came up behind her. “Put your feet up and relax for a bit.”
Jadon’s concern was touching, but she shook her head. “There are still patients who’ve been waiting almost two hours to be seen. I’ll take a break once we’ve gotten caught up.” Which, at the rate they were going, might be never.
“Alyssa, please.” He put his hand on her arm, stopping her from walking away. “Maureen can cover for a bit.”
She looked at his strong hand and wished he’d cared as much about her before she’d become pregnant, and was now not just focused on the babies. She missed being held by him more than she’d realized.
“Soon,” she said, regretfully pulling away. She missed the warmth of his hand when it dropped to his side.
She only had to hang on a few more hours as the oncoming shift started at seven in the morning, yet she also knew that if there were still lots of patients she couldn’t just leave when her shift was up.
A trauma call came in at five forty-five in the morning, giving her a badly needed spurt of adrenaline. A young twenty-one-year-old man had fallen asleep at the wheel, crossed the center line and hit an oncoming car. The woman in the other vehicle was in her midforties, and had been having significant abdominal pain at the scene of the crash. The airbag had saved her from a serious head injury, thank heavens.
“Get a trauma surgeon down here,” Jadon ordered. He glanced at Alyssa. “I want to know her hematocrit and hemoglobin. I suspect she’s ruptured her spleen, bleeding into her belly.”
Alyssa nodded. She quickly finished her initial set of vitals and then proceeded to draw the labs he’d requested. She handed them to the runner and then turned back to her patient. The woman’s name was Elaine Sansone, and the way she moaned in pain on the gurney made Alyssa privately agree with Jadon’s assessment. Elanie’s abdomen was hard and painful to the touch.
“I need a CT scan of her belly stat. Where the heck is Trauma Surgery?”
“I’m here,” Leila Ross said, entering the trauma bay. She was a petite woman with exotic Oriental features and beautiful straight long black hair. “What do you have?”
Alyssa continued checking Elaine’s vital signs, not entirely surprised when her blood pressure dropped dramatically, confirming Jadon’s assessment of bleeding into her belly. “Blood pressure is down to ninety systolic. Do you want me to give more fluid?” she asked.
Jadon nodded. “Give a liter bolus of normal saline. Leila? What do you want to do?”
“A CT scan would help, but if her pressure is that low, I think it’s better if we simply take her up to the OR. I can explore her belly up there.”
“Alyssa?” Jadon glanced at her. “Get Elaine transferred up to the OR.”
“What about the other patient?” The young twenty-one-year-old, by the name of Curt Neilson, had suffered multiple fractures, especially in his forearms and his right leg. His injuries weren’t as critical, so she’d allowed Maureen to handle his care.
“I’m sending him for a slew of radiology films. The orthosurgeon is on his way in. There isn’t much more we can do other than manage his pain.”
Alyssa nodded and began to connect Elaine to the portable monitor so she could transport her to the OR. Leila jumped in to assist and between the two of them they wheeled Elaine up to the OR suites. When the OR nurse took over, Alyssa returned to the ED to help Maureen.
It took a while to get Curt’s X-rays but just as they finished and returned to the trauma bay, he lost his blood pressure, too. But on the monitor his heart rate still looked as if it was doing all right.
“Check his pulse,” Alyssa said sharply.
Maureen put her fingers on his carotid artery, her eyes wide. “I don’t feel anything.”
Alyssa muttered a curse under her breath and doublechecked for herself, although she suspected he was in PEA. “Start CPR,” she told Maureen. Raising her voice, she called, “Jadon? We need your help over here.”
Jadon rushed over and immediately knew what was going on. “His last set of labs were fine, right?” he asked.
Alyssa nodded. “He does have cracked ribs. Do you think he has a tension pneumothorax?”
“Stop CPR.” Jadon picked up an eighteen-gauge needle and inserted it in Curt’s fourth and fifth intercostal space. Within moments his pulse returned.
Maureen’s eyes were wide. “Wow. It worked. It really worked.”
“Yes, it did,” Alyssa said in relief. A tension pneumothorax was life-threatening, yet also relatively simple to treat, once you had the correct diagnosis. A glance at the clock told her the day shift would be coming in soon. Thank heavens.
“I love this job,” Maureen said reverently.
Alyssa had to laugh. Normally, she loved it, too. Most of the time. She’d love it tonight if she weren’t so darned tired.
They waited a long time for Curt to be accepted as an ICU admission. Once she and Maureen wheeled him upstairs and handed over his care to the ICU team, they were pretty much free to go.
Alyssa punched out at the time clock, and then headed into the staff lounge for a few moments. Whoever had hung the Christmas decorations must have gotten interrupted halfway through. There was red garland strung along the ceiling, but an artificial tree stood in the corner, bare of any ornaments. If she had the energy she’d finish the decorations herself.
Her feet ached terribly, so she plopped in a chair and lifted them up on the table. The soreness in her legs eased and she leaned her head back with a sigh and closed her eyes. She longed to rest, for just a few minutes.
“Alyssa?”
She pried her eyes open, surprised to see Jadon. For a moment she was confused. Where was she? Then she remembered that she’d sat in the staff lounge for a few moments before heading home. “I’m awake,” she said, wincing a little as she set her feet back on the floor.
“You’re exhausted,” Jadon said mildly. “You’d better let me drive you home.”
“I’m fine,” she protested. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep, it’s just the first time I’ve sat down in hours. And I’m more tired these days than usual.”
“I know.” Jadon’s grim gaze met hers. “You earned the right to rest, Alyssa. Heck, I was surprised to see you back at work tonight anyway. Please let me drive you home. It’s been snowing for the past hour. You don’t want to end up like Curt and Elaine, do you?”
He was right, she was exhausted. But she didn’t live that far from the hospital. “They were on the highway,” she stubbornly reminded him. “They crashed at high speeds. Different situation altogether.”
“A crash is still a crash, regardless. And it doesn’t matter, because I’m not taking no for an answer,” Jadon said firmly. He bent to take her hand, helping her to her feet. “Come on. It’s no trouble. Much better to be safe than sorry.”
She gave in, knowing that arguing with Jadon was useless. He was as obstinate as a mule when he wanted to be. That was one area where they’d butted heads in the past—each of them liked having their own way. But for now she was too tired to argue anyway, so she reached for her coat, surprised when Jadon took it from her grasp and held it for her.
“Thanks,” she murmured.
Outside, snow fell from the sky in large, thick flakes. An inch of fresh snow covered the ground, and she knew the roads would be slippery.
Much better choice to sit back and let Jadon drive.
“In you go,” he said, opening the passenger door of his car and helping her in. Her stomach tended to get in the way, so she backed into the seat and then swung her legs around.
Jadon