Emergency at the Royal

‘He seemed to be annoyed that I was talking to you. Apparently he thought my attitude was too casual and he wanted to know if I hadn’t any work to be getting on with. He said I’d left a patient unsupervised.’

Katie frowned. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get you into trouble.’

‘It wasn’t your fault. I think he was looking for someone to chew out.’

Was Craig right about that? Her own brother had said Drew could be ruthless, and she had tried to dismiss it, but now she was filled with doubt. It seemed unfair that Craig should fall foul of Drew this first day.

They had almost reached the cubicle by now, and Katie said, ‘I’m a little worried about Mr Framley. He was complaining of neck stiffness, and he was hypertensive, too. Perhaps you should do a CT scan.’

‘He didn’t have any neck stiffness when I examined him,’ Craig said defensively. ‘There were no signs that led me to think of anything other than migraine.’

‘It can be difficult to make an accurate diagnosis,’ Katie said, ‘but when you see the new consultant, be careful.’

‘I will.’ He pulled open the curtain of the cubicle and went in. Katie heard the murmur of voices, and guessed that he was talking to Drew. She hoped that he could put things right. She was beginning to suspect that Mr Framley was showing signs of a condition that was far more serious than Craig had guessed. In Craig’s place, she would be doing a CT scan and blood tests, as well as an ECG and chest X-ray. From the looks of things, Mr Framley could be suffering from a subarachnoid haemorrhage.

A moment later, a worried-looking Craig came out from the cubicle. He looked white-faced, and Katie said anxiously, ‘Can I help?’

He nodded. ‘He’s taken a sudden turn for the worse, and we need to intubate. I’m going to call for a neurosurgeon.’

Katie went to assist, and the team went into action. Drew called for all the tests that she had guessed would be needed, and a short time later Mick went up to Theatre. Katie hoped that the surgeon would be able to save him. A bleed into the brain could kill a man unless it was caught in time.

Drew didn’t comment on what had gone on between him and Craig, but he was tight-lipped whenever he was around him, and Craig was nervous for the rest of the day. Katie met up with him during a break in the afternoon, and he still looked anxious.

She put her hand on his arm. ‘You should try not to worry too much,’ she told him. ‘You’ve only been in emergency medicine for six months. You can’t get everything right all the time.’

His mouth made a bitter line. ‘Try telling that to the new consultant. Mr Bradley doesn’t seem to appreciate that he’s here to support me. He thinks I missed the diagnosis because I didn’t do the proper checks.’

‘I’m sure you did what you thought was right at the time. I expect he’ll get to know you better and see that he’s being too hard on you.’

‘Maybe. I just hope Mick Framley pulls through.’ He moved his shoulders as though he was making an effort to shrug off his despondent mood and glanced at her thoughtfully. ‘When I saw you talking to the new man earlier, I had the feeling that you two knew each other. Is that right? Is he from around here?’

‘Yes, I do know him.’ She pressed her lips together, uncertain how much she should say. ‘He used to live locally, but he moved away some years ago. He was always determined to become a consultant in A and E.’

‘How was it that you got to know him?’

‘We lived in the same neighbourhood at one time. He was always around and about, and sometimes we would find ourselves at the same functions.’

‘Do you like him?’

Katie hesitated. It was a direct question, but she could hardly tell Craig all the ins and outs of the situation, all her doubts and insecurities, and in the end she settled for an edited version of the truth.

‘We used to get along all right. I’ve known him since I was a teenager, and he went to the same school as my brother, but I haven’t heard from him these last few years, and I think things are different now. He’s a consultant and he probably has a position to live up to. You and I are just junior doctors, and we’re worlds apart from him, so we can’t do anything other than make the best of things.’

It seemed so long ago that Drew had been her friend, her soul mate, someone who would step in and intervene between her and her brother whenever they had a falling-out. As a teenager Luke had been irrepressible in teasing and tormenting her, and even when he’d got older, a student at university, he had enjoyed provoking her. Drew had been someone she had been able to look up to and confide in, and now it seemed that all that had changed.

She went back to her patients and later on she attended to a man who had injured his hand at the factory where he worked. ‘I’ll put in a few stitches to hold the edges of the wound together,’ she told him. ‘Then I’ll put a dressing over it and you’ll need to come back to have the stitches removed in a few days. You should have an antibiotic, too, in case there’s an infection.’

As she began to suture the wound, she saw Hannah pass by. ‘Is there any news of Mr Framley?’ she asked. ‘He must be back from surgery by now.’

Hannah nodded. ‘He’s still in Recovery, but by all accounts things went reasonably well. The surgeon managed to deal with the aneurysm and patch him up.’

Drew came to watch as Katie put in the last suture. ‘It’ll be a while before the man is on his feet again,’ he said, catching the end of the conversation. ‘He was lucky that he hadn’t left the hospital, and I guess that was down to you. By stopping him, you saved his life.’

‘It was just fortunate that I happened to see him stagger.’ She looked up at him, her green eyes troubled. ‘It wasn’t an easy diagnosis to make,’ she said, wanting to defend Craig. ‘Initially, he showed all the signs of having a migraine.’

Drew’s gaze was flint sharp. ‘We have to look be yond that. I hope your friend has taken the lesson on board.’

He had placed a slight emphasis on the word ‘friend’, and Katie glanced at him in dismay. His tone was cool, his jaw was set in a hard line, and she reflected that it was going to be difficult for Craig to make up for his lapse.

‘I’m sure he’ll take note, and learn from all the situations he comes across. I don’t believe you can ask for any more.’

‘Can’t I?’ His gaze shimmered over her. ‘Then you don’t know me very well, do you?’

He moved away from her, and Katie felt a small shiver go through her. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps she didn’t know him at all.

CHAPTER THREE

‘IS THIS for me? What is it? What did you buy me?’ Four-year-old Reece clutched the parcel that Katie handed him, his eyes wide with excitement.

‘Yes, it’s for you. You’d better open it and find out,’ Katie said with a smile. ‘I hope you like it.’

Reece tore eagerly at the wrapping paper. ‘Oh, wow,’ he exclaimed. ‘A train set. I love it, I love it.’ He dashed off to show his mother, and Becky admired the toy and smiled.

‘He’s wanted one of those for ages,’ she said.

Katie helped to undo all the packaging and hand out the various pieces, while Becky helped Reece to set up the train and track system. Reece’s face was animated, his blue eyes shining, and Katie watched him with affection as he bent over the train set. His friends quickly gathered around him.

Luke came and stood by her side, and said quietly, ‘I’m glad you were able to come today, Katie. I wasn’t sure whether you would be working, but Reece wanted you to be here for his party.’

‘I wanted to be here, too, so I arranged to swap shifts with Craig.’ She smiled, glancing across the room. ‘From the looks of things, Reece is having a wonderful time.’ His fair hair was shining, illuminated by the sunshine that poured in through the living-room window.

Luke nodded. ‘Becky wanted to make it special for him, and she worked hard to make sure that everything would be just right. She was on her feet all morning, preparing the food, while I was at work. I’m a bit worried that she’s been doing too much, though. She doesn’t look too well, does she?’

‘I thought she was quite pale,’ Katie said. Becky was fair-haired like her son, and she had a washed-out look about her today, as though something was not quite right. ‘Is she still getting those same abdominal pains?’

‘I think so. She doesn’t tell me very much because she doesn’t want to worry me. What do you think I should do?’

‘I imagine the best thing would be for you to persuade her to have a word with her doctor or her obstetrician. If she’s having any problems at all, I think she needs to get it checked out. Was everything all right at her last hospital appointment?’

‘She said it was.’

‘If I were in your shoes, I would get her to go and see the doctor in the next day or so, and perhaps you should go along with her. You can’t be too careful. She’s five months pregnant, isn’t she?’

Before Luke could answer, Reece got to his feet and came over to them. ‘Look, Daddy, look, Auntie Katie,’ he said, waving his wooden train high in the air. ‘Watch this. It goes over the bridge and through the tunnel.’

Katie went to take a look, squatting down to follow the train’s progress as it raced along the track. Her brother followed. Parts of the track were raised up above the carpet, sloping, so that the wagons gathered speed as they went downhill. ‘So it does,’ Katie said approvingly. ‘It’s good, isn’t it?’

‘It goes well fast,’ Reece said, looking pleased. He showed his friends, and even allowed one of the little boys to put another train on the track.