Catching Up: Shocking Surprise

Summary: When Kerry is left in the dark about something that almost kills one on her good friends she is devastated.


Sydney Hansen walked into the ER and headed for the lounge. Her good friend Elizabeth Corday had called her to ask her if she would mind filling in for Mark Greene. Mark had gone to New York to a conference and wouldn't return for a week. Syd put her stuff in her locker and headed for the admit desk. She hoped Kerry was there so that she could tell her that nothing was wrong, that she was fine after being in the hospital for three weeks. Syd searched for her friend but did not find her.

"If you're looking for Kerry she's not here," Carter said. "She has the day off."

Syd nodded. "And how are you doing?"

"Fine. Alex is growing like a weed, you need to come and see her," Carter said. "My shift ends in ten minutes so I'm out of here. Dr. Kovac is here if you have any questions, and so are Lizzie, Peter and Dr. Malucci."

"OK, great," Syd said. She grabbed a chart and walked into exam three, not knowing that it would be her last time to see day light for a long time.

Syd walked into exam three and found a boy about eighteen years old sitting on the bed. "Hi, I'm Dr. Hansen and you must be Zack?"

"Yeah," Zack said. "If you're wondering, I'm eighteen."

"Great," Syd said. "It says here you've been feeling some pain in your chest?"

"Yeah," Zack said. "Around dinner time and lunch."

"OK, well I'm going to have a look and we'll try to figure out what's going on."

Kerry Weaver tried to get her six-month-old daughter Alex to eat. Alex was growing like a weed but was so stubborn. Carter often said she was a lot like Kerry. Kerry sighed and put down her spoon, refusing to fight another battle with Alex. "OK, sweetie you aren't having anything later. This is your only chance to eat." Alex began to cry and Kerry picked her up. "Come on darling, let's go take a nap." Then Kerry heard the door slammed and knew Julie was home. "Hey Julie."

"Hey," Julie said appearing beside Kerry. "What's going on? You didn't have to work today?"

"Nope, I took today off," Kerry said. "I've been trying to get your stubborn sister to eat but she won't."

Julie laughed and put her cane on the coat rack. She followed Kerry up to Alex's room. "Is Carter home?"

"He should be home pretty soon. His shift is almost over," Kerry said. "How was school?"

"Fine," Julie said with apathy.

"That doesn't sound like fine," Kerry said putting Alex in her crib.

"Josh asked me to this lame school dance," Julie said.

"That sounds like fun, are you going to go?"

"Are you kidding, those school functions, that's so uncool. You never went to one of those school things did you?"

"I never did but I have a lot of friends who did go," Kerry said heading for the stairs. "Why don't you go. It could be fun."

"I don't know, I've never gone to a school thing before. I wouldn't know what to do," Julie said.

"You won't know if you don't like it if you don't go," Kerry said. She gave Julie a hug.

Abby Lockhart walked into exam three, looking for Syd. She had been with this patient over an hour and was needed at the desk. Abby sighed pushed the curtain aside. The room was dark and quiet. Then Abby saw a sight she would never forget. She tried to keep calm, for this was how Lucy had died. Finally Abby was able to muster up enough strength to yell for help.

"What happened?" Dr. Kovac asked as he wheeled Syd into trauma one.

"I found her on the floor of exam three, bleeding," Abby said. "She was non responsive." Abby said. She started an IV.

"One laceration to the neck, two to the belly and one to the chest," Dave said. "Oh, man."

"Page Corday now," Dr. Kovac said. "Has Carter left yet?"

"Yes, and he really shouldn't see this," Abby replied as she hooked Syd up to oxygen.

"I paged Corday," Chuny said. "How long do you think she was in there?"

"Probably about an hour," Abby said.

Then the door opened and Elizabeth walked in. She walked over to the bed and gasped at who it was. "What happened?" Elizabeth wanted to cry out in rage but didn't.

"She was stabbed," Dr. Kovac said. "We need to crack her."

"Get me the saw, and an intubation tray," Elizabeth said as she put on gloves and a gown. "Someone needs to page Kerry."

"We did she's not answering her page," Abby said.

"Syd may need a transfusion," Elizabeth said as she prepared to do the incision. "OK, I'm in. Let's examine her injuries. We need to get her stable so that she can be moved to the OR."

'She's in V-tac," Haleh said.

"Paddles," Elizabeth said. "Charge to 100."

"Charging," Abby said.

"Clear."

"Normal sinus rhythm," Abby stated. "Is she ready to be moved?"

"What's her BP?" Elizabeth asked.

"90/60," Abby said. "Should I page Dr. Benton and Anspaugh?"

"They already know what happened and are ready and waiting," Elizabeth said. She wheeled Syd toward the elevator and up to the OR. Tears sprang to Elizabeth's eyes as she prepared her friend for surgery. She couldn't believe this was happening again.

Later that day Kerry made her way into the ER, unaware of what had happened. The surgery on Syd was now over and Syd was in recovery. Abby saw Kerry walk over to the admit desk and went into the lounge. Elizabeth was there, waiting to give news about Syd.

"How is she?" Abby asked.

"Saturating at 30% oxygen," Elizabeth said. "Don't worry, I won't let her die like Lucy."

"At least she can breathe on her own some," Abby said. "Is she still traked?" Then Kerry walked in, not realizing that they were talking about Syd.

"Yes," Elizabeth said. "I don't want to take her off it until she's stable. I'd better get back up there, her pressure was dropping when I left. She could clot again."

Kerry turned around and watched Elizabeth and Abby walk out of the lounge. Their voices had seemed strained, like something was wrong. Kerry put on her lab coat and walked out into the hallway. Abby was talking to Kovac about something.

"Should I clean up trauma one?" Abby asked.

"Yes, the police don't need to see that. Are they in exam three taking pictures?" Luka asked.

"Yes," Abby answered. "This shouldn't have happened. Why didn't I see anything?" Abby was crying now. She leaned on Luka's shoulder, and sighed.

"It was your fault," Luka said. "Don't blame yourself."

Kerry walked over to the board and studied it. She wondered if there were any patients that needed to be handed off. Kerry saw Abby head for trauma one and followed her. "Abby," Kerry called. She pushed the door open and found Abby cleaning up trauma one. "Abby what happened in here?" Kerry looked around, the room was a wreck.

"We've had a really crazy day," Abby said fighting back tears. She didn't want to be the one to break the news.

"I can see that," Kerry said. She noticed the pained look on Abby's face. "Abby is something wrong? Did you lose a patient today?"

"No," Abby said quietly as she continued cleaning. She sighed, Abby didn't want to tell Kerry about Syd. "You'd better talk to Dr. Corday."

"Why?" Kerry asked, a bit confused.

"Just do it, I'm telling you Dr. Weaver it's serious," Abby said. "And it's why this trauma room is such as mess." Abby walked out of the room leaving Kerry alone and confused.

Kerry walked out of the room and went up to the surgical floor. She went up to the desk where Annie, a friend of Carter's and now a friend of hers was typing on the computer.

"Annie do you know if Dr. Corday is in surgery?" Kerry asked.

Annie looked up. "She just got out actually. She's still with the patient. Something happened in the ER earlier."

"I'm sorry I don't know what you're talking about," Kerry said. "My med student said I should come and speak with her." Then she heard some double doors open.

"Let's get her to CT," Elizabeth said. "10 of heparin every hour."

"Lizzie wait, you don't need to thin her blood anymore," Dr. Romano said.

"If we don't she could throw another clot and I can't risk it. I'm not going to watch her die like I watched Lucy."

"Only for two hours," Dr. Romano said.

"I won't need that long," Lizzie said and rushed through another set of double doors.

Kerry watched as Lizzie rushed through another set of double doors. She followed her and looked in the window, trying to get a look at the patient that Lizzie had been working hard to save.

"Dr. Corday Syd's abdominal dressings are soaked through," a nurse said.

"It's from the heparin," Elizabeth said. She bent down to Syd. "Syd the CT shows a hematoma. I'm going to insert a green filter so that your blood supply is not cut off. " She rubbed Syd's head in a comforting gesture. "I'll get you through this all right? Syd are you with me?"

Syd nodded and closed her eyes. She sighed, wishing that none of this had ever happened

"I'm just going to numb the incision," Elizabeth said. "And give you something to relax you."

Syd shook her head no, and mouthed the words "I want to stay awake."

"You want to stay awake?" Elizabeth asked. "OK."

After the procedure was over Elizabeth went down to the ER. Syd was stable now so Elizabeth had left her in the care of the nurses. She walked up to the admit desk where Kerry was wondering.

"Kerry can I talked to you?" Elizabeth asked.

"Sure," Kerry said. "Actually I've been wanting to talk to you too. I saw Abby a few minutes ago, she seemed a bit down. By the way, trauma one is a wreck, what happened?"

"I'll show you," Elizabeth said. She walked toward exam three, where the police were still taking pictures.

Kerry sighed. "What now?"

"The patient that I was in surgery for three hours was Syd. Kerry she was stabbed by one of her patients," Elizabeth said.

Kerry sighed, a look of dread and pain on her face. "By whom?" Kerry couldn't believe this was happening again, and she hadn't been there.

"We don't know," Elizabeth said. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you earlier but we tried paging and you weren't answering."

"That's because my beeper was turned off," Kerry said. "Can I see Syd?"

"Of course," Elizabeth said. She showed Kerry to the recovery room where Syd lay. "We had to trake her, so she can't speak."

Kerry walked over to the bed and took Syd's hand. Syd opened her eyes and Kerry didn't see the normal happiness in them, but instead she saw pain. "Hi, how are you feeling?"

Syd looked down, and closed her eyes, a sign that said not good. She tried to speak but then remembered the trake. Syd sighed in frustration. She desperately wanted to tell Kerry what had happened, and to call her family.

Kerry saw the frustration in Syd's eyes. "Syd do you need to tell us something?"

Elizabeth came over to the bed. "What's wrong?"

Syd pointed to the trake.

"Do you need to tell us something?" Elizabeth asked. "Do you want me to unplug the trake?"

Syd nodded yes and Elizabeth unplugged it.

"Remember, only whisper," Elizabeth instructed.

Syd nodded. "Thank you," Syd whispered. "Call my family?"

"We're going to do that right away," Kerry said gently.

Elizabeth checked Syd's BP and walked out of the room, trying not to cry.

Kerry told Syd she'd be back later and went to find Elizabeth. She found her outside the door. "What's wrong?"

"Kerry thank you were the last words Lucy ever spoke," Elizabeth said. "When I was in surgery with her, it was so hard to put my friendship aside and focus on being the doctor. I almost lost it in that trauma room."

"I have something to confess," Kerry said. "When I was working on Lucy, using the saw, I almost couldn't take it," Kerry said. "As a doctor you learn to put your personal feels aside, to do your best work possible. I almost couldn't do that with Lucy." Kerry looked down. "I only wish I would have been here with Syd, to make sure she didn't get any weird patients. Lizzie she just got out of the hospital three weeks ago, she probably wasn't even ready to come back to the ER yet."

"You know you're right," Elizabeth said. "I didn't know how long she'd been out of the hospital when I called her. This is all my fault."

Elizabeth walked into the room and stood beside Syd's bed.

Kerry followed her. "Liz this is not your fault. Her patient did this to her." Kerry checked Syd's BP and walked out of the room. She needed to contact the Hansens' and let them know what had happened.

The next morning Kerry was in the lounge when the door burst open.

"Dr. Weaver, Syd's family is here," Abby said. "Did you tell them what happened."

"I told them Syd was hurt but I didn't tell them how bad it was," Kerry said. "Are they in chairs?"

"They're by the admit desk," Abby said.

Kerry nodded and went to the admit desk. She saw Joanie, Robbie, and Jim there, waiting patiently for her.

"Kerry, what happened?" Jim asked as she approached the group. "Is Syd OK. It's not the illness again is it?"

"No, I'm afraid it's much worse than that," Kerry said. "Syd was stabbed by one of her patients yesterday. She survived the surgery and is still in recovery. We had to trake her and she's still traked."

Joanie started to cry and leaned her head on Jim's shoulder. "Is she going to be OK?"

"I don't know," Kerry said sadly.

"Can we see her?" Jim asked.

Kerry nodded and took the family up to the recovery room where Syd still lay. She watched as the family gathered around Syd.

Joanie stared down at her sister. She looked so pale and tired. Syd opened her eyes and squeezed Joanie's hand. She tried to speak but remembered the trauke.

"You're going to be fine Syd," Joanie said. "You're not going to visit mom anytime soon."

Syd sighed, and then she saw Kerry enter the room. Kerry took her hand and squeezed it in a comforting gesture. Over the next week Syd began to improve, and was taken off the trake. She would have those scares for the rest of her life, but as Syd put it, she could always recommend a plastic surgeon for herself.




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