Page 11 of Lessons in Love at the Cornish Country Hospital

‘Because of you.’ Danni blew her a kiss. ‘And I’m going to repay you by helping in any way I can with the wedding. And this so-called beach ball means I can be the designated driver on your hen night. I don’t miss drinking at all, but I cannot wait until I can tie my own trainers again!’ Danni caught Aidan’s eye, heat flushing her face. Here she was, whining on about being a bit uncomfortable, when he’d probably have walked over hot coals to get the baby he and Jase were longing for. Aidan had already told Reuben he wanted to keep busy, no doubt to take his mind off everything for a while. ‘I’m sorry, I know this must have been hard for you today and I’m an idiot for complaining about anything to do with being pregnant.’

‘Of course you’re not.’ Aidan exchanged a brief glance with Jase, and then turned back to the group. ‘It’s handy to hear what the challenges of pregnancy can be from someone in the know anyway, because we’re going to need to be ready to step in and help Ellen, our surrogate, with all of that. We weren’t going to say anything, as this is your big day, but now that the party is winding down, I’ve got a feeling you’ll want to hear this… Isla already knows, but we got a positive pregnancy test on Wednesday. The IVF has worked this time!’

‘That’s the best news I’ve heard in ages.’ Danni kissed Aidan on the cheek, and there was a flurry of hugs, congratulations and more kisses exchanged after that. She wasn’t the only one struggling to stop herself from crying, and Jase had tears streaming down his face as he turned towards her.

‘We can’t believe it’s actually happening, and there’s a lot that could still go wrong, which was why we were originally going to keep it to ourselves for a bit. But what’s the point of good news, if we can’t share it?’

‘I’d never have been able to keep it to myself anyway.’ Aidan pulled a face. ‘I keep crying every time I see a baby. I don’t think I’d be able to keep it to myself if something went wrong either. But like Gwen always says, there’s no point in borrowing tomorrow’s troubles, and missing out on all there is to be thankful for today.’

‘It’s going to be okay this time, I just know it is.’ Isla got up and walked behind Aidan, putting her arms around him. ‘And whatever we decide about more travelling after New Zealand, there’s no way we’re going to miss being here when you guys become dads.’

‘The next few months are going to be so amazing with all of this going on.’ Esther smiled as she caught Danni’s eye. It was true, and the nagging feeling that had never quite gone away finally seemed to be fading. Aidan was right that good news was for celebrating, and borrowing tomorrow’s trouble was a sure-fire way to suck all the joy out of life. She was more determined than ever to only focus on the good things from now on, and push all her worries down as far as they could possibly go. Being surrounding by friends on days like this made it easy, and that was something to celebrate too.

7

There was no such thing as a routine shift in the emergency department, but sometimes things came in patterns, and just lately it seemed to Danni that every other patient being brought in was a child. She’d never been someone who could take a completely businesslike approach to being a doctor, but she could usually bury her feelings deep enough for her to keep the kind of professional distance that was necessary for her to do her job. Except, these days, when it came to children, she was struggling with that much more than she ever had before. When a call came through on the red phone to alert them that ambulances were on the way in with a toddler and his sixty-three-year-old grandmother, both of whom had been hit by a car, goose pimples had broken out all over her skin. The likelihood of the injuries being minor – particularly for such a small child – was tiny. He was going to be frightened and in pain, and Danni couldn’t help hugging her bump tightly as they waited for the first of the two ambulances to turn up.

The adrenaline seemed to flow all the faster once the paramedics arrived, briefing the team on the details of the accident and the pain-killing medication both patients had beengiven. The little boy’s grandmother, Tania, had taken the force of the impact when the car had mounted the pavement, with eye witnesses saying she’d thrown herself between the vehicle and his pushchair. She’d initially been unconscious at the scene, and there’d been an obvious open break in both her left leg and arm. Tania had been sedated and intubated, so that the open fracture could be realigned sufficiently to maintain blood flow to her hand and foot, and she’d been given ketamine to manage the pain.

As a result of the sedation, it was difficult to determine the impact of any head trauma. The paramedics had also described severe bruising and suspected broken ribs on her left-hand side, but thankfully her heart rate and blood pressure had remained stable, so there didn’t appear to be any risk of internal bleeding. Danni had only got a brief glimpse of the little boy, who one of the ambulance technicians had said was called Barney, and whose curly blond hair was matted with blood. He was conscious at least, sobbing and calling out, which Danni was hoping would turn out to be a good sign. The sound of him crying for his grandmother made something in her chest constrict. But all she could do was to help the woman he so desperately wanted to be with, while her colleague, Zahir, took charge of treating the little boy.

‘We’re going to need the trauma surgeons and an anaesthetist down here as soon as possible, but we need a CT first. With so much blunt force trauma on the left-hand side, there’s a good chance she could have damaged her spleen.’ Danni gave the instruction to Esther, once they were through to resus with the patient and the handover from the paramedics was complete. Aidan, Amy and Isla were already attaching the monitors to ensure that Tania’s condition remained stable. She’d been given a GCS of six, due to the fact she hadn’t regained consciousness prior to sedation, but there was some response topain, in both her reflexes and her eyes, which meant there was hope. Although with a score in that range, Danni would have estimated her chances of survival at being less than 50 per cent. And her chances of a full recovery were even lower.

‘She’s got a heart rate of 130 bpm, and her blood pressure is dropping.’ Aidan gave the update on Tania’s condition and Danni’s heart sank. Both of these changes in her vital signs were indications of internal bleeding.

‘Her abdomen is rigid, and it looks like her spleen has ruptured. She needs IV fluids, and we need to prepare for the major haemorrhage protocol.’ She’d barely got the words out before Esther headed off, only too aware of how urgent it was to put in the call. They were going to need staff from a range of specialisms available during the CT scan. If Tania’s blood pressure dropped again due to further bleeding, specialists would need to administer blood clotting medication, to try and slow down the bleeding until the scan had been completed and she could go into surgery. Amy, Aidan and Isla leapt into action, each of them knowing their roles. And within minutes they’d set up the machine to facilitate the transfusion, despite them not being able to identify where the suspected blood loss was coming from.

‘How’s her heart rate?’ Danni connected the IV to the cannula that the paramedics had put in, hearing Aidan’s sharp intake of breath before he responded.

‘Still rising. She’s at 135 bpm now.’

‘Mum!’ The doors of resus suddenly flew open as a man, who looked to be in his mid-thirties, charged into the room; the panic in his eyes was obvious before he even spotted his mother lying on the bed. ‘Oh my God, is she…’

He stood there with his mouth open, unable to finish the sentence, and Danni stepped in. ‘She’s sustained some serious injuries, but she’s in the right place and the best thing you can dofor her now is to go and wait somewhere until we can come and give you an update.’

‘I’m not leaving her.’

‘I know it’s hard.’ Danni kept her tone even. ‘But you need to let us get on with our jobs. So we can try to make your mother better.’

‘Try?’ The man had seized on the one word that Danni probably shouldn’t have used, but her natural instinct was to be as honest as possible. And she jumped as he hammered his fist down on the top of trolley. ‘I need you to do more thantry.’

‘We’ll do everything possible.’ Even in the wake of the man’s obvious anger, she wasn’t going to make a promise she knew could easily turn into a lie. ‘I’m Danni, one of the doctors and if you go and wait in the relatives’ room, I promise I’ll come and find you as soon as there’s more news. But right now, we need to stabilise your mum so that she can go for a scan, and we can work out the best way to treat her. What’s your name?’

‘Max.’ The anger seemed to drain out of him as he spoke, and he suddenly looked so much smaller and far less threatening. ‘Mum was looking after my nephew. My sister phoned her when they were on the way home from the park and she heard the accident happen. She was hysterical when she called me. I’m sorry, I know I’m not supposed to be in here, but I just need to know she’s going to be all right.’

‘It’s okay, Max, I’m going to get Isla to take you to the relatives’ room now, and I’ll come and find you as soon as I can.’

‘Please don’t let her die, will you? We lost Dad last year and I can’t…’ For the second time Max was unable to finish his sentence, and Danni’s only option was to repeat herself too.

‘I promise we’ll do everything we can.’ As she turned back to Aidan and their eyes met, all she could do was silently pray that everything they could do would be enough to save Max’s mother.

Danni’s only focus was to keep Tania safe until she was taken up to surgery. It meant that being forced to spend time with Lucas Newman, one of the trauma surgeons, who also happened to be Esther’s ex-fiancé, barely registered on the list of things she was worried about.

‘You’ve done your bit and kept her alive; you can let the experts take over now.’ Lucas had given her a tight smile. With any of the other surgeons, she might have assumed they were joking; a bit of inter-departmental rivalry that the different teams would often exchange to take the edge off high-pressure situations. But this wasn’t a joke, this was a way of putting Danni in her place, and letting her know exactly what he thought of the job her department did. That type of comment wouldn’t have bothered her, even if it hadn’t come from a slimeball like Lucas, because she knew how vital her team’s work was, and just how good they were at it. They’d kept Tania as stable as possible, until the scan had revealed that the bleeding was coming from a ruptured spleen. After the handover with Lucas, Tania had been rushed up to theatre for a splenectomy, and to pin unstable fractures in both her leg and arm. She was going to survive, and would make as full a recovery as possible, because of what the team in A&E had done. Lucas might want to puff up his chest and say it was all down to him, but Danni would make sure her staff knew how much she valued them, and how proud she was of what they did on a day-to-day basis. Although it was Tania’s son who needed to hear from her first.

‘I’m sorry not to have got here sooner.’ Danni addressed Max as soon as she entered the relatives’ room, and he looked up at her, his face deathly pale.

‘She’s gone, hasn’t she?’

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