Doubting Thomas-Nurse Hal Among The Amish

by Risner, Fay

  “Wonder what happened to it?” Emma mused.

  Noah elbowed Daniel and thumbed over his shoulder at the snake's new home. Daniel nodded that he understood.

  “Here's a coffee can next to my chair,” Tootie said. She leaned over and picked it up. “Did you put holes in the lid, Emma?”

  “Nah.”

  “Well, this one has a lid with holes in it,” Tootie said, starting to pry the lid off.

  Noah and Daniel scrambled to their feet and lurched toward Tootie. Noah cried, “Do not open the can, Aendi!”

  “Too late, Tootie held the lid in one hand and studied inside the can on her lap. The elderly woman's face went pale with fright. She screamed shrilly.

  “Tootie, what on earth is wrong with you?” Nora asked.

  Tootie shook her head as she grabbed her chest and gasped for air. The can rolled off her lap and thudded on the porch floor, landing on its side in front of Tootie's feet.

  Hal and Nora sprang up from the porch swing and rushed to Tootie. Hal said, “Take it easy, Aunt Tootie. You're all recht.”

  Finding it hard to breathe, Tootie rubbed her painful chest as she uttered, “S – s - snake!”

  The snake slithered out and along side the can. He stopped by Tootie's foot and raised his head to stare at her. His red tongue flickered in and out of his mouth.

  “Tootie, settle down. It's just a baby snake,” Nora admonished, hovering over her sister.

  Shaking her head emphatically, Tootie struggled off her chair with arms flailing and edge toward the screen door. Hal grabbed onto her aunt's arm as Tootie's ragged breathing caused her to clutch her chest. The elderly woman groped for the door handle. Her eyes rolled up in her head, and she went limp.

  “Help me. I can't hold her,” Hal cried as the elderly woman slid down the screen door.

  Jim grabbed Tootie's other arm. He helped Hal lay her gently on the floor. The elderly woman's eyes were closed, and her mouth was open. She was pale and still. Her chest was barely moving.

  Hal said, “She's unconscious. Give her some room to breathe. Boys, catch that snake and get it out of Aunt Tootie's sight before she comes to.” She reached for Tootie's cold wrist and took her pulse. “I don't like this.”

  Nora's hand went to her throat in fright. “What?”

  “Mom, her pulse is racing. She's having trouble breathing. I'm afraid Aunt Tootie is having a heart attack. Emma, call an ambulance and find Aunt Tootie's purse. We'll have to take it with us to the hospital for insurance information.”

  Nora sank to the floor to hold her sister's hand. “Tootie, wake up.” Concern for her sister's condition sank in. “Hallie, her hand is so cold.”

  Hal said, “She's stopped breathing. Give me some room, Mom.” Hal pumped up and down on Tootie's chest.

  Emma hustled out of the clinic with Hal's stethoscope, a pillow and a sheet. “The ambulance will be here soon. Has she regained consciousness?”

  Nora shook her head.

  “Let me beside Aendi, Mammi,” Emma said, taking her grandmother by the arm to help her to her feet. She spread the sheet over the lower half of Tootie's body and handed Nora the pillow. “Mammi, put the pillow under her head?”

  Hal placed the stethoscope over Tootie's heart and listened. “She has a heart beat now. It's very erratic so far. That ambulance better hurry.” As if summoned by Nurse Hal, in the distance, the screech of a siren grew louder as the ambulance raced toward them. “Thank God,” Hal said softly.

  The red, yellow and blue of the strobe lights blasted them all with color as the ambulance pulled in and braked to a stop in front of the house. The three medics Hal had worked with before, Daryl, Steve and Ivan, climbed out and brought a gurney from the back of the ambulance to the porch.

  “Hi Hal, what you got going?” Daryl asked as Steve and Ivan set the gurney by Tootie.

  “She's having a heart attack,” Hal said.

  “History of heart problems?” Steve asked.

  Hal turned to Nora. “Mom, do you know?”

  “I've never heard Tootie mention any problems,” Nora said.

  “What's her name?” Daryl asked.

  “Tootie, my sister,” Nora answered, staring at her sister.

  “Dolly Klinefeld,” Hal corrected. “But call her Tootie when you talk to her.

  Steve removed his stethoscope from Tootie's chest. “Her beat is erratic and pulse faint.”

  “I did CPR until I had her back this far,” Hal told him.

  “We're sending for the air-copter,” Daryl said. “Minutes count.”

  “I agree,” Hal said.

  Daryl spoke in his mike. “Ambulance to dispatch.”

  “Dispatch,” came the crackling voice.

  “We need the air-copter sent to this address. We have a heart attack in progress with erratic pulse and shortness of breath. She is cyanotic and diaphoretic,” Daryl said. He turned back to Hal. “How old is the patient?”

  As Steve rushed past her with an oxygen canister, Hal glanced at her mother. Nora said, “Seventy-two.”

  “The patient is an elderly female, seventy-two years old. Is the cardiologist standing by?”

  “Yes. Administer two liters of oxygen and transport,” came the crackling order.”

  Steve slipped the oxygen cannula into Tootie's nose.

  “We are administering oxygen. We will meet the air-copter at the highway intersection with this gravel road. Send fire department out to block off the road,” Daryl ordered.

  “Will do,” the dispatcher said.

  Steve laid a gurney blanket on the porch floor by Tootie. Ivan collapsed the gurney and helped Steve rolled Tootie enough to get the blanket under her. The three medics lifted Tootie and scooted her onto the gurney. They eased the gurney down the steps and rolled it to the ambulance. In seconds, the ambulance rushed on its way, blaring the siren.

  “Let's go to the hospital, Mom,” Hal said.

  Jim said, “Get in our car. I'll drive.”

  Hal turned to the others. “Emma, you take care of the girls. It's their bedtime. We will be back as soon as we can.”

  Chapter 9

  After the ambulance left, Daniel sat in Tootie's chair and leaned over with his elbows on his legs and his head in his hands.

  Emma patted Beth on the back to keep her from crying as she turned on him angrily. “Daniel, how did that snake get in my coffee can while the lid was on it?”

  Daniel straightened up. “It is only a small bull snake I caught to put in the barn. I wanted something to keep it in until the snake grows a little more. I did not know you were saving the coffee can.”

  “Next time ask,” Emma said sharply.

  Daniel was beside himself. His lips quivered. “Aendi Tootie is sick, and it is all my fault. I did not mean to cause her to have a heart attack. If only she had not opened the can. Noah and I tried to stop her, but we were too late. Serpent would not hurt her. He is just a baby.”

  Noah added, “Aendi, did not know Serpent would not harm her.”

  John said, “Serpent? You named that snake already.”

  Daniel opened the can and held the snake up with two fingers so they could get a good look at the writhing serpent not much bigger than a large nightcrawler. “He is a beauty, ain't so?”

  John frowned at the snake. “If you say so, Daniel.”

  “Well, I do not think so,” Emma said, with her hands fisted on her hips. “What are you going to do with that snake now?”

  “I am going to keep him,” Daniel said. He put the snake back in the can and snapped on the lid.

  “Where? He cannot stay in that coffee can for long,” Emma demanded.

  “Do you want your can back?” Daniel asked wearily.

  “Nah, I do not want that dirty can back now,” declared Emma. “I just want to know where you are going to keep that snake?”

  “I am going to turn him loose in the barn,” Daniel floundered. “I thought the snake would be gute to have in the barn to eat mice when he is
bigger.”

  Emma proclaimed, “You cannot turn that snake loose now. You have to keep it contained until after my wedding. Tell him, Daed. I will not have him disrupt my wedding with another creature like he did when you and Hallie married.”

  Noah nodded toward his brother as he defended, “Daniel was a small child then. He is grown up enough to know he cannot disrupt his sister's wedding in that way again.”

  “I know Bishop Bontrager would not be happy with me for sure,” Daniel said, remembering the lecture he received from the bishop after the frog incident at his father's wedding. Wondering why Emma was making so much fuss, he stared at her and repeated, “I just wanted the snake for the barn. I will keep the coffee can in the barn where it will be far away from the house. Do not worry. The snake will not be big enough to turn loose for a long time yet.”

  By the time Jim drove onto the highway, the air-copter was far in the distance headed to Wickenburg hospital. They had the road to themselves as Hal gave her father directions to the hospital.

  When Hal led the way through the automatic doors, Lucy Steinford, dressed in green scrubs, greeted them briskly. “Hi, Hal. The air-copter patient yours.”

  “Yes. Matter of fact, she's my aunt.”

  “Sorry to hear that,” Lucy said soberly.

  Hal turned toward her parents. “Lucy Steinford, this is my parents, Jim and Nora Lindstrom from Titonka, Iowa. Dolly Klinefeld is Mom's sister.”

  “Sorry your sister isn't well, Mrs. Lindstrom. I need to fill out the admittance papers. Can you help with that?”

  “Of course,” Nora said, opening up Tootie's large handbag. She moved the Amish book out of the way and found the billfold.

  It seemed forever before Lucy had all her questions answered. She copied Tootie's insurance cards and handed them back to Nora. She pointed behind them to an open door. “Take a seat in the waiting room. They're working on Mrs. Klinefeld now in an ER room. A doctor will be out as soon as he can to talk to you.”

  Jim turned on the television. He grumbled that the late night shows hadn't been the same since Johnny Carson retired, and turned the remote control off.

  Nora hands trembled as she picked up a Good Housekeeping magazine. She flipped through the pages and inspected the cover. “For pity sakes, this magazine is a year old.”

  Hal watched out the door, feeling apprehensive about her aunt. She wished she could be in the ER room with Tootie like she was with other patients she brought in.

  She glanced at her mother when Nora tossed the magazine back on the pile. Her mother needed to get her mind off how bad Tootie might be. “Mom, after what happened, Aunt Tootie is never going to come back to see us again. I just know it.”

  Nora gave her daughter a weak smile. “Oh, I think she will. Of course, she might bring a list of rules next time instead of that silly Amish book.” Nora patted Tootie's purse in her lap and gave Hal a weak smile. “I can name them now. Such as no pet snake, no calf watches and all turkeys and dogs penned up.”

  Hal tried to smile as she looked out the waiting room door. Watching the ER exam rooms brought her close to tears. “Mom, I'm so sorry this happened to her.”

  Nora grabbed Hal's hand and squeezed it. “Now, now, dear. At our age anything can happen, and Tootie has not taken very good care of herself. Take a deep breath and calm down. I think you said it best when you said Aunt Tootie is Aunt Tootie. How do any of us know how she's going to react to any given moment? See a tiny, harmless snake and have a heart attack. That was a bit dramatic for even Tootie.”

  “Mom, please. This is serious,” Hal declared.

  Nora nodded solemnly. “How well I know it is, and I'm worried about her, too.”

  An hour later, Dr. Stan Christensen, his stethoscope draped around his neck over his green scrubs, came to the door. Hal greeted him and introduced her parents.

  With serious blue eyes, he told them, “Mrs. Klinefeld is stable now. The EMT had to use the defibrillator on her in the ambulance to bring her back. Now that she is stable, the cardiologist wants to watch her for awhile before we move her to a room. She's going to spend the night here for observation to make sure her heart stays in rhythm. Tomorrow I want to run some tests before I release her. Hal, has your aunt mention not feeling well?”

  “No. My mother is Tootie's sister. We talked about it on the way here, and none of us had noticed anything. She has complained of tiredness lately, but we thought Aunt Tootie was just being Aunt Tootie.”

  The doctor gave her a questioning look.

  “Never mind. You would have to know my aunt to understand. What happened tonight set off my aunt's heart attack. Tootie opened up a coffee can and found a small snake in it that one of my sons caught. She became very frightened, had a hard time breathing, grabbed her chest and passed out.”

  “I see,” Dr. Christensen said. “Well, you folks might as well go home and get some rest. I should know more by noon tomorrow when the test results are in. If anything comes up before then, we'll call you at home. Otherwise, I imagine Mrs. Klinefeld can go home tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Thank you, Doctor,” Nora said. “Can we see Tootie?”

  “I wouldn't advise it. She's very groggy right now. Going in and out of sleep. Probably wouldn't even know you're with her. Anyway, she needs the rest. You can peek in at the door if you want.”

  “Yes, that would be good enough,” Nora said.

  Nurse Lucy said, “I'll show you where your sister is.”

  The next day, Hal left with her parents to go to the hospital right after lunch. Once the doctor released Tootie, with instructions to come back the next week for a check up, they headed home.

  Jim and Nora helped Tootie climb the porch steps. She greeted John and his kids lined up to welcome her as she went into the house. Everyone trailed along behind and stood in the middle of the clinic, watching Nora and Hal help Tootie into bed.

  When Hal and Nora stepped out of the way, Tootie looked at the long faces around her. “Holy buckets! I'm not dying yet. Stop looking so worried, will you? I just need a nap before supper, and I'll be good as new.”

  “Aendi Tootie, you are eating supper in bed tonight,” Emma informed her.

  “I can make it to the table. You shouldn't go to the bother to wait on me with all you have to do,” Tootie objected.

  “Let Emma and the rest of us pamper you for awhile, Aunt Tootie. You can get up tomorrow as long as you take it easy,” Hal said. “Now we'll get out of here and let you rest.”

  Noah and Daniel started for the door. John laid his hand gently on Daniel's shoulder. “Not so fast, Daniel. You tell Aendi Tootie you are sorry for scaring her.”

  As Daniel eased closer to the bed, his eyes moistened. He reached for her hand and patted it. “Aendi Tootie, I am sorry for upsetting you. I do not want you mad at me. I did not know you were going to open the coffee can and see the snake. I am sorry you do not like snakes.”

  “I understand that. Boys will be boys. You're forgiven.” Tootie waved her other hand toward him. “But I hope you won't let that creature get loose around me again.”

  “Nah, the coffee can is in the barn. It is going to stay there,” Daniel assured her.

  “Go on now, and don't give this another thought. Tomorrow I'll be as good as new.” Tootie waited for Daniel to leave before she said, “John, don't be hard on that boy. He didn't mean any harm.”

  “He is harder on himself than I am on him. He does feel really bad that his snake scared you,” John said. “Now you rest. I reckon Jim and I should get at the milking.”

  Tootie yawned. “This has been a very trying two day for me. Coming face to face with that snake was awful. Then all those tests today. I think I can take that nap now.”

  Hal kissed her gently on the forehead. “You do that, Aunt Tootie.”

  Late in the night, Hal woke up and immediately thought about her aunt. She slipped out of bed and picked up her flashlight from the floor by the head of the bed. It wouldn't hurt to check o
n Tootie.

  She eased down the stairs and over to the clinic door. She could hear Tootie's rumbling snores. The elderly woman was able to sleep. That was a good sign. When Hal peeked in the room, she saw a figure hunched over on a chair by the bed.

  Hal slipped across the room and laid her hand on Daniel's shoulder to wake him. He straightened up on the chair, rubbed his eyes and blinked at her. Hal whispered, “You can go to bed if you want. Aunt Tootie is sleeping. She's all recht.”

  “I feel better staying by Aendi Tootie to help her if she needs something,” Daniel whispered.

  Tootie's snores stopped. She said huskily, “Hallie, I told Daniel a couple hours ago to go on to bed, but he's still here.”

  Daniel took her hand. “I want to be here if you need anything.”

  “That's nice, dear, but I won't need anything tonight.” Tootie teased, “You will be all worn out tomorrow when I will expect your help. Believe me, I'll think of all sorts of things in the morning you can do for me if that will make you happy. Now go get some rest. Both of you.”

  “If you are sure. I feel like your being sick is all my fault, and I wish I could make it up to you,” Daniel said dolefully.

  “That's nonsense,” Tootie declared. “We didn't know I'd get that scared. That's what I get for being a nosy old woman. I shouldn't have opened that coffee can. Believe me, I've learned my lesson. That's the last can I open while I'm around you boys. No telling what I'd find in the next one.”

  That made Daniel giggled.

  “Good night, you two. Go to bed so this old lady can rest,” Tootie ordered.

  For several days, Daniel stuck to Tootie like a cocklebur. One morning, she said she felt well enough to venture out. “Daniel, could you hook up one of the buggies and take me for a ride?”

  “Jah, recht away,” Daniel said, turning to leave. He whirled back around. “Which buggy?”

  “It doesn't matter really. Which buggy do you prefer.”

  “The courting buggy?”

  Tootie smiled. “That's a good choice for what I have in mind. I'd like to go for a ride in it. That buggy will do fine.”