Life Support Read Online Free PDF
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Slotkin?"
He sighed. "I guess I'll have to."
"If there's someone else in the family who can do it�"
"No, there's no one else. Anyway, he'll expect me to show up. To make sure everything's done right."
As Toby hung up, Daniel Slotkin's last words struck her as faintly threatening, To make sure everything's done rig*t. And why wouldn't she do everything right?
She picked up the telephone and left a message with the Brant Hill Clinic answering service, telling them their patient Harry Slotkin was in the ER, confused and disoriented. Then she punched in the beeper for the Springer Hospital X-ray tech.
A moment later, the tech called back from home, his voice groggy with sleep. "This is Vince. You beeped me?"
"This is Dr. Harper in the ER. We need you to come in and do a STAT CT head scan."
"What's the patient's name?"
"Harry Slotkin. Seventy-two-year-old man with new-onset confusion."
"Right. I'll be there in ten minutes."
Toby hung up and stared at her notes. What have I overlooked? she wondered. What else s*auld I be searching for? She reviewed all the possible causes of new-onset dementia. Strokes. Tumors. Intracranial bleeds. Infections.
She glanced again at the vital signs. Maudeen had recorded an oral temperature of 37.9 degrees centigrade. Not quite a fever, but not quite normal, either. Harry would need a spinal tap�but not until the CT scan was done. If there was a mass in his skull, a spinal tap could lead to a catastrophic shift in pressure on the brain.
The wall of a siren made her glance up.
"Now what?" said Maudeen.
Toby shot to her feet and was already waiting at the ER entrance when the ambulance pulled up with a loud whoop. The vehicle's rear door flew open.
"We got a code in progress!" the driver yelled.
Everyone scrambled to unload the stretcher. Toby caught a quick glimpse of an obese woman, her face pale and limp-jawed. An ET tube was already taped in place.
"We lost her pressure enroute�thought we'd better stop here instead of going on to Hahnemann�"
"What's the history?" snapped Toby.
"Found on the floor. Had an MI six weeks ago. Husband says she's on Digoxin�" They rushed the patient through the ER doors, the driver pumping clumsily on the chest as the stretcher careened up the hall and swerved into the trauma room. Val hit the light switch. Overhead lamps flooded on, blindingly bright.
"Okay, you all got a grip? She's a big one. Watch that IV! One, two, three, move!" yelled Maudeen.
In one smooth transfer, four pairs of hands slid the patient off the ambulance stretcher and onto the treatment table. No one had to be told what to do. Despite the seeming confusion of a Code Blue, there was order in chaos. The driver resumed chest compressions. The other EMT continued bagging the lungs, pumping in oxygen. Maudeen and Val scrambled around the table untangling IV lines and connecting EKG wires to the cardiac monitor.
"We've got sinus rhythm," said Toby, glancing at the screen. "Stop compressions for a second."
The driver stopped pumping on the chest.
"I'm barely getting a pulse," said Val.
"Turn up that IV," said Toby. "We got any pressure yet?"
Val glanced up from the arm cuff. "Fifty over zip. Dopamine drip?"
"Go for it. Resume compressions."
The driver crossed his hands over the sternum and began to pump again.
Maudeen scurried to the code cart and pulled out drug ampules and syringes.
Toby slapped her stethoscope on the chest and listened to the right lung field, then the left. She heard distinct breath sounds on both sides. That told her the ET tube was properly positioned and the lungs were filling with air. "Hold compressions," she said and slid the stethoscope over to the heart.
She could barely hear it beating.
Glancing up again at the monitor, she saw a fast sinus rhythm tracing across the screen. The heart's electrical system was intact. Why didn't the woman have a pulse? Either the patient was in shock from blood loss.
Or . . .
Toby focused on the neck,
He sighed. "I guess I'll have to."
"If there's someone else in the family who can do it�"
"No, there's no one else. Anyway, he'll expect me to show up. To make sure everything's done right."
As Toby hung up, Daniel Slotkin's last words struck her as faintly threatening, To make sure everything's done rig*t. And why wouldn't she do everything right?
She picked up the telephone and left a message with the Brant Hill Clinic answering service, telling them their patient Harry Slotkin was in the ER, confused and disoriented. Then she punched in the beeper for the Springer Hospital X-ray tech.
A moment later, the tech called back from home, his voice groggy with sleep. "This is Vince. You beeped me?"
"This is Dr. Harper in the ER. We need you to come in and do a STAT CT head scan."
"What's the patient's name?"
"Harry Slotkin. Seventy-two-year-old man with new-onset confusion."
"Right. I'll be there in ten minutes."
Toby hung up and stared at her notes. What have I overlooked? she wondered. What else s*auld I be searching for? She reviewed all the possible causes of new-onset dementia. Strokes. Tumors. Intracranial bleeds. Infections.
She glanced again at the vital signs. Maudeen had recorded an oral temperature of 37.9 degrees centigrade. Not quite a fever, but not quite normal, either. Harry would need a spinal tap�but not until the CT scan was done. If there was a mass in his skull, a spinal tap could lead to a catastrophic shift in pressure on the brain.
The wall of a siren made her glance up.
"Now what?" said Maudeen.
Toby shot to her feet and was already waiting at the ER entrance when the ambulance pulled up with a loud whoop. The vehicle's rear door flew open.
"We got a code in progress!" the driver yelled.
Everyone scrambled to unload the stretcher. Toby caught a quick glimpse of an obese woman, her face pale and limp-jawed. An ET tube was already taped in place.
"We lost her pressure enroute�thought we'd better stop here instead of going on to Hahnemann�"
"What's the history?" snapped Toby.
"Found on the floor. Had an MI six weeks ago. Husband says she's on Digoxin�" They rushed the patient through the ER doors, the driver pumping clumsily on the chest as the stretcher careened up the hall and swerved into the trauma room. Val hit the light switch. Overhead lamps flooded on, blindingly bright.
"Okay, you all got a grip? She's a big one. Watch that IV! One, two, three, move!" yelled Maudeen.
In one smooth transfer, four pairs of hands slid the patient off the ambulance stretcher and onto the treatment table. No one had to be told what to do. Despite the seeming confusion of a Code Blue, there was order in chaos. The driver resumed chest compressions. The other EMT continued bagging the lungs, pumping in oxygen. Maudeen and Val scrambled around the table untangling IV lines and connecting EKG wires to the cardiac monitor.
"We've got sinus rhythm," said Toby, glancing at the screen. "Stop compressions for a second."
The driver stopped pumping on the chest.
"I'm barely getting a pulse," said Val.
"Turn up that IV," said Toby. "We got any pressure yet?"
Val glanced up from the arm cuff. "Fifty over zip. Dopamine drip?"
"Go for it. Resume compressions."
The driver crossed his hands over the sternum and began to pump again.
Maudeen scurried to the code cart and pulled out drug ampules and syringes.
Toby slapped her stethoscope on the chest and listened to the right lung field, then the left. She heard distinct breath sounds on both sides. That told her the ET tube was properly positioned and the lungs were filling with air. "Hold compressions," she said and slid the stethoscope over to the heart.
She could barely hear it beating.
Glancing up again at the monitor, she saw a fast sinus rhythm tracing across the screen. The heart's electrical system was intact. Why didn't the woman have a pulse? Either the patient was in shock from blood loss.
Or . . .
Toby focused on the neck,
Similar Books
Roaring Up the Wrong Tree
Celia Kyle
Pressure Rising (Rhinestone Cowgirls Book 2)
Rhonda Lee Carver
My Highland Lord (Highland Lords)
Tarah Scott
When We Were Friends
Elizabeth Arnold
Rekindled
Nevaeh Winters
Born of the Night
Sherrilyn Kenyon
The Executor
Jesse Kellerman
The Duke’s Desire
Margaret Moore
Miracle Boy Grows Up
Ben Mattlin
