Summary:
Samantha and Quinn tell Melody about her tumor. Matthew gets a trauma patient and needs Sam's help.
The First Cut is the Deepest- Part Two
“Melody, I’m afraid that you have a small brain tumor, which is what caused your seizure earlier.” Sam hated delivering bad news to her patients, but it came with the job. There was no escaping it.
Melody looked sick. “I have a brain tumor?”
“Yes,” said Lieman. “It’s called meningioma. The good thing is that it’s non cancerous, and should be simple to remove.”
“So I’ll need surgery?”
“Luckily we caught it when we did, and we’ll be able to do a complete resection.” said Sam. “You should be as good as new.”
“Have you called your parents yet?” asked Lieman, “They need to know what’s going on. We can call them for you if you need us to.”
“No, it’s alright. They’re probably worried about me. I’ll call them.”
“Alright.” Sam handed Lieman Melody’s chart. “I’m getting paged. Call me when her parents arrive.”
“What do we got?”
“Thirty-six year old male. He fell off his roof while doing repairs. Five minutes out.”
Dr. Matthew Kingston tied on a trauma gown, put on gloves, and headed out to the ambulance bay. Matthew loved trauma. You never knew what was going to come in, and he loved the rush. The sirens started blaring in the distance. As soon as they got there, Matthew pulled open the doors as the paramedic brought him out.
“Jacob Hunt. Fell thirty feet off his roof. His right arm stopped his fall. An obvious compound fracture of the humerus.” Matthew took a look at Jacob’s arm. It was an obvious fracture all right. The humerus was basically broken in two and poking through the skin.
“I assume he has more as well. Probably some minor head trauma. Vitals are stable. This is his wife, Anna.”
“It had stopped raining hours ago! I didn’t think the roof would still be slippery!”
“You shouldn’t have been up there at all Jacob!” his wife snapped at him. “I told you we could hire roofers to fix it!”
“Well, what’s the fun in that?” Jacob’s speech was slightly slurred, which was concerning, but Matthew didn’t let it show.
Anna turned toward Matthew. She was no longer upset with her husband, but worried about him instead. “He’s going to be okay right?”
“We’ll do everything we can to help him.” Matt turned to one of the residents. “Let’s get him to x-ray and CT.”
“Hey Matt. What’s the situation?”
“Our guy fell off his roof. Looks like it’s just a broken arm, but I wanted you to check the CT. His speech was slightly slurred, which concerned me.”
Sam nodded. “Sure thing. Let’s take a look.”
As the images appeared on the screen, Sam’s face fell. “Epidural hematoma. It’s small, but I need to get in and drain it as soon as possible, before it causes any damage. It’s a good thing you got him here right away. Book an OR.”
Sam’s pager buzzed. She took one look at it and cursed.
“What’s the matter?” asked Matthew
“My patient is seizing.” Sam started to run. “Page me when you’re ready.”
When Sam entered the room, Melody was seizing violently, with Lieman watching over her closely.
“How long has she been seizing?”
“Exactly two minutes.”
“Give her 500 mG of Levetiracetam.”
As a nurse injected Melody with the antiseizure medication, Sam heard voices outside. Kylie was back, and had brought Melody’s parents. “Dr. Hart, Melody’s parents are here…” her voice faded as she saw what was happening.
“What’s wrong with her?! What’s going on?” Mrs. Doyle was going ballistic.
“Kylie, you need to get them out of here now. I’ll get you once she’s stable.”
“No! I need to be with her!”
“M’am. I understand you’re scared. But you freaking out isn’t going to help us. Please, let me do my job.”
The medication started to kick in, and the spasms began to stop. After a few moments Melody’s eyes opened up. “What happened?”
“You had another seizure. We gave you some anti seizure medication.” Sam looked at the nurse. “Make sure you mark that down.” She turned back to Melody. “Your parents just arrived. You mom went crazy when she saw you.”
Melody rolled her eyes. “She gets over dramatic. And scared. She probably ran down a couple pedestrians in her hurry to get here. Go ahead and bring her in.”
“Quinn, do you think you could update the family? I’ve got to get to the OR. I’ve got someone with brain bleed. And when you’re done, go ahead and scrub in.”
Lieman smiled with joy. “Sure thing. Thank you so much Dr. Hart!”
Sam headed top speed for the operating room. Today was a busy day.
To Be Continued...