Stitches of Life

Fight or Flight

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"BP's two twenty over one thirty." The anesthesiologist told Derek as he operated on Kendra, George and I both standing by and watching him as he worked.

"The brain is fungating out of the wound." Derek said.

"What's fungating?" George asked.

"Herniating." I told him, recalling Derek using the term in one of the first few surgeries that I had scrubbed in on with him.

"She's bradycardic." The anesthesiologist warned.

"Let me get fifty mannitol and twenty furosemide." Derek requested. "What's her pulse?"

"Down to thirty-two." The anesthesiologist said.

"Come on, Kendra." Derek whispered. "CO-two?"

"Forty." He was told.

"Oh, God. The clot's already evacuated." Derek sighed. "All right, everybody."

"But-" I started.

"She's brain dead." Derek told me. "There's nothing we can do now."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"There is no spontaneous brain activity, and she isn't going to wake up." Derek informed Kendra's parents.

"What about the baby?" Mr. Thomas asked. "Is the baby okay?"

"As far as we can tell, the baby's fine, but that's not the point." Derek shook his head. "Essentially, your daughter is dead. We need your consent to remove her from life support."

"What if we kept Kendra alive?" Mr. Thomas suggested. "Could the baby live?"

"With all due respect, sir, you don't want to do that." George spoke up while I remained silent.

"Are you part of this family?" Mr. Thomas glared at him. "Do you have a daughter? If you don't, you really oughta just shut up."

"Our daughter...could have this baby?" Mrs. Thomas asked, looking hopeful.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"What are you thinking?" Derek asked me as we walked with Addison towards Kendra's room to have her try to talk the parents out of keeping Kendra alive to have the baby.

"What do you mean, Dr. Shepherd?" I played dumb.

"I can tell that something's been bothering you since O'Malley told us that Kendra is pregnant." He shook his head. "What is it? What are you thinking?"

"Nothing." I told him as we followed Addison into Kendra's room, finding her parents standing by her bedside.

"Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, Dr. Shepherd asked me to talk to you about you daughter and her pregnancy." Addison introduced herself.

"We've madde up our minds. She's having the baby." Mr. Thomas told us.

"I know Kendra meant the world to you, and I know the terrible grief you must be going through right now." Addison tried to talk to them. "But from a medical standpoint, this is a very bad idea."

"Well, if we'd wanted your opinion, miss, we'd ask for it." Mr. Thomas said.

"It's just, we love our daughter." Mrs. Thomas spoke up. "Please try to understand."

"I do understand. I do." Addison assured her. "You think if you love her enough or love her baby enough, that it will keep her close to you. But she's already gone, and if you move forward with this, you're risking- Well, I mean, if Kendra were to contract an infection, she could pass it on to the fetus. It could cause brain damage-"