The Fog Ladies by McCormick Susan

Author:McCormick, Susan [McCormick, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The WIld Rose Press, Inc
Published: 2019-10-08T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

The emergency department was divided into Urgent Care, where Sarah was starting, and the true emergency department, for the sicker patients with heart attacks or trauma. Urgent Care was just what Sarah imagined, efficient, fast-paced and lots of patients, without the intense emotions of the hospital wards. One staff attending doctor oversaw two older residents and Sarah, the intern, with the younger doctors presenting their findings and treatment plan to the attending doctor for approval. Sarah quickly learned the treatments of the common ailments they saw—patients with earaches, colds, sore throats, urinary tract infections, headaches.

Sarah especially enjoyed meeting a young couple who lived north along the coast. The man’s grandfather had left him a parcel of land in an undeveloped area of redwood forest. They built a small house “by trial and error,” the wife said. “We still can’t believe we figured out a plumbing system. John’s dad is a builder, so he helped us a lot. But we feel like we did most of it ourselves.”

Sarah looked at the man seated on the examining table. He wasn’t a big man, but he was muscular, stocky. His sandy hair was cropped close, and he was wearing a flannel shirt. “We don’t have a doctor,” his wife explained. “We never get sick. We were coming in to the city today anyway, so when John got sick yesterday, we decided we’d better stop by and get it checked. He doesn’t usually complain.”

In fact, John wasn’t complaining now. He wasn’t saying much because he had a very sore throat, and he answered Sarah’s questions in soft whispers or nods. Yes, he had a fever and a stuffy nose. Yes, it hurt to swallow. No, he didn’t have a cough or chest pain or headache. No, he hadn’t been exposed to anyone with Strep throat. He had some enlarged, tender lymph nodes under his chin, but his throat wasn’t very red. His rapid test for Strep was negative, but Sarah decided to do the more sensitive throat culture and gave him antibiotics until the results were back. Her attending agreed with her plan, and she sent the friendly couple on their way.

Sarah was completely blindsided, then, when the attending physician took her aside two days later. “Sarah, do you remember treating John Simmons?”

At first Sarah didn’t remember his name. The attending doctor showed her the chart, and she knew at once who it was. Her heart started to race. She could see by the expression on the attending’s face that something had gone wrong.

“The coroner from Mendocino County called this morning. He died last night of epiglottitis.”

Sarah’s knees buckled and her vision blurred. She stumbled to a chair. Dead? Dead? That sturdy young man was dead?

The attending went on. “His wife said at first he seemed better on the antibiotics. But last night he had trouble sleeping. He was breathing heavily, but she thought it was because of his cold. He left the bedroom and went to the couch to try to sleep. When his wife woke up this morning, he was dead.

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