One Day At A Time




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Kerry quickly moved toward the sound of Mark's panicked voice, "What have you got Mark?"

Mark grabbed the side of the gurney with Malik on the other side, "Carter."

"What?" Kerry asked.

"Just stay put Kerry, I've got this!" Mark yelled as he and Malik banged through the ambulance bay doors.

"What the hell happened?" Kerry asked still following.

Mark ignored her for the time being, "On my count, one, two, three...." They lifted John onto the gurney and rolled him quickly into the trauma room that Mark had previously cleared for their little "visit."

Malik applied the blood pressure cuff, pulse ox and EKG electrodes in the quick, easy manner of a seasoned ER nurse.

Mark was listened to his lungs, when Malik interrupted him, "BP is 190/130, heart rate tachycardic at 130, pulse ox 98%." Malik applied the oxygen anyway, as a matter of procedure.

Kerry stood with her mouth agape, "Mark" she said under her breath, "what is he on?"

Mark shot her a dirty look, "nothing Kerry! I was just talking to him, and if you were so damned intent on watching him so closely, which you told me you were going to take charge of, did you realize that he has had a headache for almost three weeks?"

"No. He didn't say anything." Kerry looked dumbfounded.

"Why?....." Kerry started.

"We'll talk about this later." Mark realized that not only Malik was present, but Lydia and Abby had also entered the room. Gossip didn't need to start here, Carter had endured enough of that to last him a lifetime.

"Lungs sound good, but get a chest film, CBC, PT, PTT, and dip a urine." Mark intoned, "and get an IV started D5W wide open."

"Hey" Lydia said, "he's starting to wake up."

John opened his eyes, and the stab of light felt like it was going straight through his head. It took him a few seconds to realize where he was, and as he did, he felt the needle in his arm. He immediatly grabbed at it, and quickly sat up, realizing too late what a bad idea this was. His head was going to explode, this he felt certain of, but he had to get out of here. This is the last place he wanted to be.

"Carter, Carter! Lay down!" Mark commanded.

"What are you putting in me now! Get away from me!" John flung his arms out, successfully knocking over the IV pole, pulling out the IV catheter, and scattering those in attendance.

"John, it's me Abby, it's okay, it's just an IV." Abby said to try to calm him as she grabbed his arm and applied a 4 x 4 to stop the bleeding.

"What are they doing to me now?" He mumbled back.

"BP is 200/150 Dr. Greene." Malik reported, "heart rate is up to 160."

"John, have you taken anything?" Kerry asked.

"BP is what?" John asked incredulously, ignoring Kerry's question, "What the hell is going on? Just what have you people done to me? Let me out of here...I need to get out of here.." He started yanking the electrodes off of his chest, causing the EKG monitor to loudly protest, "someone turn off that noise please?"

"Carter, just relax all right?" Mark again shot Kerry a look, "I've got this Kerry."

"Have I taken anything? Have I taken anything?" John finally addressed her, trying his best to sit up with the pounding in his head, "I have taken only what you gave me and obviously are trying to kill me with! That's what I've taken, oh, and a few Advil, that I thought long and hard about, I didn't want you to think I was addicted to that too! Have I taken anything...." John mumbled the last part, then led right into the rest of his speech, "I've jumped through every hoop you've held up, I took this damned stuff even when it made me feel like crap, I showed up for every shift regardless of my health status, and you have the audacity to ask if I've taken anything? If you'll recall, YOU gave it to me! So, YES I guess I have taken something...the drugs YOU have made me take! God my head hurts!"

"BP is up to 210/160, heart rate 160" Malik informed Mark.

"Carter, you have got to calm down! Kerry, go!" Mark firmly told them both, "2 mg of Ativan IM." Mark quietly told Lydia.

"Okay, start with 20 mg of Labetalol IV push and start a drip 2mg/minute, we need to get your blood pressue down...." Mark was interrupted again by Malik.

"Dr. Greene, SVT at 170...." Malik informed him.

"My head hurts." John attempted to block the light from his eyes, succeeding only in having his hand held down by Abby.

"Leave the IV alone John." Abby said.

"I wasn't messing with it, this light is killing me."

"Carter, how much do you weigh?" Mark asked.

John didn't answer, he had both hands over his head.

"Okay, give a Diltiazem bolus .25 mg/kg over two minutes, I'm guessing he weighs about 160 to 170." Mark ordered.

Lydia calculated the correct amount and slowly injected the drug into the IV while watching the EKG monitor.

Abby leaned over toward John's ear, "I'm going to get you an ice pack for your head, I'll be right back."

"I'm not going anywhere."

Abby pushed through the doors, directly into Kerry's path.

"How is he?" She asked.

Abby glared at her, then pushed past toward the lounge, the freezer, the ice bags. Kerry followed.

"Look Abby, John's a patient here, and I'm asking you how that patient is, the least you can do is answer me."

"He's got a headache." Abby stated then walked past Kerry out to the hallway, back to the trauma room.

She wrapped the ice pack in a glove, then put a towel over it, successfully blocking out the bright trauma lights, as she applied the ice, she noted that his nose was bleeding. She handed him a wad of tissues, and held the ice bag on his head. "You're nose is bleeding." She said as she held the wad of tissues up with his hand toward the source.

"What?" John asked confused.

"You're nose...it's bleeding." Abby said again, "probably from the high BP."

"What high BP?" John asked confused again.

"John, do you know where you are?" Abby asked concerned.

"What?" He asked perplexed, "would someone please turn off that light."

"BP is still up at 190/150, heart rate 160." Malik informed Mark.

"Give another 10 mg of Labetalol IV push." Mark leaned over toward Lydia, "another milligram of Ativan."

Lydia reached for the IV, to inject the drug, "What are you giving me?" John asked.

He took the ice pack off of his head, his pupils were almost pinpoint from the Ativan already.

"Just something to take your blood pressure down, just relax okay?" Lydia smiled at him, and John couldn't help but feel more relaxed. Lydia wouldn't do anything to hurt him, he knew that, he trusted her. He just wished he could remember what the hell brought him here. He closed his eyes, trying to think, concentrate, what happened? He was at home, he had a headache...the teakettle whistling, getting sick...okay, now how the hell did he get here? He couldn't remember, and it hurt his head to try. God, he was so tired. What the hell did they give him? Ativan, had to be...they shouldn't be giving him that...he needed to tell them....they shouldn't be giving him that...he was too tired to do anything about it....he closed his eyes....the lights finally, someone turned off those damned lights.

"BP is down a bit, 180/140, heart rate still tachy at 140." Malik kept Mark updated, "EKG showing some VPC's."

The door swung open, "labs are back." Kerry said quietly handing the sheet to Mark.

"Potassium is low, but otherwise, labs are normal." Mark looked surprised.

"I'd get a head CT." Kerry said quietly.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan." Mark called CT, leaving Kerry to attend to the case for the moment.

Kerry looked over at Abby seated by the side of the bed, and on John's still form. Her hand hovered above John's, she was probably the last person he wanted to see. She decided against touching him in any way. "Is he asleep?" Kerry asked Abby.

"Finally, yes." Abby answered.

"I'm sorry I've been such an ass." Kerry simply stated, "I know I haven't known you for long, but I've known John for long time, since his med school days. We even lived in the same house for a while...as friends...." She wanted to make that clear, "I know you may find this hard to believe Abby, but we used to be very good friends. I guess I'm just worried, and I don't handle that well. I like to be able to control things....obviously...you called me on that one...um...anyway, I'm sorry."

John had never told Abby that he and Kerry were room mates, but she wasn't really surprised. John always stuck up for Kerry, even when everyone else dogged her. She didn't think they had dated, but she knew there was more there than John had let on, maybe that's why he felt so abandoned. Kerry and he had been good friends. She knew what that felt like, she too, had had friends who let her down, who said they'd stand by you 100% then were gone when they were most needed, or too busy with themselves to worry about your problems. She could understand Kerry's dilema though. It was never easy to be the boss. It was lonely at the top, and Kerry was a shining example of this. John was really her only friend here, and she had succeeded in alienating him when he needed her most.

Abby moved her hand from John's head, and took Kerry's hand. "It's okay."

Kerry was surpised and touched by Abby's gesture.

"We're friends too." Abby said.

"I'm glad you've been there for him, when I wasn't Abby. I haven't been a very good friend. I feel awful about this...really...." Kerry looked Abby directly in the eye as she said it, "that will change, I assure you. Not just because he's clean now, because he's always been there for me, always, without question..." Kerry stopped there as Mark interrupted the exchange.

"CT's ready for him."



Part 7
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