Luke and Baker disperse from behind me to go do other things as I walk out of Ellie's room. I am immediately met with a sympathetic looking Maggie. "What's going on?" I ask, really confused, "the labs need a nasal swab" she answers sadly, holding up the swab. "No Mags, I can't do that to her" I say, bringing my hand up to my face, "there's been an outbreak of a minor virus and we don't know if she is more susceptible to it, you have to check" my charge nurse explains, hitting the swab to my chest, telling me to take it. I groan as I take it from her and get Luke to come back with me.
We walk into the room together and Ellie sees what I'm holding and immediately starts freaking out, "hey, hey, calm down sunshine, deep breaths, we can take our time" I say comfortingly, quickly placing the swab on the bench and moving closer to Ellie to calm her. She shakes her head and I see tears begin to slip down her cheeks. This is literally the first time I have seen her cry and I feel so bad that I have made her feel this way. "It's ok Ellie, we go at your pace with this, we can take our time" I reassure her and her crying turns to sniffles.
"When your ready, tilt your head back for me sunshine" I say kindly. Ellie just looks at me as more tears slowly but silently fall down her cheeks. "Why don't you hold my hands angel?" Luke suggests, moving to sit closer to her. Ellie hesitantly takes Luke's hands, looking petrified. I slowly make my way over to the bench and grab the swab, keeping it out of sight as Luke tries to keep her distracted. "Alright my angel, can you tilt your head back for us?" Luke asks carefully, noticing that I am ready. Ellie quickly pulls her hands out of Luke's supportive hold and she starts pulling the covers over herself, seemingly trying anything she can to avoid this. "Relax sweetie, you're going to be ok, I'll be really quick" I try to reassure.
Suddenly, her heart rate monitor lets out a deafening alarm leading both Luke and I to look to it. My heart drops for a second when I see it flatline. I quickly look back to the bed to see that Ellie has disappeared. She has carefully removed her monitors and expertly disconnected her IV, not doing any damage to the cannula so it is still in tact in her hand, wherever she is. Luke and I both jump into action and bolt out of the room, knowing that every time Ellie moves, she is at risk of fainting or worse. We search all the usual places that kids go to hide in the emergency department: under the nurses station, in the waiting room, in storage areas, but I know where she's gone. I'm almost positive that she has locked herself in the bathroom and I know that Maggie is our best option. "Hey Luke, can you just go wait at the bathroom to see if she comes out? I'm gonna grab Mags" I say to him. He nods and immediately makes his way to the bathroom as I dramatically drag myself over to the nurses station, plastering on a stupid smile, knowing I need to look innocent for Maggie to agree to help us.
Maggie has obviously seen us frantically searching around the ED, "how do you let a patient just disappear?" she asks, smiling smugly. "She was smart" I smirk, "and you need me because..." Mags says, waiting for me to tell her what I need her to do. "We're pretty sure she's locked herself in the bathroom" I answer. Maggie rolls her eyes and smiles as she walks over to a drawer and pulls out her master key with a dramatic flourish, "and as usual, Maggie saves the day" she says, brushing past me dramatically and walking to the bathroom. I see Baker walking around aimlessly, "Baker... go grab a wheelchair and meet us at the bathroom" I order, knowing that Ellie is going to be weak and getting her to walk back to her bed is completely out of the question.
We wait outside the bathroom for about 10 minutes before Maggie manages to drag our patient out of the bathroom. There are still tears streaming down her cheeks and I just can't work out how this has gone so pear shaped. We bring Ellie back to her bed and reconnect her to all the monitors and her IV and she starts trying to stifle her sobs. "Hey, hey, honey. I need you to take some nice deep breaths, try to calm down for us, alright" Maggie says carefully, taking Ellie's hands as I replace the nasal cannula under her nose. Ellie shakes her head and pulls her hands out of Maggie's, quickly covering her nose with her hands. "Sweetie, you've been doing so well... what changed?" I ask, not expecting a response. "Scared" she whimpers, making us all look to her sorrowfully, "what has made you so scared?" I ask carefully. She just shakes her head... she's done talking.
I see Baker rest on the door frame, silently observing... I then look to Luke and Maggie, giving them a nod, signalling that we should do this now. They both give slight nods back and reposition themselves to be most effective. Maggie carefully cups Ellie's cheeks in her hands and softly holds it still, while Luke takes her hands to keep them out of the way. Ellie's stream of tears thickens as she realizes what is happening, "oh, I'm sorry sweetie, I'm so sorry" Mags whispers sympathetically as she looks into Ellie's desperate eyes, gently wiping away the tears with the pads of her thumbs. I then gently pinch her chin between my thumb and forefinger, lifting her chin to tilt her head back slightly. "Deep breaths for me angel" Luke says soothingly as I insert the swab into her nostril, leading her to let out an involuntary sob. "Stay nice and still for me sunshine" I encourage as I push the swab further up Ellie's nose. She lets out a squeal after a few seconds signifying just how uncomfortable she is, "sorry sweetie, I'm almost done" I apologise, wiping some of her tears away before carefully moving the swab around to get the best possible sample and then pulling the swab back out.
"Ok, other side then I'm all done" I say sympathetically and she looks at me, shaking her head. More tears slide down her cheeks as she remains anxious. "No more" she whimpers and I sigh. "I'm so sorry sweetie, but we really need to get this done" I say sympathetically. She just cries, letting Maggie hold her, and allowing me to gently push the swab up her other nostril. "Keep breathing angel, you're doing well" Luke encourages before I push the swab further up. Ellie's hand slips out of Luke's grip and comes up to her nose, "sorry sunshine, I know, I know" I apologise, taking Ellie's hand in my free one before pulling out the swab. "Sorry Elle, I know that side's a bit worse, but I'm done now" I apologise. She lets out a sigh of relief when she is sure that I am done, allowing Maggie to wipe away the last of her tears. "Baker, can you go run this to the lab for me?" I ask. He quickly takes the swab from me, "and Baker, if you lose this..." I warn, "of course Dr Clifford" he says.
Maggie has left, going back to the nurses station after making sure that Ellie is as comfortable as possible. Ellie seems to be relatively calm now, knowing that her ordeal is over. It takes about 15 minutes for Baker to return but he comes bearing results. He passes me a piece of paper and I look at it before sighing. "Alright sunshine, we're gonna have to give you a couple of little injections to protect you from a sickness that has been floating around, do you think you can let us do that?" I say, to which she nods, "alright Ellie, we'll just let Josh go get it ready" I say, looking to Baker who seems kinda shocked that I've asked him to do something, "go Baker" Luke says, noticing his lack of movement. I don't know how he got his placement here, he seems so incompetent to the point where it is almost funny. The intern quickly scurries away to go get the injections. "Ellie, I want to test this guy a bit, do you think I can let him do one of the needles?" I ask, smiling encouragingly. She smiles and nods, "ok honey, I have a feeling that he isn't going to be very good at this but I think you're pretty brave, aren't you?" and she nods again, proudly, seeming excited about the prospect of testing this man. "Make it challenging for him" I chuckle, prompting another smile from my patient, "you two are evil" Luke chuckles just before Baker comes back with a kidney dish containing two injections.
"Go on Baker" I say, nodding my head towards Ellie, signalling for him to proceed with the injections. "What, you want me to do it?" he asks, "you seem up for a challenge" I say. He tries to stifle a groan, knowing that I could so easily get him fired. He takes a stool and places the kidney dish with the needles in it next to Ellie, in clear view of her. Luke and I share a look before I give a wink to my patient, giving her permission to freak out, and so she does. She starts looking around nervously and scooting away from Baker, "what is she doing?" he asks, annoyed, "she's scared" I answer simply. "Ellie, come here, let's get this over with" he sighs, putting his hand out, trying to pull her closer to him. This genuinely freaks her out because I know she doesn't trust him. Ellie starts to hyperventilate, "what do you not get about, unless you can see that she is comfortable, do not touch her?" I ask, gobsmacked that this is his attempt at getting her to let him stab her. "It's ok sunshine, deep breaths for me, just focus on me" I say, taking Ellie's attention and managing to calm her.
"Ok, I'll show you how to do it, then maybe you can have a go, hmm?" I say, raising an eyebrow at him. He sighs as he gets up from his stool, passing me the needles. "Alright sweetheart, I have to give you some medicine now, alright. I need you to be really brave for me sunshine" I say and wait for Ellie to move to me. "Good girl Ellie" I praise, "can I hold your arm, really gently please?" I ask carefully, knowing that she won't like this. She whimpers nervously but allows me to hold her arm before I wipe it with an alcohol pad. "Ok sunshine, little sting" I warn before quickly completing the injection. Ellie doesn't even flinch at the sting.
"Ok Baker, now you go" Luke says, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow in the intern's direction. Baker takes a deep breath, knowing that he has to get this right. Ellie goes right back to how she was before though and shuffles as far away from him as she can get. "Ellie honey, do you want to come sit here with me?" Luke asks carefully, sitting closer to Baker, knowing that he is going to need some help. Ellie looks to me nervously and I give her a little nod. She slowly moves towards the two. Baker sits there for a second, hesitating and I can see that he really isn't going to be able to do this and I sigh, "alright Baker, you can go back to your phone in the lounge, we'll try again another day" I say, disappointment evident in my words. He looks to me with a mix of embarrassment, upset and relief written on his face. "Alright angel, can I hold your arm?" Luke asks as Baker slowly gets up to leave. I see him watch Luke as he prepares Ellie for the injection, and I smile, seeing that he may be capable of improvement. "Little pinch Ellie" Luke warns before completing the injection, again, without Ellie even flinching.
Luke and I leave Ellie to have a little rest and we are just standing at the nurses station, chatting. I sigh and stop the conversation when I see Ash walking over. I know he wants to do the pelvic exam now and I know it's going to be difficult. He grabs me and drags me over to my patient's room before allowing me to compose myself and we calmly walk in together.