Page 29 of Paging Dr. Breakup
“So much for a first date.” She stood on the other side of the door, shoulders sagged. Always on duty.
He gripped the bags of food he held, the movement preventing him from wrapping his arms around her. “At least we got our public appearance taken care of.”
“Appearance. That’s right.” Her gaze slid off of him and away. “Finally.”
After they parked both his vehicle and Melinda’s in front of the hospital, he and Deirdre badged through the emergency department entrance and stepped into the ED room the unit coordinator at the work area desk indicated.
“Melinda?” Deirdre said softly.
Gordy’s parents looked up from their seats at his bedside. He slept soundly, his normally tight limbs limp, a light gurgling snore coming with each breath. Cal couldn’t resist checking the vitals on the monitor. Sats were ninety-five percent on oxymask, pulse regular, blood pressure soft but probably okay given Gordy’s age around thirty and condition.
With a quick hug around the neck to both of them, Deirdre handed over the keys. “He’s sleeping hard, huh?”
Melinda nodded, lines of fatigue and age etching her kind face. “With the combination of a post-seizure state and the lorazepam, he’ll be out cold for many hours.”
“Anything I can do?”
Deirdre rested a hand on the woman’s shoulder. Suddenly, Cal felt like a real outsider. Like he needed to slip out of the room. He edged toward the door.
“Thank you, but we’re good. This is par for the course with our Gordy. Dr. Tipton said he should stay for observation. She wants to watch for more seizures in case this is a cluster. He also needs treatment with antibiotics for aspiration.”
“Yes, that was a long seizure,” Deirdre said in a soft voice, like she wanted to agree but didn’t want to say too much.
Steve and Melinda locked eyes. “Sure was,” he said with a grimace. “But Gordy keeps trucking along, right, hon?”
“What other option is there?” Melinda’s smile was sad. “Besides, we were due for another family health issue.”
Another issue? Cal racked his brain. He didn’t know Melinda and Steve well, as they were about thirteen years older than him. He hadn’t heard that they were ill. Their daughter Louise? She seemed healthy.
What did he know? No surprise there were things going on in town that he hadn’t been aware of. Why that bothered him, he couldn’t say.
Deirdre gave one more pat on the shoulder and stepped back. “Well, let me know what I can do to help.”
“You’re in great hands tonight,” Cal added. “Dr. Tipton is an excellent physician. And it looks like Gordy’s stabilized.”
“Of course,” Melinda said. “The joke in our family is that with all the health issues his entire life, Gordy must have nine lives.”
Steve snorted. “He might have nine lives, but I’m personally down to seven after tonight’s seizure.”
They all laughed softly. Cal and Deirdre exited the room.
Cal stopped at the work area next to Lee Tipton, family physician and newcomer to Yukon Valley. “Feeling good about Gordy?” he asked.
Dr. Tipton was an excellent physician, but she fully acknowledged that she hadn’t done inpatient or ED work in several years. When she asked him questions, it was obvious to Cal the exercise was for confirmation, not direction. She knew her stuff and only needed reinforcement that her decisions were sound.
“Thanks for checking. Seizure med levels are pending, and I’ll adjust the dose if need be. Ativan as needed overnight. Labs and cultures cooking. The chest x-ray had some infiltrates, so I’m covering for pneumonia. Not sure if he was getting ill and that’s what triggered the seizure or if he had the seizure and then aspirated.”
“Chicken and the egg, huh?”
“At this point, the treatment’s the same.”
“True.”
“Hey, you two scoot on out of here already. You’re off duty.” She waved. “Hi, Deirdre! It sounded like last weekend’s guests were really happy.”
Deirdre smiled, and it felt like sunshine indoors to Cal. “They booked another reservation to return this fall during the salmon run!”
“That’s great news!”
