Rescue Me "Editing"

Chapter 2

It was past just two am in the morning.  I was sitting at the little desk in the corner of the room to catch up on some of my charting, which was a job that seemed like it was never done.  I had just giving Harry's mom a warm blanket and pillow as she refused to leave.  She was sitting in the chair next to his bed, trying to close he eyes for a few moments.

Harry's sister, Gemma had gone back to the hotel.  She wanted to shower and try to get a few hours of sleep.  I was surprised to find out that Gemma was not much older than I was.   Gemma had asked how I was such an amazing nurse at suck a young age, myself only being 23. 

I had graduated school a year early as I skipped a grade when I was younger, I was always more advanced in from the rest of the kids in my studies.  Back where I am from we have accelerated nursing programs where you finish in two years instead of the four.  So I graduated nursing school at 19.

I was feeling tired.  I stretched out my body to relieve some of the tense muscles.  I was glad to say that tonight had been uneventful so far.  Harry remained stable since he came to the unit hours ago.  Which was a blessing in disguise. 

I look over at Trina who was busy looking at shoes on the internet.   Nights, especially the wee hours of the morning were hard to get through when it was quiet.  I look back down at my chart and jump when my ears hear the piercing noise of one of Harry's alarms ringing away.  Anytime an alarm would ring it always meant something was just not right.  I tore across the room and look at his monitor, i can tell by the lines on the heart monitor that it was picking up an irregular heart beat.

"What is going on?" Anne asks in a panic.

"Trina call a code.'" I order while I take Harry's blood pressure, it was extremely low again, even after all the blood giving, and his pressure was fine when she had checked it a half hour ago. I remove my stethoscope from my neck and place it on his chest to listen to his heart.  I listen a for a few moments but I knew what my ears were hearing,  which was a bruit.

I sigh knowing this isn't good.  It meant that there was blood flowing from his aorta again, the sutures must have let go from the increased pressure as result from all the transfusion. 

"He is crashing." I yell and start chest compression right away.

"Code blue Critical Care unit 1, bed four."  I hear the code called over the the loud speaks as I am pounding on this poor young mans chest,  I know he already had broken ribs from the previous rounds of cpr he had earlier,  still didn't make me feel better. 

It would only be a matter of seconds before the crash cart would come through the door with a full code team and doctor.  Those mere seconds seemed like a life time.

"Page the surgeon please Trina." I say as I  pump up and down on Harry's chest,  my arms were starting grow tired but I kept on going.  He wasn't going to die on her tonight, especially with his mom frantic at his side. "Harry you stay with me."

Doctor Kalvin came into the room with all the code team, who took over for me.  "His BP dropped, and there is a bruit noted over aortic placement." I tell the doctor as the team shock Harry's heart back into normal sinus rhythm again.  His body convulsed and lifted off of the table.

Doctor Kalvin nod his head and listens toHarry's heart.  "Good call Raya." he says as he touches my shoulder lightly.  "Get this young man into the OR stat!" he ordersthe team.  "Cross match his blood for us Raya, call the bank and tell them to send at least five units to start."

"Mrs Cox we need to take Harry back into the or.  I am afraid the part of the aorta that repaired early in the OR has become opened again and we need to go in and surgical fix it.  This is a very grave situation.  There maybe only a 30 percent chance that he will survive.  Do you want us to go ahead with the surgery.  We need your consent."