Читать книгу Dr Constantine's Bride - Jennifer Taylor, Jennifer Taylor - Страница 10

‘THIS is Yanni, one of our senior registrars. And Tina and Ariadne, who are both nurses. Oh, and that’s Takis over there—he’s the radiographer. OK, everyone, this is Katie Carlyon.’

‘Kalimera, Katie!’

‘Kalimera! ’ Katie responded as everyone chorused a greeting. It was her first day at work in the trauma unit and she was still finding it hard to believe that she was actually there. However, as Christos had predicted, there had been very little other work available. She had soon realised that if she wanted to remain on the island, she would have to accept his offer. She’d felt incredibly nervous when she’d arrived, but Maria had quickly put her at her ease by introducing her to the rest of the staff. Fortunately everyone wore a name badge so that should help her to avoid any embarrassing lapses of memory.

‘That is enough for now. You can meet the others later.’ Maria linked her arm through Katie’s and briskly led her to the staffroom. ‘We shall have a cup of coffee while you tell me all about your relationship with Christos.’

‘My relationship with Christos?’ Katie echoed in bemusement.

‘Ne.’ Maria laughed. ‘Oh, I am not asking you to be indiscreet but it was obvious the other day that you and Christos were…friends.’

Katie blushed. The tone of Maria’s voice had put a whole new spin on the word. ‘Oh, no, you’ve got it wrong,’ she said quickly. ‘Christos and I only met the other day at the airport. There’s nothing going on between us, I assure you.’

‘Óhi?’ Maria looked sceptical. ‘But it was Christos who arranged for you to have this job, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes, but only because I happened to mention that I’d worked in an emergency department in the UK.’ She shrugged, doing her best to deflect Maria’s suspicions. It certainly wouldn’t improve Christos’s opinion of her if she was the cause of any unsavoury gossip.

She wasn’t sure why it should matter what he thought of her, and hurried on. ‘I expect it was easier to offer me the job than go through all the rigmarole of finding someone else.’

‘I see.’ Maria didn’t appear wholly convinced but before she could question her further, the wail of a siren warned them that there was an ambulance on its way.

Katie hurriedly followed her to the doors that led to the ambulance bay and waited while the crew unloaded the stretcher. She grabbed hold of the saline drip as the convoy swept towards Resus. Fortunately, English was widely used in the hospital and she had no difficulty following what was said as the paramedics explained that the young man had been injured while he’d been parasailing at a resort further along the coast. By the time they finished detailing the patient’s obs and the treatment he’d received, she was fully up to speed.

‘So, what do we have?’ Christos arrived just as they were about to transfer the patient onto a bed. He glanced at Katie, obviously expecting her to answer. Maybe it was meant to be a test of her skills but she didn’t waste time worrying about it.

‘Simon Bradshaw, aged nineteen, injured when his parachute collapsed while he was parasailing.’ She grasped a corner of the spinal board, keeping up a flow of information about the young man’s pulse, BP and sats levels as they moved him across to the bed. ‘Possible spinal injuries, plus injuries to his left leg and foot.’

‘Was he conscious when the crew got to him?’ Christos demanded.

‘Yes. The pilot of the speedboat told the paramedics that he was conscious and breathing when they pulled him out of the water.’

‘Good.’ He bent over the young man. ‘My name is Christos Constantine and I’m the head of the trauma unit. I need to assess the extent of your injuries, especially any damage that has been done to your spine, so I’m going to have to leave you on this board for a while longer. OK?’

‘Yes.’ The young man groaned. ‘My left leg is killing me. And my right arm doesn’t feel too clever either.’

‘Good. The fact that you can feel pain in those areas means there’s a strong chance you haven’t damaged your spinal cord,’ Christos said calmly. ‘I’ll give you something for the pain after I’ve finished examining you.’

Katie moved aside as he bent over and shone a light into the patient’s eyes. He was blocking her path so she stayed where she was until he finished. He was so close to her that she could see that there wasn’t a trace of silver in his thick black hair, and frowned.

How old was he? she wondered suddenly. He exuded such an air of authority that she’d assumed he must be a lot older than Petros, but from what she could tell he could be only in his late thirties. Petros was thirty-two so there wasn’t that big of an age gap between them. However, Petros definitely didn’t inspire the same degree of confidence that his cousin did.

It felt strange to find herself comparing the two men, and stranger still to realise that Petros had come off worst. As Christos moved away, she felt a little pang run through her. It was understandable that her feelings towards Petros should have changed after what had happened, but if she’d loved him as much as she’d thought she’d done then surely she should have remained true to him? Real love was supposed to last for ever; it wasn’t supposed to fade as soon as it encountered an obstacle. However, she couldn’t put her hand on her heart and swear that she loved him as much as she’d done when they’d been in England. It made her wonder if there could be any guarantees where love was concerned.

‘There’s some swelling over the cervical spine. I’d like another X-ray of the area, please.’

Christos glanced over his shoulder to check the Takis had heard him and frowned when he saw the expression on Katie’s face. He had no idea what was going through her mind at that moment but he didn’t think he’d seen anyone who looked so lost before. He cleared his throat, not wanting her to suspect how much it had unsettled him.

‘I need another litre of saline, Katie. And a second line put in, please.’

He turned away as she hurried off to carry out his instructions. Fortunately, the beds in Resus were multi-functional; there was no need to move the patient to get the shots he wanted. He reviewed his findings while Takis organised the X-rays.

The first set of films had confirmed that Simon Bradshaw had a fractured left tibia as well as a serious fracture of the left calcaneus, or heel bone. There was compression of the bone which could cause permanent damage to the joints involved in turning the foot in and out, and create problems walking. Christos made a note to ask his colleagues in Orthopaedics to review the X-rays before the patient left Resus, but at the moment he was more concerned about the possibility of spinal damage. Fortunately, the radiography equipment was linked to a sophisticated computer system and it took only minutes before the images were ready to be displayed on the screen.

‘It looks as though one of the discs in the cervical spine has ruptured.’ He pointed to the area in question as Yanni came to join him. ‘See how the prolapsed disc is protruding into the spinal cord. It’s compressing the root of the nerve leading to the arm.’

‘Do you think it will it need surgery to repair it?’ Yanni asked.