Fanfiction : Earthquake and consequences - Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – Welcome back

As he woke up, he felt a weigh on his abdomen. So paradise was like that? He thought he would feel lighter. And his head was so heavy… If paradise was like this, he won’t have signed so easily. As he opened his eyes, he recognized Bonaventure corridors. He would never have imagined his paradise looked like the place he used to work.

That was funny and completely consistent when you thought about it. It was the place he spent most of his time when he was alive, the place he loved to be, the place where he met the most important people in his life. It was so logical after all.

He looked around him and saw all the machines. He was intubated… He had a big Band Aid on his chest… And All these cannula coming in and out of his body were keeping him alive!?! Afterlife was really strange!

And he always felt this weight on his chest… He couldn’t explain why he felt like this? That was when he looked down. That was when he saw the weigh on his chest was Claire’s head. She was deeply asleep. And he understood he might not be dead.

How could he be possible? He reminded this moment when he was almost gone. The image of the light at the end of the tunnel was true. He saw it but he was still here? All these moments he had lived were only in his imagination? What about the talking with Audrey about whiskey? And what about all these moments with Claire and the moments they both said “I love you”? He was confused. What had really happened since the earthquake?

Claire moved and opened her eyes. It took her a few seconds to understand Neil was awake.

“You’re awake! “ She smiled. Tears were running from her eyes. She was so glad he was back. She looked at him for a while… “Oh sorry… I forgot you are intubated! Do not move I’m taking care of that right now!!! Do not move.”

She got out of the room and got the materials she needed to extubate Neil. She was back only a few minutes after with Nurse Petringa.

“Welcome among us, Dr. Melendez. Glad to see you’re doing better.” She pressed Claire’s shoulder and smiled at her. “I told you he was gonna be better. You can breathe by now.“ Claire smiled at her back. Nurse Petringa had been her strongest support since all that shit had started. Claire extubated Neil and remembered him not to talk too soon or his vocal cords could be damaged. He smiled at her and nodded.

As the day passed, Lim, Andrews and Glassman came to see Melendez to be sure he was alright. The residents came one by one to tell him to take care of him. Even Shaun who tried to tell him he was happy in his own way: “You look a little less yellow than yesterday”.

Even if he couldn’t talk too much, he was glad to see that all his colleagues, his residents and of course Claire. He gave him the impression to be alive again.

Claire came back after work. He told her to go home but she refused. She was scared he went into cardiac arrest again. He could see that in her eyes. He knew her well by now. They had spent a lot of time together for a few months. No one could tell why but they could speak for hours and never get rid of the other. Claire told him a lot about her complicated relationship with her mother, he told him about his childhood in Tampa. When his family life was happy again… He didn’t want to tell her about his problems with his parents or about his sister’ disability. Life was already too hard on Claire. She deserved a good listener and some happy stories.

She stayed for the night and fell asleep on the chair. Nurses came and asked her if she needed something but all she could do was mumbling in her sleep.

“Just bring her a blanket, I doubt she’s going anywhere”

Nurse Petringa laughed. “I have no doubt about that. She’s at your bedside since day one. She made you compressions for 10 minutes because she was alone in the service and couldn’t reach the EDA when you went in cardiac arrest. Not a lot of people in the world would do that…”

He gave her a faint smile. “I do know she’s special…”

Nurse Petringa went out of the room for a few minutes and came back with a blanket and a pillow. “That was all I can find. It’ll be enough for tonight.” She covered Claire and asked another nurse to help her to push the chair next to Neil’s bed. “I’m sure this is where she wants to be.”. She winked at Neil and went out of the room.

From here, he could hear her breath. She was deeply asleep, she needed to rest. She was exhausted. He looked at her for a while before he fell asleep. Having her next to him made him feel calmer. Of course, he was scared of what might be coming next but being with Claire made him dread a little less this uncertain future.

When he woke up, she was gone. And suddenly, the room felt empty. Fortunately, all the nurses and the doctors who came all day taking care of him took him a lot of his time and energy. He didn’t like to be the patient but as things were going, it was there for a very long time…

When Claire left Neil’s room, he was deeply asleep. She knew she had to go to her apartment one day. Her body ached. She was all sore. But it was unthinkable she let Neil alone. Just in case. Just to be sure he was OK.

She went to the locker room to change. She really had to go home. She needed other clothes. Maybe she could go after shift and then come back. She was sure the nurses will tell nothing. They already knew she was a close friend of Dr. Melendez.

She started her day with a meeting with Dr. Andrews. As Dr. Melendez was not an attending at the moment, he offered to mentor Shaun, Park and Claire. Morgan was no longer in the program because of her hands. Claire looked sadly at the chair next her. Morgan could be annoying sometimes but she was her friend and she missed her. She could take some time to go and see her. She was hospitalized at the second floor.

Time to focus by now. Andrews asked them to work on the case of Barry Jenkins, a 58-year-old man suffering from violent leg aches for months. He went to see dozens and dozens of doctors and no one could explain to him why he was unable to get out of his bed for the last 6 months.

“Interesting case” Park was enthusiastic. “Did someone check on his spinal column? Did he do an RMI of his pelvis?” Shaun asked. He was already picturing Barry’s whole body in his mind to know where to operate on. He always impressed Claire when he was doing that. He left the room. He was on something and needed to check on Barry to confirm one of the numerous theories he had in mind.

“Are you alright, Dr. Browne?”

“Yeah, a little tired that’s all. Thanks for asking, Dr. Andrews. If you excuse me…”

Claire took her computer and went to hide in Melendez’s office. It was the place she preferred. It was here that she understood she could make a difference, she could one day be a good surgeon. This was the place she learnt to fight for her opinion, to fight for her patients, to impose her ideas.

She took Mr. Jenkins’ file and read it from the beginning. How could this man be suffering so much for 6 months and no one found where the pain came from. She read the file at least 5 times. Something was wrong. Only his right leg was truly aching. It couldn’t be the spinal column. She looked for a pelvis disequilibrium. It could explain the feelings of dizziness and the ache in his leg. If the pelvis was broken or crushed, it could affect the legs. But in both cases, the RMI proved she was wrong. She borrowed books from Neil’s library. He probably won’t be glad she did but he was in his room and couldn’t see it. She checked three of them and finally found something interesting. She needed to tell Andrews. That was when she saw it was already 2 AM. It was not today she was gonna go to her apartment to get new clothes….

She did what she thought was the best for her. She went to Neil’s room and sat in the chair next to him. It was so good to hear his breath next to her ear. Before she could think of anything else, she fall asleep, her head on the bed, next to him…

She was woken up hours later by a loud noise. Neil was having troubles breathing.

“Neil, Neil are you ok?”

“My abdomen, it hurts. I feel like someone stabbed me right here.”

He showed her his liver. Something was wrong.

“Page Dr. Andrews right now. Dr. Melendez needs to go back to surgery!”

Andrews was in the room only a few minutes later. “Neil, I’m afraid, you need to go back to surgery. Your liver seems damaged.”

Claire followed the bed. “Browne, you stay here. You’re exhausted. Go home and come back in a few hours.”

“But I’m on shift today. “

“So I’m unshift you at least for a few hours. Take some times for you. You have worked non-stop since the earthquake, you need to rest… and clear your mind you’re too invested in that case”

“But… I want … And I’ve found something on Mr. Jenkins…”

Before she could end her sentence, she saw Andrews brought Neil to the OR…. She was alone in the lobby. It was the first time she was not with him since she had found him unconscious in the charity room after the earthquake…. And she felt empty…