Chapter
21
Dr. Fergeson glanced at the monitors surrounding Nick’s bed and
scribbled something out on his chart.
She sighed, knowing that his condition was very grave. She hated losing patients. She had been a doctor for many years, but
still, it never got any easier to see them die.
Suddenly, the door to the room burst open, and in came Brandi
Ellis, one of the nurses from the ER.
Dr. Fergeson immediately saw the look on the young nurses’ face
and realized something was wrong.
“What’s wrong, Brandi?” she asked.
“Dr. Fergeson, your son, Nate, was just brought into the ER,”
Brandi said.
The doctor’s blood ran cold, and panic washed over her. “What happened?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Brandi said.
“Some kind of football injury, I guess.”
“Well, is he okay?” Dr. Fergeson asked.
“Um…” Brandi started hesitantly.
“He… he was in cardiac arrest when I got there.”
“Oh, my God,” Dr. Fergeson cried.
She shoved Nick’s file back into its place and tore out into the
hall. She ran first to the elevators and
pushed the button. After a few seconds
of impatient waiting, she left the elevators and ducked into the stairwell. She took the stairs two steps at a time,
hurrying down two flights of them to the ER.
When she got to the ER, she ran to the nurses’ station. “Carole, where’s my son at?” she asked the
head nurse hurriedly.
“Your son?” Carole asked, confused.
“Yes, my son Nate. Brandi
told me he was brought in here not long ago,” Dr. Fergeson said.
Carole’s heart sank as she realized who Dr. Fergeson was talking
about. “Your son’s a football player,
right?” she asked, hoping she was wrong.
Dr. Fergeson nodded. “Where
is he?” she asked again.
“He’s still being worked on now,” she said. “I’m not sure you should go in.”
“Carole, please, where is he?” Dr. Fergeson demanded.
Carole sighed. “Exam 5, I
think,” she said. “But really, Dr.
Fergeson, you should go wait in chairs for him.
One of the doctors will come talk to you as soon as they know anything.”
Dr. Fergeson ignored her and hurried down the hall to Exam 5. She stopped at the door just in time to see
Dr. Muller, one of the resident doctors in the ER, shock her son’s chest,
trying to get his heart to beat again.
Nate’s body jumped on the table, but the line on his heart monitor
stayed flat.
Dr. Fergeson let out a hoarse cry from the doorway. Jess Thompson, another nurse, noticed her and
quickly hurried over to her. “Dr.
Fergeson, you shouldn’t be in here right now,” she said. “Please, come with me.”
The fight had gone out of Dr. Fergeson, and numbly, she let Jess
lead her back into the hall and seat her in a chair there.
Jess went back into the exam room, and Dr. Fergeson saw her close
the door, shutting her off from her son.
***
