Helen’s mouth formed a perfect O. “Sepsis? Jeez, what do they think caused it?”
“She’d had a TAB the day before. They’re doing a post today, but the floating consensus: primary site of origin was the uterus.”
“I mean, it’s pretty sad, but totally possible with that procedure, or actually a million other things that cause infection. Don’t you think?” Helen said.
“After only 48-hours she was dead. I think that’s way too fast. Our protocol calls for routine antibiotics post-op so either she had a horrible immune system or something really messed her up.”
Vinnie piped up, “Are you sure this is a job you love?”
“It’s the people that count, kid.”
“Yeah, I know that,” Vinnie said. “I really get it. But—“
“Listen, Vinnie. You, me, everyone should be able to squeeze out as much time, as much life, as possible. Isn’t that what medicine is about?”
Chapter 17
After the doctor inserted the seaweed, Elyse left the office and then went for a walk. She stopped briefly at a bookstore, bought a couple of magazines, and sat in one of the store’s reading chairs and pretended to read. But she was too nervous and returned early to the clinic. She swallowed the medication the nurse had given her and sat quietly in the reception room, waiting for someone to call her in for the abortion.
She was supposed to bring someone to drive her home but she’d kept the pregnancy a secret. There was no one.
She would rather die than tell Thad about her pregnancy, or ask him for any kind of help. He might have been supportive – she at least wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt − but she’d shoved him out of her head. He wouldn’t really care what happened to her, she’d only end up being someone he’d knocked-up.
The medication was starting to work; she felt a little better – her situation didn’t seem all that important anymore. She dozed off, then was awakened by someone calling her name.
“Elyse Kyser?”
She wanted to cry. It was that brusque woman who had brought her in this morning.
When Elyse walked up to the woman, she saw her name tag and at the same moment, remembered her name.
Thelma Karsh.
The medical assistant looked around the room. “Where is your ride?” Her voice cut through any relaxation Elyse might have gotten from the pills she’d swallowed. The woman rankled her; she sounded angry and unhappy.
“My friend went to do some shopping; she’ll be back in an hour,” Elyse lied.
Thelma nodded and they seemed to fly down the corridor. Elyse found it hard to keep up, particularly since she was so lightheaded and could only walk with unfamiliar wobbly feet. Thelma took a quick glance back over her shoulder, but kept on walking. She never slowed down and not a single word passed between the two of them.
Elyse blurted, “I thought Gina said she was going to be with me this afternoon.” Even with the medication pills and an empty stomach, this woman’s stern attitude was making her insides churn. The corridor took a sudden spin. She reached out for the wall and held on to steady herself.
I don’t want this woman with me … I don’t want her.
Thelma stopped in her tracks about ten feet ahead, turned, and stood there tapping a foot. “Ms. Mazzio will assist the doctor after I get you ready and set up everything for the procedure.” She walked back to Elyse and took her firmly by the elbow. “But we do have to move along now.” Thelma gave Elyse a smile that was gone before it could become a reality.
There was something out of whack. Elyse didn’t know if it was the woman or herself, but fear curled in her belly and her heart started pounding.
The assistant escorted her into a room, one much larger than the one she’d been in that morning. There were all kinds of equipment around her and when she recognized the emergency red crash cart she’d seen in the movies, a jolt of terror raced down her spine.
“You can undress from the waist down, then have a seat on the table while I get things ready.”
Thelma opened a wrapped set of instruments, put on a pair of gloves, and arranged everything neatly. There wasn’t really very much on the tray – far less than Elyse had imagined would be needed. But a large glob of jelly seemed to stare back at her just as it had this morning.
She was shaking so hard, she had trouble unfolding her drape. By the time she was seated, Thelma had finished setting up.
A quick knock on the door and then Gina stepped in. She took one look at Elyse and moved to her side, took her hand, and squeezed hard. For a brief moment, Elyse felt saved.
She noticed that Thelma wasn’t nice to Gina either. It was obvious that there was no love lost between them.
When the medical assistant left, Gina said, “You seem so frightened.”
Elyse started bawling. “I don’t know, but I have this bad feeling that won’t go away.”
Gina wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Listen, Elyse, we do these procedures every day. We’ll take good care of you.”
While Elyse tried to quiet herself, she watched Gina check out everything; it was curious, though, why did the nurse stand still for a long moment focused on the glob of jelly?
* * *
Thelma wanted to race out of the room. She felt exposed and vulnerable. She’d carried the strep culture to work and had kept it in a small incubator-like container in her car before transferring part of the specimen to a culture tube in her pocket. She was grateful that the department’s policy was to warm the KY jelly so patients wouldn’t be jolted by the chill of it. For Thelma’s purposes, it couldn’t have been better – it allowed the microbes to stay within the acceptable temperature range. She knew her procedure was not perfect and probably had a number of flaws, but it had worked on Carrie to her complete satisfaction.
She smiled to herself.
That’s what the books describe as positive clinical testing.
* * *
Starting the IV was routine. Elyse didn’t seem to notice Gina jabbing her with a needle. She just stared at the ceiling.
Gina wrapped a B/P cuff around Elyse’s arm, took her temp, and placed an oximeter on a finger while the machine automatically clicked as it searched to record her blood pressure. Waiting for it to finish, Gina rechecked the counter and tray to make certain they held everything she’d need to assist Dr. Forez. Then she went to the suction machine at the foot of the table and checked it again.
“I’m not used to drugs,” Elyse said. “I really feel wiped out.”
“And that’s a good thing right now. But you do feel more relaxed, don’t you?”
“I’m better now that … that woman is gone. Why is she so … so hateful?”
“Are you talking about Thelma?”
“Yes. I know she’s judging me for having this done … for having an abortion. That’s how my parents would have reacted if I’d told them.”
Gina had to swallow hard not to agree out loud. Thelma did seem judgmental. “Some people are just more difficult to understand than others,” she said, smiling at Elyse. “At least I tell myself that. Do you have any more questions? Is there something we didn’t cover this morning?”
Elyse said nothing for a few moments while she seemed to study Gina’s face. Tears started rolling down her cheeks. “I mean … I know it was stupid to miss my mini pill …I know that. But what was really stupid was to give myself to someone, allow myself to be so vulnerable … then be discarded like … like some useless piece of trash. That really hurts.”
Gina took her hand, squeezed it hard – she knew what Elyse felt. Oh, how she knew. And she couldn’t say one word, couldn’t tell her how she’d felt the same way with Dominick, how he’d made her feel worthless, too. She couldn’t tell Elyse how she’d had to learn, was still learning, to be strong again. That things would get better.
“Have you ever felt that way, Gina?”
“I have.”
“How do I get through this and start to feel like me again?”
“Right now hormones are making you very emotional, but that will subside.”
“You mean I’ll stop throwing up?”
“Yeah, you will. And as for the rest of it … it’s going to take time. Accept that and it’ll all get easier.”
“But when does that empty, useless feeling go away?”
Gina thought for a moment. “What are you studying in school, Elyse?”
“I’m into environmental sciences, particularly oceans. What we have to do to save them.”
“Wow! That doesn’t sound useless to me.” Gina rested a hand on her shoulder. “That sounds fantastic.”
Elyse’s eyes lit up. “We need to do something to save the Earth.”
“You should be proud of yourself.”
The lines in Elyse’s face gave way to relaxation.
“Well, when I’m feeling down, I try to remember that who I am, what I am, are things I decide … not some stranger,” Gina said.
Elyse smiled and for the first time, she looked young and hopeful.
* * *
Dr. Hannah Forez removed the laminaria, let it drop into a rolling waste bucket while Gina was uncovering the instrument tray.
The doctor adjusted the speculum; Gina focused the overhead light.
“Looks like the seaweed did a great job of getting things started,” the doctor said. “How’re you doing, Elyse?”
“I’m fine.”
“Good, girl!” She said to Gina, “Give the inside a spray of Betadine.”
“Now you might feel some discomfort for a second but it shouldn’t be too bad.” The doctor injected a local anesthetic into the cervix, then picked up the smallest of several dilators and dipped it into the KY jelly on the tray. She looked at Gina, her eyebrow raised. “You have stock in KY?”
“Not me. I’m just broke and middle-class.”
“Well, that’s sure a lot of goop.”
“Thelma did the set-up. I’ll talk to her about it.”
Forez continued to dip dilators of increasing size into the jelly before using them to enlarge Elyse’s cervical opening. When she was finished, she half stood and said to Elyse, “Can you hang in there for another minute or so?”
Elyse nodded. “I think so.”
“Good. The suction machine … well it’s a little noisy … but then we’ll be finished. Okay?”
* * *
On discharge, Elyse confessed she had no one to pick her up. Gina arranged for a cab and ended up lending her ten dollars to help cover the fare.
“I promise to pay you back as soon as possible,” Elyse said as she sat down in the wheelchair that had been brought in for her.
“I know you will, Elyse. Hey, listen, you call me if you have any questions or need anything.”
“Okay.” Elyse stuffed her post-op instructions into her purse and looked at Gina a long moment. “Like you said, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Thanks for being there for me.”
Gina pushed the wheelchair out to the main patient entrance and stopped near the curb.
“You don’t need to wait with me,” Elyse said.
“Oh, yes, I do. I want to make certain you’re tucked into that cab safe and sound.”
When the taxi arrived, Gina helped Elyse into the back seat and made sure she was comfortable. They looked at each other for a moment, then reached out and hugged each other.
* * *
Gina was smiling as she walked back to the nurses’ station. This was why she became a nurse in the first place. She wanted to be a part of people’s lives.
Taneka and Thelma were at the desk, talking.
Gina walked directly up to Thelma. “Why are you dumping so much KY on the surgical tray?
Thelma’s face paled; it took her a moment to respond. “I only want to make sure there’s enough so the doctor doesn’t run out.”
“Well, Dr. Forez certainly felt it was overkill … so to speak.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I’ll be more careful the next time.”
Taneka smiled at Thelma as if she were her favorite child.
* * *
Thelma grabbed some alcohol wipes to disinfect the counter at the nurses’ station. She sniffed at the irritating fumes and kept an eye on Gina as she walked away, watched her hips sway as if she was something special. She really disliked the new nurse with her heavy New York accent.
Just because she’s an RN, the bitch thinks she’s smarter than me. Thinks she can treat me like dirt.
We’ll see about that.
* * *
Ever since talking to his mother, Dominick had been scouting Ridgewood Hospital, hoping to spot Gina either arriving for or leaving work.
He didn’t know her schedule, but assumed she’d work either the day or swing shift. He’d already tried both on separate days without luck, so now he was repeating himself. Today, he timed it to be at the hospital about 3:30, which was about the time she would usually leave work when they lived together in New York. It was close to four and he hadn’t spotted her, yet.
He decided that if he didn’t see her today, he was going to search the streets around the hospital for her stupid, fucking Fiat. She would never give that up. He tried once to sneak into the Ridgewood garage, but made a quick escape when he saw it was patrolled by a rent-a-cop in an electric golf cart.
Across the street from the hospital, Dominick had parked his cheapo rental in a Handicapped Parking zone, watching the front entrance. He’d early on realized there was too much ground to cover – and hills to climb – to cover all the hospitals in San Francisco by foot, bus, and streetcar.
There was a lot of traffic today, both vehicles and pedestrians, which made it difficult to keep a close eye on what was happening across the street at Ridgewood. Then, just after 4:00, when he was getting ready to leave, he watched a taxi pull up to the patient entrance. And there she was! His fucking ex-wife was pushing a wheelchair out toward the curb. He watched her help a woman into the backseat of the cab.
“Got you, bitch!”
Two people walking by gave him dirty looks, but he didn’t give a rat’s ass. What did they know?
“Fuck off,” he snapped. “Go home and fry an artichoke or something.”
The pair hurried on, didn’t look back.
Shoulda told those two boobs that there, across the street, was the skank who not only killed my baseball career, but had me thrown in the slammer to rot for three years.
This time she’s not going to get away. This time she’s gonna pay.
He watched until the taxi left, moving away from the curb into the flow of traffic, and Gina had gone back inside.
Cold sweat trickled under his arms, a fiery volcano roiled inside. Now he had to find that stupid car of hers.
He knew she liked to park on less-traveled side streets so some jerk wouldn’t ding her precious dinky car. He made a u-turn and started exploring all the side streets near the hospital.
Shit! What a piece of junk this is. Costing me a wad of bills. It never ends. She just keeps messing me up.
He was about to turn onto a new street when he saw it.
You don’t get away this time, bitch. I’m gonna nail you.
He edged into a space on the opposite side of the street from the Fiat and waited. He’d almost dozed off when he saw her walking down the sidewalk, headed for her car. He waited for her to drive away, then swung around to follow her at a safe distance, hoping she was headed home. She drove into a residential neighborhood, found a spot for the stupid Fiat, and entered an apartment complex.
After she was inside, he double-parked in front of the apartment and walked up to read the tenant names under the individual door-buzzer buttons.
And there it was: Gina Mazzio / Harry Lucke,
He slammed a hand against the mailboxes. He’d by God found her.
Chapter 18
Thelma was on fire: heart thrumming, adrenaline racing. Every part of her. She couldn’t sit still.
Pace, pace, pace
. Back and forth, back and forth.
I actually did it!
A coil of pleasure expanded in her belly. Her studying ... her planning ... her praying had worked.
Oh, when is he coming home?
He had to be somewhere in the building this late in the day. Something must have broken down in one of the apartments or he would have been home by now.
She looked down at their couch and swept a hand like a wand across the sagging seats, as if that motion alone would change the secondhand piece into something brand new, something plush and wonderful. Oh, how she’d wanted to get new furniture, new drapes, new furnishings that would brighten up their living room. But Marvin wouldn’t allow it; said what they had was good enough – The Holy Eye needed their money more.
Maybe. But none of them have done what I’ve done ... I’ve given one hundred percent.
Since she couldn’t sit still, she slipped into her homemade laboratory in the bathroom. She rolled out a small table from the corner behind the door and lifted the cloth that covered a microscope, small incubator, and other equipment. Opening the warming unit she scanned the temperature gauges to make sure everything was optimal for her cultures.
It all looked fine. She smiled when she saw the new growth in the petri dishes reacting to the blood agar. She lifted a tiny sample of bacteria, placed it on a slide, adjusted the lens and checked it under the scope. The strep was ovoid and grew in strings or chains. They were really very beautiful.
She’d known she could do this, but the feelings of accomplishment began to fade when she thought about how much more she’d wanted to know, to understand. But instead of going to college, she’d married Marvin. Then there was one baby after another –all four were girls. Her dreams of college were over. There was never any money left over for Thelma or what she wanted.
She turned back to the microscope.
Thelma had read about Hemolytic Strep but it really didn’t mean much, other than it could get into bloodstreams and make people very sick. She knew how inadequate she was with her superficial knowledge. It only gave her very limited understanding about the bacteria she was nurturing.
Bone of Contention: A Medical Thriller With Heart (The Gina Mazzio Series Book 4) Page 7