Tony Scott - Along Came COVID - Love and Loss in the 2020 Pandemic

“Sit here while I scope this out and make sure we’re in the right place.” Before Josh could answer, Ricky vanished. All he could do was stare at the floor and relive her removing her tube.

“They’re in an arteriography room down the hall. They had to stop working on the radiology procedure because they had to start doing chest compressions again. I guess the ultrasound showed a big clot in the right main pulmonary artery. The radiologist thinks he can get it out if he can thread a catheter from her groin into her lung.”

“I don’t know what I’ll do if she dies,” Josh said. “It will mean that I lose Cori too.”

“Yes. But Josh, it’s not over yet. The radiologist thinks he can blow it out.”

“Blow it out?” Josh said, horrified. “How does that work?”

“What I heard was they inject high pressure saline behind the clot, pushing it back out into a gadget that grinds it up and sucks it out.”

“We do that with fibroids tumors of the uterus using a laparoscope,” Josh said. “I have never figured out how such a tiny grinder can grind up a big fibroid in just seconds.”

“I’ve never seen that procedure,” Ricky said.

“Yeah,” Josh said, “they did that in Oklahoma City.”

“OK. Well anyway, that’s what they’re thinking with Faith.”

“But she has to live that long.”

“They aren’t doing chest compressions all the time,” Ricky said. “I think that’s a good sign.”

Josh began reminiscing again. Something inside him needed to be released. “I took her a yellow rose one night when we went to dinner.”

“What did she say?” even though he remembered.

“Thank you.” Josh amazed himself by chuckling. “She totally didn’t get it. Later she told me she talked to her sister afterwards, and the fourteen-year-old interpreted the yellow rose. I have never let her off the hook about that. I have since thanked Natalie for helping me get Faith’s attention.”

“It’s amazing how insightful and knowledgeable she is here at work. She seems so connected to patients, their problems, their preferences, and their personalities. Her anecdotes about patients are hilarious.”

“I know. But at home, sometimes she is completely clueless. As if she’s a different person. She totally didn’t get the rose. It’s amazing. Her dad says she has always been that way, and that her kindergarten teacher said she had trouble getting the main idea.”

“I’m going back down the hall,” Ricky said and slipped out the door. Josh agonized while Ricky was away and relaxed when he reappeared.

“Do you think I should call her parents?” Josh asked, mostly just wanting to do something.

“Let’s hold off a little longer. What made you pick New Mexico?” Josh knew this was just to get him to keep talking. Hadn’t he and Ricky discussed this before? Maybe not.

“I didn’t want to go east. I wanted warmer weather. I didn’t get picked by any program in Arizona or California, so I wound up matching here. I was disappointed at the time, but not now. I like New Mexico, I like Albuquerque, I like this residency, and I like Faith.” His heart ached again.

“Have you talked to your parents?” he asked.

“Yes, occasionally. They’re all well. I’ve talked to my sister often. We fought like cats and dogs when we were young, but in retrospect, she always helped me and protected me. What are they going to do to her?”

“In order to inject saline on the far side of the clot, they need to give her more heparin and they are worried about that. I didn’t know this, but large amounts of heparin lower the blood pressure, which she doesn’t need. Peggy was talking about giving her something to counteract that. Dopamine.”

“It’s more and more stuff,” Josh said. “When do we get to a place where there’s no coming back?”

“I don’t know.” Ricky didn’t have anything to say. “But maybe if the clot comes out we turn this around quickly.”

“That would be fine by me,” Josh said. “The sooner the better.”

Ricky stood, left the room and was gone for a long time. Josh looked at his phone wanting to call someone, but couldn’t bring himself to press an icon. He finally opened a game of Bejeweled, but played poorly. He was relieved when Ricky returned.

“The first try failed. They are trying to go for a second try, but her heart keeps stopping.” Josh saw the tears in Ricky’s eyes, and stood.

“This is not good, Ricky. It’s not good.”

“Well, they aren’t giving up,” his voice cracked. “They were changing something in the injection equipment for the second attempt. I could see the clot on the monitor screen while I was standing in the doorway. It almost completely blocks the right pulmonary artery. The floor looks like a war zone.”

“The door is open?”

“Yes. They are all hot in PPE and lead aprons. There must be a dozen people in the room.”

“How long has this been going on?”

Ricky looked at his watch. “An hour and a half.”

“So, she could have brain damage if she wakes up?”

He shook his head. “We can’t think like that, Josh. We have to give them a chance to do their work.”

Memories of Faith flew through Josh’s head. “I will never forget her. I will never forget the crumpled paper in the trash can. I will never forget suppers in the hospital cafeteria. I will never forget holding her tight at night and waking up with her on my shoulder. I will never forget when we saw Cori on ultrasound for the first time. I will never forget our trip up Sandia Peak.” He looked up. A thick evil vacuum pushed into his chest. Tears were streaming down Ricky’s face.

There was a noise down the hall, the first time they had heard anything through the heavy waiting room door. Ricky scooted out. He was back in a flash this time. “They’re cheering. The clot moved. They are waiting to see how she responds to it.”

“Do you think she will survive?”

“At least they weren’t doing chest compressions. That’s a good sign.”

“Unless they are giving up.”

“They wouldn’t be cheering about that, moron!” Ricky said with a friendly punch on Josh’s shoulder.

“Duh. I guess not,” he said. “I don’t know what to think. I don’t think I can think.”

“We might not know for a few hours or even days,” Ricky said. “Depending on how quickly she recovers from this ordeal. Now it’s my turn. I don’t know what I will do if she dies. Haley will be a worthless mess, and Ann won’t know what to do. Even Emily has called me this morning. I think I should call her now.”

“They got the clot out?” Emily could be heard on speaker. “That’s good news. What happens now?”

“We don’t know yet. They are waiting to see how she responds.”

“OK, good. I would be a mess if she died.”

Ricky ended the call. Josh dialed Natalie, but Ricky had to speak. “Is this Faith’s sister?”

“Yes,” a timid voice answered. “I’m Natalie.”

“I’m Ricky. I’m Josh’s cousin.”

“Oh! OK! I’ve heard of you.” Raw fear came in her voice. “What happened?”

“Faith had a serious and sudden turn for the worse this morning and her heart stopped. They have been doing resuscitation efforts for two hours, but now she seems to be better.”

“Get your mom and dad, Natalie,” Josh blurted.

“OK, they’re here.”

Josh took over. “This morning we turned her sedation off because it looked like we could extubate her,” sniff. “In the process, she awakened and pulled her own tube out. That’s when her heart stopped. It took a long time to get her going again. They decided that she had a clot in her lung, so they took her to radiology where they got the clot out. It looks like she’s better.”