AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Then come with me, Mandy,” Irene offered. “I’ll take you to Jolie’s place before I head home.”
They’d only been gone a few minutes when the phone rang.
“Dad’s having trouble breathing again. We’re in Rafe’s cruiser, and Dad’s in the back seat.” Thea’s voice caught. “We’re just pulling into town.”
“I’ll be ready.” Jolie thought fast. The closest hospital was in Bozeman, a hundred miles away. If he’d had a heart attack or an exacerbation of his congestive heart failure, she could stabilize him and arrange for transfer via helicopter...ifhe’d agree.
As she cradled the receiver, she mentally ran through a list of differential diagnoses. Myocardial infarction. Ischemia. Pulmonary edema. Pulmonary embolism. Bronchospasm.
Common words in her profession—but all sounded almost frightening as she thought about her own father coming through the clinic doors at any minute.
Praying that she wouldn’t need them, she pulled out the intubation kit. The code kit. Then she pulled the cardiac monitor and portable chest X-ray machine into the second exam room.
She’d invested in the basic types of equipment and supplies an isolated clinic might need, while looking forward to buying so much more. Every second could mean life or death, even if a helicopter was on the way.
She’d just gathered her IV supplies when she heard Rafe’s cruiser pulling to a squealing halt.
Rafe and Thea were already unbuckling Dad’s seat belt when she got to the car.
She took a quick pulse, then knelt down to press her thumb against the swollen flesh at his ankles. He was at 2+ edema, easily.
“Let him sit at the edge of the car seat. I’ll run after a gurney.”
“No.” Robert’s rasping, breathless voice was almost inaudible, but still as implacable as ever.
“Dad,” Thea begged. “We’re trying to help you.”
“I...don’t...need any...help. And I’m not...getting in any bed on wheels.” He wheezed harder, the flesh at his mouth turning a pale blue.
“A wheelchair,then,” Jolie snapped. If she didn’t bully him, he would never get out of the car. “There’s no sense in anyone getting hurt trying to haul you inside. Thea works harder than any man on that ranch. What would happen if you injured her back?”
For perhaps the first time in his life, Robert didn’t utter a sharp retort. Winded, he sagged against the seat and struggled for air.
“Guess you two didn’t make it very far out of town tonight,” Jolie said softly, touching Rafe’s shoulder as she headed toward the clinic.
“A good thing, too. We were right where we needed to be.”
In seconds, Jolie returned with the wheelchair. Robert glared at her. “If you don’t cooperate, Dad, I’m sending for a helicopter to take you to a hospital in Bozeman.Right now.”
He muttered something under his breath, but didn’t argue when Thea held the wheelchair steady, and Rafe helped Jolie transfer him into it.
A good six feet of solid muscle, he had to weigh over two hundred twenty on a good day, Jolie guessed as she wheeled him into the first exam room. But much more now with his fluid retention.
Under the bright lights, against the white walls of the exam room, his color looked even worse. “You need to get on the exam table, Dad. I’ll elevate your head so you can breathe easier and start you on some oxygen.”
He balked at first, then grudgingly rose, with Jolie and Rafe supporting him at either side. His passive resistance added considerably to the effort.
As soon as they got him on the table, she clipped a pulse oximeter onto his forefinger.Low, at eighty-seven percent. No surprise there.
She positioned a mask over his face, started the oxygen, and hooked him up to the cardiac monitor. After taking his vitals and an EKG, she questioned him while beginning her exam.
No chest pain, but he’d been increasingly short of breath over the last few days. He felt worse tonight.
“This looks pretty normal,” she announced as she studied the EKG tracing. “Not consistent with what I’d see with a heart attack, but those changes don’t always show up right away.”
“Then he’s okay so far?” Thea whispered. She and Rafe hovered near the table, Rafe’s arm draped protectively around her shoulders. “What now?”
“I need you two to step out while I do a chest X-ray. That will show us if his heart is enlarged or if he has a lot of edema there.”
