So�This Is Montana� Ch. 10
Dr. Shannon took a quick, visual check of his patients from his seat on the chartered plane during take off. Each of the five boys was snuggly strapped into rolling stretchers, which were firmly secured to the plane�s cabin floor. Everyone seemed to be resting quietly and that was a relief to the doctor, especially when he considered the events that had occurred some 5 hours earlier.
From his seat, Dr. Shannon watched a heavily sedated Lance weakly tug against the soft restraints, even in his unconscious state. The restraints had been tied around his right elbow, above his cast, left wrist, and both ankles in an effort to protect him from injuring himself during his periodic bouts of combativeness. Unfortunately, several hours ago, the three doctors, as well as Lance, found out the hard way that the common pain medication, Vicodin, and Lance�s system did not mix well. The medication caused Lance to display violent and aggressive behavior, which could have possibly further exacerbated his injuries if the restraints had not been put into place. For two hours, the three doctors had monitored the progressive decline of the amount of the pain medication in his system until they were certain that Lance was ready for transport to the airport and then home. Between short bouts of sleep during that two-hour delay, Lance would beg and plead with the doctors to remove the restraints, but to no avail. They simply could not risk Lance further injuring himself.
Dr. Shannon allowed his thoughts to drift back to one of the many moments that Lance had awakened only to ask the same questions over again.
�Dr. Shannon?� Lance�s voice was thick and slightly slurred as he struggled to lift his head in his search for the doctor.
�Here I am Lance,� the doctor answered as he walked over to the young man�s bedside, watching his head fall feebly back against the pillow on his bed. The doctor picked up a damp cloth from a nearby tray and used it to wipe Lance�s sweaty face.
�I want these things off,� Lance demanded as he tugged futilely against the straps around his limbs. �Why am I tied up?�
Dr. Shannon immediately realized that they were, once again, going to go through a cycle of conversation that had been taking place for the almost two hours that Lance had been wearing the soft restraints. Apparently, the Vicodin, in combination with the new medications that had been introduced, was causing Lance to have sporadic bouts of memory loss and confusion over what was going on.
The doctor continued to wipe away the thin sheen of perspiration covering the young man�s face, neck and arms as he spoke in a calm tone of voice. �Lance, you were given some Vicodin for pain and you had a reaction to it.�
�Really? What did I do?� Lance asked in a voice muffled by the mask covering his face, which was providing a high flow of oxygen to his system.
With a slight chuckle, the doctor repeated the same explanation that he had been providing to Lance for the last two hours concerning the events that lead up to the necessity of the restraints. As he tried to make things clear, Dr. Shannon watched Lance�s eyes grow large in amazement. Dr. Shannon had long ago lost count as to how many times he had already said the same things, but each time Lance became alert enough to speak, he had patiently re-explained the situation in order to alleviate any fears that he may have. Each time, he was met with the same reaction of disbelief from Lance. Dr. Shannon also knew that once his words had a chance to sink in, Lance would begin to beg him to remove the restraints. Minutes later, Dr. Shannon listened to Lance�s pleadings.
�Please take these off of me,� Lance said, his voice becoming slightly elevated as agitation began to set in.
�Sorry Lance, but no can do,� Dr. Shannon said in a calm voice. He watched Lance pull fiercely against the bindings, letting him fight against them, knowing that the fight would leave Lance soon enough, as it had the other times that he had awakened.
A few minutes later, Lance was breathing heavily and sweating profusely from struggling against the restraints. Dr. Shannon watched Lance shut his eyes tightly and breathe a deep sigh before reopening his eyes to look up at him.
�Please�please Dr. Shannon. Take these off of me. Please don�t make me stay tied up.� Lance�s voice was choked with emotion. A single tear tracked its way down his flushed face. Dr. Shannon gently wiped the tear away with his thumb knowing that he needed to stay firm with his decision no matter how difficult that decision was�no matter how hard Lance was making it for him to stay firm.
�Sh�son. I�m sorry, but I not going to do that Lance. It�s not safe yet,� Dr. Shannon said as he wet the cloth in a small water basin that was on a stand near the bed. After squeezing out the excess water, the doctor then placed the damp cloth on Lance�s forehead, before reaching for a cup of water sitting on the same stand.
�Thirsty?� he asked while placing a straw in the container.
�Yes sir,� Lance replied weakly. Dr. Shannon looked down at his face and saw that Lance�s eyes were beginning to slightly roll around and take on an unfocused quality, indicating that he was going to go under once again. He looked up at one of the many monitors surrounding Lance and saw that the pain medication being automatically dispensed had just administered the latest dose. It wouldn�t be long before Lance would once again lose consciousness.
�Here Lance�I want you to take a few sips and then take some deep breaths for me,� Dr. Shannon said softly as he pulled the oxygen mask out of the way before placing the straw in Lance�s mouth. Lance slowly sucked on the straw until the small amount of water was gone.
�Okay Lance�take some very deep breaths for me,� the doctor urged as he replaced the mask. Taking the deep breaths would help to hasten the inevitable. Lance obeyed the doctor and after two or three deep breaths, his eyes slowly rolled back into his head as he slipped into oblivion.
This cycle repeated itself several more times over the next hour or so and, with each occurrence, Lance would become more emotional and more confused.
Finally, after much discussion with the Dr. Parrish and Dr. Granger, Dr. Shannon decided to administer a strong sedative that would place Lance into a very deep sleep that would last for at least the next 8 hours, which would be enough time to get him home and settled at Orlando�s Mercy General Hospital.
�It�s really better this way, Ken,� Dr. Parrish said, watching Lance slip off into a very deep sleep.
�I know, but this is still hard. I�ll just be glad to get everyone home.�
The doctor�s thoughts were interrupted by a low moan coming from Chris. He quickly glanced down at his watch to see that there was at least another two hours before the plane would arrive in Orlando. It was too soon for Chris or any of the others to wake up but, maybe their coming to sooner wouldn�t be a bad thing. He stood up and walked about the cabin, going from stretcher to stretcher. He stooped down between Justin and Chris�s stretchers and saw that the pair was beginning to show signs of waking from their drug induced stupors. He did a quick check of their blood pressures and heart sounds, finding that everything was looking good. As he stood up, the co-pilot, Jared Davis, joined Dr. Shannon in the cabin.
�How are they doing?� he asked.
�Pretty good. It looks like Chris and Justin will be waking up soon.� Dr. Shannon answered with a smile.
�Well, you might want to keep them all under for the rest of the flight,� Jared said.
Dr. Shannon gave the co-pilot a questioning look until he was suddenly caused to stumble somewhat by a bout of heavy turbulence. Jared grabbed the doctor�s arm and helped him to steady himself.
�That�s why,� he explained with a shrug of his shoulders.
�It�s going to be bad?�
�Afraid so doc. It�s not going to let up until we�re within at least a half hour of Orlando.�
Another low moan and slight grimace on Justin�s face caused both men to begin acting quickly.
�Give me a hand then,� Dr. Shannon said as he reached for one of the many black medical boxes that were spread about the cabin. After opening the smallest of the boxes, he quickly found the appropriate vials, syringes and alcohol rubs. Handing over one of each of the items to Jared, the two administered more medications, which sent both young men sinking back into oblivion.
The doctor and co-pilot checked on JC and Joey and found that it would not be much longer before they would also experience their own beginnings of wakefulness. Another jolt of turbulence caused the doctor to fall from his stooped position over Joey onto the floor.
�Okay doc?� Jared asked. He had managed to grab onto JC�s stretcher, preventing his own fall.
�Yeah...let�s go ahead and take care of JC and Joey too,� Dr. Shannon said, reaching back into the medical box. Both men worked quickly to administer the sedatives and soon, both young men had fallen into a deeper state of unconsciousness.
�What about Lance?� Jared asked as he struggled to stay upright during another short period of turbulence.
�There�s no need,� answered Dr. Shannon from the floor. He hadn�t been able to grab on to anything to prevent his fall.
�He�s being given a continual drip of the sedative with his IV.�
�Why don�t you go ahead and get in your seat doc, and strap yourself in tight,� Jared said, as more turbulence shook the plane.
�Good idea,� Dr. Shannon said with a chuckle. He had experienced turbulence before, but on much larger planes. This was a new and unusual experience for him.
�I�m going to check to make sure the stretchers are well anchored on my way back up front.�
�Good,� Dr. Shannon said as he sat in a seat that was closest to Joey and Lance. He fastened his seatbelt firmly while Jared made quick work of giving each stretcher a good tug.
�Everything looks good doc,� Jared said before leaving for the plane�s cockpit.
�Thanks Jared.�
Dr. Shannon spent the next hour, periodically leaving his seat in between periods of turbulence, to check on the boys. So far, everyone was resting well. The turbulence seemed to be lessening in intensity and there were longer periods of calm in between the bumpy rides allowing Dr. Shannon to feel like he could finally breath a deep sigh of relief. Unfortunately, that relief would not be lasting too much longer.
Dr. Shannon looked up from his paper work to see Jared walking back into the cabin.
�You can unbuckle now doc. Everything is looking clear up between here and Orlando.�
�That�s good to hear Ja�� Dr. Shannon�s words were interrupted by a gurgling, choking sound coming from one of the stretchers.
�He�s choking,� Dr. Shannon said as he jerked his seatbelt open. He and Jared quickly rushed over to the stretcher and swiftly jerked off the young man�s oxygen mask, allowing vomit to flow down the sides of his face. They then unbuckled the straps holding the writhing body to the stretcher.
�We need suction Jared,� Dr. Shannon said while turning the now limp body to its side, allowing even more vomit to flow from his mouth. He gently swiped the inside of the young man�s mouth with his fingers in order to ensure that his breathing was not being hampered.
�Is he breathing okay?�
�Yeah...�
Dr. Shannon grabbed the suction equipment from Jared and worked quickly to pull out any remnants of vomit from the unconscious young man�s slackened mouth while Jared performed a vitals check.
�How�s he doing?�
�His b/p is 110 over 65�pulse 55�respirations�18�heart sounds�a bit erratic�like a murmur,� Jared commented as he looked up at Dr. Shannon from his stooped position.
�Yeah�he has a heart murmur,� Dr. Shannon said quietly as he stooped over the young man to gently wipe his lax features with a damp cloth. With a shake of his head, Dr. Shannon briefly closed his eyes and took a deep breath in an effort to calm himself. Once again, one of the young men had given him a scare. How many more scares from this group was he going to be able to handle? He suddenly didn�t even want to know the answer to that question.
Jared spoke, dragging Dr. Shannon away from his thoughts.
�We better get this cleaned up before we land.�
�Landing�as far as I�m concerned, we won�t be doing that soon enough,� Dr. Shannon wearily commented as he began the messy task of cleaning up.