Part 7.
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"Courage, my word, it didn't come, it doesn't matter. Courage, it
couldn't come at a worse time" -Courage. THE TRAGICALLY HIP.
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"We paged the O.R.. Benton should be down in a minute.." Lily murmured as she watched Lucy being wheeled into a trauma room.
"Does he know it's them?" Lydia said sadly as she helped the doctors and nurses transfer Lucy to the gurney in the trauma two.
"I didn't think to tell him.. Haleh.. Have you phoned the police yet?" Lily murmured, staring at Lucy's bloodied labcoat as she cut it off.
"I AM! The bastards put me on hold.. " Haleh hissed at her, turning back to the phone. "Hello?! Just get somebody here! Everyone in the damn city knows where Cook County is for chrissakes!"
"Haleh.. Get over here.. Bag her.." Kerry barked, struggling to keep her hands steady. She'd done this. She'd given the chart to Dave.. She had told him to take Lucy along.. "Call for blood and get two units on the rapid infuser.. Now!!"
Her gaze floated upwards and saw Luka and Carter working on Malucci.. God help them both.. This was all her fault.
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"Dave!? Can you hear me Dave? Dave?? Come on Dave.." Carter pleaded with him sadly.
"His airway's clear.." Luka said as he backed away from Malucci and walked around the gurney as Carter assessed Dave's alertness, although it was a little more forward than he would have liked. "Set up the rapid infuser and notify the OR.." He ordered to Chuni who ran to the phone.
"For fuck's sake, Malucci! Open your eyes!" Carter yelled at him, gripping the man's shoulders and shaking him slightly.
Dave's head bobbed with the movement, and rolled to the side, a trickle of blood ran from his mouth. Luka bit his lip and closed his eyes for a second to compose himself. "N-no response to command.. Glascow Coma scale seven..."
"What are his resps, pulse and BP!?" Luka said as he started to cut off Dave's scrub top.. It slid off from the body easily, his chest slick with his own blood. Dave's firm six-pack and pecs shone with a brilliant red as the overhead light beat down on the residents like a morning sun.
"Resps are 32, Pulse is 126 and his BP's 90.." Lily said as she pulled the velcroed cuff away from the muscled arm, the only body part that wasn't covered in blood.
"God.. He must have been laying there for hours.. Did you see the handprint in the doorway? He.. He was trying to get out.. I.. I wonder if he yelled for help? What if he did and we didn't hear him?" Abby said tearfully.
"I can't believe it.. How come NOBODY saw any of this?!" Wendy squeaked in disbelief.
"We were too busy eating cutty pie hearts and listening to Fresh Children on the Cube" Luka murmured before shaking his head. "What are his vitals now?"
"Breath sounds are good in the left and right lung.. Resps are up to 24.. Blood Pressure's at 125 and pulse is 100.." Wendy said as Luka nodded relieved.
"He's improving.." Luka murmured softly.
Dave's eyelids started to flutter as he moaned.
"Dave!? Dave.. Can you hear me?!" Carter asked with sudden relief as he looked over into trauma two and Kerry was waving him in.
**
"Stab wounds to the neck, chest.." Kerry swallowed, as her hands moved over the body, assessing her injuries. "Three to the belly.. Right and left upper quadrants, and one on the lower left quadrant.." She informed her team, trying to keep her voice even.
"We need to intubate.." Kerry said positioning herself at Lucy's head. "WHAT'S HER BLOOD PRESSURE!?" She barked.
Haleh glared at her. "Hang on a second.. Her pulse ox is 84.. "
"I'll get a chest tube tray.." Carter muttered before Kerry yelled at him to get back. "Central line kit. Start a central line.. and Haleh.. I didn't ask you for her pulse-ox! What in the hell is her BP!?"
Haleh sputtered, her hands moving quickly. "BP's 90/50.."
Kerry rolled her eyes.. "Fine.. Was that so hard!? Get me four units of O-neg.. Hang two on the rapid infuser!! Give me some Cricoid pressure.." She barked as she struggled with the E/T tube.. Her hands slipping and trembling as she tried to angle the scope. Haleh pressing on the larynx so Weaver could visualize the chords.
"Hey.. Dr.Weaver.. Are you okay??" Carter said worriedly as he watched the Chief fumble. "I can do it if you want.."
"No.. I... I.." Kerry bit her lip and slid out the scope. "I got it.. Start the central line..."
Carter sighed with relief. "Okay.. I need some Betadine and a sterile drip." He eyed Kerry closely. Her colour was off.. This was hitting her harder than anyone.
"I.. I can't.. I can't believe this.. I can't believe that those two were the only ones seeing patients around here and they're the ones paying for it with their damn lives!" Kerry shook her head sadly and gazed upwards as she watched them roll Dave.
"Two stab wounds to the right flank. First one is at L4, centimeters of the midline.. Second one's at L5 in the midscarpel line. One stab wound to the left flank at L3.." Wendy said tearfully as they rolled Dave back. "One to the abdomen, paraumbilical.."
"Squeeze in three units and prepare for a subclavian.. What's his BP and pulse?" Luka said gravely.
Wendy sniffled. "BP's 60/50, pulse 100." She murmured sadly.
"Pulse ox 94.." Chen announced, tears glistening in her eyes, Dave flailed an arm and grabbed her hand.
"Stay.." He said groggily, the blood marring his words. "Don't leave me Cindy.. I.. I need you.."
Chen looked at Luka who nodded. "I'm not Cindy.." She hissed at him.
Luka shook his head. "Yes you are."
Deb looked at the Croatian fearfully as Dave grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Stay here.. I.. I don't want to be alone.. It hurts.." He moaned painfully. "Don't leave me Cindy.."
She watched Luka's eyes as she replied to the altered Dave, her voice cracking and filling with tears. "I.. I won't.. I'll stay here Dave.. I promise.. I won't leave your side."
"Should we intubate?? Can I try? I mean.. It's just Malucci.." Abby said tearfully.
Luka nodded. "Yes.. but I'm doing it.. Get a portable x-ray in here and type and cross for four units. Prepare for a laparotomy."
Abby shook her head sadly as she left the trauma room. "I was just talking to the bastard.. It's no fair.. I should be able to intubate him.. I mean I've had to put up with enough of his asinine jokes."
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Benton ran down the stairs three at a time, down the halls, pulling on his gloves and cursing softly as he banged into a cart in the hall and limped into the Trauma room. "What in the hell happened!? Aww.. Dammit!? Malucci!? Who did this!? Not that I blame them really." He said trailing off and stared into the adjoining trauma as Lydia nodded tearfully.
"They got Lucy too.. The police think it may have been a patient."
Peter sighed and pushed past Kovac into Lucy's trauma room. "What do we got?? You're traching her?!"
"Well yes, Peter.." Kerry muttered angrily as she finished prepping Lucy's neck with disinfectant and filled a syringe with Lidocaine on an IV Cannula 16 gauge. She angled it at 45 degrees towards her feet and ignored Benton as she started to aspirate the free air confirming the tracheal space as bubbles started to form in the Lidocaine and the piston started to slide. The breath she had been holding, whistled out slowly as Kerry injected the Lidocaine and advanced the cannula into the trachea.
Lucy started to gag, her body shaking and coughing as it tried to reject
Kerry's life saving measures. As she bit her lip, Kerry held firm finishing
the intubation as she demounted the syringe, grasping the cannula firmly
and attaching the jet insufflator, the oxygen line and microvalve. Kerry
sighed in relief as Lucy's chest started to rise.
"You wanted something Peter? Of course I trached her.. The bastard
slit her throat.. She started to aspirate blood.."
Kerry trembled and watched as the nurses cleared the empty intubation tray and cleaned up the clutter, struggling to keep her BP and vitals level. "I had her tubed, then she started bleeding out.. How's Malucci doing?"
Peter shrugged. "Malucci? I'm sure he'll live.."
"PETER!" Kerry growled.
"All right! I'll be right back." He growled in return, banging angrily through the doors. "How's he doing?"
"We did a laparotomy. There was gross haemoperitoneum and a large retroperitoneal haematoma. We were going to cross clamp but I think he'd have a better chance in the OR.. What do you th-"
Dave, who had been semi-conscious, slumped on the gurney and his BP began to drop... "Aww shit!" Luka moaned before he could stop and Chen raised an eyebrow.
"Intubate, hang a two more bags of O-neg on the rapid infuser and bag him!! We have to get him to the OR.." Benton barked, coming to the aid of the doctors as the frantic beeping drowned out his orders and gave the surgeon a splitting headache.
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