~ Tiffany ~
Tiffany normally sprinted through her morning routine. Only the morning routine was actually an evening one because she worked midnights. A cup of java and a light meal of fruit and yogurt energized her enough for a short run. Something about putting her feet to the pavement seemed extraordinarily exhilarating tonight.
Stepping out of her apartment and right over the ugly word spray-painted on her welcome mat, she headed for the apartment complex’s indoor gym instead. A workout was just as beneficial as a nice run in the park, right? Then again, she always did have a penchant for seeing things the way she wanted them to be rather than how they were.
This was going to be her year. Everything that had been hard was now coming easy for her. Kicking carbs and sugar to the curb had been easy as falling off a log. There was no longer any need for a sugar high because running for fifteen minutes every evening gave her a natural high that honestly couldn’t be beat. She smiled as she realized everything was finally falling into place. She was now Tiff 2.0 and she loved it!
Returning home, the light on her old-fashioned answering machine was blinking ominously. Pointedly ignoring it, she hummed to herself as she got ready for work.
Pulling her hair up into a messy, cute style, she touched it up with a flat iron, tugging down a few careless strands around her neck to soften the look somewhat. Cultivating the right professional image was not quite at the top of her list of priorities by any stretch of the imagination, but it was important nonetheless. Next, she pulled two huge duffel bags from under her bed and began to load them up with her favorite possessions.
Her extensive library of romance, self-help, and medical books were all consolidated onto her e-reader. Her mother had sat her down at her sweet sixteen party and explained the way of the world to her and lovingly held her hand as she unloaded her entire collection of over a thousand books at a local charity book drive. Clutching her new e-reader, she’d cried all the way home. It was all for the best. A woman in her situation couldn’t be dragging a metric ton of paperbacks around everywhere she went.
Next, she selected only the clothing that actually fit and looked decent on her. Tiffany had always been fastidious about her clothing and accessories. Tossing in her jewelry case, sewing kit, and first-aid kit, she rummaged around for a few household items she particularly liked. Neatly packing her laptop and the external hard drive containing thousands of family pictures and the legal paperwork supporting her restraining order, she zipped the bags up and sat them at the door.
The last few years had been an endurance of sorts. She’d been more than eager to put all the running scared and sleepless nights behind her. She’d grown and evolved as a person, so there would be no more morose thoughts, self-defeating behaviors, or dwelling on the past. From now on, no matter what kind of tough choices that needed making, she’d keep her life moving forward in the right direction.
Moving to a new city had been a brilliant idea. After graduating from nursing school, this was her chance to have her dream career and a fresh start. After all, how many women got a do-over, much less three, and soon to be four in a row? Tiffany was beginning to loosen up and see that sometimes problems were just opportunities in disguise. She refused to waste her life constantly looking over her shoulder and worrying about tomorrow.
Sneaking a quick peek in the mirror on the way out, she hardly recognized herself. All in all, she hadn’t done too badly. Her long, dark hair and blue eyes were definitely her best assets. Scratch that, it was her snarky personality and ability to persevere. Live one day at a time. Taking her mother up on her outstanding advice was becoming easier by the day.
Excited about her shift at the local ER, she threw the two bags containing all her worldly possessions in the back of her SUV and headed to work without further consideration of her circumstances. At this point, she was on automatic pilot.
The city’s busiest emergency department offered a thrill a minute for people with the personality to appreciate it. Challenging herself to deal with whatever man and Mother Nature threw at her was proof positive that she was strong and capable. In some irrational way, it validated her ability to make tough decisions and find success in an environment very few medical professionals could tolerate.
Tiffany had fallen in love the minute she walked into the building. She often wondered if it was the action and adventure that drew the “new and improved” her to the work. Or maybe it was the work that drew out and validated the new qualities she saw in herself. Either way, she felt privileged to find a position helping others in their time of need. Helping others filled a hole for her.
Pulling into the hospital parking lot, she immediately craned her neck to catch a glimpse of what was waiting in the loading zone. Excitement rolled through her gut as she observed five ambulances waiting to unload. The light was also flashing to indicate that they were on diversion. Smiling, she knew that meant they had a full house. Her shift would fly, rather than crawl by. This was good since it was her last before moving on.
On account of a recent expansion, the emergency department had grown to double its normal size. Yet the place was somehow still heaving. Reading the whiteout board, she noted her assignment before going straight to her section.
Feeling the excitement thrumming through her body, she headed back to take report from her illustrious predecessor with a spring in her step. Her ability to compartmentalize the various segments of her life truly astounded her at times.
Skidding to a stop in front of a tiny podium, she noticed the woman sitting there appeared tense, frustrated, and exhausted.
Because they were on familiar terms, she knew Stephanie would enjoy the attempt to lighten the mood.
“Busy day at the office, Steph?”
Looking up at her, Stephanie offered a faint smile before blowing out an exasperated breath. “You cannot even imagine, girl. We’ve had a multi-car collision on Jefferson Avenue, a house fire that spread to a warehouse, and some sushi restaurant gave a bunch of people food poisoning. In short, we’ve been up to our elbows in burn victims and vomit all day.”
“Sounds rough.”
“Oh, and we got another gentleman from the geriatric high-rise across the street with urinary catheter complications.” Stephanie made little quotation marks in the air when she spoke the last three words.
Anger boiled in Tiffany’s blood. “You had better not tell me he had a non-deflated cath stuck in his urethra.”
“I’d love to be able to tell you that, but I can’t.”
Closing her eyes and counting to ten, she shook her head. “How difficult is it to deflate a catheter before you pull it out?”
“Not hard at all. I get so frustrated seeing geriatric patients in pain over generalized incompetence. Then again, his dementia is pretty severe, so there is a chance he pulled it partially out himself.”
“Either way, it evidences poor quality of care. We both know they get paid top dollar to see that things like this don’t happen.”
“All I know is Dr. Cole is on the warpath about it. He claims their rate of catheter complications is three times the national average.”
“That sounds like a fair assessment to me. What else do we have going on?”
Flipping through her notes, she frowned. “Air Life Line dropped a critically injured patient off earlier this evening. He’s built like a bodybuilder, covered in tattoos, and supposedly a real terror. The medics reported that they had to tranquilize him in order to provide basic lifesaving care while en route. Naturally, I assumed they were exaggerating, as they are prone to do. Then I read their report stating they had to sedate him not once, but twice during the flight. That was an imprudent choice for someone with a traumatic head injury, but I guess if your only other choice is them tearing the chopper up, you do what you’ve gotta do.”
“That sounds a little dramatic. Couldn’t they just strap him down?”
“I wasn’t there, so I don’t know. Mark my words, you are going to have your hands full with that one. He’s been unconscious thus far, but he’s due to wake up anytime. If I were you, I’d try to stay out of his reach.”
Tiffany nodded, appreciating the advice despite the obvious complication it presented. “I’m certain what you’re saying is true. However, it’s difficult to provide adequate care if I don’t get within arm’s reach. I need to be close enough to take vitals and administer medications. Speaking of which, does he have an IV?”
Looking down at her notes again, Stephanie answered succinctly. “IV therapy dropped a line as soon as he got here, so he’s fully hydrated. I noticed he’s been restless, so I’m betting it won’t be long until he wakes up.”
“Okay. I’ll be careful not to get myself mauled by him. Did his chem panel come back yet?”
“He’s negative for drugs, with the exception of marijuana.”
Typical. “Great. At least there is no danger of an amphetamine induced psychosis. You know those are always fun times.”
Her friend grinned at her off-color remark, knowing she meant just the opposite.
“He’s just one of several complex cases you’ll be facing tonight. You still have five other patients who are all fully conscious, and a couple of them are fairly demanding. We don’t have any beds open, so you’ll have every single one of them until they’re discharged or we find another hospital to accept them.”
Tiffany nodded. “At least we’re on diversion until further notice, and hopefully, it’ll keep them from cramming more in on us.”
Tiffany flipped through the charts, listening as Stephanie gave her a brief, incisive report on each of the remaining patients. As soon as her counterpart left, Tiffany got to work quietly visiting each of her patients, taking vitals, dispensing medications, and changing out bandages.
As the beginning of the shift wore on, doctors visited each patient, wrote orders, and the lab techs came to draw blood. One of her patients had a gunshot wound to the arm and a blood alcohol level of point ten percent. Handcuffing him to the bed was a safety precaution taken by the local law enforcement officer who brought him in. Charged with stabbing his wife during a domestic dispute, Elmer Oliver was clearly not only dangerous but a flight risk.
No matter how any times she asked him to refrain from yelling, he didn’t listen, as he was apparently hell bent on patching things up with his one and only true love. Barely resisting rolling her eyes, Tiffany stayed focused on writing her nursing notes, ignoring the rowdy man. The ER was always an exercise in patience.
In no time at all, Elmer’s drunken voice had gone from serenading his love to taking about how much he missed her. He was irritating and totally oblivious to everyone around him as he called for the woman in question.
“Eloise. Elllooiisseee. Answer me, woman.”
“What?” a sharp, raspy female voice answered, resonating off the walls, sounding less than pleased at being forced to answer him in such a public setting.
Once the woman spoke, Tiffany could discern some slurring of her words. Of course, neither of them were strangers to the staff at St. Mary’s. Their long-standing habitual drinking had instigated several drunken brawls between the two of them and lead to all kinds of injuries over the years. Consequently, Tiffany had been subjected to several stories about the couple by some of the more cynical staff. Try as she might, Tiffany simply wasn’t able to find the humor in their situation. Witnessing it in action now, it was as sad a situation as she’d imagined it to be.
The thoroughly intoxicated gentleman persisted in his drunken effort to get his woman to forgive him. He was persistent. Tiffany would have to give him credit for that much.
Causing a scene, he spoke loudly as he yanked on his cuffs, a horrible metal on metal scraping sound. “Where are you? I can’t see you no more, sweetness.”
When the woman didn’t answer, his voice became deeper and more desperate. “Talk to me, baby. I need to hear your sweet voice.”
Undoubtedly caving in to his drunken charm, her voice softened. “I’m over here, honey bear. They won’t let me come and see you.”
Immediately, he responded with an overt and obvious attempt to gain the poor woman’s full sympathy again. “Eloise, I love you. Baby, they got me cuffed to the fuckin’ bed like I’m some kind of a criminal.”
There was some muffled laughter from the employees and other patients at the man’s childish attempts to curry favor through a bizarre mixture of inducing pity right alongside an open declaration of love.
However oblivious his awkward attempts were to the staff, his wife fell for it rather quickly. “Oh, honey bear, you ain’t no criminal.”
“They’re fuckin’ laughing at me, baby. You know how I hate that shit.”
“Elmer, don’t pay them no mind. Just keep talkin’ to me. You know, you’re my very own honey bear.”
“Oh hell, baby.” There was short, pregnant pause, leading Tiffany to think something truly profound was about to come out of the man’s mouth. “I know I stabbed you and you shot me, but can’t we just call it even?”
Wow, she had not been expecting that one. Tiffany cringed as the sound of more muffled laughter rang out. Chewing her lip, she worried that it would escalate the man who was already displaying a tenuous grasp on his emotions. This whole situation was just hitting a little too close to home for her comfort, making it hard to process all the complexities of the seemingly straightforward interaction.
As a result of their intimate conversation, one of the law enforcement officers stuck his head into the bay. “You two might just call it even, but I call that a confession in front of at least a dozen witnesses. You already had your rights read, so I advise you to button it up for your own good.”
Naturally, the man stared the officer in the face defiantly as he shouted at the top of his lungs. “Sweetness, they tell me I can’t talk to you no more! These sons of bitches are crazier than we are if they think for goddamn minute they can keep us from talkin’ to each other.”
Tiffany sighed, knowing neither of them were probably going to cease trying to communicate with each other until the officers remanded them into custody.
To sum it up, not only was it going to be a long night, but afterward she’d have to listen to the entire episode being retold in lurid detail by a bunch of people who should know better. Unfortunately, Tiffany had discovered early on that her co-workers had become cynical to certain situations, chiefly by virtue of the sheer volume and intensity of the crisis situations they encountered on a daily basis.
Her genuine affinity for her coworkers notwithstanding, insolent and belligerent people with no internal controls being used as sport by people who could do it with impunity rubbed her the wrong way on several different levels. Rare moments like this made her wonder if this environment was the best fit for her after all. Maybe on her next do over, she’d pick another medical setting to ply her wares.