Page 76 of A Summer Mismatch
From the little he’d seen of Timothy, Logan wouldn’t put it past him to try to mark his territory, so to speak. Kai could probably write an entire chapter about this kind of behavior.
Logan wanted to talk to Julia, but it would have to wait. He didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to figure out where his relationship with Julia stood while his entire head was filled with fear for Adia.
Clear your mind, Logan, so you can figure out the best course of treatment.
For the rest of the drive, he went through all of the potential treatments and side-effects, along with the order he’d want to do things in once he arrived. He pulled into the parking lot with a squeal of his tires and ran to the elephant barn, arriving there out of breath.
Two of the keepers were there: Allison and Finn, along with Kai, Gary Robertson, the SFWCC public relations coordinator, one of the educational volunteers, and a vet from the Orlando Zoo. He was glad that Ryan hadn’t been called over. Allison and Finn were fantastic with Adia, and tonight would go more smoothly with them there. All of the medical supplies potentially needed for the long night ahead were gathered, which filled him with relief.
Logan went straight to Prisha, the vet from the Orlando Zoo, where she stood beside Adia’s stall, observing her.
“She’s been quite agitated, and as she doesn’t know me, I didn’t want to approach her without you here,” she told him. She handed him a light and waved over Allison, who had the target stick and a bag of treats ready.
“Adia, come,” Logan said. Adia’s ears flicked at the sound of his voice, and she walked over to the metal barn doors separating them. Allison used the target stick to indicate that she should bring her face close, and he turned on the light to check her eyes. They were red and yellow with mucus, and it was clear she was feeling very sick.
He patted her head. “Good girl, Adia. We’re going to get you feeling better.” Her ears flicked again, just a shadow of movement, and he hoped he could keep his promise. EEHV could be a deadly virus, especially dangerous once it hit their bloodstream. It was imperative that they start treatment and around the clock watching.
Allison gave Adia an apple, which she took with lackluster interest.
Logan turned to Prisha. “Thanks for coming.”
“Of course,” she told him. “I know you’d do the same.” He and Prisha had consulted with one another before on elephant treatments, and he’d been on-call at the Orlando Zoo to help her as well. The combined knowledge was invaluable, as was the moral support that everyone there provided.
Logan turned to address the small crowd. “I’m so glad to see you all here, though I wish it was under better circumstances.” They had done drills for cases like this, and everyone had managed their jobs beautifully, and on such short notice.
“I got Adia’s bloodwork back, and clinical signs are present, including a drop in monocytes and platelets. Adia’s at more than 5,000 VGE/mL, a dangerous amount, and it’s rapidly increasing.” They all nodded, except for the volunteer, Martha, who was there to help the humans as they helped the elephant. “That means she’s really, really sick, and time is of the essence.” He turned to Prisha. “I was thinking we’d start with an oral anti-viral, get her vitals, and then we can work on getting fluids in her. What do you think?”
“I agree. Let’s do this.” She paused and looked him up and down. “But you sure came dressed nice for an evening of rectal hydration.”
“Nah,” Kai said, placing his hand on Logan’s shoulder. “He knew this was going to be posted all over social media and dressed accordingly.”
Logan laughed just briefly, but it felt good. “I was in the middle of a date. I have a change of clothes in my locker. I’ll help administer the anti-viral, then get changed.”
The next six hours went by in a swirl of caring for Adia. Once they’d started the hydration process, they determined that Adia needed some platelets, which would require a transfusion from Adia’s mother. At an earlier date, they’d already discovered that the two elephants were a good match, thank goodness. He was constantly grateful for all their preparation for an event like this, so now that it was happening, he could push the panic that kept trying to surface to the back of his mind and focus on the procedures they knew how to do.
He’d placed a catheter in Adia’s ear and duct taped it solidly to her, murmuring soft words to her the entire time. “Good girl, Adia. You are a champ!” She was cooperating with every procedure, just as they’d trained. His heart swelled with pride.
“You’ve trained these elephants well,” Prisha said to Allison and Finn appreciatively. “I may need to steal you for the zoo.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Gary said. Even Gary, as director of the SFWCC, had rolled his sleeves up and helped give Adia and June some treats while they prepared and then administered the blood transfusion.
Logan also set up a schedule of hourly blood draws so he could continue to analyze it for white blood cell count, something he could do in his own lab at the conservation center.
Finally Logan sat back to wash up and eat a snack that Martha had scrounged up for the crew. He hadn’t realized he was hungry until he started eating a banana and then a granola bar. A moment to take a breather was nice.
In the meantime, he monitored Allison and Finn as they worked to get Adia’s vitals. Adia had warmed up to Prisha, and allowed her to use a stethoscope to check for pulse and respiration rates from a point under Adia’s leg. Finn then checked temperature with an infrared thermometer, as well as oxygen saturations on her tongue. Adia opened her mouth willingly, and Finn petted her tongue while he took measurements, always assuring Adia that she was a good girl.
The keepers would need to do this every hour so they could chart her progress and determine if greater measures needed to be taken.
It was time for her second anti-viral pill, and he couldn’t believe so many hours had already passed. He gave it to her by mouth again, resting his head on the metal grate of her pen for a moment, the exhaustion starting to hit him. Kai came and stood beside him.
“I think we’ve done everything we can do right now.”
“I agree.” Prisha yawned behind her hand. “At this point, it’s a wait and see.”
“I’d like to give her an anti-inflammatory medicine to help relieve any discomfort she’s having,” Logan said.
“Okay,” Prisha said. “Then we can remove the catheter from her ear and give her some time to rest and let the meds work.”
