F | Burning Love (One Chicago)

TWELVE: "Let the docs do their thing."

'Okay.' Brandon trembles.  Emily joins them. 

'Truck and Squad are three minutes out.' Emily says to Alicia. 

'Why do you need them?' The mom asks, scared. 

'Because of the mechanism of the injury, we need more assistance in getting Brandon off the trampoline without  making his injury worse.' Emily explains. 'Would one of you mind going out front to bring them through?' 

'I'll go.' The dad nods before walking off to meet Truck and Squad. Emily and Alicia return their focus to Brandon. 

'Brandon, some people are going to come and help us move you off this trampoline but before we do, we're going to put something around your neck to protect it from getting hurt further.' Alicia tells the young boy, getting the C-Collar out of the jump bag. With Emily holding Brandon's neck in line with his spine, Alicia puts the C-Collar around his neck. 

'Are you in pain anywhere else, Brandon?' Emily asks.

'No.' Brandon replies. 

'I'm going to have to get on there.' Alicia whispers to Emily.

 'Be careful.' Emily whispers back. 

'Brandon, I'm just going to climb onto the trampoline with you so I can assess you better.' Alicia says to Brandon. Carefully, she climbs onto the trampoline but as soon as she steps onto the jump mat, he screams out in pain. 'I'm so sorry Brandon. We're going to give you something for the pain.' Alicia apologises as she carefully kneels down beside him. 'Foster, can I have an IV set?' Foster nods and hands her the IV pack. 'Mom, does he have any allergies?' Alicia looks at the mom. 

'No.' The mom shakes her head. 

'Great.' Alicia smiles. She looks back at Emily. 'Morphine.' Emily hands her a syringe of morphine. 'Brandon, before I give you this medication, I want to tell me if you can feel this.' She says, lightly stroking the bottom of his foot. 

'Feel what?' Brandon questions. Alicia looks at Emily, concerned. 'I can't feel anything.' 

'Okay, don't worry about that at the moment.' Alicia tells him. 'We're going to give you something to help with the pain now.' She cleans his inner elbow and stabilises it with her left hand, holding the needle in her right hand. 'You're going to feel a sharp scratch.' She puts the needle in and once she sees blood, she advances it in. Once the cannula is secured in place, Alicia opens the syringe package and takes the syringe out, put it into the cannula and pushes the medication through. Just as she's doing that, the dad returns with Squad and Truck. 'Okay, Brandon. We'll have you off here and to the hospital in a jiffy.' 

.

Ten minutes later, Emily and Alicia are wheeling Brandon into Chicago Med. Ethan runs up to them. 

'This is Brandon Cheston. Nine-years-old. He tried to do a front-flip on the trampoline but landed on his neck. Pulse is 85, SATs are 99, GCS 15 throughout and BP is 100/65. We've given him 5 of morphine so far. Tenderness in the C-spine and loss of sensation in his legs.' Emily does the handover as they wheel Brandon into a trauma room. They line the gurney up with the bed and Ethan, Emily, Alicia and some nurses all grab a handle of the backboard. 

'On my count.' Ethan orders. 'One. Two. Three.' They transfer Brandon over to the bed. Emily and Alicia gather up their equipment and walk out of the room where Mr and Mrs Cheston are. 

'He's in good hands.' Alicia smiles. 

'Thank you.' Mrs Cheston nods. 

'No problem.' Emily nods back. Both Alicia and Emily park the gurney by the nurse's station and make a start on the paperwork. As soon as Alicia sees Natalie, she turns to Emily.