Читать книгу Summer in Sydney - Fiona McArthur - Страница 23

‘HERE‘s to Ruby’s last night!’ They were all made up, sipping wine, doing each other’s hair and getting ready to head down to the Stat Bar. Ruby would have given anything to be joining them and told her friends so.

‘We’ll take you out tomorrow,’ Jess said. ‘We’ll have a little celebration. Just think—you’ll be done!’

She would, Ruby realised.

Somehow she’d got through, not just the work but being alongside Cort. She didn’t blame him for not accepting her apology, but she was beginning to realise that it had probably been her only chance to offer one. She was back at uni in a couple of weeks, then exams. There was little chance of seeing him and realisation was dawning that it wasn’t just her time in Emergency that would be finally over with by morning.

‘Good luck.’ Tilly gave her a hug at the door.

‘What about …?’ Ruby’s voice trailed off. She’d been over and over it with Tilly, had been over and over it with herself, and no matter what positive spin she tried to put on it, she and Cort had only known one another for two weeks, which meant not a lot of history to fight for—an elongated one-night stand that didn’t stand up to the scrutiny of day.

The full moon was rising as she drove the short distance to Eastern Beaches—the same moon she’d wished on to get her through her time in Emergency, and somehow she knew that it would do its job. Come what may, she’d make it through tonight and then never have to set foot in the place again.

Strange that it made her feel like crying.

God, she hated Adam’s car—no matter how she judged it, the seats were so low and she was so short that as she pulled up at boom gates, she couldn’t reach to swipe her ID and had to put it in neutral, pull on the handbrake, take off her seat belt and hang out of the open car door to get it to beep. As she turned and gave the queue of cars behind her an apologetic wave, it had to be Cort’s car behind hers. Cheeks burning, she promptly stalled and then jerked her way through the gates, but thankfully she found a space easily, cursing quietly to herself as she delved into the tiny boot for her massive bag that contained clothes, shoes and toiletry bag, so she could speedily change for church in the morning. Cort pulled up in the space beside her and she would have dashed off but it was Adam’s car, which meant even as she turned to walk, Ruby had to turn back and check again that it was locked and that the handbrake was on.

For Cort, it was impossible to ignore her—aside from all that had happened, she intrigued him. What was it with the bag on her shoulder and why had she parked here?

‘This is the doctors’ area.’ Cort saw her tense as his words reached her. ‘Senior doctors.’

Ruby spun round, unsure if she was being told off. ‘There’s hierarchy even in the car park?’

‘Especially in the car park,’ Cort replied, and Ruby glanced over to see a line of cars all battling for a few spots. ‘I think night staff are Area D.’

She drove so rarely it had never entered her head but, come to think of it, she vaguely remembered being given a map when she’d had her security photo taken for Emergency.

‘Are you going to move it?’ Cort couldn’t care less whether she did or not, it was just conversation as he fell into step beside her.

‘God, no,’ Ruby replied. ‘I’d rather face wheel clamps than Sheila’s wrath if I’m late. And,’ she added, ‘it’s not for emergencies, just to save your poor legs.’

Cort almost smiled, but falling into step with her, with anyone, came not too readily to him, but he was determined to try, to not just nod and walk on as he so often did. Cort almost admitted to himself that he missed her and if it had to end, he didn’t want it to end on the sour note that had played out last night. ‘How have you found the nights?’

‘Awful,’ Ruby admitted. ‘But this is the last.’

‘Oy! Wait!’ Connor half ran to catch up with them and Cort deliberately chose not to make excuses as to why he was walking with Ruby, but to his surprise it was Ruby who offered a reason.

‘Mr Mason was telling me I’d parked in the doctors’ area.’

‘You’ll be shot at dawn,’ Connor warned. ‘Or wheel clamped.’

‘Fantastic,’ Ruby breathed. ‘Then I’ll miss out on church and Sunday dinner with my family—it’s a win-win.’

‘How was the traffic?’ Cort asked Connor, when really he wanted to ask Ruby much more.

‘Hell,’ Connor said. ‘All the traffic’s diverted for the festival, we’re going to have a shocking night—brace yourself, young Ruby,’ he warned as they reached the emergency entrance.

‘Already braced.’ Ruby smiled, but Cort could hear the high note to her voice, could feel, even though he didn’t turn his head to look, her back straighten as they walked through the waiting room. As they entered they saw two sets of police officers alongside two soon-to-be patients, and a pumping waiting room. For her last night, Emergency had turned it on and there was a temptation, a strange urge, a protectiveness almost to take her by the hand and walk her out, tell her she didn’t actually need to be there.

It was the busiest she’d ever seen it. Inebriated patients lay on mattresses on the floor, every trolley was full and for once Sheila didn’t seem to mind Ruby’s willingness to trudge up and down to the wards to hand over patients if it freed up a cubicle. Still, when a stabbing came in, Sheila hauled her into Resus to watch as Jamelia inserted a chest drain.

‘Excellent.’ Cort was encouraging. Ruby could see Jamelia’s confidence growing and wished hers would too.

‘Can I grab Ruby to do some obs?’ For once, Ruby was glad to hear Siobhan’s voice, especially when Sheila agreed to release her student. ‘He’s bipolar, hypermanic, we’re just waiting for Psych to come and admit him. Jamelia, can you come and take another look when you’ve got a moment?’

‘Go.’ Cort nodded. ‘I’ll stitch this.’

‘Bill!’ Ruby recognised the patient as soon as she opened the curtain.

‘You know him?’ Jamelia asked.

‘I do some bank work on the psychiatric ward,’ Ruby explained. ‘He was in a few weeks ago.’

‘How are you, Bill?’ Ruby asked. ‘How have you been?’

‘Not good, not good, not good.’ He gripped Ruby’s hand as she went to wrap the blood-pressure cuff. ‘This isn’t, isn’t, isn’t …’ he said. ‘I’m not …’ Ruby frowned as Bill struggled to explain himself. ‘I’m not manic.’

‘It’s okay, Bill,’ Ruby said, carefully checking his obs. She spoke to him some more. ‘We’ll take good care of you.’ She turned to Jamelia. ‘His blood pressure’s high.’

‘I know,’ Jamelia said, ‘but he’s extremely agitated. I’ve just given him some diazepam. Psych shouldn’t be too long.’

‘Doctor, doctor, doctor,’ Bill begged, but Jamelia didn’t understand what he was saying.

‘I’m a doctor, Bill,’ Jamelia said. ‘And you’re going to be fine. You just need to calm down.’

‘Bill’s a doctor,’ Ruby explained. ‘That’s what he’s trying to tell you—and he’s not normally like this.’ She’d been with him just a few weeks ago during a manic episode, and again during her psych rotation, and he’d been nothing like this. She tried to speak with Jamelia, but Jamelia didn’t want a student nurse’s opinion and headed off to Resus, where Cort was finishing up suturing in her chest drain.

‘Have you done those obs?’ Sheila called out to her slippery student. ‘You should be back in here.’

‘I’ll be there in a moment,’ Ruby said, torn with indecision, because she had told Jamelia her concerns yet Jamelia didn’t seem worried.

But Ruby was.

She went back in to Bill, saw the fear in his eyes and held his hand for a moment.

‘Not,’ he said once, blowing out air and trying to gather the strength to say it again, spittle at the sides of his mouth and just too ill and too exhausted to state his case further. Ruby knew she had to do it for him.

It was the most nerve-racking thing she had done. Sheila was clearly busy, Connor was in with a patient, so reluctantly Ruby went to Siobhan and explained her concerns, but unfortunately Jamelia came over just as Ruby said that she wasn’t sure Bill was manic.

‘I’ve seen him during two acute episodes,’ Ruby explained. ‘And I really think that there’s more to it.’

‘Of course he’s manic,’ Jamelia snapped. ‘He’s climbing off the gurney, he thinks he’s a doctor, he’s clanging …’

‘He’s not clanging,’ Ruby responded. ‘And he is a doctor.’

Jamelia gave an eye roll and went back into Resus, having clearly decided that Ruby had no idea what she was talking about, and Ruby waited for a shrug from Siobhan as Jamelia headed off. Instead, Siobhan was reading through his obs and calling Reception to ask them to hurry up with Bill’s history.

‘What’s clanging?’ Siobhan asked, and saw Ruby blink. ‘I don’t claim to know everything,’ Siobhan said, and maybe Ruby was seeing things, but for a second there she thought Siobhan smiled. ‘Just most things.’

‘When they’re manic, sometimes they do things with words, and it makes no real sense—like not, hot, cot, dot, or … just vague association. He’s not doing that now, he just can’t get his words out, but they’re lucid words. He’s trying to tell us that there’s something very wrong.’

‘Well, bring him over if you’re worried,’ Siobhan said, and she gave a sigh when Ruby just stood there. ‘Ruby? Do you want to bring a patient over to Resus?’

‘Yes,’ Ruby finally said.

‘Then I’ll give you a hand.’

And Ruby got it a little bit then. It was indecision that was the enemy in this place, because even if she wasn’t sure if it was the right one, as soon as she made the call, whether she turned out to be right or wrong, Siobhan, it would seem, supported her.

So they took off the brakes and wheeled Bill over. Cort was probing an abdominal wound and looked up as they came in.

‘Ruby’s worried about this patient,’ Siobhan explained. ‘He’s waiting on Psych, but she’s looked after him before and says this presentation is unusual for him.’ Which was a far more efficient way than Ruby would have described it!

‘I’ll take a look in a moment,’ Cort said, and frowned as he glanced at Bill, who was breathing more rapidly and was much more sweaty now. As Ruby attached him to the monitors the alarm went off loudly as the cuff inflated and blew up higher to get an accurate reading.

‘Has he had bloods taken?’ Cort checked, and Siobhan nodded.

‘He’s hypertensive. Jamelia gave him some diazepam earlier as well.’

‘I’m not, not, not, not …’ Bill begged, and Ruby tried to reassure him.

‘We know you’re not well, Bill. The doctors are sorting out what’s wrong.’

‘Ring the lab,’ Cort called, ‘and ask them to push his bloods as urgent.’

Ruby did so, only to find out that they hadn’t got them yet. She looked and there they were, still sitting in the chute basket, so Ruby hurriedly sent them.

‘Get Jamelia to come and take another look,’ Cort called, but just as Ruby was about to, Bill let out a strange cry and before it had properly registered, she knew, just knew, that he was going to start seizing. Ruby moved quickly, lowering the head of the bed and pulling out the pillow, while Siobhan put oxygen on him as Sheila came speeding over with the cart and a worried Jamelia running in too.

‘He’s stopped,’ Sheila said, but within seconds, even as she pulled up some medication, he was seizing again, and Cort finished up what he was doing, ripped off his gloves and came over.

‘He was fine …’ Jamelia said, but Cort just ignored her, giving Bill some sedatives. When he continued to seize, he told Sheila to urgently page the medical team.

Bill’s blood pressure was becoming elevated and each seizure was running into the next. All Ruby could think was that he didn’t deserve this.

‘He said this wasn’t normal for him.’ Ruby heard her own voice, but apparently from the lack of response, she was the only one who did.

‘Ring the lab,’ Cort said. ‘Tell them we need those bloods.’ Ruby did so, waiting on the line as they ran some rapid blood tests and delivered the news that Bill’s sodium was dangerously low.

‘At least we know what we’re dealing with.’

They hung some saline, and the medical team worked on him till finally his seizures were halted. But Bill was clearly very sick, and instead of the psychiatric ward he was transferred to ICU. Ruby even went with Siobhan to take him up and hand him over.

‘Nice call,’ Siobhan said, and gave a compliment in her own backhanded way. ‘You have to go with your gut sometimes, even if you have no idea what you’re basing it on …’

Though it was nice of Siobhan to say so, Ruby was incensed on her patient’s behalf, annoyed at how he had been dismissed, and that anger simmered inside her all night, especially when Jamelia carried on as if nothing had happened.

It was just a horrible, busy, chaotic night, though there was order to the chaos and, Ruby realised, even if she didn’t like the bubbling anger inside her, even if resentment didn’t generally suit her, it helped to be carrying some in a place like this. When a group of revellers noisily crossed all boundaries and spilled into Resus, where behind a curtain Ruby had just finished inserting a catheter, to demand when they’d be seen, it was actually Ruby who dealt with them—all five and a bit feet of her. She covered her patient, the poor woman clearly distressed by the intrusion, and Ruby ripped off her gloves and strode over to the three angry men and shooed them out. Sheila, who had been about to summon Security from the waiting room, smothered a smile and replaced the phone.

‘You do not come in here!’ Ruby was enraged. ‘Go back down to the waiting room and when it’s your turn you’ll be called.’

‘Ah, come on, darling …’ They made a few comments about her temper and her hair and Ruby just stood her ground, told them that if they took one step further, she’d have them removed, and she meant it. Absolutely, she meant it.

‘They’re gone.’ She went back in and reassured her patient. ‘I’ll go and get you some water. The doctor wants you to drink a lot.’

‘You did well,’ Cort said as he made himself a drink, while Ruby banged about in the kitchen where she was getting a jug of water for her patient. For a second there she thought she was about to get to say her piece, that finally the way Bill had been treated was about to be acknowledged, except Cort was talking about something else. With the drunks bursting into Resus.

‘It’s good to assert yourself,’ Cort pushed, but still she said nothing, this mini red tornado in the kitchen, and he wanted her to talk to him, to open up to him, to treat him as she did others, so he pushed a little further. ‘You’re angry?’

‘Yes,’ Ruby said. ‘I’m angry.’

‘Which is fine—’

‘Well, I don’t like it,’ Ruby said. ‘I prefer enjoying my work to walking around …’ She couldn’t say it, couldn’t let rip without criticising Jamelia and she didn’t want to do that, so she just ignored him, because they’d used up all the free tokens that had come with their first night together. But Cort wouldn’t let it slide, Cort wanted the ten minutes of Ruby that her friends and colleagues seemed to get.

‘Walking around?’ Cort continued. ‘Walking around, what?’

‘Angry,’ Ruby said. ‘Is that what it takes to survive this place?’

‘For some,’ Cort admitted. ‘Ruby, it’s okay to be angry.’

‘That’s a joke, coming from you.’ She blasted a jug of ice with water. ‘I got hurt and the one time I was angry, the one time I let it show …’ She turned off the tap. ‘Look what it cost me.’ She turned on a smile because that was all anyone really wanted from her. ‘You carry on with crabby Cort. As soon as I’m out of here, I’ll get back to being happy.’

Except she couldn’t quite get there.

The place incensed her, especially when it turned out that no one had bothered to ring Psych and let them know what had happened with Bill. Imran, a psych doctor Ruby knew quite well, came down at two a.m. to admit him.

‘Oh, he had a seizure,’ Jamelia said. ‘Hypona-traemic. He’s under ICU for now.’

‘Well, thanks so much for advising me,’ Imran said. ‘I’ll get back to bed, then.’ But his sarcasm was wasted on Jamelia who just moved on to her next patient.

‘Busy?’ Ruby asked.

‘Full moon,’ Imran answered, and Cort, who was on the phone, felt his jaw snap down. ‘Have you got time for a drink before I head back up there?’

‘I doubt we’ll be getting breaks tonight.’

‘I don’t know how you stand the place,’ Imran said, and then he saw a flash of tears in Ruby’s eyes. She muttered something about not knowing how she stood it either.

‘Can I steal Ruby for a drink?’ Imran clearly knew Sheila. ‘To compensate for my wasted journey?’

‘Ten minutes,’ Sheila called over, because no one would be getting a proper break tonight and Ruby clearly needed a short one. Her cheeks were burning with colour, she was tense and angry, and Sheila didn’t blame her a bit—she just didn’t have time to address it.

As Ruby and Imran headed off to the staffroom, Cort found something out about himself—occasionally he ground his teeth.

Ruby did feel a bit better for talking to Imran. ‘What if he’d been still stuck in a cubicle when he’d had the seizure?’ Ruby asked as they broke open a bar of chocolate.

‘They’d have heard him,’ Imran said. ‘Bill’s going to be fine. They’ll sort him out and then he’ll be back with us.’

‘He’s not manic.’

‘Of course he’s manic.’ Imran laughed. ‘He does this all the time.’

She closed her eyes, because it was almost impossible. There was just so much to learn, so much to take in, and three years just didn’t cut it.

‘You’ll get there,’ Imran said as they headed out to the unit. ‘This sort of thing happens all the time.’

‘Well, it shouldn’t.’

‘You’ll be back with us soon,’ Imran said as they walked passed Cort.

‘Thank God,’ Ruby muttered, and Cort rather agreed. He needed his mind to get back to work.