2.
The nurse had pushed the patient to
the third level which was empty except for the gurneys and cupboards of
medicine stocks. At the end of the hall, was the clean room which was to serve
as the treatment room. Inside the clean room was more shelves that held the
drugs and surgical tools needed for most of the cases treated there. There was
the doctor standing there by the treatment table covered with the plastic wrap.
The clock there read as 2135hrs.
The gurney was pushed next to the
treatment table and then the nurse and doctor gently moved the patient over to
the treatment table.
“Remove his jacket and shirt. His
wounds are at the chest.” There were two gunshot wounds; one at the left
shoulder, and the another at the pelvis which was seen to be a penetrating
trauma. That occurs when the foreign
object like a bullet pierces the skin and enters the body creating a wound.
In penetrating trauma, the object remains in the tissue or passes through
the tissues and exits the body.
An
injury in which an object enters the body and passes through is called a
perforating injury. Perforating trauma is associated with an entrance wound and
an exit wound. The space left by tissue that is destroyed by the penetrating
object forms a cavity, and this is called permanent cavitation.
In addition to damage to the tissues they contact,
medium- and high-velocity projectiles result in a secondary cavitation injury
as the object enters the body it creates a pressure wave forcing tissue out of
the way, creating a cavity. The tissues move back into place, eliminating the
cavity, but the cavitation has already done considerable damage.
“Let me check the pancreas. Then I will do the liver to the
intestines; it may be perforated.” The Doctor voiced out the methodology while the
trained hands treated the wound.
“Read the time for me.” The Doctor called.
“2153hrs.” It was then the works began. The doctor was an
elderly lady, in the white coat over the scrub suit. She was considered as
elderly with the gray hairs and wrinkled face muscles seen above the face mask
covering the nose and mouth.
“The liver is bleeding. The bullet is there. I need to remove
it. Prepare me the blood bags.” The doctor gave out the instructions. “Prepare
for surgery.”
The nurse did the needed while the doctor examined the other
wound.
“It was a clean shot and no major arteries. I can stop the
bleeding and then tend to the pelvis wound. Assist me.” The nurse did the
needed and the surgical tools were prepared. The surgery was made complicated
by the elderly man who was with a weak heart.
“Attach the new bag of blood. He needed it.” The doctor
called out. It was the third call in an hour and the nurse ignored. The doctor
had looked at the nurse. The second call was earlier at 2211hrs but the nurse
did not answer. He was holding the scalpel for the doctor then.
“You could answer the call now.” The doctor looked at the nurse.
“I am done here. And more to it, we are without any patients. We hold an oath
not to ignore them in their medical needs. Tell me the time for the records.”
“2234hrs.”
“Good record. I am getting better or the man is just damned
lucky. He may live to fight on.” It was the Artemis Oath to heal the needed
from the criminal worlds. The criminals were at most times, fatally wounded and
the available medical care was to be avoided for fear of arrest, therefore they
have funded a medical facility with the doctor and nurse. The doctor given that
task was no mean a medical specialist in trauma surgery with a troubled past. The
record was impeccable with only five recorded deaths in the course of ten
years, and those were already dead upon arrival.
No one including the patients had seen the doctor for they
were under sedated all the time. If anyone were to ask if they had seen the doctor,
they will claimed to have seen a figure in the white coat and wore a mask with
the head covered with the bandanna. The doctor did not speak to them during the
treatment or recovery. All the conversation was handed by the nurse.
And it was minimal.
“Hotel California is your new home. It will be the place that
we do our best works. All patients will have their ID’s check. You are not to
question the doctor or we will have you ejected.”
“And to ensure the safety of the Hotel, everyone affiliated
to the criminal world has sworn to protect us and you. No one will battle in
the establishment or they will suffer the wrath of the criminal world.”
It had been ten years and over dozens of patients who had
walked in past the door of the hotel.
The phone rang then. The time was 2307hrs.
The nurse walked to pick it up. It was an outside line.
“Doctor, we got another patient.” The nurse called out.
“Move the patient to the recovery room.” The doctor gave the
instruction. “Then tend to the new patient. I need a respite and put on the
song. I am tense.”
On a dark desert highway
Cool wind
in my hair
Warm smell
of colitas
Rising up
through the air
Up ahead in
the distance
I saw a
shimmering light
My head
grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to
stop for the night
Songwriters:
Glenn Lewis Frey / Don Felder / Donald Hugh Henley
Hotel
California lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Universal Music Publishing
Group.
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