A Baby to Rescue Their Hearts by Louisa Heaton

Author:Louisa Heaton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-03-05T19:59:58+00:00

* * *

‘We’ve got a trauma call for you. Fifty-two-year-old male, fallen from a ladder, suspected broken arms.’

Arms. Plural. Ouch!

Sophie drove to the address and could see their patient lying on the paved driveway by a ladder. A woman, probably the patient’s wife, came scurrying up to their vehicle as they got out.

‘He fell off the ladder taking down the Christmas lights. I told him to get them down months ago, but he wouldn’t listen.’

Sophie pulled on gloves as she walked towards the patient, Theo following behind with the jump bag and Entonox.

‘You don’t look like you’ve got long to go,’ said the woman.

‘I’m imminent.’

‘You should be at home, putting your feet up.’

Sophie smiled. She got that a lot. But she’d go stir crazy at home. Working was much better—even if it did tire her out. All her scans and blood tests and BP checks told her that she was doing fine, and it wasn’t as if she was ill. She could still do her job.

‘What’s your husband’s name?’ she asked.

‘Jeff.’

‘Any medical issues we need to know about?’

‘Does lazy-itis count?’

Sophie smiled as she knelt down so that Jeff could see her. He was face-down, but she could see a bad graze across his cheek.

‘Hello, Jeff. I’m Sophie, and I’ve got my colleague Theo here, too. Can you tell me what happened?’

‘I was taking down the damned lights and the ladder must have slipped.’

‘You put your arms out to break your fall?’

‘Yeah. Felt something go...heard something crack.’

‘What hurts the most?’

‘My arms. My right knee.’

‘Okay...and if you could rate your pain from zero to ten, with zero being no pain and ten being the worst...?’

‘Definitely a nine.’

Sophie looked to Theo and mouthed Entonox.

Theo got the canister and the mouthpiece ready. Ideally, they liked the patient to hold the mouthpiece, but on this occasion the patient’s arms were out of commission, so Theo kept hold of the mouthpiece so that Jeff could breathe from it.

‘Nice deep breaths, mate,’ Theo said. ‘You can breathe out as well as in...breathe through it.’

They were going to need help, log-rolling this patient. Because of the fall he might have a neck or spinal injury, and with Theo controlling the Entonox, and Sophie pregnant, they would need extra hands—and soon.

She radioed through to Control and asked them what the running time was on the second crew with an ambulance.

‘En route, six zero two. ETA two minutes.’

‘Thanks.’ She knelt down again to explain the situation to Jeff. ‘I’m going to give you a painkilling injection. It will help until they get here, okay? All you need to do is breathe, try to relax, and don’t move anything.’

After giving him the injection, she tried to check out the rest of his body. They’d need to get a cervical collar on him, but that would be impossible until the extra help arrived. His arms were most definitely broken, and she thought he’d either broken his kneecap or maybe even his lower leg near the knee joint from his impact with the paving slabs from such a height.

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