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I let him go. “Brayden, please. Take a deep breath and think. What might she be allergic to? What did she eat?”
He blinked again, his mouth opening and closing. I turned to the waiter. “This is a matter of life and death. What did she eat?”
The waiter scrambled to find their order and rattled off a list of meals.
“Wait, satay? Brayden, is she allergic to peanuts?”
His face was blank. “Maybe.”
“Does she have an EpiPen?”
Brayden shrugged.
I pushed past him and knelt beside Harry. “There’s an EpiPen in Pam’s office and we have adrenaline in the nurse’s room.”
Brayden’s mum convulsed and Harry immediately rolled her onto her side. The rash was now more pronounced around her mouth as well as on her fingertips.
“Her airways are closing up. I’m checking for obstructions before I start CPR and mouth to mouth.” He raised his voice. “How many minutes for that ambulance?”
“Eight minutes!” someone yelled back.
“Stay on the line. No matter what. Give me updates!” Harry looked back to me. “Get the adrenaline. I’ve done this before in ER for an acute allergic reaction. The ambulance could be too late.”
I nodded, my heartbeat thundering in my ears. “Keys?”
Brayden’s mum started to thrash, her hands going to her throat. Harry held her firmly, gritting his teeth.
“Left pocket. And run like hell, Stacey.”
“On it.” I slipped my hand into his pocket, grabbed the keys, and then ran as fast as I could towards work.
Deep breaths, just like racing a car.
I unlocked the back door, flinging it open, unlocked Pam’s office and the nurse’s room, and in a couple of minutes was running out with the adrenaline and a first aid kit.
Every muscle in my legs burned. Every second counted.
Harry was pumping her chest, performing CPR, as I ran. I had the EpiPen in one hand like a baton in a relay race, and the needle and vial of adrenaline in the other, the first aid bag swinging into me with each stride.
“Out of her way!” Harry yelled.
Time slowed.
I realised too late that I couldn’t slow down on the slippery tiled floor in front of the restaurant. A flashback of high school sport came to me: sliding to steal first base in a softball game. Without thinking about what I was doing, I angled my leg and hit the hard floor, pain shooting up my leg, as I slid up to Harry on my shin and knee, holding the EpiPen outstretched.
Harry took it smoothly from me as I came to a stop beside him and our patient.
I gritted my teeth as I uncapped the needle and loaded a dose of adrenaline as Harry pushed up the woman’s dress and plunged the EpiPen into her thigh.
Brayden’s mum gasped.
“The EpiPen is yellow. A junior dose,” I said. “Patient needs more, it’s not enough for her estimated body mass.”
I held up the needle, now half full of adrenaline.
Harry eyeballed the needled and nodded once, holding Brayden’s mum steady. “Do it!”
I jabbed the needle into her thigh and injected more of the lifesaving drug. The woman took a shuddering deep breath.
