* * *
The first half of Eden’s shift had been just as she’d expected it to be. She was in A&E paediatrics and had looked after patients with the kind of fairly routine childhood injuries and infections they often dealt with. There’d also been a ten-year-old boy who for some reason had decided to see if he could charge down his classroom door using his shoulder and had ended up with a broken collarbone instead. It wasn’t until towards the end of her shift that Bea, an eight-year-old girl, was brought in by her very worried parents, who’d been keeping her off school for the past week with flu, but she seemed to be getting worse.
‘I can’t understand why she isn’t getting any better. We’ve all had the flu, but she’s getting more and more listless.’ The little girl’s mother, who’d already introduced herself as Sara, had clutched her daughter’s hand tightly as she spoke. Bea had hardly even seemed to respond.
‘Can you tell me a bit about her other symptoms?’ It had been easy to see how terrified Bea’s parents were and Eden had done her best to be as reassuring as possible. Over the years, she’d discovered that time spent on trying to stop the parents from panicking always paid off and it was the best way to ensure she got the information she needed. A parent frozen with panic wasn’t what Bea needed right now.
‘She’s just so tired, and Bea’s normally a proper little live wire, isn’t she, Tom?’ Sara had looked at her husband who’d nodded, his eyes never leaving his daughter’s face. ‘She doesn’t want any food, only water. She’s had abdominal pains, and an upset stomach and vomiting, even though she’s barely eating. She’s lost so much weight just in the last week, it feels like she’s fading away. She seems completely out of it today too, like she barely knows we’re here. It’s terrifying.’
Bea still hadn’t responded, despite the obvious fear in her mother’s voice and Eden had been grateful for that in a way. The last thing she’d wanted was for the little girl to be frightened, too. Early in her career, Eden had decided to specialise in emergency medicine, and she’d worked across both the adult and children’s areas of A&E, as most of the nurses on the team did. It had become more challenging working with paediatric emergencies since she’d had Teddie, because the cases she dealt with felt closer to home, and the losses hit her even harder than before. Although thankfully they were few and far between. Despite how difficult those cases were, Eden had decided she’d rather be on the inside trying to cut that number even further, than on the outside just hoping and wishing for miracles.
‘Okay sweetheart, the first thing we need to do is run some blood tests to see if we can get to the bottom of what’s making you feel so poorly.’ Eden spoke directly to Bea rather than to her mum and dad, to see if she responded any differently to a nurse than she did to her parents. She’d been about to explain to Sara and Tom that the team would also monitor their daughter’s vital signs and ensure she got some IV fluids to replace the electrolytes she’d lost since becoming ill, but as Eden leant in closer to the little girl, she caught a distinctive fruity smell, almost like pear drops. Given her other symptoms, it was very likely to be a sign of diabetic ketoacidosis, caused by high levels of ketones and blood sugar, as a result of the body burning fat for energy, instead of glucose. It was caused by insufficient insulin and it was life threatening.
With the situation suddenly so much more urgent, Eden had immediately sought support from her colleagues. Unlike the nursing team, most of the doctors in A&E were either specialists in adult emergency medicine or paediatrics. Sometimes staffing levels meant that adult emergency doctors had to support the work of the paediatrics team for more routine cases, but more complex ones were always referred to specialist paediatricians. Eve Bellingham was a hospital manager’s dream, because she was qualified and experienced in emergency medicine and the sub-speciality of paediatric emergency medicine, which meant she could work more broadly across both teams. Thankfully, Eve had been on shift too and was available to lead on Bea’s treatment.
Eden’s hunch had quickly been proven correct and treatment had commenced as soon as the little girl’s condition was confirmed. Bea had been given fluids, as well as insulin and potassium to stabilise her condition. She’d been given a life-changing diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, but she was going to be okay and that was all that was important in the end. There’d be a lot for Bea and her parents to learn and get to grips with in the weeks and months to come, but it was days like today that made Eden even more glad she’d chosen the career she had. Something that hit home all the more when Eden had gone to say goodbye to the family, just before the end of her shift.
‘We’ve got to get her that puppy we’ve been talking about.’ Bea’s mother was speaking in urgent tones to her father, and neither of them had noticed Eden at first. ‘I promised her if she got better that I’d get her one, and she is going to get better, Tom. So I can’t break that promise.’
‘She can have anything she wants.’ Tom had smiled at his wife and then, turning slightly, he’d finally caught sight of Eden. ‘Because she is going to be okay thanks to this brilliant nurse.’
‘It was a team effort, but a lot of it’s down to Bea too; she may be small, but she’s a tough cookie.’ Eden had looked at the little girl, who was still resting, but who she could already picture beaming when she heard the news that she’d be getting a puppy.
‘She is.’ Sara was stroking her daughter’s hair as she spoke. ‘But please don’t underplay what you did, it was amazing. You saved her life by knowing what questions to ask and getting her the help she needed. Losing her would have killed me and Tom too, and it would have ruined the lives of everyone who loves her. That’s huge and I know not everyone appreciates the work you do, but I promise you we’ll never forget it.’
‘Thank you.’ Eden had accepted the hugs that both Sara and Tom had offered her in turn. It felt good to have made so much of a difference, but despite what they said it really was a team effort.
It had been a long shift and Eden was completely exhausted by the end of it, but when Eve had suggested they go for a coffee afterwards, with Meg and Isla, one of the other A&E nurses, she’d realised she wanted to go, despite the temptation to just head back home and flop down on the sofa. Her parents had picked Teddie up from nursery at lunch time to take him swimming at the pool in Port Tremellien, and she had no reason to rush back. Her mother was trying hard to be the perfect grandmother and having her father there reassured her that Teddie was in safe hands. Given how infrequently the chance arose, she didn’t want to miss the opportunity to spend some time with the others outside of work.
Eve had been a bit standoffish since coming back from leave, and although Eden was friendly with Meg she never felt as though she’d got far below the surface. This felt like too good an opportunity to get to know her colleagues a bit better, and to keep trying to build up the friendships that had been missing from her life for so long. Felix had said he’d come and find her after his interview, so she’d sent him a quick text to let him know she’d be sitting at one of the tables outside the hospital shop for the next half an hour or so, and after that he could find her at home.
‘I’ll get the drinks.’ Eden made the offer before any of the others could get ahead of her.
‘We should be buying for you.’ Eve smiled. ‘If you hadn’t realised so quickly what was wrong with Bea, things could have got far worse.’
‘It was just a lucky hunch.’ She tried to brush it off, but Eve was having none of it.
‘No it wasn’t, it was down to skill, experience, and excellent instincts. I wish every nurse I’ve been involved with had those same qualities.’ An unreadable expression flitted across Eve’s face. For a moment Eden wondered about her choice of words; she hadn’t said ‘nurses she’d worked with’, she’d said ‘involved with’. But Eden was probably just reading too much into something that meant nothing at all.
‘Either way, it’s my round. You sit down with Meg and Isla, and I’ll grab the drinks.’ Eden grinned at the expression on Eve’s face. ‘It’s okay, I’ll let you pay when we go somewhere really expensive, like that new wine bar by the harbour in Port Agnes.’
‘I’ll hold you to that.’ Eve was smiling now, and Eden felt a surge of hope that this new life of hers might really be everything she’d desperately hoped it would. There was nothing and no one stopping her from building new friendships any more, not now that Jesse was out of her life, and moments like this felt as if they could be the start of something.
Eden walked into the hospital shop, but she couldn’t see anyone at the counter. There was a stockroom behind it and, although there was a bell to ring for service, she waited there for a moment, not wanting to feel as though she was hassling any of the volunteers for service. Whoever was on duty, was probably trying to get a stock take done too, so she stood there and waited, hoping someone might suddenly emerge. Less than a minute later Gwen appeared, muttering something about having found some more wine gums out the back. It wasn’t until she looked up that she spotted Eden and suddenly stopped dead, putting a hand to her chest, as if seeing her was a total shock.
‘Sorry, Gwen, did I make you jump?’
‘No, well, yes, I suppose you did a bit, but luckily not enough to make me wet myself.’ Gwen laughed. ‘At least I hope not, although at my age it’s a close-run thing.’
Eden laughed along with her. It hadn’t taken her long to realise that Gwen was more than capable of living up to her reputation of not only being the font of all knowledge about St Piran’s, but someone who wasn’t afraid to tell it how it was. Gwen might also use humour that was pretty close to the edge of what some would deem acceptable, but Eden loved her, everybody did.
‘I didn’t want to ring the bell and disturb you if you were busy out the back, but it sounds like you were expecting someone else to be here?’
‘When I went in to check whether we had more wine gums in stock, Drew Redford was standing where you are now, but it looks as if he’s disappeared in a puff of smoke.’ Gwen craned her neck forward towards the half-windowed wall of the shop that looked out on to the bistro tables, and the hospital entrance beyond them on one side, and the corridor that led off to all departments on the other. ‘He’s definitely done a vanishing act. I’ll have to rope him in to help me and my husband out with our magic act.’
‘You’ve got a magic act?’ Eden shouldn’t have been surprised when Gwen nodded.
‘Yes, Barry the Magic Man and the Great Gwendini.’
