A Child To Call His Own by Sheila Danton

Author:Sheila Danton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

AS TAMMY finished writing down the results, the crash bell warned of a cardiac arrest. She rushed into the ward and saw Jan drawing the curtains around Mr Burt’s bed space and removing the pillows. Ben was clearing the patient’s airway while checking his carotid pulse. He shook his head. ‘No response to the chest thump.’ A health-care assistant raced in with the crash trolley as Tammy and Jan struggled to remove the bedhead. Jan immediately switched to administering oxygen with a hand-held squeeze bag while Ben administered chest compressions. Tammy started to fill syringes with the drugs that might be necessary.

It seemed like long minutes but could only have been seconds before the hospital crash team arrived and took control.

‘Carry on for the moment, Ben.’ The anaesthetist checked the defibrillator, applied the paddles and then warned everyone to stand back. The trace on the monitor changed and he nodded. ‘That looks encouraging. Keep an eye on the screen, Ben, and be ready to restart the compressions if necessary.’

‘Do you want another line?’ Tammy asked.

‘We’ll use his infusion for now, thanks.’ He checked the drugs Tammy had prepared. ‘I’ll keep those to hand for the moment and ask John B. for his opinion.’

Tammy was relieved to know that he was going to involve the cardiac registrar, especially as she knew Ben would be in the outpatient clinic all afternoon.

When John and his registrar had arrived and taken control, Ben indicated that Tammy should join him in the office. ‘Mike and I can cope with the outpatients until Mr Burt can be safely left.’ He moved towards her with a frown. ‘Are you all right, Tammy?’

‘Of course.’

‘Tammy…’ He reached for her hand but she turned quickly on her heel and made her way back into the ward.

It was nearly an hour later when John left and Mr Burt’s condition was sufficiently stable for Tammy to feel it was safe to remove the last of the paraphernalia that had arrived when he’d arrested and join Ben in the outpatient clinic.

He welcomed her with an unexpectedly warm smile. ‘Mr Burt OK?’

‘His wife’s just come in and she says she thinks he looks better than he did yesterday!’

‘Actually, we were very lucky it reverted so quickly. Now, do you think you could see these two follow-ups, Tammy? I think Mike and I can manage apart from that.’

She took the notes and as she made her way to the room allocated to her, she flicked through them and was pleased to see that Percy Good was one of them and had actually turned up. She wondered how he’d been persuaded to attend but it would be good to see how he was coping at home.

‘Hello, Mr Good,’ she greeted him. ‘How are you?’

‘OK.’

‘How’s your chest been since you’ve been at home?’

‘OK.’ He looked towards the door as if wondering whether he could escape now.

‘Would you like to go through here and I’ll listen to your chest?’

He moved reluctantly into the examination room and she waited while he removed his shirt.

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