by E. M. Sadler
"Back in high school, Trish hid me in the trunk of her car when police raided a party at her parent's house. She knew that I would lose my soccer scholarship if I were caught drunk, and said she wanted to help. Thus, began 20 years of Trish holding her ‘kindness' over my head.” Then with a sigh she said, “Let's just say that, I'm thinking of reconsidering our friendship going forward. Life is too short to be angry all of the time. I just wish I didn't work with her at the hospital."
"Oh, what department do you work in?" I had seen Polly in scrubs before, but I didn't want to assume.
"I'm a nurse on the women's surgical floor at Danville Memorial."
"And is Trish a nurse as well?"
"Goodness no! Trish couldn't handle bodily fluids to save her life. She works downstairs as the registration supervisor. She mostly sits in her office and watches YouTube. Just don't tell anyone I told you that!" Polly said, with a conspiratory raise of her eyebrows.
Busy with washing the pots and pans ten minutes before the brunch was set to begin, I was completely caught off guard when two strong arms wrapped themselves around my middle.
Dale. Sigh!
"Hello, Mr. Wilson," I greeted him turning enough to press a kiss to his cheek. "How is your day going?"
"Much better now that you're here Mrs. Wilson. And how has your morning been?" he asked with a chuckle before releasing me. "Rumor has it, you've placed your claim on me in front of the entire PTA."
Making sure that we were alone in the dishwashing alcove, I admitted, "I hope you're not mad, but Trish was being herself and claiming that in the end, she'd be the one you'd chose, and I just snapped. The good news is, Trish quite the PTA. Unfortunately, the bad news is that some of the moms seem more hurt that I felt the need to hide our relationship. By the way, did you know our photographer is Polly's brother?"
"I did, but knowing Polly, I figured she wouldn't say anything. She has to deal so much with confidentiality at work that everyone calls her the secret keeper of Danville," Dale said with respectful admiration. "If you’re feeling up to it, I'd like to introduce you to a few of my colleagues when you're done.”
Giving him one quick kiss, I nodded my head before watching him exit to the brunch. As soon as he had walked through the swinging double doors, a sudden wave of nausea came over me followed by a stabbing pain in my side.
Breathing through it, I was soon able to reclaim my equilibrium as the pain slowly eased into the steady throb that I had become accustomed to over the last few days.
Damn! That was on my right side. I hope it's not appendicitis.
Resolving to stop by urgent care on the way home from dropping off the kids, I quickly finished the dishes and headed out to greet my husband's coworkers.
Later that afternoon, as I was driving down Geoff 's street, the throbbing escalated until it was radiating up my back. The suddenness of the extreme pain caught me off guard, and I nearly lost control of the car.
Barely making it into Geoff 's driveway, where I quickly threw the car into park, I was so focused on my breathing that I didn't realize that Geoff had approached the vehicle and was currently staring at me through the passenger's side window.
Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I opened the door where I was greeted with Geoff 's natural charm.
"What the hell is wrong with you? You look like you're taking a shit."
"Hi, Geoff. I'm fine, give me a second," I said, before doubling over in pain.
"Dammit woman, stop making a scene. The neighbors can hear you."
"I'm not trying to make a scene, Geoff. I think there's something wrong. Maybe it's my appendix," I said while gritting my teeth through the pain.
"Whatever, we both know you are just looking to be the center of attention. Well, congratulations you've gotten everyone's attention. Now please say goodbye to the girls, so that I can unload the car.” And if his attitude wasn’t cruel enough, he added, “I will never understand why you insist on embarrassing us."
During our marriage, Geoff constantly told me that when I was sick or in pain, it was because I was an attention seeker, but anyone who truly knew me knew that I didn't like to be the center of attention. Unfortunately, being born with a voice that doesn't whisper didn't help my case with Geoff. He always said that if I wanted to stop embarrassing him in public, I could find a way to change my voice's natural loudness, which I tried to do and failed.
Saying a quick and tearful goodbye to my babies, I allowed Geoff to unload the car and was back on the road within a few minutes. Thankfully, driving away from Geoff 's seemed to have eased most of my pain, leaving me to think that maybe the stress of dealing with Geoff had acerbated my condition.
I was only two miles away from the urgent care facility in Danville when I was once again struck with the stabbing pain in my side. This time it wouldn't subside, and I was terrified.
To avoid wrecking my car, I pulled off at the next exit and was thankful to find a sign stating that Danville Memorial Hospital was less than a quarter mile away from the exit ramp. Heading straight for the Emergency Room parking lot I prayed that my insurance didn't deny my claim for being un-emergent, leaving me with a giant hospital bill. Knowing my luck, this would turn out to be an uncomplicated UTI.
When I arrived in the registration area, I found myself fifth in line and was forced to file in behind a woman with sniffles. The standing was especially uncomfortable considering that all I want to do was curl into a ball and cry.
Ding
Geoff –
Sorry that you're not feeling well. I hope you're okay.
I was figuring out how to respond when I was finally called over to the next registration pod where I found myself face to face with Trish Samson.
FUCK! I thought she sat in the back office away from patients?
"Hello, Mrs. Jenkins and what can I do for you this afternoon?"
"It's Mrs. Wilson," I said between the stabs of pain, "And I'm here because of extreme side pain. I thought it was a UTI, but now I think it may be..." and then she cut me off.
Huffing she said with fake sweetness, "This isn't the nineties, Kelly, we have urgent care for non-emergencies. Now as you can see, we have a full room this afternoon, so if you'll please step aside for someone in real need, we'll pretend that you were never here."
Becoming agitated I cut her off before she could get me to vacate my seat, "No Trish! If you had listened to me before cutting me off, you would have heard me say that I now think it could be my appendix, which is why I'm here."
"Riiiggghhhttt!! I'm sure it's your ‘appendix,' and not a desperate cry for attention. Fine, give me your driver's license and a copy of your insurance card, and I'll make sure to streamline this for you." Despite her words, her tone made it clear that she was going to place me at the lowest priority.
Thirty minutes later, I was still sitting in the waiting room.
When the girl who was originally behind me in line with an ear infection had been sent back to triage, I was still a little hopeful that I might be seen sooner than later. The pain at this point was so unbearable that it was worse than giving birth, so being seen sooner would be a godsend.
An hour later, however, everyone in the waiting room had been seen except for me. That's how I knew that I'd been forgotten.
That or Trish never gave my information to the triage nurse.
At this point, the pain was so overwhelming that I was almost positive that it had to be my appendix, so I decide to call Dale.
"Hey, Babe! I just got back from The Cheesecake Factory. How far away are you?" he greeted me happily.
Unable to talk above a whisper due to the pain I tried to unsuccessfully say, "I'm at the emergency room, I think there's something wrong with my appendix."
"Kelly? Are you there? I didn't catch that."
Trying again as unbidden tears began to fall, I said, "I'm at the emergency room, I think there's something wrong with my appendix."
"Kelly, I still can't hear you. Are you
okay?" he said starting to panic, and then I hung up and texted him.
Kelly –
I'm at the emergency room at Danville Memorial. I think there's something wrong with my appendix.
Dale –
On my way!
Thankfully, as I was putting my phone away, I noticed a familiar face walking down the hall from the waiting room accompanied by an older gentleman in a white jacket. Gathering my strength, I stood up and said as loudly as possible, "P-P-POLLY!"
Turning to face me with a smile, the last thing I saw before blacking out was Polly rushing towards me, her face filled with horror.
Chapter 58 – Polly
I had worked on the women's surgical floor for ten years and had helped many of my friends through those years. Today, however, was the first day I have ever felt as though one of my friends might die in my care.
While walking back from lunch with my Uncle Jerry who was also the Chief of Surgery at Danville Memorial, I heard a familiar voice call my name from the emergency room waiting area. Turning mid-laugh after Uncle Jerry had told me a funny story about a patient, I was stricken by the sight of Kelly Wilson.
She was as white as a ghost, and the minute our eyes locked, all life seemed to drain from her body as she collapsed onto the emergency room floor.
Running to where Kelly had fallen, I was thankful to see my Uncle Jerry in my periphery calling out orders and wanting to know what she had come into the hospital for.
Unfortunately, none of the regular staff seemed to know there was anyone left in the waiting room, nor why her registration entry was sitting incomplete in the queue waiting to be forwarded to the triage nurse for review.
"Who took this registration?" Jerry bellowed towards the office pods in the entry.
"It says here that Trish Samson took the entry, sir," squeaked a young registration rep.
"Get her out here now. I need to know exactly what the patient said when she came in," my uncle demanded while following the gurney into the nearest trauma room.
Within seconds Trish was rushing into the room to calm the situation and immediately stopped in shock when she saw a lifeless Kelly lying before her.
"Trish, we need to know why Kelly came into the ER today. The registration was never completed or forwarded to triage," I said, while my uncle ran his initial diagnostics.
Stuttering, Trish says, "Ssssshhh-she said it wa-was a UTI."
"What were her exact words, Trish?" I asked trying to stop myself from screaming at her incompetence. Saving Kelly at this point was more important.
"She said that she thought it was a UTI, but that the pain had increased so fast that she was worried about her appendix. I Th-th-thought she was trying to get attention." With her confession, she was finally exhibiting some shame at her apparent pettiness and incompetence.
At hearing the words UTI and Appendix, my uncle asked for the portable Ultrasound machine to determine where to send her next.
"There!" my uncle said with relief at knowing the diagnosis. "She has a tubal pregnancy that has burst, let's wheel her up to the women's surgical floor immediately."
"Wait, doctor!" said the technician. Something is showing in her uterus as well."
"Damn! It looks like a set of mono-di twins in her uterus. I'd estimate around 2-3 months along. Polly, call ahead, and I want the surgical team ready to go as soon as I get up there. And somebody, call her emergency contact!"
Within ten minutes of Kelly's collapse, my uncle was scrubbing his hands and asking me questions about Kelly. Unfortunately, all I could convey was that she was a new friend and that she was recently married last week to Tyler's school principal.
Knowing that my Uncle Jerry would be handling the surgery brought extreme peace of mind to the situation. Besides having one of the best track records in the state, he spent his first ten years after medical school as an OBGYN before transferring to general surgery.
The downside to this happening on a Friday was that we were stuck with Dr. Johnston.
Dr. Johnston was a reject from our sister hospital up north who was currently working at rebuilding his reputation after several patients overdosed on anesthesia. He rarely listened to his patients and made errors with total apathy. He also tended to leave the nurses to deal with the side effects.
Because of the severity of Kelly's situation, Jerry opted for an open surgery in case any complications were to arise.
"Now I want to take a moment to remind everyone here that this woman has just lost one baby, and has two more that are trying to survive. Let's make sure we give them their best chance."
Due to Uncle Jerry's expertise, he was able to have Kelly's right fallopian tube removed and the damage cleared within 20 minutes.
Wanting to use this as an opportunity to educate the resident standing by his side, he said. "If you see here," pointing towards the left tube. "The lips of her tubal clamps have broken on both sides. We're going to have to make sure we remove all of the debris and document the state we found her clamps. That way she'll have a thoroughly cataloged case to show the manufacturer, and the patient may be able to get most of her surgery covered by them."
After making quick work of the other clamp, Jerry's efforts to close were suddenly stopped when Kelly's heart monitor started to show that her heart wasn't pumping as fast as it should.
Unable to figure out the cause of the distress, my uncle had an intern pull Kelly's medical history and located the issue.
"Dr. Fredericks, it says that the patient has a history of overdosing on anesthesia and that in two out of the last three times has had issues with breathing during surgery," the intern said while glaring at Dr. Johnston.
We all knew he should lose his license, but so far we had no power to initiate it.
"Dr. Johnston, please lower her dosage and let’s see if that make a difference."
Walking over to where the intern still had Kelly's file up, I happened to notice that her last anesthesiologist was Dr. Johnston, who after the patient had clearly advised him of her history of extreme sensitivity to anesthesia, had still chosen to administer her doses according to the archaic chart he designed years ago.
"Dr. Lopez?" I asked softly to the intern reviewing her history in case of another complication. "Can you go ahead and forward a copy of the patient’s chart to Dr. Fredericks' email with a note that I need to talk to him regarding its contents." At least this way, I could lodge a formal complaint and maybe prevent a future malpractice suit.
Luckily, Kelly eventually stabilized enough for us to move her up to ICU where she would be for at least the next 24 hours.
It was during her transport, that one of the assistants walked up to me to say that Mr. Wilson and Kelly's mother were currently waiting down the hall for an update.
Chapter 59 – Dale
As soon as I received Kelly's text about being in the emergency room of Danville Memorial, I was hopping in the car and telling my blue tooth to dial Joan. Thankful that the children were all with their other parents for the weekend, I flew through town, till I skidded to a halt in the parking space next to my Kelly's car.
My Kelly!
"God, please let her be okay," I prayed as I tried to hold back a sob at the ‘what if's' that started popping into my brain.
Once I located the receptionist, I was directed immediately to the woman's surgery floor of the hospital with no explanation. And no one gave me an answer for almost an hour and a half.
Around 9:00 pm, Joan arrived, but we were both so fidgety that neither of us could offer the other any source of comfort.
Needing to hear herself talk to distract herself from the horrendous situation we found ourselves in, Joan began rambling, or at least I thought she was until she laid a hand on my shoulder to grab my attention.
"Dale, did you hear me? I said Geoff called and said Kelly's best friend is on her way to help."
Unnaturally snappy in my distress, I asked, "What the hell is a stylist going to do for us right now?"
Taking my attitude in stride, after what I assume was from her many years working in public relations, Joan added, "Joanie, the stylist, is Kelly's childhood best friend. Her best friend for the last eight years is her family doctor, Nichole Lawson."
How did I not know this?
Wait, she did mention a best friend once that she decided to sever ties with after the divorce for Geoff 's sake.
Why was it?
Right, because her husband was Geoff 's best friend.
"Sorry," I sighed before we both return to coping.
At 10:04 pm, Dr. Lawson arrived. She embraced Joan and nodded her head cordially in my direction.
By 10:12 pm, relief finally came in the form of Polly and her Uncle Jerry.
We were then ushered into a family conference room where the evening's events began to spill out like a tela-novella. The first shock was that Kelly and I had lost a baby this evening and if Kelly hadn't gone to the emergency room, she might have died. Secondly, Kelly's tubal ligation clamps had failed, which caused the tubal pregnancy that burst this evening.
Thankfully, Nichole was able to elaborate on the clamps used on Kelly and explained that her office just received a notice this morning about a manufacturing defect and that the company was going to cover any surgery related cost to fix the issue.
Then Jerry continued to tell me that Kelly was currently in stable condition and under observation in the ICU for the next 24 hours. Fiercely needing to see and touch my wife, I completely missed the last part until Polly asked her Uncle to repeat it.
Kelly was still pregnant with two more babies, but because of the trauma to her body, they weren't ready to assure us that the twins were going to make it.
I need to see my wife! I thought.
I need them to take me to my wife this second!
Use your words Dale!
"I need to see my wife!"
Leaving Jerry, Joan and Nichole to talk, I vaguely remembered Polly leading me by the elbow towards Kelly's room and closing the door for us to have some privacy.