Page 42 of Falling for His Best Friend

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE ED HAD been quiet today and Kitty was grateful. Even though it was almost three weeks since the assault she was still suffering from headaches and fatigue. The headaches weren’t bad, just a dull ache behind her eyes at times, but she didn’t like to take anything for the discomfort because of the baby. She was still trying to figure out if the fatigue was related to the concussion, the pregnancy or to the fact that she wasn’t getting many early nights due to the combination of shift work and Joe’s libido. She knew she was as much to blame as he was—she found him irresistible, and getting home to him was the highlight of her day.

She had dropped him at the ambulance station on her way to work this morning and arranged to meet him for lunch after his appointment with the hand surgeon. She’d been counting down the hours and hoping the department didn’t experience a sudden influx of emergencies, eager to hear what the specialist had to say about Joe’s proposed return to work.

He was getting bored and she hoped for his sake that he would be cleared for light duties but, from a purely selfish point of view, she was worried about how that would impact on her and on their fledgling relationship. In her mind it was the first step towards him getting his independence back, which might also prove to be the first nail in the coffin of their relationship. If he could work maybe he’d figure he could manage without her help. It was only a matter of time before he wouldn’t need her as much any more. Maybe only a matter of time until he wouldn’t need her at all.

‘Kitty, Anna, incoming ambulance, two minutes.’

Her thoughts were interrupted by Davina, which was probably just as well, she figured as she made her way to the triage desk. She didn’t want to dwell on the negatives, she needed to learn to be happy in the moment. She was trying but it didn’t come naturally to her.

‘Two-year-old toddler pulled from a backyard pool,’ the charge nurse told her and Anna as they gathered together. ‘Resuscitated onsite.’

Kitty went pale. ‘I can’t do it, Davina,’ she said. ‘Please, can you find someone else?’

Davina knew her history. Kitty was always the last staff member called to these types of incidents.

‘I’m sorry, Kitty. There isn’t anyone else. I’ll send someone to take over from you as soon as I can. Think of it as a seizure if it helps.’

But Kitty knew that wouldn’t work. Treatment was different for a start. And once she’d heard the words ‘pulled from a pool’ her mind had gone straight to drowning and from there way back to her childhood.

Everyone in the emergency department had their own Achilles heel. Drowning or near-drowning incidents were Kitty’s.

Anna handed Kitty a clean apron and put her arm around her shoulders. ‘It’ll be all right,’ she told her. ‘Just focus on me, I’ll tell you what I need. You can do this.’

Kitty wasn’t so sure, but it wasn’t in her nature to let her colleagues or their patients down so she nodded and grabbed a fresh pair of gloves as she fought back a rising wave of nausea. She grabbed a blanket from the warming cupboard and followed Anna outside, hoping that the fresh air would clear her mind. Hoping Anna could get her through this.

The ambulance pulled into the bay and Kitty’s first reaction was to look for Joe, before she remembered that he was still off work.

The paramedic who climbed out of the ambulance wasn’t one Kitty knew. He pulled the stretcher out and spoke rapidly, giving Anna and Kitty the details he had.

‘Twenty-six-month-old boy. Pulled from a private pool. Mother isn’t sure how long he was immersed for but thinks it was less than ten minutes. Unresponsive. Respiratory and cardiac arrest. CPR was performed onsite. Resuscitated but unstable. Oxygen sats still low, eighty-six percent. Core temperature back up to thirty-six degrees.’

The child had a small oxygen mask over his nose and mouth, an IV line running into his arm and he was covered with a blanket to try to increase his body temperature slowly back to normal. Kitty draped the warmed blanket she carried over his inert body while somehow managing to keep her eyes averted.

‘We’ll need arterial blood gases and an FBE,’ Anna said as they pushed the stretcher into the ED. ‘And we’ll need to intubate if his pulse ox doesn’t improve.’

The little boy was listless, the edges of his lips tinged with blue.

Kitty tried not to look at him but it was impossible as they transferred the child across to the exam couch. She could feel herself starting to shake. Black spots swam before her eyes and she thought she might be about to faint but then nausea swamped her, making her break out in a sweat. She grabbed a bowl from a trolley and vomited into it. She hadn’t thrown up since she’d been hospitalised for concussion and before that it had been due to morning sickness, but she’d thrown up more in the past few months than in the rest of her entire life. But this was mental stress, not a physical thing.

---