Bear No Malice | Paul Lahote

Six

"Alright, you're gonna feel a pinch." My patient, who's name was Mike, hissed in pain and clenched his left hand as I slid the IV smoothly into his left arm. "Try and stay relaxed on this side, otherwise it won't advance."

"Easier said than done," he moaned. "I think I'm gonna puke again."

I popped the blue-top tube onto the adapter as he retched into the blue barf bag triage had given him. I switched my tubes as the phlebotomist behind me took them graciously and labeled them.

"We're almost done here, Mike. Just hold on another minute."

I filled the final lavender tube and passed it to the girl in red before twisting the adapter off and pushing the saline through my seventh successful line of the day. "You might smell or taste metal, it's completely normal. Just a side affect of the saline I'm pushing into the line."

Once I finished and placed the dressing to hold it down, I stood in front my computer and began charting a bit while in the room.

"So we've ordered some zofran for your nausea, some pain meds, and fluids, all going through your IV since you can't keep anything down. How would you rate your pain, Mike?"

"Nine. Maybe a ten." His girlfriend, whom I learned was named Jessica, cooed sympathetically and ran her hand through his hair.

"Let me go grab those meds and we'll get you feeling better. As soon as those labs come back the doctor will be in to see you."

"Thank you so, so much! He's been sick for like, forever now. It's nice to see you know what you're doing. For a newbie," Jessica prattled on. I raised my eyebrow at her words and nodded once before exiting the room and closing the curtain behind me. Kara sniggered from her perch at the nurse's station.

"Did you hear her in there?" I asked.

Kara nodded and leaned forward. "Her name's Jessica Stanley, she's in here like every other week with her primary doc, Carlisle Cullen. Since he left though she's been seeing another one much to her dismay. But she's a real peach."

"Yeah, well she can keep her snobby opinions to herself," I remarked before striding into the med room. I pulled what I needed and signed them out before heading back into Mike's curtain.

"Sorry about her. She's kind of a handful." I turned to face Mike as he spoke and smirked at his words. Jessica was nowhere to be seen.

I shrugged it off and continued pushing his meds and setting up the bag of fluids. "I've dealt with worse. Didn't even bother me."

"So you're new, yeah? I haven't seen you around town at all."

Jeeze, what a flirt. "I live on the reservation."

"You're gorgeous, you know that? How old are you?"

I smiled politely and looked him right in the eye. "Thank you. My husband thinks so too." I could see him visibly deflate at my statement. "And don't you know it's rude to ask someone their age, kid?"

After knocking him down a few notches on the ego express, I set the IV pump and charted my meds in. "I'll be around to check on you. If you need anything just press your call light." He nodded his thanks and I walked up to the nurse's station and sat next to Kara.

"I gotta say, it's only been a week since you started here and I'm very impressed. You're a quick learner," Kara observed as I sipped on my lukewarm coffee. Since day one Kara and I had stuck true to our word and buddied up. She showed me the ropes, told me who to avoid and who was cool, got me up to speed with the latest gossip (not that I really cared much for it) and even bought me my own personalized hospital coffee thermos. She was awesome.