Page 65 of My Heart Before You

The characteristic high-pitch popping sound of rales entered his ears with each inhale and exhale. Krystal’s heart sounded normal except for its accelerated beat.

“Pressure’s 170/90, heart rate’s 105, and she’s febrile at 101.3, doctor,” the nurse aide called out from the vital machine as he handed the stethoscope back to Ashley.

“Thank you,” he said, making a mental note of the numbers. “Can I get an EKG too?”

The nurse aide disappeared from the room with a nod.

“Krystal, did you take your medications today?” he asked the impossibly small young woman.

She nodded. “Just my morning ones.”

Her blonde hair was piled on top of her head and bobbed a bit with the movement. For someone who’d been in and out of the hospital her whole life, she seemed a bit nervous today.

Looking at Tere, who’d finished collecting the vials of blood, he asked, “Can I get a mobile computer in here so I can write at bedside? And can you call for a STAT chest?”

“The unit secretary already called X-ray; they’re on their way. I’ll grab you a computer.” She left the room with the bag of blood tubes to send to the lab.

“What about anything for the fever?”

Krystal shook her head as she coughed into her hand. His fingers found the pulses on her wrist and ankles while the nurse aide obtained a gratefully normal EKG, aside from the sinus tachycardia. Colin was signing the EKG when X-ray walked in.

“This should be online in just a sec, Doc,” the X-ray technician said after he pulled the hard plate from underneath his patient and wheeled the portable machine from the room.

Tere returned with a computer on wheels, and Colin signed into the hospital system. The X-ray looked exactly as he suspected with white clouds at the bases of both of her lungs.

“It looks like you have pneumonia. You’ll be with us for a few days while we treat you. Do you need to call anyone in your family and let them know you’re here?”

She shook her head again. “My mom’s already on the way.”

“I’m going to sit here a minute and get all your orders in, so we can get you situated for the day.” He pulled the mobile computer up to the chair in the room.

“Okay.” She seemed to relax as he sat, her heart rate decreasing on the monitor.

“Ashley, can you draw up the IV Tylenol I just ordered? Let’s get her comfortable. Also the antibiotics to hang,” he ordered while typing into the computer.

“I’ll be right back.”

“On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?”

Krystal coughed harder and winced. “A little . . . like a five?”

He frowned. This woman had been through so much in her life and was still putting on a brave face when she was obviously hurting more. He wrote for a small amount of narcotics in case the Tylenol Ashley was getting couldn’t reduce her discomfort. As he continued to modify things until the computerized chart reflected the care he wanted her to have, Ashley returned with the medications and explained them to Krystal before hanging the bags.

“I’m going to grab a warm blanket and look for a leftover lunch tray,” Ashley said as she exited the room.

Satisfied with his orders, he stood. “I’m going to give Dr. Reddington a call and let him know what’s going on. If you need me again, just have the nurses page me.”

“Thank you,” she managed between coughs.

He rubbed the cold antibacterial gel between his palms as he exited the room. “Ashley, I added 2-4 of morphine to the chart if she needs . . .” His eyes lifted to see Emilie standing next to Ashley and stopped talking mid-sentence.

All the air left his lungs in a quick, stealthy release. It happened every time he saw her. Her scrubs were the pale yellow of a day-old chick with a white long-sleeve shirt underneath. She looked like the fresh promise of spring, and his fingers twitched as he imagined how the fabric would feel against them.

Colin didn’t always see Emilie when he worked, but every day in the hospital he hoped she’d be on shift just to be near her. Even to share the same space in the building as her for a short few minutes.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” Her eyes lit up in that way that made sunshine bounce around inside his ribs before she turned to Ashley. “I’ll be back in a few. Thanks for watching my patients.”

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