“Good.She has to calm down before she starts.Did you get a catheter in the dog?”
“Yes.We started fluids.”
“I need the patient’s stats.”
“Two-year-old neutered male hound mix.Ninety-three pounds.Lateral.Pain relief with buprenorphine.”
“I need you to take a video so I can see what we’re dealing with.Show me this arrow.”
I took a video and sent it.
Sarah proceeded to bark orders at a steady pace until the patient was fully prepped and under anesthesia.Then she ordered, “Put me on speaker for a sec.”I changed it to speaker.Sarah yelled, “We got the dog, Dr.Chomping.Get that arrow out.I’ll be with Dr.Hurst on anesthesia.We got you, girl.Put me off speaker, Dr.Hurst.”
I put the phone to my ear.“Here’s the most important part.Your job is to keep the patient under anesthesia and alive while she does what she has to do.If the dog’s stats start crashing, unless the dog is dead, don’t say a word to her.You will put the monitoring machine warning bells on silent mode.Do you understand me?”
“Got it.”
“It will freak her out and then all hell will break loose.It’s like she has this crazy rein on the energy around her during these procedures but if the patient is crapping out and she gets wind of it, she freaks out, and everything goes south.You will not sayoops, oh shit, fuck,or even give her awowduring the procedure.If you think things are off, I want you to say to me,stats update.Then send me a video of the stats.Okay?Again, you saystats update.Then you will take a video of what’s going on.”
“Got it.You seem to know her well.”
“We’ve gotten through things that’d make your butthole pucker.I want her back up here, Dr.Hurst.You can’t have her.There’s just no one like her.She will do what needs doing for this patient and be back next week.I can’t do another overnight without her.These other doctors suck.Now, take a picture of the dog’s stats on the monitoring machine and send it to me.”
I did and sent it.“First bag of fluids is in.”
“Start another, slower rate.”She rattled off a drip rate and a few things to add to the bag.“You need to do IV antibiotic.”
“I need you to scrub in, Dr.Hurst,” Erika said.
“Okay.”In my ear Sarah asked me to hand the phone to my tech.I handed it to Bonnie and scrubbed in.
I held stuff and handed items to Erika when needed.It was hard not to make small talk or even offer her praise.With her hands buried in the dog’s chest, Erika removed the arrow with calm, methodical confidence .This wasn’t the Erika I remembered.The one I recalled was exactly the one Sarah mentioned would appear if things started to go to crap with the patient.This Erika was badass.
There was no universe where I’d have the guts to do this.I could handle abdominal surgery.A chest was a whole different beast.She repaired shredded lung within millimeters of a steadily beating heart.
Damn.That was terrifying—and impressive.
An hour into the procedure, a man, not gowned or masked, marched into the surgery room and yelled, “Why weren’t you back at my place three hours ago?”
I blinked at my brother and glanced back at the patient on the table as if this answered everything.
“Timothy Hurst, is that you?”Erika pinned him with a displeased glare.“Please, get out of the surgery room.”
“Who the hell are you?”Closing in on thirty-five, Timothy’s newly bearded face and mildly rounding belly made him look like Glen Powell after a buffet bender at the Bob Evans.
Erika gritted out, “In case you didn’t notice, I’m in the middle ofopen-chestsurgery.Get.Out.”
He puffed up as if about to yell.“You can’t talk to me that way.”
“We can talk later,” I said in my most placating tone.“You can wait in the office.”
“No, we’ll talk now.”He took another step into the room.
Erika slammed a pair of hemostats onto the sterile tray, the metal clattering like a warning shot.She snatched up her scalpel and pointed it toward him, the blade gleaming under the surgical lights.
“Get.Out.”Her voice cut sharper than the instrument in her hand.“Take one more step in here and I’ll wedge this thing somewhere the sun don’t shine.You barging in here straight from the barn without even changing clothes puts my patient at risk for infection.”She didn’t lower the scalpel.“Dr.Hurst will deal with you when we’re finished.”
Timothy’s face flushed red.“I paid enough to own this building.Hell, I think I’ve replaced every HVAC element here and done so at a loss.I’ll talk to him wherever the hell I want.”
