Freak of Nature

Chapter 1

Trigger warning:
Self harm

Dr. Sara Lagan

"Dr. Lagan! Female. Teen. Femoral vein pierced by broken femur, it's a compound fracture. Arriving in five minutes. Surgery room 6 prepped."

The ER nurse Alexis passed me the file. I walked briskly towards room 6, efficiently weaving through hectic nurses and patients alike as I flipped through the file. I sighed, she's a tourist and has no medical records or form on her. We need to be careful with what we use.

Cause of accident: inebriated driver.

Flashes of memories flooded my mind. Agonizing screams. A lifeless body. Thick red liquid filling the cracks in the road and staining the shards of glass-

The doors of room 6 slammed open as the doors of my memories slammed shut. Nurse Louis just finished changing the blood bag with fresh O+ bag as I entered. Based on the amount of blood soaking her clothes and size of the wound, she lost a good amount of blood. I ignored the way she reminded me of her.

Nurses rushed to hook her up to the machines. Frantic beeping filled the room as soon as she was hooked up to the heart monitor. "Digoxin please!" We need to slow her heart rate to prevent any more blood loss. A nurse injected it into her carotid artery while another carefully put a breathing tube down her throat. Jane, my personal assistant, passed me the antiseptic.

We quickly worked on her leg. With the amount of blood loss we only had 5 minutes until her muscles start shutting down. Pierced was an understatement, her femoral vein was torn apart. We had to clamp it to prevent blood loss and tie 3 knots one inch apart from the ends, to get a clean edge and samples for a interposition graft.

While waiting for it to get made, we popped her bone back and held it into place with metal plates and screws. We connected the vein to an artificial heart.

As soon as the graft was made we removed the tubes and attached it, carefully stitching the ends of the grafts with the ends of the vein. We have to be very precise, a weak stitch could cause it to burst. We stitched up he punctured and skin and waited for her vitals to stabilized before sending her for a MRI scan.

According to her bruises, she has taken a direct hit and most probably have damage on the left hemisphere of her brain. I sent Jane to watch over the MRI scan and went to the receptionist where I personally appointed myself her consultant doctor.

Jane ran to me, disheveled as ever, "Her prefrontal cortex and hippocampus has sustained damage."

I sighed, "Give her a dose of barbiturate." I watched as Jane injected her with it, sending her into a comatose state. They wheeled her off into the ICU. After I tended to her family members, I waited for her parents to gain consciousness.

They eventually woke up. "Hello," I gave a small smile, "I am Dr.Lagan, your daughter Roxanne's consultant doctor." They nodded with indifference. Odd, I thought. No panicking, no interest about her condition, they don't seem worried in the least. I hesitantly continued with the most professionalism I could muster, "She has taken the brunt of the impact causing her to rupture her femoral bone which punctured her vein. She has also sustained damage to her pre-frontal cortex and hippocampus. We had to put her in a coma-"

The mother finally showed some emotions and gasped.

"-to prevent irreversible brain damage or delay her recovery, which could happen if she wakes up. Also, when she does wake up she may have slight memory loss. We are not sure of the extent of the damage."

The father gripped the mother's hand. "For how long?" He asked, irritated by the inconvenience.

"We're not sure. Each patient is different so results are unpredictable, however her condition has been stabilised," I paused, "I'll give you some time to process this. In the mean time, please fill this in." I passed them a medical information form.