One Day At A Time




Millicent looked out the window once again, the green mini-van was still parked there. John had not yet returned. She was started to get worried, it had been an hour. She had no idea what was going on, but if these hospital people, who said they were 'concerned' for John, were messing around with his head again, there'd be hell to pay. Millicent Carter was sure of that, because she was the bill collector now. She decided to make a phone call, and bring in her own reinforcements. She picked up the phone, and hit the speed dial.

"Helen?" Millicent asked.

"No, this is her niece Stephanie, may I ask who's calling?"

"Oh hello Stephanie, this is Millicent Carter, is your aunt around?"

"Sure, hang on just a minute, I'll go get her."

The phone hit the counter with a thud on Stephanie's end, as she went in search of her aunt. She hadn't heard from John for almost six weeks, and she knew he still kept his apartment, but was living in his grandparent's guest house, for reasons not known to her, nor was it any of her business. She knew her aunt had kept in contact with John's family, so whatever was going on, her aunt had remained tight-lipped, as was usual for her.

Helen was dressing and after a knocking on the door, Stephanie slowly opened the door, "Aunt Helen? Mrs. Carter is on the phone for you."

"Oh thanks." Helen picked up the phone in her room, and waited for Stephanie to hang up the extension.

"Hello Millicent! Did you have a nice holiday?" Helen asked.

"Oh yes, it was just fine, and how was your trip?" She asked.

"Cold and snowy, but nice, it was good to see what's left of my family. Stephanie came back with me for a week or so, school's still out on winter break, so she's staying with me a few more days, but I've a feeling that's not why you called. What's up?"

"Well, I don't want to put you on the spot, but John is gone, and there was a gentleman at his door this morning around 11:00 and drove him off in his own jeep, and I haven't seen John since. It is his day off, and these people just won't leave him be. He's had a headache and hasn't been feeling at all well. He needs to rest and get healthy again."

"And you want me to....what?" Helen asked, knowing full well what Mrs. Carter was going to ask of her.

"Could you please find out if he's at that hospital? They just won't leave him be Helen, and it's really gotten me...well...angry at this point." Millicent finished.

"Sure, I go in at 3:00 today. Stephanie may be on vacation, unfortunately, I'm not." Helen answered.

"Could you find out if he's there? Or just maybe find out what's going on?" Millicent asked.

"Sure, not a problem. I'll give you a call when and if I'm able to infiltrate their ER clique. They're a pretty tight-knit group down there, but I'll find out what I can."

"Thank you."

Helen said her good-byes and hung up the phone with a sigh. Weaver and Greene had been messing with John's head for months now, and she wondered what the hell they were up to now? She knew Millicent had wanted John to leave County, leave and maybe start his own practice, better yet, leave and go into the family business. But, that hadn't happened. John had hung in there. He was stubborn as hell, it seemed to be a Carter family trait, at least from what she had seen of his family. She smiled to herself, "whatever was going on, you can handle it John." She finished dressing and went out into the living room.

"Everything okay?" Stephanie asked.

"Just fine, where would you like to go for lunch?"

Stephanie gave her aunt a sidelong glance. She wasn't getting any information today. Maybe, she'd just show up at County, and surprise her aunt for dinner later. Maybe John Carter would be on duty...that would be a nice surprise. He had no idea she was in town, but what if he didn't want to see her? Maybe he hadn't called because he just didn't want to see her anymore? Aunt Helen had said he had been awfully busy with his schedule, working a lot of nights, sleeping days....he hadn't had time for any social life, still, a phone call would have been nice.

************************

John felt himself floating off, he wasn't actually asleep, but not really awake either. As he was wheeled into the CT room, and lifted onto the table, he opened his eyes briefly, and looked around in confusion. He couldn't remember where he was, and why he was here.

"John?" He heard Abby's voice, but couldn't find her face. All he could see was the bright lights overhead and hear the banging of equipment.

"John? They need to get a CT of your head, do you think you can hold still that long?" Abby asked.

A CT of his head, was he in an accident? What was he doing where...he had to be at County, but just how he got there...he had no idea....why was he so confused? He must have hit his head on something...he did have a headache, but he remembered having this headache before...days and days and days of a headache. He looked up and saw Abby's face come into focus.

"What's going on?" John asked.

"You're at County...you kind of passed out." Abby said.

"Kind of what? I had a headache, have a headache." He corrected himself.

"Yeah, you had a hypertensive emergency...you've been kind of zonked out for the past hour." Abby tried to fill in the blanks.

"Hypertensive what? I don't have high blood pressure."

"Well, you did today, that's for sure." Abby replied.

"Did I hit my head?" John asked.

"Not that I know of." Abby answered.

"Why the CT? I hate these things." John stated.

"I can imagine, they want to make sure you have a brain." Abby said trying to lighten his mood.

"Oh...good luck with that one." John replied smiling.

"Ready out there?" The tech asked.

"Oh yeah, we're ready." Abby replied for him.

"You may be ready..." John said.

"I have to go out here and wait, but you can talk to me through the intercom." Abby walked around to the head of the table, and gave him a peck on the cheek, "it'll be okay."

The machine made it's circuit of grinding and clanking noises, as it circled his head, looking for any abnormalities. John closed his eyes and tried to relax. It wasn't going to happen that way. He couldn't relax, his head was pounding again. He raised his hand up toward his eyes, to shield them from the piercing lights in the room, when the voice came through the intercom.

"You need to put your hands down Dr.Carter."

John didn't respond, he left his hands up by his eyes, his head was pounding in time to his heart again. It was beating out of his chest, causing him to breath faster than normal, maybe he was having an anxiety attack. He'd had those before, but not for a while now. He tried to relax, breathing in deeply, and thinking calming thoughts. It wasn't working. He couldn't think at all, his thoughts were all jumbled. He knew he had just spoken to someone, Abby maybe, she said something about being at County, but he still couldn't remember just how he had gotten here, and why he was here....

The voice came again...."Dr. Carter, you need to put your hands down by your sides so we can finish up here."

John opened his eyes briefly trying to decipher where the hell that voice was coming from...the light attacked him mercilessly, and his eyes watered in response to the glare.

The tech looked up at Abby, "can you please go talk to him, I can't do this with his hands up by his face."

"Uh, sure.." Abby walked through the doorway, and into the CT room proper. "John, you have to put your hands down by your sides, they can't get pictures this way."

"Tough." John said.

"Uh..well, without the CT, we won't know what's going on, so if you could just put your hands down for a few minutes, it will only take about 15 more minutes..."

"No. I won't, just give me some Tylenol for this headache and let me be on my merry way, okay?"

Abby motioned for the tech to stop, then picked up the phone to call the ER.

"ER." Randi answered in her most professional unenthusiastic voice.

"Randi, this is Abby, is Mark around?"

"Yeah, I'll get him."

Mark picked up the phone, and listened silently as Abby relayed what was happening in the CT room.

"I'll be right over." He hung up the phone, retrieved a syringe with another mg of Ativan, grabbed the automatic BP cuff and rolled it with him into the CT room.

***********************

"So" Stephanie said, "what was it that Millicent Carter wanted?"

Stephanie chewed thoughtfully on her sandwich, trying to act as casual as possible.

Helen smiled, "Oh, she just wanted to see how my holidays went, just chit chat."

Stephanie gave her a disgusted look, then went back to her sandwich.

"Stephanie, John isn't anywhere near ready for a steady relationship now. You know that, or you knew that didn't you?"

"Oh yeah, I..well..." Stepanie stammered.

"He needs to get himself together, and that's why he moved back to his grandmother's." Helen went on, "she wanted to be able to keep an eye on him, make sure he takes care of himself, and since we were scheduled on opposite shifts, the best way to do that was for him to move back out to his grandparent's estate. He'll be back in his apartment soon. We go on shift change in two weeks, and he stays on nights, and I'll go on nights for the next month."

"What is night shift the Chief's idea of a punishment?" Stephanie asked.

"No, one of his co-workers is out of the country and it's John's turn to help out. They covered for him for three months, it's just the way it is. You have no idea what it's like, you've got a nice 'normal' job." Helen stated the fact, not in any way meaning that Stephanie's job was not demanding, just different.

"You're right, I don't have any idea what it's like to work 90 hour weeks, and I really don't want to. Some days, I feel like I've put in 90 hours! 30 Kindergartners is no easy feat!"

"I can imagine, and no, I don't want your job either! It's just different. We need to get a move on if you still want to hit Marshall Fields before I have to go into work.

**************************

"Carter, you have to put your hands down for me, I just want to put a blood pressure cuff on."

Mark tried to calm him once again. John's face was flushed, and Mark could tell his heart was racing again, as his respirations had increased. He put the BP cuff around his arm and let the machine do it's thing. He waited patiently, more or less, then the machine loudly sounded it's alarm.

*************************

"So, John is okay, I mean health-wise? He's just staying with his grandparents until you guys are on the same shift?" Stephanie wouldn't give it up.

"Yes, is it possible to change the subject?" Helen asked, clearly annoyed with being given the third degree.

"I'm just curious." Stephanie said.

"And you know full well what curiosity did to the cat?" Helen smiled.

"Fine...I'll just wait and talk to John myself." Stephanie stated and walked off.

"Hey, wait a minute there." Helen said, practically running to keep up with Stephanie.

"What?" Stephanie asked.

"I'll let him know that you're in town Steph, but I really would rather that you not contact him right now." Helen said.

"He doesn't want to see me does he?"

"That I don't know, all I know is he has not felt well for almost two months, hasn't been himself. I just think it's best for him not to feel any kind of pressure outside of what he's already got going at the hospital." Helen stated.

"Okay, I can understand that. Thanks Aunt Helen, just tell him I said hello. He'll call me himself when he's ready."

"Good girl."

************************

"210/160, heart rate 190...roll him out!" Mark told the technician.

"My head." John put both arms over his eyes as the light had become almost blinding.

Mark injected the Ativan into the IV line and waited a few minutes. He pushed the button on the machine, causing the BP cuff to re-inflate. They waited in silence, broken once again, by the loud alarming of the machine, protesting the results it was displaying.

"205/160, heart rate 186." Mark said, "Abby run back down to the ER and grab...never mind...let's get him back to the ER."

John's head was pounding and he could have cared less at that time what they were doing with him. He rolled himself into a ball on the gurney, trying to shut out the light that was slowly causing his head to explode from pain.

Mark and Abby wheeled him back into the trauma room, and checked his vitals again.

"Carter, you're still hypertensive. I want to give you another dose of Labetalol, turn the lights off and see if that doesn't help."

John merely shook his head, a fraction of an inch, causing a wave of nausea to overcome him.

"I'm going to be sick." He said, as Abby ran forward with the emesis basin, making it with not a second to spare.

Each time he got sick, the pounding in his head became more intense, although, he hadn't thought that was possible. He wished he'd just roll over and die, that would have to be less painful than this. He felt the BP cuff inflate again, and the alarm was cut off, someone, maybe Abby, had thankfully shut off the noise.

Mark had given him another 80 mg of Labetalol IVP, followed by 5 mg of Diazepam.

John felt himself drift off again, he felt something cold go up his arm, and figured accurately, that Mark had given him some kind of sedative. The last thing he remembered was wanting to go home....go to bed...and for these people to leave him alone.

"Okay, he's out. Let's get the UA now, and call CT to see if they can work him in while he's sedated." Mark called.

Abby called over to CT. They informed her they'd be ready in 20 minutes. She turned the lights off, and sat next to the gurney, she had an idea of what it was like for him to go through withdrawal. This is what it was like...pure hell...torture...she knew what it was like first hand, though not from drugs, and certainly not from drugs that your employer was forcing you to take, but she knew, it was a painful course, not one you would choose do to twice. Her heart ached for him, for the pain he was going through, all because he wanted to keep his job. It just didn't seem fair. He never said a word to anyone, never complained, just went about his business. She shuddered to think what may have happened had Mark not shown up at his door today. Then, she wondered if anyone had bothered to call his grandmother. He was basically living with her, and she wasn't here with him. She hadn't gotten all of the details, but from what she had gathered, Mark Greene had anticipated performing some basic blood work under the table, so to speak, so she doubted Mrs. Carter had been notified. She should wait until John woke up to ask him if she wanted her to call his grandmother. From what he had said, they were getting along better these days, but still, she would leave it up to him if he wanted her to be called.

She pushed an errant lock of hair off of his forehead, and watched him sleep. He looked so peaceful, not at all like he looked 30 minutes prior. Abby's thoughts were interrupted by the door opening.

"They're ready for us in CT." Mark said.

"Let's try this again." Abby responded, unplugging the equipment to bring it along for the ride.

*************

Thirty minutes later, John was back in the same room, still sound asleep.



Part 8
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