He looked at Mr.Everly and smiled. “I’m Dr. Barton, taking over for my partner Dr. Franklin, who you met yesterday I presume.”
“Yeah, Franklin, good guy, especially easy with the morphine, and I sure appreciate that.”
Barton couldn’t help but laugh and as usual, his face blushed like an embarrassed kid. “We call him morphine Mark, and looks like you two have already hit it off pretty well.” Barton liked Everly’s calm attitude even though he was a patient in the ICU, and could sense an inner strength in his smile that hid the scars; a grin that seemed to exude a confidence born out of conquering life’s challenges. His trained eyes caught the blood pressure sleeve taking an automatic pressure then scanned the reading on the monitor up and to the left of the patient, simultaneously comparing in his mind the heart rate, respiratory rate and central venous pressure tracing to other patients he’d taken care of in similar situations. All seemed to be stable at the moment. He completed his exam while the nurse, respiratory therapist and nurse practioner discussed the case amongst themselves quietly, formulating treatment plans for the day. Barton respected his medical team and they were nearly always spot on, but sometimes he needed to tweak them a little.
“So, what were you ladies discussing while I had my stethoscope impaled in my earwax?
Terry, his nurse practioner with springy red hair, proclaimed that she thought he needed some more fluids and that since he was doing so well, they wanted to transfer him to the ward, out of the Intensive Care Unit. “That is, of course, if you agree Dr. Barton.”
Barton held his chin with his thumb and forefinger for what seemed like an eternity, looked again in Mr. Everly’s eyes but saw something different this time. “Before we do that, let’s review his labs and come back later.”
“I’ve got the transfer orders done already, just let me know when you’re ready.”
They stepped out of the room and Terry made sure all the labs were ready for Barton to review.
“Everything looks good Terry. I agree with your plan as usual.”
“Sorry to push you Dr. Barton, but we’re running late on rounds and the family of Mrs. Spence isn’t happy because they think you need to give them updates yourself every several hours after surgery. You know, they expect constant updates and are threatening to complain to the hospital administration that we’re ignoring them.”
“That’s of no importance to me, and the principal’s office already is reserved for me several times per week.”
“You and the team go on, I’m going to stay here a while with Mr. Everly.”
Barton sat at the computer, thinking about what he felt when he saw Mr. Everly’s eyes the second time. Something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t put his finger on it, so he started messing with his hair nervously as was legend in the hospital, when things weren’t fitting in place in his medical brain. He remembered his mission in that ugly place over there and the lives that depended on him and how he learned to act with instinct when others couldn’t feel the searing heat about to fall from the sky. He was right then and is prepared if they call again. At least with them, they don’t question his mind. At the same time, He remembered sitting in front of the medical board fighting for his license because an irate family member attacked him in the hallway of the hospital and he used Krav Maga to break his arm before he hit a nurse. Then he broke his nose. Probably a little too aggressive.
They said, “We don’t condone violence by our doctors to patient families. Remember Barton, families are always right, and in their times of stress we must respect them, and be calm and professional.”
He had been re – instated for only six months now. They were watching
But something was different now. Ever since that fateful event that nearly took him from this earth, when he saw it and felt the pain but enjoyed the peace, he was changed. He could sense things now clearly as if the answer was given to him as a gift before it happened and that gift came to him when he least expected and always with a clear breeze of soothing calm.
Expectedly with it came a landslide of criticism and shock from his colleagues who whispered that he wasn’t right anymore, and perhaps he needed to have a psyche evaluation, once again. He saw it perfectly as the deep blueness over the mountain peak and he had to act, no matter what anyone said.
“Terry I don’t want to transfer Mr. Everly today.”
“Are you sure Dr. Barton? We need the bed and he sure looks good. Maybe we can re evaluate him later.”
“We won’t move him.”
“We need to act now, or he’ll be dead in a couple hours.”
“What?”
He ordered the clot buster drug and all those around him stared at him incredulously, bewildered that he would give this dangerous drug to a man who was stable and had no testing done to confirm massive blood clots in the lung arteries.
“But Dr. Barton, why don’t we do a CT angiogram of the lungs first to confirm it? He could bleed into his head from this drug if you’re wrong”
“We don’t have time. When he returns from the scanner he’ll be dead.”
He hung the powerful drug himself since the nursing staff didn’t feel comfortable, knowing all the while that his career was again, about to crash.
But what he saw in Mr. Everly’s eyes showed him what other’s couldn’t see and that confidence gave him the strength to inject the drug that he knew would stop the horrible movie playing in his brain. He hoped.