Janice Lynn - Friend, Fling, Forever?

Mindy leaned against the desk. “I’m just saying, the most eligible bachelor in the hospital asked you to buy him at the fund-raiser. I think you should see that as a sign and go for it.”

Go for it? Her friend had lost her mind.

“A sign of what?”

Mindy waggled her brows. “Your good fortune. Do you know how many women would kill for Gorgeous Gabe to ask them to buy his date package?”

Kami made a bleh motion with her tongue. “They can have him. He’s too stuck on himself for my taste.”

Mindy didn’t look convinced. “That’s not how I see him.”

Kami didn’t, either. Not really. Gabe was gorgeous, but he didn’t seem to get caught up in his looks other than that he took care of himself and worked out regularly. Nothing wrong with trying to stay healthy.

Gabe was the picture of good health.

Great health.

Health at its finest, even.

Yeah, yeah. The man was easy on the eyes. No big deal.

“He’s got a big heart and you know it,” Mindy continued, oblivious to Kami’s wayward thoughts—thank goodness. The last thing she needed was Mindy pushing her toward doing something she knew better than to do. She might be immune, but you didn’t rub your face in germs to tempt fate, either.

“He doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty. He’s the first to jump in and help when someone needs something. I’ve never known him to pull the doctor card.” Mindy gave a pointed look. “I’d be hard-pressed to name someone, male or female, who didn’t like him.”

“Since you’re a walking, talking advertisement of his virtues, you bid on him,” Kami suggested and wondered at the slight twinge in her belly at the thought of her friend buying Gabe’s date.

Her two friends getting together would be a good thing, right? Well, except that Gabe would eventually break Mindy’s heart and then Kami would have to bust his chops for hurting her bestie. That was what the issue was. She didn’t want to have to dislike him for breaking Mindy’s heart.

But Mindy’s eyes lit at Kami’s suggestion and a smile slid onto her face. “I might do that.”

Kami’s brow shot up. Her mouth opened, but she didn’t comment as Gabe came strolling back into the emergency department.

“What have I missed?”

“Not much. Been a slow one so far,” Mindy told him, all smiles and looks of all sorts of possibilities.

“Bite your tongue,” Kami and Gabe said at the same time.

“Listen at you two,” Mindy said, giving Kami a mischievous glance that said maybe her friend hadn’t really veered from her original mission after all. “So in sync.”

“Not wanting you to jinx our evening is common sense. Nothing in sync about that,” Kami corrected, hoping her friend caught her warning tone. “Now, Dr. Nelson.” She turned her attention to Gabe, ignoring his curious looks between her and Mindy. “Bay one is a urinary tract infection. Onset earlier today. Her urinalysis results are in her chart. Bay two is a fever and sore throat. I’ve swabbed for strep, but the results are pending. Both are pleasant, stable, and accompanied by their significant other. You want me to go with you while you examine them?”

Bay one was given an antibiotic, a bladder antispasmodic, a handout on the preventions of UTIs, and was sent on her way. The woman in bay two, however, looked worse than she had a few minutes before when Kami had last checked.

Her temp was just over one hundred and three, her throat beet red, and her conjunctivae injected. The woman was also now complaining of a severe headache, which she hadn’t mentioned during triage or when Kami had done her nursing assessment.

The woman shivered as if she were freezing and looked miserable.

“Can you get her a blanket or something?” her husband asked, looking frustrated that his wife was getting worse.

“She doesn’t need to cover up,” Kami reminded him. She’d intentionally not given the woman a blanket. She directed her next comment to her patient. “It’ll hold heat to your body and you’re already too warm. We have to get your fever under control before we can even consider giving a blanket or doing anything that might make you worse.”

Wincing with discomfort, the woman tightened her arms around her body. “I’m so cold.”

They had to get her fever down and stable. Once they did, then she could possibly have a lightweight blanket. Certainly not before.

“When did the headache start?” Kami asked.

“She had a headache when she got here. It’s just gotten a lot worse,” the husband clarified. “It wasn’t bad enough to mention.”

Apparently not even when Kami had directly asked about a headache. Ugh. She really didn’t like when patients said something completely opposite when the doctor was present than what they’d told her during their assessment. It happened almost nightly.

Gabe ran through a quick examination of the woman. “Some swelling in the cervical nodes and neck stiffness. I want a blood count and a comprehensive metabolic panel on her STAT, and has that strep finished running?”

“Should be. I’ll log in and check.” Kami signed in on the in-bay computer and the test result was back. “She’s negative for strep.”

“Ache all over,” the woman told them, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. “Cold.”

Gabe gave some orders, which Kami turned to do, but stopped when the woman said, “I’m going to throw up.” Then did exactly that.

Gabe was closer than Kami and got an emesis pan in front of Mrs. Arnold just in time.

“Give her an antiemetic IM now.” He named the one he wanted given and the dosage. “Then let’s get a saline lock on her.”

Kami drew up the medication and injected the solution. The woman was shaking and looked much worse than she had when they’d entered the bay.

“Do something,” the husband ordered, sounding worried, as he hovered next to his wife’s bed, gripping the woman’s pale hand.

Gabe sent Kami a concerned look. “Get phlebotomy to draw blood cultures times three and the previous labs I mentioned. It’s off season, but run an influenza test, just in case. Let’s get a CT of her head, too. I’m probably going to do a lumbar puncture.”

He was thinking a possibility of meningitis. Rightly so, given how rapidly her status was changing.

“Let’s put her in isolation. Just in case,” Gabe continued in full doctor mode.

The husband was talking, too. Kami didn’t want to ignore him, tried to answer his questions while she worked, but he continued to fret.

Gabe gave an order to get IV antibiotics started and told her which he wanted. Kami rushed around making things happen. Although she’d really not looked like more than a typical sore throat patient, Mrs. Arnold had gone downhill scarily fast. In case she continued on the decline, they needed to act fast to get an accurate diagnosis as quickly as possible.

* * *

Linda Arnold’s blood count came back showing a significantly elevated white blood cell count with a bacterial shift. Her headache and neck pain had continued to increase and the woman refused to even attempt to move her neck. Her strep and influenza were negative.

Lumbar punctures weren’t Gabe’s favorite things to do as there was always risk, but his concerns over meningitis were too high not to test her spinal fluid. As soon as he had the CT scan results back, he’d pull the fluid so long as the scan didn’t show any reason not to. He didn’t want to risk brain herniation by not following protocol.

From all indications, the woman had meningitis. Gabe needed to know the exact culprit.

He cleared out two other patients who’d come into the emergency department. Then, protective personal equipment in place, he went back to Mrs. Arnold.