Medical Mishap

‘Shut up! Shut up! I know!’ Panic washed over Abby as she futilely attempted to staunch the unrelenting flow of blood with surgical sponges, then suction devices.

The bright red colour of the blood meant she must have nicked an artery somewhere, but with so much blood flooding his chest cavity, it was hard to identify the exact location of the leak.

‘Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!’ Abby’s hands shook violently.

Her confidence had misled her into believing this surgery would be a breeze.

Disregarding Callie’s warning, she had taken matters into her own hands, operating without proper authorisation.

And now, everything had spiralled out of control.

Not only had she violated the hospital’s rules, but she had also caused a medical mishap.

To make matters worse, the patient lying before her was a soldier.

What if he died on the operating table?

The weight of the consequences pressed upon her, leaving her paralysed with fear.

Her trembling hands failed to halt the bleeding, rendering her helpless.

Wendy, though just as flustered, knew she couldn’t afford to panic.

She tried to keep her voice steady as she admonished Abby, ‘Dr Colman, this is not the time to freeze. The patient’s going to bleed to death if you don’t do something!’

‘I... I...’ Abby’s voice wavered, her distress seeping through her words. ‘I... I don’t know. What should I do?’

Wendy swore under her breath and fought the urge to shake some sense into the young woman.

Abby was the doctor here, even if she was just a first-year resident.

If she didn’t know what to do, what hope was there for a nurse like Wendy?

But Abby was clearly incapable of acting right now.

Wendy shoved her aside, used suction devices to remove excess blood and fluid from the patient’s chest cavity and tried to locate the bleeding source.

But there was simply too much blood.

And even if she did find it, she’d need a surgeon to help stop the bleeding.

Abby stood by the side, watching helplessly.

Wendy shot her a glare of frustration before hurrying off to Operating Theatre Two.

She shouted into the intercom. ‘Dr Hawthorne! We need you in Theatre Three!’

Callie was drenched in sweat, having just closed the patient’s pericardium with absorbable sutures and the chest incision with surgical staples.

She was about to place drains to evacuate any fluid or blood that may accumulate postoperatively.

Continuing her work and without looking up, she asked, ‘What?’

‘Dr Colman performed the emergency thoracotomy alone. Midway through the operation, the patient started haemorrhaging profusely. He’s in tachycardia, and none of his vital signs looks promising.’

Callie’s movements momentarily faltered, but within seconds, she recovered and picked up her pace. ‘Wendy, prepare for a blood transfusion immediately. I’ll be there in three minutes.’

‘Dr Colman, that’s the other problem! The patient is blood type A, MNSSU. We don’t have that in our blood bank. And compatibility test with blood types A or O takes time.’ Wendy’s voice was hoarse from shouting. ‘As far as I know, you’re the only one in this hospital with that exact blood type.’

Callie bit her lip, her grip tightening around the chest drain tube. ‘Is Dr Moncrieff available?’

‘No. I looked into Theatre One. He’s just getting started on patient Number Two.’

Which meant Callie had to do both: treat the patient and donate blood.

There was a flicker of unwavering resolve in her almond-shaped eyes as she repeated herself, ‘Wendy, I’ll be there in three minutes. Set up the transfusion pump. As soon as I find and close the bleeding site, we’ll do the transfusion.’

‘But Dr Hawthorne—’

‘Go. Now!’

With that, she shut out Wendy’s protests, diving back into her patient’s care.

Abby’s disregard for her instructions and unauthorised surgery had caught Callie off guard.

But this was no time for pointing fingers.

That would come later.

Callie picked up her pace once more, closed the incision site, then left instructions for the surgical nurse to apply sterile dressing before darting out of Operating Theatre Two into the adjacent Theatre Three.

She scrubbed up and stormed into the theatre.

‘Is the blood pump ready?’ she asked Wendy, not sparing a glance at Abby, who stood frozen to the spot.

‘All set.’

With Wendy’s help, Callie examined the patient’s chest cavity, gently manipulating the surrounding tissues and structures to identify the injured artery.

It took her about twenty seconds to find the bleeding spot.

With a pair of vascular clamps, she clamped down on the artery until there was no more blood seeping out.

Then she sutured the artery with a curved surgical needle.

Once haemostasis was achieved, she relaxed slightly.

She turned to Wendy. ‘Let’s do the transfusion.’

She sat on a stool and rolled up her sleeve. ‘Let’s do 300cc first.’

‘Got it.’

Wendy drew Callie’s blood with practised ease, collected it into a sterile canister, then processed it in the blood salvage machine to separate the red blood cells from other fluids.

Once separated, the red blood cells were washed with a sterile solution to remove any contaminants, then filtered to get rid of any remaining impurities or clots.

Finally, it was transferred to a blood bag and immediately administered to the patient with a transfusion line and a blood filter.

Throughout the process, Callie kept her eyes on the monitor, observing the patient’s vital stats.

They had stabilised somewhat, but his systolic blood pressure and oxygen saturation level were still dangerously low.

‘Draw another 500cc,’ she said to Wendy, who did as told.

‘Another 300cc,’ Callie said after the second transfusion was done. ‘His oxygen saturation level is still below ninety per cent.’

The nurse sighed when she noted Callie’s increasingly pallid face, but she carried out the order without protest.

It wasn’t until the patient’s oxygen saturation level was brought back up to a healthy 98% that Callie finally stopped.

She rose to her feet, swayed and saw black dots swimming in front of her eyes.

Well-deserved Slap

Wendy shot out an arm to steady her. ‘Are you all right?’

Callie blinked away the black dots. ‘I’m fine. Just needed a sec.’

Her entire left arm felt numb, like she had a dead tree branch attached to her body.

Enduring the weird sensation, Callie removed her mask with her right hand and walked towards the door. ‘Wendy, let me know if anything changes.’

‘Will do, Dr Hawthorne.’

Callie beckoned at Abby, who had not made a sound since she entered the operating theatre. ‘You. Come with me.’

Abby hesitated, her expression a mix of fear and defiance.

But she had no choice but to follow Callie out of the room.

Wendy shook her head as she watched the two women leave.

Though both were surgical residents, in her mind, only one of them could be called a doctor.

As they stepped into an empty hallway, Abby braced herself for a dressing-down. ‘I was only trying to—’

Smack!

Before she could finish her sentence, Callie’s right hand connected solidly with Abby’s cheek, leaving a fiery mark behind.

The sharp sound of the slap reverberated through the hallway.

Abby recoiled, her hand flying to her stinging cheek.

The pain mirrored the shock on her face as she stared at Callie, disbelief written all over her features. ‘You...Did you just hit me?’

Callie stood tall, her eyes blazing with a fire that couldn’t be extinguished. ‘Did you not listen to a word I said? You could’ve killed the patient!’

Abby, her tears welling up, mustered a feeble defence. ‘But he didn’t die, did he?’

‘No thanks to you.’ Callie sneered.

Abby bit her trembling lower lip. ‘Fine, I made a mistake! But that doesn’t give you the right to hit me! You are not my superior! You are just a resident!’

‘Senior resident,’ Callie reminded her.

‘But you still work for my father. He owns this hospital!’ Abby seethed. ‘What do you think he’ll say if he finds out you hit me?’

‘What do you think he’ll say if he finds out you almost killed a patient?’ Callie shot back. ‘A soldier no less?’

Abby couldn’t find a reply to that sharp remark.

So she changed the topic. ‘You just have it in for me because you are jealous! You picked on me because your boyfriend chose me over you! This is revenge!’

Callie’s eyes narrowed, her patience wearing thin.

She wasn’t about to let Abby’s words deflect from the real issue. ‘I couldn’t care less if you’re the director’s daughter or my ex-boyfriend’s new squeeze or the queen of the universe. You deserved that slap, and you’ll deserve more than a slap if you keep repeating stupid mistakes like the ones you made today.’

Before Abby could react further, a familiar figure emerged from Operating Theatre One.

Simon, fresh out of two back-to-back surgeries, approached with weary steps.

His gaze flickered between Callie and Abby, sensing the tension in the air.

‘Abby, what happened?’ he asked, his voice tinged with worry.

His protective instincts kicked in as he noticed the red mark on Abby’s cheek. ‘Did Callie do this to you?’

Abby, tears streaming down her face, nodded pitifully. ‘My face hurts!’

Simon turned to Callie, his eyes filled with disbelief.

He couldn’t fathom why she would resort to violence. ‘Callie, why did you hit Abby?’

‘Why don’t you ask her why I did it?’

Simon looked at Abby, who averted her eyes.

He turned back to Callie, scowling. ‘Even if she did something wrong, violence isn’t the answer!’

Callie, physically and emotionally drained from the exhausting surgeries and the blood loss she had endured, inhaled deeply.

She hadn’t slapped Abby because the woman had taken Simon away from her, but because Abby’s irresponsible actions had put a patient’s life in jeopardy.

Yet, Simon jumped straight to Abbey’s defence without even bothering to find out why.

Callie couldn’t believe this was the man who had been with her for three years, who’d made the most solemn vows to her.

‘Dr Moncrieff, I did slap her. And I’d have done a lot worse if the patient had died.’

‘What patient?’ Simon scowled.

‘Why don’t you ask her?’ Callie turned away. ‘Go comfort your precious girlfriend. Just make sure she never sets foot in the operating theatre again!’

She left before Simon could see the tears welling up in her eyes.

The pain of being admonished by Simon, who seemed more concerned about Abby’s face than the truth, hurt worse than the blood draw.

Callie couldn’t help but wonder: what about the three years they’d spent together?

She had placed her trust in Simon, not just as a colleague but also as a boyfriend, believing that they would eventually build a future together.

Even if their breakup led her to revise her opinion of him as a man, she never doubted his professional integrity.

Simon was a competent doctor.

Yet, it was obvious that he didn’t have the same faith in her.

Tears blurred Callie’s vision, making everything before her appear hazy.

Under a brave facade, her heart throbbed with pain as if it had been ripped in half.

She hurriedly walked with her head down, not wanting anyone to witness her sorrow and disarray.

Lost in her thoughts, she collided with a man at the corner, her face taking the brunt of the impact as she stumbled backwards.

Just as Callie thought she was about to crash onto the ground, a pair of strong arms caught her waist, saving her from the fall.

She found herself leaning into a man’s comforting embrace, feeling a warmth in her ear as his breath brushed against her skin.

Blinking, Callie mumbled, ‘Um, sorry. And thank you.’

She looked up and stared into a pair of deep, unfathomable eyes.

‘We meet again.’ Elias’s lips curved slightly.

He hadn’t anticipated running into her here; a pleasant surprise amidst a hectic and tragic day.

‘Um.’ Callie blinked away her tears, her gaze fixated on Elias, trying to place the familiar face.

Then her eyes widened with recognition and surprise. ‘It’s you!’

Beautiful and Deadly

Some distance away, the emergency room buzzed with activity as doctors and nurses hurried past, their scrubs swishing in a flurry of purpose.

But the hallway outside the operating theatres was quiet.

Callie leaned against the wall, her white coat wrinkled and stained with blood.

She tried to compose herself, wiping away the remnants of tears that stained her cheeks.

Elias didn’t release his grip on Callie, his eyes penetrating into her soul.

‘What happened?’ he asked, his concern seeping through the sternness in his tone. ‘Why were you crying? And what’s with the blood on your arm?’

Callie’s guard shot up like a fortress wall.

She wiped away her tears, determined not to let a stranger witness her vulnerability.

‘It’s none of your business,’ she snapped, her voice tinged with defiance.

Elias moved closer, his gaze unwavering.

Callie’s breath hitched as she felt his proximity, his presence engulfing her.

‘Maybe it is my business,’ he countered, his voice low and commanding. ‘I don’t like seeing tears in those beautiful eyes.’

Callie’s cheeks flushed, her heart pounding against her ribcage.

She wasn’t accustomed to such directness.

Her instincts told her to step back, but a small part of her longed for the solace of a comforting touch.

Her voice trembled slightly as she met his eyes. ‘It’s nothing, really.’

‘Then why are you crying?’

‘It’s nothing,’ she repeated, her voice shaky. ‘Just a bad day.’

Elias moved closer, his gaze unwavering.

Callie’s heart skipped a beat, and she stumbled over her words. ‘I-I really can handle it myself,’ she stammered, flustered by his proximity.

‘Did you donate blood?’ Elias demanded. ‘Is that why you have a bandage on your arm and why you look so pale?’

Callie looked away nonchalantly, dismissing his remark. ‘I don’t have to explain myself to you.’

Elias leaned in, his lips dangerously close to hers.

Flustered, Callie took an instinctive step backwards, bumping into the wall behind her.

Her breath caught, and her mind whirled with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.

Just then, a familiar voice pierced through the tension, cutting through their conversation like a knife.

It was Wendy, the spunky nurse with a fiery spirit and a knack for speaking her mind.

‘Callie!’ Wendy exclaimed, rushing towards them. ‘There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you. How are you feeling? You lost so much blood. Are you all right?’

Callie managed a weak smile. ‘I’m fine, Wendy. Really. Just a little tired, that’s all.’

Wendy’s eyes narrowed, her frustration evident in her tone. ‘Abby is such a pain, you know? Always acting like she knows everything. If it weren’t for you, that soldier wouldn’t have made it. She needs to learn her place.’

Callie patted the nurse’s arm. ‘Wendy, calm down. It’s not worth getting worked up over. Let’s focus on the patients.’

‘That despicable Abby Colman!’ Wendy’s teeth clenched, still seething. ‘I don’t understand how Simon could choose Abby over you. You two had plans to get married next year, and your relationship seemed so solid. If it weren’t for Abby’s meddling, everything would have worked out perfectly. Simon is such a jerk. He must be after that witch’s wealth and status...’

Wendy’s words struck Callie’s heart once again, breaking it further.

She intervened, speaking softly, ‘Wendy, that’s enough. Their relationship has nothing to do with me. I saved that soldier not to prove a point but because I’m a doctor...’

Elias watched the interaction between Callie and Wendy, his gaze shifting from one to the other.

A pensive expression played on his face as he assessed the strength and resilience in Callie’s eyes, and the unmistakable anguish in her voice.

Thoughts of the photo he had seen in her apartment haunted him—the despicable ex-boyfriend Simon, he concluded.

However, the fact that the photo was discarded in the trash can brought him a sense of relief.

Elias studied Callie once more, his eyes lingering on the bandage adorning her arm.

Nurse Wendy’s words told him that it was a result of a blood transfusion.

Impressed by Callie’s dedication, Elias couldn’t help but be drawn to her.

She had not only performed life-saving surgery on one of his subordinates but had also donated her own blood for the patient’s recovery.

Meanwhile, Wendy, engrossed in conversation with Callie, couldn’t help but notice the tall, muscular man standing nearby.

Her eyes widened, and she almost let out a wolf whistle.

Clad in a tight-fitting black t-shirt and black pants, the man exuded a commanding presence.

His striking features and intense gaze were enough to make anyone weak in the knees.

Wendy nudged Callie, pulling her aside.

‘Callie, girl! Do you know who that hunk of a man is?’ Wendy gushed, her eyes filled with excitement.

Callie shook her head, her expression wary. ‘I have no idea, Wendy.’

Wendy swooned, her voice laced with admiration. ‘Look at him! He’s like a walking work of art. I mean, seriously, have you ever seen anyone so good-looking?’

Callie sighed, cautioning her friend and colleague. ‘Wendy, you have to be careful. Just remember, the prettier they are, the more dangerous they can be. It’s like in nature—beautiful creatures are often the deadliest.’

Elias, standing nearby, caught wind of their conversation and couldn’t help but smirk.

Callie warned Wendy to keep her distance, and yet, here she was, praising his appearance.

Elias found her contradictory statement amusing.

Unconvinced by Callie’s words, Wendy pressed for evidence. ‘Come on, Callie, you can’t just judge a book by its cover. Is there any proof that he’s dangerous?’

Callie almost revealed the truth, her thoughts drifting back to that rainy night weeks ago—the torn blouse, the forceful kiss.

But she caught herself just in time, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

She deflected Wendy’s curiosity, dismissing it as nothing.

Just as Wendy pressed her for an answer, a soldier in combat gear approached, drawing their attention.

Both Wendy and Callie saw him, but paid him no heed.

Rosedale Hospital, where they worked, had close ties to the military.

It was not uncommon to see soldiers there.

The soldier came to a halt before Elias, saluting sharply.

He addressed Elias as ‘Lieutenant Colonel Westwood’ and reported that the injured members of their squad, who had been admitted to Rosedale Hospital, were now in stable condition.

Elias nodded in acknowledgement, his military instincts taking over.