciousness remains but he's got an oxygen supply near him. Blood pressure's 90/52, obtained from a leg. Pulse has now settled to 70 and it's regular. There are no signs of active bleeding or injury. Uh,..another footnote. The child's mother says he has moderate autism." ##10-4, 51. Fear and anxiety stemming from his autism may have precipitated a syncopal episode.## came Morton's voice over the biophone. ##Let's hold off starting an I.V. until you've freed the child and have assessed him more throughly while out in the open. His vital signs don't suggest the need for aggressive therapy yet beyond preserving that good breathing source of oxygen that you've already set into place.... 51, when he's free, see if you can wake him up by the usual means. If he doesn't regain consciousness quickly or easily, transport him as soon as possible. Otherwise, if he appears normal and oriented times three to his normal baseline, advise his mother to take him in to see a family physician for a follow through exam TODAY. Make sure it's not tommorrow or some other time when she decides to go.## Gage nodded his understanding and Chet relayed his response verbally. Then he set down the phone and knelt down next to Cap to help him aim a flashlight deep into the vent to see if they could see anything of the boy's face to judge how his true skin color appeared now that he was breathing in pure oxygen. Johnny tried a pain pinch in the fleshy part of the boy's calf. Little Johnny flinched and moaned slightly, jerking that leg. "Well, looks like he's waking up a bit." Gage grinned. "Hey, Johnny? Can you hear me?" he called out, rolling his eyes at Kelly in advance of his reaction. "Johnny? You mean, this boy is named Johnny, too?" Chet chuckled when he heard the name. "Shush, Kelly. Hush up and help Gage with him." Cap said no nonsense. "Your voice carries better." Chet began shouting right along with the paramedic. But little Johnny didn't move until a second pain pinch was applied as encouragement. His eyes never opened. Nor did he articulate anything new past a quiet moan. "Ok, that's all, Chet. Leave him alone. I got my estimate. He's sitting at about Glasgow ten." said Gage sharply. Kelly ignored his coworker. "Roy? Can you hear me? The boy's waking up a little over here." |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the master bedroom, Roy had the heating grill off. His head was stuck through the opening and a flashlight's beam was fully lighting up the small space. "I hear you! And I can see him. Looks like it's big enough for me to get inside. Did he just move his legs a bit?" "Yeah.." Gage shouted back. "Glasgow 10." "Better and better. I'm going in!" DeSoto yelled in warning. Sliding on his stomach and inching forward with his toes, Roy buried himself in the vent. Then his fingers reached the boy's collar. "I got him! Taking him out my way. Let go of his legs!" Stoker, next to Roy, grinned and said. "I'll go get the O2." "Wait on that, he's ok. I'll bring him back over there." Roy said, leaning his face near little Johnny's to double check his breathing status. On a thought, he checked the boy's pupils with his penlight. "They're dilated, Johnny! And there's no bleeding anywhere just like we figured!" he yelled through the jammed grill where the others were huddled. Then he mumbled to Stoker and Marco. "Classic sign of a recent blackout, these eyes of his. Ok, guys, haul me out of here. He's in my arms.." |
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And soon, he was in his mother's and stretched out on the boy's own quilt in the original bedroom under a richly flowing oxygen mask. It wasn't any time at all before the challenged child was asking her questions about the nightmare he thought he had dreamed in the dark, stifling hot cave that he had found under the bookshelf. Station 51 left soon afterwards, without their patient. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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