Page 12 of Welcome to the Cornish Country Hospital

‘Are all the goldfish still alive?’ Aidan was really invested now.

‘Efron died of a broken heart just after Esther moved out, but thankfully the rest of the gang got over the heartbreak.’ Danni grinned. She’d got away with revealing a chink in her armour before and no one seemed to have noticed that she really had been devastated when Esther had moved in with Lucas, and only partly because she was losing her best friend as a flatmate. She needed to make sure they didn’t see beyond the jokes. ‘But when I moved down here, they were able to leave the confines of the bowl and start a new life in the garden pond.’

‘And do you still keep in touch with the stick insects?’ Aidan laughed as Danni shook her head.

‘They never call, they never write. But what can you do?’

‘We could always—’ Esther was cut off midway through her sentence as the red phone at the side of them started to ring. It was a trauma call that would let them know the details of the latest emergency on the way into them. Life in A&E couldn’t ever be predicted and there was never too much time to dwell on anything else, which was just one of the reasons why Danni loved it.

* * *

Esther had taken the call and briefed the others on what to expect. It was a young boy, on his way in with a suspected open fracture of the tibia and fibula bones.

‘Oh God, if the bones are protruding, I think I’ll pass on that one.’ Aidan grimaced. ‘I was actually sick the first time I saw that in real life. Come back, splinter man, all is forgiven.’

‘There’s no protrusion through the skin, but the shape of the lower leg is highly suspicious and it’s a football injury, so there’s a good chance the paramedics are right.’ Esther wrinkled her nose. ‘That’s why watching Netflix is the safest hobby.’

‘Until you realise that you’ve eaten your body weight in pizza, while you’ve been binge-watching, and you drop down dead from a massive heart attack.’ Aidan wasn’t looking at Danni as he spoke, but Esther was and she’d obviously seen her reaction. People made throwaway comments about having heart attacks all the time. They didn’t mean anything by it, but the image that Aidan had unconsciously conjured up had her father’s face at the centre of it. Aidan might have been willing to talk about his struggle with open fractures, but Danni didn’t want anyone to think the ghosts of her past might affect the way she worked. Except Esther already knew that they did.

‘You carry on with the walk-ins, Aidan. I’m sure Danni and I can cope with the trauma case.’

‘I’ve got my tweezers at the ready!’ Aidan was as good as his word, disappearing to check on other patients and making sure he’d be well out of the way before the ambulance arrived.

‘Are you okay? I know he was only joking but…’ Esther put a hand on Danni’s arm once Aidan was gone.

‘I’m fine. I wouldn’t be in this job if that sort of thing still bothered me.’ Danni screwed up her face, aware that her best friend probably knew it did still bother her, but that she’d found a way to push these things down. Sometimes she worried that all the things she’d pushed down might suddenly come to the surface one day, but for now they had a trauma call to deal with and ten minutes later they were in the thick of it.

‘This is Ollie, he’s eight years old and he was playing football at his primary school when he stopped to block a ball. His foot got stuck in a divot, but the rest of his body kept moving.’ The paramedic opened his mouth to say something else, when a muffled voice interrupted.

‘Then my bone went crack.’ The little boy widened his eyes as he lay on his back, the mask over his nose and mouth administering painkilling gas.

‘That must have been scary.’ Esther took hold of Ollie’s hand and he nodded his head.

‘There’s an obvious change to the shape of the lower left leg, indicating an open fracture.’ The paramedic turned his attention back to Danni. ‘Although there’s no penetration of the skin, there is some evidence of a small wound. We’ve stabilised the break and administered antibiotics, as well as pain relief. This is Miss Phipps, Ollie’s teacher, and Mum and Dad are on their way in from work.’

‘Thank you for everything you’ve done.’ Danni hadn’t got to know all the paramedics who served the hospital yet, but she’d been impressed by what she’d seen so far and today was no exception. She knew only too well the pressure of being first on the scene, but the A&E team could take over now.

‘I’ll never forget that sound.’ Miss Phipps, who barely looked old enough to be out of school herself, went pale as she relived Ollie’s accident. ‘And the shape of his leg, it was like that scene fromHarry Potter.’

‘Why don’t you come through to the bay with Ollie and take a seat.’ Danni gently guided the younger woman by the arm. Miss Phipps was doing herself no favours by recounting the details and, if she didn’t take a seat soon, there was a good chance she might faint. Then they’d be left with two casualties on their hands.

‘How are you doing, Ollie?’ Esther had always been brilliant with the children who came into A&E. At their old hospital, if any of the doctors ever had a young patient who kicked and fought against being examined, refused medication or other treatment, all they had to do was ask Esther to help out and they’d be able to do what they needed.

‘Is my mum coming?’ Ollie’s words were still muffled by the mask, but thankfully the pain relief was doing its job.

‘She’s on her way, sweetheart, and we’ll be able to tell her how amazing you’ve been.’ Esther exchanged a look with Danni, both of them knowing that the next hour or so might get even tougher for Ollie. They’d need to examine him and send him down for an X-ray to check the position of the break. He might also need a scan to assess any damage to the soft tissues around the break and then there’d be a discussion about whether he was going to need surgery. If it was an open fracture, then the break would be stabilised and Ollie would be booked in for surgery the next day. But if the trauma and orthopaedic team had additional concerns, he might even face emergency surgery as soon as an operating theatre was available.

‘We’re just going to have a quick look at you and by the time we’ve done that, your mum and dad should be here.’ Danni gave Ollie a reassuring smile and followed on behind as he was wheeled into one of the bays. Gary, one of the other nurses, completed the handover with the paramedics and Danni started the examination. It wouldn’t have taken seven years of medical school, or the specialist training she’d completed afterwards, to tell her that this was definitely an open fracture. The angle of the resulting deformity in the shin also left her in no doubt that both the fibula and tibia were involved. She just hoped when Ollie had his scan, it would be one break across the bones rather than several.

‘One of my friends is going to come down and take a look at your leg too, Ollie. He’s another type of doctor, who specialises in helping people when they’ve hurt their legs.’ Danni smiled again, making it sound as easy as sticking a plaster over a cut. There was no doubt in her mind that Ollie was going to need surgery. Given there was a small puncture wound where part of the bone must have pierced the skin, even though the bone was no longer visible, the surgeons would at the very least want to wash out the wound to prevent infection. Looking at the break, it was very likely to need realigning and probably pinning too, but Ollie didn’t need to know any of that yet. Although judging by Miss Phipps’ face, he’d probably have dealt with the news better than she would. ‘Gary, please could you do me a favour and ask if one of the surgeons can come down when we’ve got the results of Ollie’s scan?’

‘He needs an operation?’ Miss Phipps was reacting in exactly the way Danni had feared she would. ‘Oh my God, oh my God! I knew I shouldn’t have said I’d cover the PE lesson. We have a specialist coach come in for football, but Duncan’s got food poisoning and the Head said I’d be fine. But I don’t even know the rules! I suggested we spend the time making papier-mâché heads for the puppets we’re using at Harvest Festival, but she said the kids needed fresh air and now Ollie’s going to have to be sliced open and—’

‘Miss Phipps!’ Danni and Esther spoke sharply and in unison, silencing the young teacher, who stared back at them, her mouth still moving, but no words coming out. She was obviously distraught, but this was about Ollie and keeping him as calm as he had been since he’d arrived.

‘Why don’t I take you to go and get a cup of tea; you look like you could use one.’ Esther took hold of her elbow. ‘Ollie will be fine with us for a bit; he’s going down for his scan now anyway.’

‘Okay.’ The young woman nodded, looking relieved at the opportunity to leave and not have to catch sight of Ollie’s injury again.

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