Fanfiction - Earthquake and Consequences - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – New world

When she came back to the hospital, she couldn’t find Andrews. She had rested for a few hours at home. She changed, took a shower, made a bag to have some new clothes in her locker in case she stayed some nights here. And she came back to Bonaventure exactly 4 hours after she had left the same place.

Neil was always in the OR. It was written on the board. And she didn’t like that. Why took so long? There must have been complications for sure. And she was not there to help. She felt guilty to have been at her apartment, to have slept, to have taken some time for her… She should have been with him, she should have helped…

“Claire, you’re already back?” Lim seemed surprised to see her already back at Bonaventure.

“Oh Dr. Lim… yeah, I slept a little and changed. It feels good. Like I’m new again. If you excuse me, I have something to do before I start my shift…”

She let Audrey in the lobby and went to the staircase. She didn’t know what to do. She just lied to Dr. Lim because she didt=n’t want her to see she was worried. Even if she suspected she already knew she was feeling that way… She sat on the stairs and stayed there for a while.

It was good to be here, she was in a safe place. And she needed that because right now she was confused, scared and lost. When she was slapped by the wife of his former lover, that was the place she chose to hide and it worked. No one except Neil had found her at the time. And this time Neil was in the OR. So there was no way she was being discovered...

When her shift started, she was in the locker room. Park and Shaun were changing too. Both were sharing their theories about Mr. Jenkins’ case and they were sure they got the right diagnosis. But Claire remained silent.

“You don’t like to talk too much these times”. Shaun noticed. “You have no theory at all for Mr. Jenkins because I have a lot I want to share with you but not now because we are not in Andrews’ office.”

And then he left. As always, Shaun was in his own world. And he was excited about his ideas. She loved seeing him like that. It meant he was happy in his own way.

“Are you sure you are OK?” Park seemed worried about her.

“Yeah.. Just tired. Didn’t sleep well for almost a week.”

“And you’re worried about Melendez, don’t you?”

She didn’t answer. But she knew Park got it. He was a nice, smart guy who knew to remain silent when a situation required it. He left the locker room. She stayed alone. She was used to it anyway…

As she was on her way to Melendez’s office to get the files she let there last night, she saw Andrews coming her way.

“Dr. Browne, I was looking for you. Can I talk to you for a few minutes?”

She followed him in his office.

“Dr. Melendez just got out of the recovery room. He’s OK”. She breathed a huge sigh of relief. “He’s still in critical conditions but each hour brings its amount of hope. I’m pretty confident. He’s young, strong, healthy. There’s no way he’s not recovering from this…”

Claire couldn’t hide her idiotic smile. Andrews smiled. Then he became serious again. “However…I must warn you. I had to cut a part of his liver. He didn’t respond well and he crushed so I had to put him an ostomy bag…”

“That means he won’t be able to …”

“That’s just temporary… I hope so. I read a lot of trials about these bags and there’s good chance we can remove it in a few time. But I’m afraid he’ll have diabetes for life.”

Claire remained silent. It was hard to hear this. And she knew it would be harder for Neil to hear it when he’ll wake up. But on the bright side, he was alive with good chances of recovery. Deep inside herself, she felt relieved. She’d rather see him with some disabilities than not see him again. She couldn’t imagine her life without him. She won’t survive, especially after all that had happened this year.

“Thank you, Dr. Andrews for saving his life….”

Andrews pressed her shoulder and left the room. “See you in one hour to talk about Mr. Jenkins”.

Life was a little better even if she would have to make it understand to Neil. She went to his office the heart a little lighter. Her file and the books were still here, right where she had left them last night. She picked all her stuff and joined Shaun and Park in Andrews’ office.

Andrews was late. He had to check on some patients including Melendez before joining them. He winked at Claire. She smiled. It meant Neil was OK. She could focus on her job. She didn’t know for sure but Andrews seemed to get how her friendship with Neil meant for her and he didn’t judge her for being friend with her attending. Other people didn’t get it. They thought she was trying to be close to Melendez to get some favors… Actually she was friend with him just because he understood her better than anyone else.

She came out of her thoughts while Andrews was asking if they had any lead on Mr. Jenkins‘s case. Shaun explained he looked for spinal column and pelvis injuries but there was none. He was worried but he was sure there was something wrong in his pelvis because the X-Rays were blurred. He just needed a little more time to explore this possibility.

Claire was one of the only people who knew when he was in a bad place. And he was right now. All he needed was to hear a medical condition he didn’t know about. It would keep his mind busy enough to get better.

“I may have an explanation… I’ve made some research on a syndrome called chronic nerve syndrome… It’s a chronic disease which causes unbearable and searing pains in the leg.

The pain comes from nowhere and don’t stop until you take fentanyl or put a patch on the leg to ease the pain… On reports, some patients tell the pain is so severe and strong that they are like knocked off on their feet and can’t move.”

Andrew remained silent for a while processing what Claire had just said.

“Great idea, Dr. Browne. I had heard about it but never saw someone with this disease. Go with Murphy and make some tests to confirm your theory. Park, come with me, I need some help on another case.”

Claire and Shaun spent the day to confirm the diagnosis. They went to the lab, brought Mr. Jenkins to radiography, MRI and echography. And it was worth it because Claire and Shaun finally confirmed the diagnosis. They announced Andrews the good news and then followed him to the room of the patient.

Despite the fact that there was no treatment other than one to ease the pain, Mr. Jenkins felt appeased. He knew what he was suffering from. He could put a name on all his sufferings and it was a life savior. Andrews explained to him his options and then let him alone for the night. He needed to rest, to think about the best option for him. Fentanyl would stop the pain but he would be likely to become dependent on the drugs. Patches were fine but they would never really stop the suffering. This disease was really tiring, insidious and only sleep helped to ease the pain.

“Good work today, you two. Now go home and sleep. See you tomorrow.”

Shaun left Claire alone in the corridor and went to the locker room to get his stuff. He was eating at Glassman’s tonight and he was so excited he talked about it all day. As she was walking to the locker room herself, she changed her way and stopped by Morgan’s room.

“Hello Morgan, how are you?”

Morgan was surprised to see Claire there. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m happy to see you too. What’s the news? Do they say when you can leave the hospital?”

Morgan relaxed. “Pretty good actually… If you except the fact I could never operate again… I’m coming home tomorrow. And I don’t know what I’ m doing with myself…”

Claire came next to her friend and hugged her. She helped her to say goodbye to her mother and she wanted to be there for her. “You know I’m here. We can find a way for you to exercise medicine. You can’t operate anymore but it doesn’t mean you can’t use your skills elsewhere.”

She remained with Morgan a long while. It was good to talk with her friend. She told her about Melendez. She didn’t know he had been hurt during the earthquake. She promised to go to see him tomorrow. He will need all the possible support to get through this ordeal.

Claire left the room and promised Morgan she comes to see her at her apartment in the next few days. She was glad to have come to see Morgan. Even if a lot of people thought she was a jerk, she didn’t see her like that. She was just a broken girl who had had a very troubled childhood and didn’t get through it. She just wanted to be the best because her mother didn’t really pay attention to her. And it was seen as proudness, disdain or arrogance…

As she was on her way to the locker room, she stopped by Neil’s room. He was sleeping. She was sad not to be able to talk with him tonight. It had been more than 12 hours since they had shared their last word… It was too long… She took a piece of paper and a pen from the nurses desk and went back to Neil’s room. She wrote some words and put the piece of paper in his right hand. His fingers moved at the moment Claire’s fingers brushed his. Claire took this as a sign. He will get better soon.

“See you tomorrow, Neil. Tonight, I have to go home to get some rest in a real bed.”

As she was leaving the room, he opened an eye. Just the time for him to see her disappear at the corner of the corridor.