| |||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Page Two Note: Music soundtrack is high quality and slow loading in some cases. Patience. :) |
 |
 |
 |
|
"Good! Then go away cause I'm telling you, I'm perfectly--" Dixie sneezed and immediately, she gasped, grabbing her stomach. "Oh, really?" Gage moved in for the kill. "That was normal, eh?.. Come on, Dix. Let me see your stomach!" Johnny said, reaching out for palpating check. McCall whipped up the blanket to her chin, deflecting Johnny's hands as she resumed her angry stare. "Touch me, and I swear I'll bite your hand off! Today is gonna be all MINE!" she yelled, barely keeping it below a quiet roar. -------------------------------------------------------------- "Is there a problem here?" came an authoritative voice. Both the battling Dixie and Gage looked up, kinda startled for a moment. They had forgotten about the cop being there. And his report. "No..no.." "Nope. Not at all." they both stuttered. "We're through.." said Dixie firmly. Johnny said the same words, meekly obedient. "We're through, officer.. uh,...I guess.." "Okay, then you wouldn't mind if I go over a few details with Miss McCall here about the Miller boy. That's if.. you found that she's still medically ABLE to.." the police officer hinted. "I AM." Dixie punctuated, dismissing Johnny with a wave. Johnny cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Go right ahead, officer." Gage postured, backing away and wrapping up his stethoscope. He fired off one last glare at her when the cop wasn't looking. "You call us back if ANY of those symptoms return. Understood?!" he hissed, stabbing down a finger at the air. That gesture immediately turned into a farewell wave when the police man glanced up at Johnny with a disapproving raised eyebrow. Dixie celebrated. "Mother's keeper.." And then she stuck out her tongue at him. "In...your....dreams..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ So, having chalked up one save and another one as unresolved, Station 51 tucked their tails back between their legs and left the neighborhood. The engine returned to base as unavailable and the squad remained 10-7 to Rampart until everyone was freed up from their mutual responsibilities. Gage continued to pore over Dixie's symptoms. "Maybe I should let one of the docs know about her." he mumbled to Chet on the way back. "I wouldn't if I were you. You still have to WORK with Dixie later on, man. Do you really want to face her once she's over that cold of hers?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was an hour later, not long after the Miller boy had been stabilized cardiac wise from respiratory acidosis. He had gone on to Broncoscopy for a thorough check on the extent of the alveoli damage that he sustained from his aspiration of chlorinated pool water into both his lungs. Kel was very happy with the teenager's labwork, C spine and chest x-ray films. He was being kept under the paralytic agent to thwart another surprise occurance of intubation laryngospasm. The boy had been reunited with his family and things looked good on the EEG. Dr. Brackett was almost certain that no brain damage took place while he had been arrested. ::Helps that someone was there to work on his resuscitation so quickly.:: he theorized. ::My gut feeling on his neurological status will just be confirmed when he wakes up tomorrow morning.:: That line of thinking reminded Kel yet again of his short, revealing conversation with Roy DeSoto about Dixie McCall. The four firemen from 51's had gone back to the station as soon as they were freed from the Miller kid's care and paperwork, jammed together in the rescue squad. He had wished that he could've talked to Johnny Gage directly about his head nurse's symptomatic findings, but he had been too tied up with his teenaged patient's surgical intubation procedure. Kelly Brackett excused himself from the Emergency Department floor, letting Carol know that he'd be in his office for a few minutes. His simple nod and gesture toward its ornately polished dark oaken door guaranteed that Carol would indeed notify him the moment another patient case announced itself either by paramedic biophone or via the waiting room. The babble of hospital activity was mercifully muffled when he shut the door behind himself. Kel Brackett immediately went to the olive green phone on the desk. His fingers danced over a familar sequence of numbers on the rotary dial and he impatiently sat through four telephone rings before he finally heard a sleepy voice pick up. "Dix? It's Kel." he began. "Talk to me." He heard a tired groan on the other end of the line followed by a tight cough and a rustling of blankets when McCall's gravelly voice finally addressed him. "...hmm. Kel? For Pete's sake, what time is it?" "Time for your attending physician to get some answers pronto." he said firmly. "Just what were you thinking when you sent the paramedics away following your little stunt nose diving into your apartment complex's swimming pool?" In a point assuredly in her favor in Dr. Brackett's book, Dixie McCall immediately got angry. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hang up on you right now, Kel Brackett. I was sleeping soundly for the first time in..." "Roy DeSoto. He was worried enough about you to let me know what had happened to you in the Treatment Room after your neighbor was brought in." Brackett fired back. "That b*st*rd!" and there was a silence on the other end of the phone. " Whatever happened to patient/paramedic confidentiality?! I didn't know Johnny Gage was such an irritating example of a gossiping SOB!" "Pipe down! He only did his job like any paramedic worth his salt should've done. He notified his attending medical director of a potential medical problem. The fact that he did it through his partner's a moot point and you know it." Dixie quieted down, thinking of her unexpected rescue victim. "How's Ger doing?" she asked, sitting up in bed, smothering up a wince so it wouldn't be apparent vocally. The lamp turning on in her darkened bedroom did more than just stab into her eyes. It brought on the mother of all headaches and a wave of unexpected deep nausea which the nurse fought down by putting a hand to her mouth. She bore through Kel's ire bravely. "I'll get to Gerald Miller as soon as I know that YOU'RE all right. If you were symptomatic enough to red flag Roy and Johnny, you automatically red flag me. So again, I say, talk to me.." he said no nonsense. Dixie sighed, pulling a waste can full of used tissue and half eaten cough drops into her lap. "There isn't much to say, Kel. What's so unusual about having a stomach virus?" "When did that come on?" "Yesterday morning at work." "What are your symptoms and vital signs?" "Oh come off it, Kel. Quit being a mother hen. I'm not a hypochondriac to take notes on every little incidence of the sniffles." "Humor me." "Kel....no." she spat tightly. "This is my day off, and it's gonna stay that way. We're not going to be getting together over dinner tonight. No police officer's gonna stop by for more details on Ger's drowning. And no pesky off duty paramedic is gonna come calling to my front door. Nada. End of story. I know my rights as an ex-emergency medical patient." "What about my rights as your closest friend? Does that matter any? Forget about my white coat, Dix. That and my stethoscope are still hanging up on the hat rack across the room!" he boomed. McCall sighed, resting her head onto her bare knees. "I'm sorry, Kel. I get cranky with colds. When I get them.." she bemoaned. "Oh, so now you're telling me that you've got a cold and not a stomach bug. Which is it?" "I don't know.. and I don't care. All I want is twenty four hours uninterrupted down time as is due me on my off day. Is that such an unreasonable request? The fact that Ger Miller's accident interceded has absolutely no bearing on the issue!" "You're right, Dix. It doesn't." Kel agreed rapidly, toning down the frustration in his voice. "And thank you for being there. He's gonna make it with flying colors.." "Paralysis?" "None. His films are clear." "Coma?" "There're no signs. You guys were absolutely amazing with keeping him one hundred percent oxygenated. Just be grateful to Brantigan and Grow for Roy's military needle cric technique that he so kindly shared with me during the last paramedics meeting. Miller's already been decannulated and there's no indication of any subglottic stenosis at all. Now enough about him." |
 |
 |
 |
|
"Kel, read my lips, or at least listen to them. Go away. I'm fine. I'll call you after sundown in an update. Just keep Johnny and Roy outta my hair tonight and I'll think about staying your best friend. Good night or good afternoon and good riddance!" and she slammed her elegant white and gold Victorian phone receiver down and cut off the connection. Kel Brackett winced at the vigorous slam of noise into his ear. He held the phone in his palm for a few seconds, half considering calling Dixie back again. :: Do I have the right to bother her any more? She sounds like she knows what she's doing. And I'll get my second phone call in five hours.:: he thought, looking at his watch. McCall barely made it to the bathroom in time before vomiting and suffering a bout of miserable diarrhea. "Oh, god I hate the flu bug.." she groaned. Long minutes later, wet from the shower and naked, Dixie crawled back into bed and pulled the covers over her head. Making a decision, Dr. Brackett decided candor was the better part of valor and he dialed the number out to Station 51. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Los Angeles County Fire Department, this is Fireman Mike Stoker. Can I help you?" Mike glanced up, "Gage. It's for you. It's Brackett." "It is?" he said, his mouth full of burger. "It's about time I heard from him. Roy, did I ever tell you I love you for spilling the beans about Dix's little fainting stunt to him?" "No. But I think you can refrain from expressing yourself. Joanne might get a little jealous." DeSoto quipped. Johnny jogged to the phone, dodging around all the gangs' shoulders in his hurry to cut physical corners to reach the doctor. "Dr. Brackett? Johnny Gage." "Gage. I talked with her." "And?" "And...there's nothing more I can do at the moment. She's adamant about refusing to see me or any other doctor for her illness." "That's sheer craziness, doc." Johnny said, spitting out his mouthful of burger into a napkin. "She's gotta be seen sometime. You weren't there. I was. She was paler than anything once I rolled her face out of the water." "Did she breathe any of that in?" "No. She woke up too fast for that." "Did her BP stay bottomed out?" "No. It got back up into the low hundreds." "And that was sitting up, right?" "Yeah, doc. Look. Now you know as much as I do. So bottom line. Are ya gonna do anything about her?" "I can't. Not by law." "I'm going over there." "No you aren't. You'll only get hauled off for trespassing. Dixie mentioned something to that effect." Gage threw up his hands. "Wonderful. Now how are we gonna have any guarantees that she's all right?" "I sort of got one." |
 |
 |
|
"How...?" Gage asked sarcastically. "She's gonna call me at sundown with an update." "Fair enough. I'll call off Roy, too, from going over there only so long as we hear from you as soon as you hear from her." "Consider that a promise." "Thanks, doc." "No problem. I'll hear from you next rescue call. I got the floor from lunch time through the rest of the night." "Bye, Doctor Brackett. Talk to you then." Johnny hung up the phone. He wandered back over to his chair and sat down, ignoring the bowl of potato salad that Chet pushed over to his end of the table to cheer him up. Cap inquired finally. "So, how's she doing? Is she gonna get checked out?" "No." Roy looked up from his lunch. "You're kidding." "Wish I was, pally. Kel just made me promise that you and I won't stop by over there in between calls." "On the strength of what guarantee?!" Chet whined. "On the fact that Dixie's promised to keep phone tabs with him every couple of hours." "And Kel Brackett bought that line of malarkey?" Cap sighed sarcastically. "Yep." Johnny said, balling up his napkin and tossing it onto his plate in irritation. Roy had some input. "You know, fellas, this could be a case of personal feelings getting in the way. Those two did date once you know. Maybe they're dating again. It could explain the doc's lack of medical bulldog tenacity because it concerns someone he truly cares about. He doesn't want to offend her." "That's just stupid, Roy. If you were Dixie right now, being sick and all, stepping on eggshells is the last thing I'd be doing about you. I'd be busting down your door with a full med kit." Johnny interjected loudly. "I don't think it'll come to that." DeSoto grinned reasonably. "After all, Dixie's a veteran registered nurse of twenty years. She'd never let an illness go on untreated if it were truly serious." "I'm still not comfortable." Gage said, narrowing his eyes. "Neither am I." said Chet, fully in agreement. "I think we should go around the both of them and let Joe Early in on this. No one will be held accountable if he's the one who suddenly shows up on Dixie's doorstep. He's gotta go over there tonight anyway." "How so, Kelly?" Marco asked. "To deliver a box of tickets for the Fireman's Annual Picnic Event. Dixie's one of the primary sellers this year since Gage didn't come forward and volunteer himself for it like he did for last year's." "Why should I have? I'm a rotten seller." Johnny defended. "Ummm hmm, but you're too good a paramedic not to meddle with a friend who might be in trouble and I'm too good a fireman to let someone burn themselves unnecessarily. I'm gonna go call Joe right now." he said, getting up. "Look, you two have done your job, and so has Dr. Brackett. It's now my turn to go to bat. Calling Joe'll only take a minute. Excuse me. And Gage, if you touch my burger, you're dead meat.." Chet warned as he dialed the phone without turning around. The others laughed when Johnny snatched his creeping hand back into his lap. Roy leaned over the table. "This sorta compromises the patient paramedic confidentiality thing. You feel good about Chet getting Dr. Early involved, Cap?" "You bet your *ss I do. Somebody's gotta take a stand. Cause who's gonna watch out for Dixie's, if we don't?" Hank replied, biting into a potato chip. |
 |
 |
 |
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dixie McCall awoke to a full darkness, broken only by the pale moonlight streaming in through the lacy curtains of her bedroom window. Her bleary fever dry eyes, made out the time on her nightstand clock. 00:38. She tried to move, in a reach for a half full, luke warm water glass, when the sharp belly pain doubled her up making her grab around both knees, in a surge of choking nausea. "Owww..." she moaned. "Ok, enough's enough.." she grunted, half sobbing. She hugged herself under the blankets in suffering, burning agony. "I give up. I give in. I'm going to see a doctor. I promise....Just...just ease up and let me dress." she said to her stomach. Her belly pain, had moved. It was now pinpointed, in a spot between her right hip bone and her navel. She frowned, unable to make the significant connection with that new finding. Her mind was too muddled. Dixie had pulled on pants over her pajama shorts and had snatched up her car keys from the dresser, when the pain toppled her onto the rug. She lay there, curled in a ball, soundless, as wave after wave of pure agony swept over her. Her bedroom furniture and the moonlit ceiling blurred. "No, not gonna black out. Oh, boy. Kel's never gonna forgive me for trying to wait it out." she cried, leaking tears of misery. Dixie crawled trembling fingers across the rug until they reached the phone cord trailing from the Victorian receiver on her nightstand. With a jerk, she pulled the phone down from the table. It clattered in a tangle of cord around her head. "...ohhh..hhh..." McCall moaned, dragging the phone and its hand held receiver to her face. She dialed seven numbers, leaving the phone tipped over sideways, out to the only number she could remember entirely. A male voice came on the other end of the line, questioning, and concerned, when Dixie didn't answer. Dixie passed out close to the receiver, where her strained breathing could be heard clearly, in fevered distress. The time was 00:51. *************************************************************** From: "wone3" J.Wilds Date: Wed Oct 27, 2004 1:40 pm Subject: The Call out The number Dixie remembered and dialed was Station 51 and she had been really lucky as the whole station was just returning from a vacant house fire with no injuries to be transported that had occupied all of them for the last hour or so. Mike Stoker had just pulled the engine in place and raced to pick up the phone beating Captain Stanley to it. He heard the distressed breathing on the other end and when he tried to get the person to talk, he received no answer from the other end. "Can you please tell me who you are? " he said into the phone. Suddenly, Johnny realized that they hadn't heard anything about Dixie since being called out for the coaster incident. "Do you think it is her?" he said aloud. "Ask the person if it is Dixie." he said. Mike called into the phone, "Dixie, Miss McCall is that you?" He heard a quiet groan on the other end. Roy, who was right beside the receiver heard the groan, too, and grew concerned that it might be Dixie. Roy called over to the Captain, "Cap, can you call us in a silent alarm for Dixie's place? We should go check it out to be sure. Could you also call over to the hospital? Doctors Brackett and Early will want to know what's going on, we promised to keep them in the loop as they promised us." Cap reassured them that the docs would be called as he hurried to call the alarm into dispatch. "Dispatch this is Station 51, calling in a silent alarm for squad 51 to 213 Elm Street, Apartment 6." Dispatch answered, ##10-4…. Squad 51, time out, 00:51.## Captain answered, "10-4, KMG 365." He went over to the squad with the call slip as the guys were waiting in it. Marco ran over to open the bay door for the squad to exit. Cap told the guys, "Be careful, but get there quickly. We'll make the call. If you need to take her in, you can stay available from the hospital. Call us once you find out anything though, OK?" Both Johnny and Roy echoed, "We will, Cap, and thanks." They then sped out of the bay on a speed trip to Dixie's apartment. *********************************************************************** From: "Patti Keiper" On the way, with lights and siren running, Roy DeSoto had a thought. "Johnny, do you think we'll need PD for this call? We might freak out a lot of Dixie's neighbors if we force our way into her place without alerting em ahead of time." Johnny let out a big sigh, crumpling up the address slip. "It is the middle of the night, and you know how we need the police for most of our other calls like this. I'll raise em on the horn." said Gage with a nod. He lifted the mic, "L.A., this is Squad 51." |
 |
 |
 |
|
##Go ahead, 51.## "Send out a squad car to our silent alarm's location. We may need official authorization for a break in." he said and then he hung up the microphone head onto its spigot. ##10-4, 51. LAPD says their ETA is fifteen minutes.## "What?!" Johnny said in exclamation. "That's sheer craziness! What if Dixie's condition's serious? We can't wait that long just hanging about outside her patio...." he empathized out loud as he listened to L.A. notifiy a police patrol car about their medical emergency private home entry request. Roy said. "If we can't see her in the window, that's what we're gonna haveta do, junior. A phone line with a history of heavy breathing doesn't mean a life or death situation." "But it doesn't negate it either." Gage said, very unhappy, as he clunked a jacketted elbow down on the open edge of his passenger window. "You told me you and Stoker definitely heard a groan on that line." "It IS near Halloween, Johnny." "Yeah, but why would kids prank call a firehouse? Usually kids think we're really cool and...leave us alone." Gage said. "I can think of half a dozen crank calls B shift's had over the last two months that started up just like this one." Roy just shrugged. "We'll have at least some answers in...." he looked at his watch in the glow of the bar lights reflecting off the squad's hood. "....four minutes....." "I got a better idea....." Johnny said with a finger snap. "What?" Roy asked, glancing away from the road. Johnny picked up the radio mic again. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Engine 51 roared off the freeway ramp and pulled up behind the squad in front of Dixie's apartment complex. The noise of her arriving Code Three woke up everyone within ear shot to a distance of two hundred yards. "Is this your idea of a brilliant idea?" DeSoto asked Gage while they wound through the night clothed crowd of people, now milling about the pool area, fully loaded with gear. "Yeah..." Johnny grinned. "Now we have witnesses..." "And Cap's just as concerned about that phone call as we are. He's not gonna yell. Not in the slightest." "You're right about that." Roy considered. "It's not like it's a busy night for firehouse calls. Being available here or at the station's pretty much the same thing I guess." "Exactly.." Johnny said. As they neared apartment six, the gang piled out and went immediately to the front entryway to ring the doorbell while Roy and Johnny covered the back patio facing the moonlit pool to see what they could see. Johnny upped his ante. "Would someone turn on the lights out here? We gotta see what we're doing!" he shouted to the babbling, gossiping crowd of residents around them. The off hours overhead suddenly kicked on over the party hut at the far end of the pool, lighting their way through the thick palms and bushes surrounding Dixie's patio. "Thank you!" shouted Roy. Then he mumbled. "Geesh, talk about an abundance of bystander help." Johnny's HT came to life in his jacket pocket. He pulled it out. It was Cap. ##No answer at the front door at the bell or with the knocker. And we've no windows to look inside. How about on your end?## |
 |
 |
 |
|
"Still getting there. I wouldn't say Dixie's a premier..." he grunted as he forced O2 tank and com box through the hedges.." gardening type. It's a sheer jungle over here, but we're getting there." Johnny told Hank. "She does like her privacy.." Roy grinned. Gage sighed and finally his shoes reached the concrete slab of her patio. "You know, there's another reason why I used the engine to wake everybody up." "Why's that?" Roy asked as he, too, fought through the bushes to join his grinning partner on Dixie's back yard landing. A commotion on the sidewalk of fast stepping slippers got their attention and a thick, hidden ivy covered gate that neither Roy nor Johnny knew was there, suddenly swung open onto the patio where they were, revealing a woman in a robe of quilted pastels with a thick ring of keys in her hand. "That's why.." Gage pointed at her. "I figured one of these crowd folks just had to be the land lady.." Johnny said, tilting his head. "Dragging out the Ward, too, just bettered our chances in finding her.." "Will wonders never cease.." Roy sighed with a half smile, pulling off his helmet. He quickly explained the situation to the land lady about Dixie McCall. "Oh, sure.. Here, let me let you in. The poor dear. We all thought she was just tired from saving Gerald Miller. The kids saw her go back inside right after you fellas left." Johnny was still peeking through the windows, shining his flashlight. He couldn't see anything. "Thanks, Ma'am, for coming. You see, the cops are delayed a bit. And this can't wait." "No, of course it can't.." said the landlady. "Here you go boys. Can I come in? I'll be your entry witness.." she volunteered. "That's what we had in mind, Ma'am.." Johnny said as the landlady opened the glass patio door with a flick of a long skeleton key. Roy and Johnny immediately went inside, shouting Dixie's name. The landlady trailed behind and turned on the lights for them. "She's not in here.." said Roy, leaving the bathroom. "Looks like she's been vomiting." he said about an unflushed toilet. "Some diarrhea, too." He flushed it away after Johnny had a look at it. Johnny let in Cap and the others through the front door and quickly, the gang cased the living room, den, the closest bedroom.... Finally, they found her on the carpetting, face down with a phone receiver in her hand, in the farther one. "Cap, we'll need an ambulance.." Roy said. "You got it, pal. I'll be right back." Johnny unwrapped the phone cord from around Dixie's body and hung up the phone into its cradle, setting the whole thing back on the nightstand while DeSoto knelt down, feeling for a carotid. "Dixie? Can you hear me?" Together, he and Johnny gently rolled her over onto her left side from off of her stomach, supporting her head and neck in a line, carefully, leaving her legs bent up to her stomach as they checked to see if she was breathing. She was, shallowly. Dixie just moaned at an arm pinch. "Altered level, Johnny. Marco," he asked looking up. "..can you get her on some O2?" "Yeah." "Make it high flow." Hank returned after his HT call outside and crouched down, "Can we move her to the bed? It might make it easier for you two to work." Johnny got done sweeping Dixie's head, neck and back for any blood or misalignment. "Yeah, I'm not finding anything here. She didn't hurt herself falling at least. Her c-spine's clear." The gang lifted her to the bed with a sheet, leaving the others pulled down. She was placed onto her back and Roy and Johnny piled the gear around her after the O2 was set over her face. Stoker thought ahead and placed pillows under Dixie's knees to keep them bent, remembering her unexpressed pain from earlier in the afternoon. |
 |
 |
 |
|
Cap began a hail out to Rampart while Johnny loosened Dixie's clothes and pants for breathing's sake and got an initial set of vital signs. "Chet, see if you can wake her past groaning. I don't know why she's not conscious yet. The oxygen should've helped her regain more awareness a full minute ago." "That's if this is just another syncopal episode." DeSoto said as he got a blood pressure off of her. His expression changed into a more serious frown. "78/52. She's real warm, too." "Sepsis?" Johnny guessed. "Maybe. Check her abdomen. You remember what happened to her this afternoon better than I do." DeSoto admitted. "Not really. She wasn't very revealing." But Johnny checked. He found mild rigidity in the lower right quadrant and he heard noisy bowel sounds through his stethoscope. "Ok." Kelly began talking to McCall loudly. "Come on. Dixie, can you open your eyes for me? It's Chet Kelly from Station 51. We got your call ok. Everyone's here. Hey, open those gorgeous peepers of yours and say hello to your house guests. Millie the land lady's here, too. Johnny, hand me your penlight. I'll check out her pupils for you." Gage tossed Chet his light. "What'dya got?" Kelly reported a finding after a few seconds. "P.e.a.r.l." "Figures." Johnny huffed in frustration. "Keep at it. We'll need her talkin to learn anything more." "And... she's starting to flinch." Chet continued. "That's a little better. Just don't kiss her. She may get mad at ya." Johnny said with volume, trying a bad joke to get any kind of a cognitive reaction out of the sick nurse. "Why not? She's pretty enough.." Kelly quipped, going along, equally loud. Dixie blinked and then she coughed. And then the pain returned, full blown. "Oh, guys. I ..thu you'd nev ...here.." she moaned, drawing her knees up even higher than the pillows. "Oh ..gaa ..make it sto-- p p.." she sobbed, with the emotions hardly reaching her features as much as it did in her voice. "Dix?" Johnny asked, "Open your eyes.." he said, shaking her. "Tell us what's happening.." he ordered firmly. She just made a non-sensical noise and shuddered in a fever chill. Hank got a reply on the biophone. It was Dr. Morton. "Stand by, Rampart. I'll pass you off to one of the paramedics now. We've got a thirty two year old female with an acute abdomen, non traumatic." he informed. Then he mouthed the word "Morton" at his men when they looked up from getting a Normal Saline I.V. ready. Roy took the phone. "Rampart. Our victim's semi-conscious. Non responsive to verbal commands. B/P's 78/52, Pulse's 90. Her respirations are 20 and shallow and both pupils are equal and reactive. There's no signs of falling injury but there is evidence of gastric and intestinal upset with a fever. We found mild guarding in her lower right quadrant. She's on fifteen liters of O2." Morton nodded his head and then he pressed the talk button in the base station. ##Maintain her O2. Start an I.V., 51. Normal Saline. Administer a 250 to 500 cc's bolus and titrate until her pressure's at least 90 or better systolic. Then turn it TKO. Conduct a head to toe survey and get a better neurological assessment. Look for any abdominal distension or signs of pulsatile masses. Palpate her flank on the effected side for any CVA tenderness. Also, draw a red top for analysis. She's been vomiting and losing digestive material intestinally, so I'm gonna assume it's been a while since she's eaten anything. Give her some Dextrose at 50%. 25 gms in an I.V. push. Let's hope her stuporous state's due to hypoglycemia and that it isn't septic involvement. 100 mgs Thiamine won't hurt either. In fact, give her some. And get an oral temperature for me if you can, 51. Monitor her on EKG for any altered rhythm. Report back to me in two minutes with any new details. If not, transport her as soon as possible. ## "10-4, I.V. Normal Saline titrated to the hemodynamic status margin minimum. A red top followed by 25 gms Dex50 I.V., and 100 mgs Thiamine. EKG check followed by a condition update and immediate transport." |
 |
 |
|
Millie wanted to know. "What's all that stuff?" Cap answered, "Salt water and sugar, with one of the B vitamins, a heartbeat reading, and then a fast ticket outta here." "Huh...Whatever happened to the good ol smelling salts and patting the wrists routine? That worked fine in reviving folks awake in my day.." Millie interjected. Johnny and Roy just smiled. They got down to business re-examining Dixie for problems visually and by feel and found only a few bruises on her palms from the CPR she had given Ger and a few minor scrapes on her hips from when she dragged the boy out of the pool. No masses or pulsations were found anywhere in her abdomen beyond the rigidity that was just starting to become apparent. After they had given her a good once over and had connected Dixie to the heart monitor, they covered her up with a sheet for warmth. A minute later, following the energizing Thiamine, all the sugar and the actively pushed fluid bolus, Dixie finally showed some mental life. Her eyes fluttered open. For good measure, she jerked her hand out of Kelly's concerned one." I heard that joke, you two nutcases. I just couldn't answer.." she growled. "Not yet, anyway. Just how much is all this attention gonna cost me? I've never needed an ambulance before.." "Hardly anything and ...we're glad you liked it.." Johnny said. "And everybody ELSE'S glad that you're conscious. Now you know the routine. Quit griping and answer my questions already." Dixie sighed under her O2 mask and lifted her knees a little higher at a particularly viscious pain stab. "Go.." "What are your symptoms? We already know about the fever, diarrhea and the vomiting." "Abdominal pain. Surprise!" Roy and Johnny made a face. Chet just laughed. "Do you have any allergies?" "No." "Are you on any medications or have you taken anything for this?" "None and no." "What kind of abdominal history do you have? Anything like a past incarcerated hernia, intussuception, cholecystitis, cystitis, duodenal ulcers, diverticulitis, abdominal aortic aneurysm, kidney infections, kidney stones, pancreatitis, pelvic inflammatory disease...." Dixie just rolled her eyes at the last one. "Sorry.. And I know you haven't had any kids recently.." She glared at Gage indignantly. "..ever.." he amended self consciously, clearing his throat. Dixie let him off the look-that-could-kill hook. "None on all counts, Johnny. All I know is that I hurt. Horribly. And I'm so hot I feel like I'm gonna die." she whimpered instead. "No you're not. Your pressure's sitting at an even 100 now. Up twenty millibars." Roy grinned. "Speak for yourself. You aren't hurting." she snivelled. "He could be if you punch him one.." Chet suggested. "Don't tempt me.." she spat. Right then, Johnny tested for rebound tenderness over her stomach and found a definite positive finding when she shoved his hand away with a sharp intake of breath and suddenly grew five shades paler. " Uh huh.. And right over McBurney's point, Roy.." Dixie met both the paramedics' eyes with a blank stare. "You've got to be kidding. Appendicitis?" she pegged. "We don't know that and none of us will. Not until after a battery of testing.." Roy admitted. "Cap, how long on that ambulance? She's.. VERY.. stabilized now." Gage asked, putting a bored chin into a hand on an elbow lean. |
 |
 |
 |
|
"Let ME find out for ya, Cap." and Kelly neatly exited the apartment to avoid the storm to come. "I'll....just.. show them the way through darkest Africa out here..." he said. "My garden's not THAT bad! Oww.." Dixie fired back, doubling over when her shouting irritated her side again. Gage returned to his questioning. "Last oral intake?" "Uhh,, I don't remember.." she sighed weakily from the pillows. Roy rubbed his nose. "Morton called her diminished LOC right on the nose. Hypoglycemia.." "Not him, too...?! Ughh!" Dixie denied. "It's bad enough having Kel and Joe snooping around and finding out about this.." she winced. "But to have that bedside mannerless automaton knowing about it.." "Shall I relay that message?" Johnny quirked, holding out the biophone receiver. "He's listening.." Dixie paled even further. "No, he's not. I covered the phone when you started up about him. Aren't I nice?" Gage sniffed. "Events leading to your illness?" he continued, scribbling into his note pad. Dixie sputtered, recovering on all tracks but the physical. "Let's see, over work, under pay.." she ticked off on her fingers.. " a tiny head cold and now I've got a big problem with a certain bunch of real pesky firemen.." she blathered. Johnny ignored her. "When was the onset of your pain?" Dixie finally got intimated by the proceedings and started answering without bristling. "Started mid line bilaterally around 11 am, right after work, yesterday." "What provoked it?" "Moving." she snapped. "What does it feel like?" "Awful." Now it was Roy's turn to roll his eyes. Now Gage poured on the purest kind of paramedic mule headed cussedness. "Does it radiate anywhere?" he asked through gritted teeth, staying outwardly professional beyond that one anomaly. "Not anymore. You found the X that marks the spot." Johnny bit his lip. "How severe is it?" "Bad." Cap started chuckling and had to amble away. "Does anything make it better?" Roy tried when Johnny began boiling. "Unconsciousness did, Roy, and I got you two to thank for dragging me kicking and screaming out of it." Dixie said quite honestly, ripping off her oxygen mask. "Excuse me, I'm going to go puke.." and she started to get up. Both Johnny and Roy.... and Cap... stopped her by grabbing and laying across her chest, knees and legs. "You're not going anywhere, Dixie! You've lost your right to make a judgement call." Hank thundered. "Who says?!" "We all do!" Gage shouted. Then he narrowed his eyes in a challenge. "Let her go, Cap. Roy, you too." Reaching over, he shut down Dixie's running I.V. to TKO. "Ok. Prove it." Dixie eyed Johnny suspiciously. "Prove what?" "Prove that you're fully medically competent to handle this health matter..." he said firmly stabbing a finger down on the bed sheets in between them. "If you can stand up on your own two feet, without blacking out," he said waggling a finger in her face."...all of us will just pack up.....and we'll leave..." The silence in the room was palpable. Dixie's hand snaked over and dialed up the I.V. to a fast gush in the drip chamber. "Ah, ah ah.." Johnny said, jerking the tubing out of her hand and he redialed it back down to TKO. "Without any outside help or adjunct." he clarified. Then he pulled her sheets down and invited her to swing her legs over the side of the bed. Dixie froze like a deer in the headlights. Then her jaw clamped shut and the insult she was about to hurl died aborning. She yanked the covers back up to her chin and her teeth started to chatter. "You boys make sure neither Kel nor Joe does my surgery.." Johnny relaxed his finger pointing stare and he planted the abandoned O2 mask that was hissing around her neck to back over her face. |
 |
 |
 |
|
She didn't protest. "Promise me..." she asked of her two hands on hips posturing paramedics. "Ok.." Roy shrugged and he turned up her I.V. to a shock fighting level again. Feeling a bit like the devil, Johnny added, "We'll let Morton do it." Dixie nearly levitated off the bed. Right then the elegant Victorian phone on Dixie's nightstand rang. "Uh oh." trickled Cap. Johnny picked it up, reluctantly, after it rang six times. "Oh, hiya doc. Uh, what do you mean what am I still doing over here? Uh, that's kind of a long story. You see..uh.. Gotta go, doc. There in a few minutes!" and he slammed the receiver down. |
 |
 |
|
Just as Johnny hung up the phone, Dixie's eyes rolled back and she blacked out dissolving into unconsciousness once again. Johnny Gage moved. "Dixie? Hey--" and he reached out to touch her chin when Roy DeSoto stopped him. "Why don't we let her be, Johnny?" he smiled. "Looks like she's finally given in to that long rest her body's been demanding that she'd better have. She's comfortable enough and breathing fine on her side just as she is without us messing around with an oral airway. We'd be disturbing her if we did any further monkeying." "But--" he bit his lip, considering, and checking a sudden retort. "Ok, convince me. What's her pressure now?" checking McCall's pupils again in a search for how far down she'd gone. "116/72.." he said pointedly amused. "The I.V.'s HAS done its work. And see? On the monitor...." Roy invited with an eye glance. Johnny studied Dixie's tracing EKG reading on the scope and his critical analyzing frown slowly turned into a light smile. "Sinus rhythm... finally." he sighed. "Yeah, her rate's about 58." Roy agreed. "Not stressed any longer at all.." "Now that's what I call sleeping.." Kelly remarked. "Chet, how would you know?" Gage commented. "You're not a paramedic like us." The irritation on giving into his partner's low impact patient care plan was still festering a bit under the skin. He liked his victims awake and talking when they didn't have vitals that disfavored maintaining that status. "No, but I know good vital signs notes when I hear them." he said, unoffended. "I got the smarts when I need em, Don't you worry yourself about that, pally." he said, winking at Roy to let him know he was in a needle Johnny Gage mode again now that all the excitement was over. Gage rapidly starting cleaning up and tidying while Roy readied Dixie's apparatus for gurney loading. "No, you're definitely pumpkin positive, Chet..." he mumbled. "What? I didn't quite hear ya, Johnny? What the heck's pumpkin positive mean?" he grinned, giving motions of a gimme more gesture behind Gage's back where the dark haired paramedic couldn't see it. The gang just folded arms together to watch the verbal tennis match with the same grins on their faces. And Johnny walked right into the baiting, hook, line and sinker. "If a doctor writes 'Pumpkin Positive' on your notes, Chet, they mean if they shine a penlight into your mouth, they would encounter a brain so small that your whole head would light up." "Oh, uh huh." Kelly said, mildly, completely unruffled. "Gee, that's really interesting, Gage. But what IQ scale fits your place at the shallow end of the gene pool...? You didn't even see that Dixie's just snoozing right now until Roy here, pointed it out to you." "Chet---" "Ok, enough's enough." Cap intervened, chuckling. "If you two carry on in here much longer, you just might DO what Roy says not to do and you'll wake her up. You guys can go play debate team after the call's over. Come on, Kelly. Back to the engine. Stoker and Marco are already waiting for ya. " "But--" "But nothin, I'm only lagging behind because I wanna make sure that Dixie's place get's locked up again once the PD gets here. You know my signature's needed on the house entry form. " "That's all right, sir. I can take care of that.." said Millie the land lady.. Cap blinked and her comment didn't register under the hard thinking and disciplining he was still embarking upon. " I'll take the squad in so Roy and John can fuss over her at much as they'd like on the way in. Now, shoo.." Hank said, jerking up his chin in a firm, I'm the captain look. "Cappp..." Chet whined. "Are you gonna let Johnny keep picking on me?" he said in jest. "No, I'm gonna let YOU take a time out on HIM. That wasn't a request, Kelly.." "No, it was an order, I know.. I know." and he trudged out the door, putting on his helmet again over his smoky curls. "Why spoil my fun? I was just trying to lighten the tense mood radiating out from a certain someone still leaning over the bed. And Dixie hasn't been disturbed. She hasn't moved since Roy tipped her head back." "Go.." Cap pointed, his stenorous baritone cracking out. "Yes, sir.." Kelly said automatically at the undeniable tone of command. He snapped his fingers in self chiding annoyance when he realized that he was still so well conditioned, that he actually jumped to attention at it. "Weellll, maybe there's a few seeds in the jack o lantern after all." Gage shot back after him. "You understood that ok.." All the firemen raised their heads when the sound of the Mayfair responding to their rescue call appeared and finally pulled up just outside. "Gage, zip it." Cap coughed, trying to hide a smile. "You're falling behind. DeSoto's got the I.V. box already put back together and the attendants are only seconds away." Millie rubbed her chin. "I guess all the acid banter means that Dixie's really ok?" she asked with a knowing smile. "It sure does.." Roy said, standing up from one last check on Dixie's respirations. "I'll leave a note with her about your involvement in resecuring the apartment. The policeman coming is just a formality. Cap's only got a few lines to fill out on the officer's report." "All right. Thank you, gentlemen, for helping Dixie like you have. It really was sitting in the back of my mind, that something wasn't right. I was just too timid to inquire and intrude, you know?" "Yeah, we know." Johnny said. "It's a trait of being American, that respect for any individual's home privacy. No harm's done, ma'am." "Thank goodness." |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Dixie.. Dixie.. Can you hear me? Look what I brought..." said a firm but quiet male voice. Dixie opened her eyes and peered around a flowing oxygen mask. And saw a grotesque swollen pink and purple worm, floating in a jar of preserving fluid.. "GahHH!" she jerked, throwing her hands up. "Get that thing away from me." and she immediately winced when stitches, external and internal, snagged on her innards. "Ooo.." "What? It's not a prop from the little shop of horrors, Dixie." said Joe Early with a chuckle. "This was part of you fifteen minutes ago." "I know what it is, Joe. It's just so... yyuck.." she shuddered, coughing up a plume of anesthetic gas from her chest as she got a radar on how truly awake she was becoming. Her nursing side finally got the better of her. "Ok, so what did ya find?" she gave in. Kel Brackett, to Joe's left, also seated on the bed, answered her. "Well, your appendicitis was uncomplicated. We found no fecaliths, lymph node involvements, or any signs of appendiceal perforation. You just had some moderate suprefaction of the mesentery that didn't effect the peritoneum. We did a WBC and a flat plate, which was negative along with a UA for blood which came completely clear of red cells. Your kidneys,..are fine." Dixie blinked, still very groggy. "Would you explain that in plain english? I think I'm still a little hollow in the head right now." "Rest, Dix." Kel said, getting up. "We'll just leave your souvenir on the bedstand for you to analyze later." |
 |
 |
 |
|
"Don't forget to use a pillow on your abdomen when you have to cough up some of that phlegm. And yes, we made sure the incision was made below the bikini line." Joe added. "You're all heart." she grumbled, rolling over to sleep some more. "And if I hear one crack about the mickey mouse shaped beauty mark I know you saw down there coming from the nursing staff, I'll personally feed you both halves of my appendix floating around in that specimen jar." "She's awake, Kel. I think we can leave now. No one who's too sleepy to breathe ever musters up a threat." "You're right, Joe. Sweet dreams, Dix, and get better fast.." The only reply was a blissful mumble followed by a rub of a few fingers on her nose. The two Rampart doctors left the recovery room on scrub paper covered shoes, gingerly. --------------------------------------------------------- Captains DeSoto and Gage looked at each other as their shared conversation about Dixie's crazy day off rescue finished in their mind's eye. Then Johnny changed the subject... |
 |
 |
 |
|
************************************************** Subject: Running Hot? From: Erin James (etlhostej@voyagerliveaction.com) Sent: Wed 3/19/08 7:54 AM Roy and Johnny downed the last of their sodas and rose to their feet. Gage wasn't through playing yet. "I don't want to go back to my station just yet. Do you?" "Not really. It's kinda fun reminiscing like this. But, what can we do? The awards luncheon's over." Gage suddenly had a light bulb go off over his head. "Think outside the bubble, Roy. Let's use our rank and run with it. Literally." "How do you mean?" "I really want to see our old haunts. You know, like the hospital? So let's grab a Resus Randy out of store and throw him behind a firetruck somewhere for the cadets to find and run it in like a full code. The chief'll love that kind of shakedown on a training day, and we'll get our wish of an extended vacation together.. Whatdiya say?" "I like it." "Okay.. Race ya for the store shed. There's a code Randy in there from the last cadet class that needs another go according to my status report last week. One, Two Three.. Go!" And the two were off again, full tilt, stopping only long enough to snatch up their wind tossed hats and abandoned jackets as they made for the fire tower near Headquarters. As they reached for the open padlock, to go inside to pick the thing up, Gage grinned. "I wonder how many paramedic cadets are about to need new shorts." "The first two who are unfortunate enough to find our dummy." DeSoto replied, smiling hugely, hefting up the shockable manikin over one shoulder. |
 |
 |
 |
|
Johnny got the door. Gage grinned, "Now let's go have some real fun!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A half hour after Dixie McCall hung up the phone with Sharon, she thought, ::Sometimes I really miss being downstairs. Other times I'm glad I'm up here.:: Behind her, an L.A. County scanner burbled softly as she sorted through the day's paperwork. A new pair of voices caught her attention. It was preceded by a disregard call sign in code that was really a firefighter paramedic mock medical running in with a training manikin. The voices initiating the call over HT were Roy DeSoto and Johnny Gage, who was manning communications for the exercise. ::Man. I haven't seen those two in years. I wonder how they're doing? Maybe I could sneak down there into Treatment Five Isolation when they arrived with their trainees to just say hello or something.:: Dixie glanced over at her desk. There was a picture of her and her on-again-off-again boyfriend of nearly ten years, Kel Brackett. ::We must be on again because the picture frame isn't broken and the current picture isn't damaged.:: she mused. ::I count eleven luncheons to date with him since--:: The office door suddenly swung open and broke Dixie from her train of thoughts. She looked up and said, "Can I help y--?..." The sight that met her stopped her mid-sentence, a very tired and flushed Kel Brackett stood unmoving in the doorway. Dixie struggled on the reason why. Kel was now the head of cardiology and worked closely with a lot of the hospital interns. He routinely checked in with Dixie hashing out details when they were both on duty the same shift, but now, somehow this was different. Horribly different. Kel looked like he had been in the wrong place and at the wrong time extremely. Dixie sprinted for the door where he clung, the former nurse in her suddenly in full gear. "Kel, what's the matter?" Kel groaned, "Not much really. Well, maybe something ...bad. G*d, have I really been working three days straight?" |
 |
 |
| |||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
|