Steady Hands

Normandy's Rules

"Alright, Mrs. Newberry, try to stay perfectly still so we can get a clear picture. You'll be done in no time." I said into the intercom.
I released the button and my eyes wandered over to the computer screen.
On the edge of my eye I saw Kylen looking at me, I tried to ignore him, to no avail.
"Can I help you?" I said.
"What? No-sorry, my bad..." he stuttered.
I dismissed the interaction and resumed my wait for the results on the screen.
"Oh, Kennedy! There you are!" a voice called.
I turned to the hallway to see Summer standing in the open doorway. I smiled when I saw her and walked over.
"How'd it go?" I asked excited for her.
"It went well. Dr. Parks had to perform an emergency Coronary Artery Bypass, it was amazing, I've never seen a surgeon so talented."
"Did he let you help? Did he teach you well?"
"Nothing major, handing off tools, holding clamps, that sort of thing, but, yes, he instructed us along the entire time. He was so calm and collected, it was kind of scary."
"He probably sees patients with similar problems several times a week."
"Yeah, you're probably right, what's up with your patient?"
"We're not entirely sure yet, severe abdominal pain, we're waiting for results. Hopefully nothing too serious, although I am kind of eager to get into an OR."
"Ha, aren't we all..."
We laughed and smiled at each other.
"You know, Kennedy? I was kind of nervous about meeting the new interns, making new friends, I'll be stuck with these people after all, you know? But, this day so far has been going better than expected and you had a lot to do with that, so thank you."
I smiled, "You're welcome. Here's hoping that we continue to like this day, huh?"
"I would drink to that." she said.
"Hey, Kennedy," Kylen called, "You might wanna come see this."
I walked back into the radiology suite and looked at the monitor that Kylen was pointing at.
"Looks like a large tumor in her small intestine."
"Jesus Christ, that thing is huge..." I mumbled.
"You got that right." Summer said.
"We need to take that out soon," Kylen said, "We should go tell Normandy."
"Yeah." I said.
"Have a nurse bring her back up to her room, will you?" I said to the radiology tech, he nodded and handed me the scans.
"Let's go get Normandy, Kylen." I said, "See you later, Summer."
"See you." she said softly, but Kylen and I were already out the door.

"Okay, so what are you proposing?"
"We need to remove the tumor with a small bowel resection." I said.
"Small bowel resection? Doesn't that seem a little brutal for a tumor removal?"
"Trust me, Dr. Normandy, if you saw this tumor, you'd be thinking the same thing." Kylen said.
"Well, show me the scans." she said.
I took them out of the large envelope and handed them to her.
She held them up to the light.
"Oh my god, we need to get this woman into surgery." she said slowly, "Go notify the patient of what's going on and then go get us a spot on the board. Then tell me what time you got us and notify the patient. Got that?"
"Yes, ma'am." Kylen said.
I nodded.
We waited to see if she had any further instruction.
"Well? Rule Number Two, people, come on!"
"Right, right." I said, heading towards Mrs. Normandy's room, with Kylen hot on my heels.
When I got down to her room, I noticed Casey rushing down the hall to another patient's room. I sidestepped him and opened the door to Mrs. Newberry's room.
"Hello again, Mrs. Newberry. How are we?" I said.
"About the same, Dr. Woods. Good to see you again, and you Dr. York."
"Likewise, ma'am."
"Oh, please, call me Mrs. Newberry. I've been alive long enough to not care for such pleasantries, Dr. York."
"Yes, Mrs. Newberry."
"So, what can I do for you boys this time?"
"Well, this visit is actually about what we're going to do for you today, Mrs. Newberry. Since we've gotten your CT results, we've discovered a large mass in your small intestine, which we're going to have to take you into surgery to remove." I said.
I looked to Kylen, he picked up on the cue.
"We're going to perform a small bowel resection, which is basically us removing a small part of your small intestine to remove the tumor and damaged part of your intestine, that way the growth will be removed as well as the blockage it has created." Kylen explained.
"A tumor? Does that mean I have cancer?" she looked to me.
Of course she looked at me.
"It is a possibility with tumors, but most people hear the word tumor and immediately think cancer, when it's not always the case it could simply be a benign tumor, we won't know until we remove it and run some tests on it, so it's best we don't jump to any conclusions."
"But, what if it is cancer?"
"In that case, we'll have to monitor you more closely for any more tumors or any other related symptoms and if your health continues to decline then we'll take action from there involving radiation and chemotherapy, but like I said, we don't wanna jump to any conclusions."
She nodded slowly.
"When will the surgery happen?" she asked.
"Hopefully later today, but we're waiting to see what times an OR is available, when we found out you'll be the first to know, okay?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Alright, we'll be back." I said heading for the exit.
I began to head down towards the lobby separating the surgical ward and the recovery center, to the desk where the OR board was.
"How do you do that? Handle patients so well?" Kylen asked.
"I don't know, I just talk to them like normal people, I guess..." I responded.
I wrote us down for a surgery in the next two hours and filled in the required information.
I heard raised voices from the recovery ward, I looked in to see what was going on.
There was a tall man, with dark hair standing in the middle of the room, he was talking sternly to someone, then he turned around and faced the rest of us.
"Does anyone know the main causes of post-op fever?" he said loudly.
For a brief moment no one said anything.
"Wind, water, wound, walking, and wonder drugs." I said. The man turned to me, with a look of approval. "The Five W's."
He nodded once, "Good. You hear that people?" he turned back to the man he was talking to previously. "Assess your patient."
The man came up to me and Kylen.
He was a tall Latino man, with dark, thick hair, with a few streaks of grey. He had a nice sweater on under his doctor's coat.
"What's your name, son?"
"Dr. Kennedy Woods."
He held out his hand, "Dr. Hiram Jensen. Nice to meet you, Dr. Woods. That was quick thinking, I hope to hear more about you."
Dr. Hiram Jensen. This wasn't just any senior surgeon, this was the Chief of Surgery himself.
"Thank you, sir."
"Have a nice day, you two."
"Thank you, sir, you too."
As he walked away, I braced myself on Kylen's shoulder.
"That was the Chief of Surgery, he just complimented me."
"Yeah, yeah. Don't let it go to your head, we need to go inform Normandy about the surgery."
"Lead the way." I said, still smiling to myself.
He began to walk back into the surgical wing.