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There was really no reason she couldn't have it all. A career and a family. A beautiful stepdaughter.
And, most importantly, Alec.
* * *
Things werequiet until about nine o’clock that night, then the gates opened and a flood of patients poured in.
Just as she'd predicted.
Jillian dealt first with two victims of a motor vehicle crash. Thankfully, they were both wearing their seat belts, so their injuries weren't as bad as she'd expected. A few broken limbs were nothing compared to massive head and chest injuries.
The numbness and tingling sensations had returned to her right hand. When the traction bar had slipped from her fingers, thankfully bouncing harmlessly off the mattress of the bed, she'd been forced to step back and let the nurses finish setting it up.
Once she'd gotten the two patients admitted to the orthopedic trauma service, she received another call about a drug overdose. Ignoring her concern over the symptoms in her right hand, she headed back to the trauma bay. The cleaning fluid on the floor wasn't even dry when the double doors of the ambulance bay slammed open yet again.
The patient was a seventeen-year-old male, and she immediately thought of the Barclay Park football team. When Alec came in with the teenager, she knew with a sinking sensation this wasn't a typical overdose.
“We found empty percocet wrappers in his bedroom. We've given him two doses of Narcan on the ride over, but his pupils are still fixed and dilated.” Alec’s expression was grim, and she was not surprised to see their patient had the muscular build of an athlete. “The paramedics intubated him, but he needs a nasogastric tube to get activated charcoal.”
If this situation wasn't so serious, she'd smile at how Alec was giving her orders on how to treat their patient. Instead, she focused on the young man. “How long ago did he take the medications?” She did a quick neural exam of her own. “Lacy, will you please get me a nasal gastric tube?”
“We don't know,” Alec admitted. “His mother hadn't seen him for several hours.”
Several hours wasn't good. Lace swiftly handed over the nasal gastric tube and Jillian pulled on a second pair of gloves before preparing to insert it.
She managed to get the tube halfway down, but then her fingers fumbled. Gritting her teeth, she tried to use her left hand to advance the tube. Then suddenly Alec was there, reaching over to help her. With his hands over hers, they advanced the tube to their patient’s stomach. Moments later, Lacy verified the placement of the tube, and then gave the first dose of charcoal.
“Thank you, Alec,” she whispered. There wasn't time for her to say anything more because her attention was needed for their patient.
“I have the results of his drug screen,” William announced. “Positive for codeine.”
Percocets had codeine in them so that confirmed what he'd taken. Was this an accidental overdose? The boy still hadn't woken up and that was more concerning than anything else.
It wasn't until she was unable to squeeze the ambu bag to give the boy deep breaths as they wheeled him up to the ICU, that Jillian realized her hand was much worse than before.
Her evoked potential tests may have been negative, but there was still something very wrong. And deep down she couldn't help but think it was serious.
In that moment she knew she couldn’t go with Alec to his parents’ house this weekend. Not until she knew for sure what was wrong with her. She never should have gotten so involved with Alec and his daughter. Shannon had already confided in her, had been comforted by her when she was sick. If Jillian continued to see Alec and Shannon, the little girl might view her as a mother.
She knew it was likely the little girl may see Jillian like that already. And that wasn’t fair.
After the way Shannon had lost her mother to a non-curable illness, she couldn't bear the thought of putting the little girl through such heartfelt bereavement all over again.
CHAPTERTWELVE
During the rest of her shift, Jillian tried not to think about Alec and Shannon. But concentrating on work wasn't helping either. The whole emergency department was upset about the boy, Daniel McNeil, who'd overdosed on percocets. His neurological status had been bad, making his prognosis grim. She silently prayed Alec hadn't found him too late.
Frank, their previous patient, was still holding his own. The hypothermia protocol seemed to be working. For that she was grateful. But losing even one young man was one too many.
Alec had gotten another call and left right after she transferred Daniel to the ICU so she didn't get a chance to talk to him about how he'd found the boy. Or anything else, like the fact that she changed her mind about his invitation. Her stomach twisted, making her feel sick.
Thinking about Daniel was only slightly better than dwelling on her health. The idea of being diagnosed with the debilitating illness wouldn't leave her alone. Sitting in her office at the end of her shift, she stared at her hands.
No way around it, she'd have to get in touch with Dr. Juran again, and soon. It was Friday night, so she'd have to wait until Monday. The weekend stretched long and empty before her, especially now that she decided not to go to Alec's parents’ house for the barbecue.
The pager app on her phone went off and she looked at the number with a sense of dread. Alec. What could she say to him? She wished she could tell him the truth. Knowing Alec, he'd come right over, take her into his arms and tell her everything would be alright.
Except she really didn't believe that. Oh, Alec would come, but it was the part of everything being all right that she didn’t believe.
