Page 20 of Code Love
Jade’s arms burned as she continued the compressions, after a few seconds that felt like hours, a team came in and pushed Hannah’s bed into the hallway. Jade rode with the gurney keeping the compressions timed precisely as they made it to the elevator. The ride down to the operating floor was dizzying, but she maintained her rhythm.
“Are we set up for bypass?” Jade asked, never taking her eyes from Hannah.
“Yes, just a few more seconds,” Jade could hear Lillian as the team worked around her. “Okay, you can stop.”
Jade’s arms went limp as she sat back on her heels and looked around. The room was eerily quiet without the rhythm of the heart monitor, but Hannah was hooked up to a machine that would circulate her blood for her until they could get her heart started again. If they could get her heart started again.
“Doctor Noble?” Jade asked as she made her way to the scrub station. The staff in the room sanitized everything that had been brought into the field, including Hannah, as Jade put on a surgical cap and tied the mask over her face. She tappedthe faucet with her forearm, checked the timer, and started scrubbing her hands. Lillian took the sink next to her doing the same.
“She will be in as quickly as she can, but she wants us to go ahead and open her up. She said she’s pretty sure she knows where the clot is, and where it traveled. Hannah was on her schedule next. I guess Hannah didn’t want to wait,” Lillian said as she scrubbed her arms.
Jade smiled slightly behind her mask; she wouldn’t allow the thought of failure into her mind. They would save this woman. Jade had a sudden surge of confidence; she fully believed that there was nothing that she and Lillian couldn’t accomplish as long as they worked as a team.
“I’m glad you’re coming in here with me,” Lillian said, her voice almost sheepish. “Cracking a chest is not something I am very comfortable with.”
“I know,” Jade teased, and was thrilled at the light in Lillian’s eyes as she glared at Jade. “You’re a neurosurgeon. You’re all delicate pathways and meticulous brain operations, which I am going to need in here, just on a slightly different system. I’m more violent and barbaric, broken bones and stitching people back together.”
Lillian laughed and Jade’s chest threated to burst. She tapped the sink with her forearm once again and shook the excess water in the sink. Realization dawned on her as she looked up at Lillian’s sharp green eyes over her mask. Jade could be in love with this woman, even if she never returned it. Jade quirked an eyebrow at her as she pushed through the doors into the operating room with her hands held up.
The surgical assistants quickly dried her hands and tied the gown around her before they pulled gloves over her sleeves. She went to the table and looked down at Hannah, still in her coma with the anesthesiologist sitting at her head. She adjusted hertray next to her, and a surgical nurse stood at her side. This was going to be tricky, and hopefully Dr. Noble would be here soon, but they didn’t have time to waste.
Lillian pushed through the door, the assistants performing the same routines, and she came to stand on the opposite side of Jade.
“Ready?” Jade asked, pulling in a deep breath.
“As I’m going to be,” Lillian answered. Her eyes were sharp, focused, and Jade’s heart thumped with excitement. They would not let this woman die.
“Scalpel,” Jade said and held out her hand as her assistant placed the tool in her hand. She pushed the blade through Hannah’s chest, and the world seemed to disappear, the only things that Jade recognized were the tools in her hand, the patient beneath her, and Lillian in front of her.
“Rib-spreader,” Jade said, handing the scalpel back to the assistant. She was handed a massive tool that looked like a torture device and placed it in Hannah’s chest. Very soon, Jade and Lillian were looking inside the woman that had come to mean so much to the both of them.
“You’re up, Doctor Holder,” Jade said as they examined the structure of Hannah’s heart.
“There,” Lillian said, pointing to a large artery that fed the heart. “I can see it. A few more seconds and she would be gone.” Lillian’s eyes met Jade’s over the field, and she pulled in a breath. “It is awfully close to the aorta.”
“She’s on bypass, we can clamp both,” Jade said. She glanced quickly at the glass window that looked into the scrub station, but Dr. Noble was still not in there.
“Okay,” Lillian said then asked for the clamps.
Jade held the clamps upright as Lillian delicately cut into the artery and removed a large clot. Carefully, she tied off the edges and sewed the incision closed. Jade watched each movementwith fascination. Each touch, each suture, everything Lillian did, was delicate and perfect. Lillian’s precision and poise on the operating table was unmatched. She looked up at Jade, her eyes tight.
“Are we ready to take her off bypass?” Jade asked, her brows furrowed.
Lillian nodded slowly, this was the moment of truth. So many things could go wrong in this instant, and there would be nothing left that they could do to save Hannah’s life, but it was all that was left. Jade unclamped the arteries and nodded at the nurse to turn off the machines.
“Paddles,” Jade said as they watched the blood moving through Hannah’s body again. “Charge to 20.” She placed the metal disks on each side of Hannah’s heart. “Clear.” It jumped when she initiated the shock, but then remained still again. Lillian checked the sutures, nothing was leaking.
“Twenty-five,” Jade said, and the paddles whined again. “Clear.” Hannah’s heart jumped again, fighting to keep her alive. It twitched again as Jade pulled the paddles away. Then a smile broke over her and Lillian’s face both as Hannah’s heart started up with a regular rhythm.
The room broke out in cheers as Dr. Noble came in with her hands in the air. The assistants gloved her quickly and she stepped over to look at the work Jade and Lillian had done. “I take it my work here is done?” Dr. Noble asked, a good-natured smile lighting up her eyes behind the mask.
“I wouldn’t say done,” Jade said with a smirk, “but I’m sure you’ve got it from here.”
“Excellent work,” Dr. Noble said, eying the sutures. “For a neurosurgeon.” She lifted a teasing eyebrow at Lillian.
“Thanks,” Lillian chuckled.
“How’d you know it wasn’t me?” Jade asked, playing like she was offended.
