At ODDS - Chapter 2

Chapter 2
CONFRONTATION

Jay was leaving the hospital. She was tired, hungry and depressed. It was morning and nearly lunch time. The patient nearly died. If they hadn't been quick, they would've had lost him permanently. It was an embolism. A blood clot that had entered the bloodstream and eventually reached the lungs and blocking the air passage causing suffocation. Aside from that, fine clots accumulated in the blood vessel walls near the heart, blocking circulation.
The experience was harrowing for all of them in the Operating Room that night. Especially for her. She remembered she was about to give up when they had successfully revived the boy. He was still in a coma but otherwise was fine and under observation. All they needed was time. They were lucky that no clots entered the brain. If there were, there was a sure sign of brain damage. However, they were not still in the clear. The three minutes without circulation in the brain can impair the patient. They will not find out until he wakes up.
The head surgeon had arrived early in the morning and told her that she did her best.
If only there was something else she can do for the boy. She would do it. Right now, he was out of danger, but still in coma. Chuck assured her hat he would come to later. But for how long? Jay thought hard. He could wake up after two hours, two days, two months. When?
Jay was walking through the lobby of the hospital deep in her thoughts when a tall, muscular figure approached her. They man was walking towards her briskly. He had short cropped dark hair, dark gold skin and all in all, look gilded. He must be an athlete, Jay thought. He had a deep piercing look from his darkly outlined eyes and the look became intimidating because of his thick brows. Jay avoided the gaze.
As she neared him, she heard a deep, husky and strong voice call out in an angered tone, "Dr. Warren!"
She stopped. The man's loud voice even startled the nurses in the nearby nurses' station. They looked to see what was happening.
"Dr. Warren?" The man repeated.
"Yes?" Jay answered. The man was now in front of her. He looked more like a post than a person.
"If anything. Anything happens to my brother, I'll make sure you'll be buried!" The man's voice was filled with anger and hate. Hate towards her.
Jay though if taking the situation in stride. These things do happen in such cases and she had to get used to it. Aside from that, this man irritated her with his sudden show of arrogance.
"Look, mister. I did my best to save your brother. Had I known this would be the thanks I'll get, I should have left him alone." Jay answered vehemently. AS she finished her last syllable, she was about to walk past the man but his burly body blocked her. Instead he even pusher her towards the wall. The action shocked Jay and she wasn't able to react.
"Don't give me a shit." He released her from his grip as there was a convergence of nurses and orderliness nearing them. As she walked away, the group of nurses and orderlies parted to give him way.

At ODDS - Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

EMERGENCY

When the plates were done, they did a wet reading. The only fractures were at the forearms and shin. That on the forearm was relatively simple. The ribs were intact. THere were no traces of bone splinters. And there was no fear of disrupted organs, only torn flesh and muscle tissues.
"Whai is his blood type?" Hay asked as they quicked wheeled the patient into the operating room from the ER.
"A.B." resonded the paramedic.
"Good. Anyone can be a donor then?" Jay was just trying to be positive. In the town, there was no blood bank. And blood was usually taken from the hospital's own reserve. The child's blood type meant that he could receive transfusion from persons other thank his own blood type and that meant less complication.
Since transfusion is not a simple process, doctors had to know the blood type of the individual because not all blood types are compatible with one another and the patient might end up dying if he were given the wrong type of blood during transfusion.
The boy's blood type was AB. It meant that he can receive unlimited amounts of blood from persons with all the other blood types - A, B, and O- without any adverse effects. And for this, Jay was glad. There were no possible complications and the operation would be relatively simple.
They were still tying to reach the head surgeon bu to no avail. Then the decision was made. Jay was to operate. She was tense. Chuck was there to give her moral support. He knew Jay very well. She was a blooming surgeon. Superb with her work and the bulk of the tension was due to the fact that she was operating without the head surgeon's blessing.
Once in the OR, everyone was set to work. First they had to deal with the compound fracture in the shin before they went to work on the fracture in the forearm. By now the boy was under a general anesthetic induced through inhalation. Chuck was monitoring the boy's blood pressure pulse and breathing. Before the introduction of the anesthetic, his pulse and breathing greatly improved. His blood pressure on the other hand was still the same - within normal levels.
When he was stabilized, Chuck gave the go signal for Jay to operate. In this situation, they didn't have any choice. Although Jay was specializing into General Surgery, she wasn't that experienced yet. But everyone in the hospital agreed - she was good. She had saved the life of a girl who was involved in a car crash once. Another time, she was able to see to it that a construction worker would get another chance at life. But all these operations were with the aid and guidance of the head surgeon.
This time she was helplessly alone. Just like the boy on the operating table. She took a deep breath, picked the scalpel from the hand of the nurse and made the incision on the leg. Spurts of blood sprayed on her and few drops landed on her gauze mask. Within a few minutes, the cut became a joyous crimson. Her objective was to make a large enough opening near the bones, manipulate these into place and secure them. She was glad there were no tiny bone splinters. If there were any these may get into the bloodstream and can cause damage to circulatory tissue. She was also to make sure the layers of pierced muscle were put back into their proper position or else there would be a muscle hernia.


She was careful as she was putting the bones into position. Her gloves were slippery due to fresh flow of blood. When she was able to put the tibia and fibula in place, she fixed the layers of muscle and made and made sure these were in their right insertions. Then she prepared to stitch the incision. After which she put a thin layer of gauze over the cut and started to put the cast.
When she was through with the leg, she proceeded to the forearm. As she was finishing off putting the cast Chuck called her attention.


"His breathing and pulse are changing." Then he paused slightly and looked at Jay with an unnamable look of expression. "blood pressure's dropping. His breathing's stopped." Chuck paused again for a short while before he gave the confirmation, "There's no heartbeat!" As Chuck said that, the distinct morose sound of the ECG went flat. The machine registered a flatline. The respirator was at this point no help to the boy's condition.
The Operating Room was plunged into deep panic as they tried to revive the boy using CPR. As Chuck was pushing down on the boy's chest, Jay got the defibrillator ready. When it was prepared, Chuck gave way to her. She put gel n the boy's chest and readied him for shock.
Jay tried to keep calm. She was terrified. She had been through this process before. But everytime it happened, she was tense. Chuck looked at her strenly. They exchanged glances. Holding the terminals, she called in a loud shaky voice, "CLEAR!"
She put the two terminals on the boy's chest and the shock's force lifted the now lifeless body.

Let me Love You

Once upon a time, there was once a guy who was very much in love with this girl. This romantic guy folded 1,000 pieces of paper cranes as a gift to his girl. Although, at that time he was just a small executive in his company, his future doesn't seemed too bright, they were very happy together. Until one day, his girl told him she was going to Paris and will never come back. She also told him that she cannot visualize any future for the both of them, so let's go their own ways there and then... heartbroken, the guy agreed.

When he regained his confidence, he worked hard day and night, slogging his body and mind just to make something out of himself. Finally with all these handwork and with the help of friends, this guy had set up his own company...

"You never fail until you stop trying." he always told himself. "I must make it in life!"

One rainy day, while this guy was driving, he saw an elderly couple sharing an umbrella in the rain walking to some destination. Even with the umbrella, they were still drenched. It didn't take him long to realize those were his ex-girlfriend's parents. With a heart in getting back at them, he drove slowly beside the couple, wanting them to spot him in his luxury sedan. He wanted them to know that he wasn't the same anymore, he had his own company, car, condo, etc. He had made it in life!

Before the guy can realize, the couple was walking towards a cemetery,and he got out of his car and followed them...and he saw his ex-girlfriend, a photograph of her smiling sweetly as ever at him from her tombstone... and he saw his precious paper cranes in a bottle placed beside her tomb. Her parents saw him. He walked over and asked them why this had happened. They explained, she did not leave for France at all. She was stricken ill with cancer. In her heart, she had believed that he will make it someday, but she did not want her illness to be his obstacle ... therefore she had chosen to leave him.

She had wanted her parents to put his paper cranes beside her, because, if the day comes when fate brings him to her again he can take some of those back with him. The guy just wept ...the worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right beside them but knowing you can't have them and will never see them again.
The End."

A tragic story that perhaps happens only in the movies. At the end of the day, money is money is money but love is divine. In our quest for our material wealth, take time to make time for our loved ones. There will be a time when we have only memories to cling to.