Nursing The Doctor (24 page)

His voice elated, he announced he was going home the following morning and that he wouldn’t have to go back to the hospital except for therapy sessions.

“Can we spend time together this weekend, Lil?” His voice was eager. “I want to show you my house, or at least my half of it.” His voice became deep and intimate. “Especially my bedroom, Lily.”

She wished with all her heart that she hadn’t traded shifts with Mary. “I’m working tomorrow, days.”

“That’s okay, we’ll celebrate tomorrow night. Just a few hours away, Lil. I can’t wait.”

She couldn’t either. There were so many things they needed to learn about each other, and now they’d finally have the chance.

On Saturday Lily’s shift began at seven in the morning, and she couldn’t stop herself from wishing it was over before it had even begun. She longed to be with Greg, and the twelve hours of work that stretched ahead seemed like an eternity.

By ten that morning, it was evident that St. Joe’s ER was experiencing an uncharacteristic downtime as far as admissions were concerned. They’d had only one real emergency since Lily came on shift.

She stood at the desk, chatting with the triage nurse, discussing plans for the upcoming Christmas party and keeping an eye on the guy who’d crashed into a bus with his bike. He was in the cubicle nearest them, his loud voice still asking the same questions over and over.

Did I fall off my bike? What’s happened? What’m I doing here? Did I fall off my bike? What’s happened...?

He was lucky, the staff agreed. He had a few colorful scrapes and bruises and a minor concussion with what Dr. Duncan hoped would be temporary memory loss. A neurologist was coming any moment now to assess him.

“Oh, oh. Looks like the day’s gonna heat up after all,” the triage nurse remarked as two policemen burst through the automatic doors.

One of them carried a small boy whose arms were looped around the cop’s neck, his face buried in the man’s tunic.

The second policeman pushed a wheelchair with one hand and held the occupant’s shoulder with the other, restraining her.

The young woman sitting in the chair seemed bathed in blood. Her face was smeared, and shocking crimson blotches matted her shoulder length auburn hair. Despite the frigid December morning, she had no coat. The front of her blue mini dress was stained as well as her long, shapely legs, and blood seeped through the temporary dressings on both forearms. She was alternately screaming in earsplitting bursts and cursing.

“You sons of bitches have no right to bring me here. I never said to take me to any hospital. You give me my kid back. Taylor, Taylor, come here to Mommy...”

Shock and recognition rolled through Lily. The child the policeman held was Frannie’s nephew, Taylor, and the blood-covered woman was Frannie’s sister, Heather Myles.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Lily moved toward the wheelchair, talking in a gentle, calming voice.

“Heather, it’s Lily Sullivan, do you remember me? I’m Frannie’s friend.”

There was no sign of recognition. Instead, Heather started kicking and struggling harder, trying to get up out of the chair.

Several other nurses hurried over to assist the policeman. Taylor began to wail and struggle to get down.

“Let’s take her into the minor surgery room over there.” Dr. Palmer was on shift today. He indicated an open door, and the policeman and the nurses shoved the shrieking woman inside.

Palmer turned to the triage nurse. “Have Yager look at the little boy. The policeman says there’s a cut on his head. And then find an aide to sit with him while we figure out what’s going on with his mama. You know this patient, Lily?”

“Her name is Heather, her sister, Frannie Myles, is a social worker here. Heather is bipolar, she’s been here before. I know where Frannie is this morning, so I’ll give her a call.”

“Jimmy, get me Heather’s medical records.” Palmer hurried into the minor surgery room, and Lily sprinted for the telephone.

Frannie was with Kaleb, making Christmas cookies. Lily dialed and asked for her, and as gently and briefly as she could, she outlined what had happened.

All Frannie said was, “I understand. I’ll be right there.”

Lily hurried back to the examination room. The policeman and the other nurse had somehow managed to get Heather out of the wheelchair and up onto the examination table, but she was thrashing wildly. The policeman was trying to restrain her as best he could.

Lily snapped on gloves and began trying to remove the bloody dressings from her forearms, but Heather didn’t make it easy. She kicked and tried to bite.

“Calm down, Heather, we’re only trying to help you here. Give us a hand, okay?” Lily assumed an authoritative tone, but it didn’t have any effect.

Dr. Palmer tried. “What happened, Heather? Can you tell us what happened?”

Heather gave the doctor a filthy look and spat at him. Fortunately, she missed. She then loosed a stream of colorful invective at Lily.

The husky policeman held Heather’s shoulders steady. “A clerk at a jewelry store on Robson called us. She smashed a glass showcase and cut herself pretty bad. She was acting real crazy, he said. Her boy got a gash on his head from the flying glass, but it didn’t look too bad. Nothing like this mess. She wouldn’t go with the medics, so we pink-slipped her and brought her here in the squad car.”

Pink-slipping referred to a person the police considered a danger to themselves or the public and who was refusing to cooperate with authorities.

Lily was still trying to clean the wounds on Heather’s arms, but Heather was flailing and struggling. Dr. Palmer tried to assess the damage, all the while talking to the patient and dodging her efforts to bite.

Behind them, Leslie stuck her head in the door. “We’ve got her on the computer, Doctor. Heather Myles, thirty-two, single mom, bipolar illness. Last admission two and a half years ago. Doc Kent was her psychiatrist. She was on lithium at that time.”

Lily’s brain replayed the textbook definition of bipolar illness.

Disturbance of a person’s mood characterized by alternating periods of depression and mania, accompanied by radical changes in thinking and behavior.

Heather was obviously experiencing the manic phase.

“I’ve called her sister, she’ll be here very soon,” Lily reported.

“I didn’t give you permission to call my sister,” Heather raged. “You’re invading my privacy. You’re holding me against my will and I’ll lay charges against every one of you. I want my lawyer.”

“Unless you calm down, Heather,” Dr. Palmer warned, “I’m going to have to sedate you. Now, are you still on lithium? Are you seeing Dr. Kent?”

“I wouldn’t let that idiot near me again. He came on to me, he’s...” The diatribe disintegrated into another flood of colorful language, and Palmer finally turned to Lily.

“Haldol ten, Ativan four, IM,” he ordered. “I’ll do the shot.”

With the policeman and Lily assisting, Palmer managed to administer the tranquilizer. The policeman left, but Heather went on fighting with the strength of several burly men.

Lily knew the medication would take a while to have any effect, and Heather was out of control and still bleeding profusely. The team was finally forced to use leather restraints so that the doctor could examine and treat the lacerations, which were serious. There were two on Heather’s right forearm and three on her left, with several long, deep cuts on her palms.

“These could result in nerve damage,” Palmer commented. “We’d better get a plastics person.”

Lily made the call. Greg’s friend Ben Halsey was in the hospital and promised to be right down.

Just as she hung up the phone, Frannie came running toward her down the corridor, with Kaleb close behind.

“How’s Heather? Can I see her?”

“You can in a few minutes. She’s pretty hostile, we’ve had to give her a sedative.”

Frannie shuddered and her face crumpled.

Kaleb tried to put a comforting arm around her shoulders, but she moved away from him, her face pale and drawn.

“Where’s Taylor? Is he okay?”

Lily explained about the cut and how the injuries had occurred. “He’s with an aide. They’ve gone for ice cream, but they’ll be back in a minute. The plastic surgeon’s coming down right now. He’ll be able to tell us more about Heather’s injuries.”

Lily gave Frannie a reassuring hug and smiled at Kaleb, uncomfortably aware of the palpable strain between her brother and her friend.

Ben Halsey hurried up at that moment, and Lily indicated the examination room.

“I’d better go in there,” she said to Frannie. “Sit down a minute and I’ll get Ben to talk to you as soon as he’s finished examining Heather.”

The sedative had taken effect and Heather was quiet, so Ben’s examination was swift and unimpeded. He confirmed that she needed surgery, adding that he couldn’t be certain there hadn’t been nerve damage.

When he was done, Lily introduced Frannie and Kaleb, and Ben detailed the injuries Heather had sustained.

“They’ll be taking her up to the OR soon, and when I’m done up there she’ll go to recovery. You’ll be able to see her, but not for a while. It’s gonna take me several hours at least, so don’t feel you have to hang around.”

“And then she’ll go to the psych ward again.” Frannie’s voice was bitter. “I should have seen this coming. She’s been hyper for a week now. I should have suspected she was going off her medication. I...I haven’t been paying as much attention as I ought to.”

She looked at Ben, her blue eyes filled with pain and anxiety. “Do you think there’ll be permanent damage to her hands? Heather’s an artist. She’s just found a gallery that wants to show her work.”

“I’ll be able to give you an answer to that when the surgery’s finished.”

“Here’s Taylor now.” Lily smiled at the little boy, and he tore his hand away from the aide and catapulted himself at Frannie.

“Auntie Frannie, Auntie Frannie!”

Frannie scooped him up in her arms and turned to Kaleb. “I’m going to stay here until I’m certain Heather’s okay, but there’s no need for you to wait, Kaleb.”

He put an arm around her shoulders. “Of course I’m staying. I want to be here with you.”

Once again Frannie deliberately moved away from him and shook her head. In a cool and distant tone she said, “I’d really rather be alone with Taylor, Kaleb. This doesn’t concern you. I can get a taxi home later, thank you.”

Lily was watching the exchange, and she saw the confusion and hurt on her brother’s face. Lily had to force herself to stay out of it, but it was hard not to lash out at Frannie for the way she was acting.

“If that’s what you want, okay,” he replied stiffly. He got up and gave them a half salute and then turned and headed toward the door, his back straight.

Lily’s heart ached for him. She glared at Frannie, but the stark agony so evident on her friend’s face melted Lily’s anger in an instant.

“Lily, could I have a word?” Ben was still hovering nearby, and, still thinking about her brother, Lily went over to him.

“I drove Greg home a couple of hours ago. I had to just drop him and run because I had a patient here I needed to see and he seemed to be managing great with the crutches. Anyhow, I had this great idea. I’ve arranged a little surprise get together tonight to welcome him home, just a few close friends who want to help celebrate, a spur-of-the-moment thing, food and wine. Come on over when your shift’s done.”

Lily opened her mouth to tell him that she and Greg already had plans for the evening, but she closed it again. He’d obviously already invited other people. She couldn’t very well tell him to cancel now. She felt almost sick with disappointment, but she managed a smile.

“I’ll be there,” she assured Ben. Would there ever be another time when she and Greg could be alone together?

“Great. I’d better get upstairs and scrub.” He grinned at her and hurried down the hall toward the elevators.

Lily walked back over to where Frannie was standing and put a reassuring hand on her friend’s arm. Frannie’s skin was icy cold, and she was trembling. Taylor had his arms locked around her neck, and both of them looked totally forlorn.