Part 6: Convergence

For the first time in Molly’s life, energy pulsed through her when she got ready for work. Would today be a day to save a cold spell victim? It had been a little over a week since the last one came in, but the idea kept her on her toes, pushing her through the cases where she handed out aspirin for a headache or had to remove a foreign object stuck somewhere it wasn’t supposed to be. Whenever it happened, she wanted to be ready.

Despite the quiet night, Molly kept pacing the hallway to make sure she was the first one on the scene when a new patient arrived. Even with hardly anything to do, she found little ways to keep herself busy, remaking beds and getting patients water. All the while she kept an eye on every entrance, and it paid off. The ice shards appeared moments before the ambulance bay doors swung open.

“Patient is thirty-six,” said a paramedic rushing in a woman. Blood covered the patient’s face and the clothes being cut off her body. “Got hit by a car at full speed. She was thrown a good six feet from the crosswalk.”

The woman’s tibia had snapped and stuck out of her leg, and shards of glass stuck to the places where her bare skin had dragged on the ground. With a massive head injury, her chances didn’t look great to even come out of surgery. And yet, ice shards. Not the ice block that told Molly they should just give up.

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that they’d also brought in the patient’s husband. The car had grazed him and knocked him to the ground too, but compared to his wife he looked like he might have lost his balance and taken a spill on the curb. The doctor examined him and ordered a CT scan to make sure the bruise on his head didn’t mean anything serious. As transport took him to get his scan, the man tried to keep eyes on his wife until they rounded the corner. Molly moved forward to help stabilize the woman, but before she could do anything two other nurses rushed the wife to the operating room.

Molly frowned. Once the wife finished in surgery, she’d be sent off to the ICU. The surgery team would fix her up just fine according to the ice shards, but there wasn’t much Molly could do for her. So why did the ice shards even bother?

She didn’t have long to ponder. The husband came back, and his injuries were in the realm of what could be handled in the emergency department. “His scan looks clear,” the doctor said, handing off the husband’s chart. “Just clean him up and send him on his way.” Then the doctor hurried off to check on another patient.

“Where’s my wife?” the man asked, looking around. “I need to see her. I need to be with her.”

“She’s in surgery,” Molly said. “The best thing you can do for her right now is let us treat you so you’re one hundred percent when she’s ready for you. Okay?”

His eyes flicked between Molly and the hallway he’d last seen his wife.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Micheal.” His eyes came back to Molly and stayed there. “Ramirez.”

“Great. I’m Molly, and I’m going to get you cleaned up. Okay?”

“He came out of nowhere,” he said while Molly began to gently wipe the torn skin on his hands with water. A bit of the gravel remained. “The walk sign was on. How were we supposed to…? How was I supposed to—?”

“It’s not your fault.”

“What am I going to do if she…?”

Molly looked him in the eyes. “Don’t worry. The doctors here are really good. She’s going to be just fine.”

She held his gaze until he relaxed, noting how little color he had in his cheeks and how red his eyes were. He shouldn’t be alone at a time like this.

“Would you like me to call someone for you?” she asked.

“My mom’s got the kids. It’s probably better to wait. Wouldn’t want to wake them up.” Or have them worry until he knew the final outcome.

Molly finished wrapping his hands. “All the more reason to give them a call. It’s going to be a few hours before your wife gets out of surgery. Your mom’s going to worry.”

His eyes watered, but he nodded and took out his cell phone. Molly glanced at the beds next to him but they were empty. Smiling, she stood up to give him his privacy. “Once you’re done, stay here, get some sleep.”  He started to object, but she cut him off. “You’re looking a bit pale, and I want to keep an eye on you for a bit.” Then she added in a whisper, “Besides, the chairs upstairs are really uncomfortable. And we’re not going to need the bed tonight.”

“If there’s an update—“

“I’ll let you know.”

Hours did pass, and Molly kept checking on him. She would find him wringing his hands and restless, but never sleeping. Finally, the surgeon came and Molly stopped to listen from a bed across the hall, taking comfort in the ice shards continuing to dig into her chest.

“Mr. Ramirez, your wife’s condition is very serious,” the surgeon said. Even though he talked quietly, his voice carried across the quiet room. “We’ve relieved most of the swelling in her brain and stopped the bleeding, but we’ve had to put her on a ventilator.”

“I—“ His voice caught in his throat. “Can I see her? Is she awake?”

The surgeon’s voice softened. “No, she’s not.”

“Will she be okay?”

“It’s too early to say. Her brain suffered a lot of damage. That’s why she’s on the ventilator. A neurosurgeon is going to be checking in on her over the next few days to determine if she needs more surgery.”

“But she’ll get better? She’ll wake up eventually?”

All the hope in the room welled up in Mr. Ramirez’s voice, begging for a yes. The surgeon hesitated.

“Anything is possible at this point. We just have to wait and see. I’m sorry I can’t give a more definitive answer.”

The silence that followed cut into Molly more deeply than the ice shards.

“We’ll keep you updated with any changes, and as soon as you’re ready you can come up to the ICU to see her.”

As soon as the surgeon left, Molly came by with a cup of water. It hurt to breath, but she forced herself to focus on Mr. Ramirez.

Staring straight ahead of him, Mr. Ramirez said, “Wait and see? I supposed to just wait and see?”

“I know it’s hard,” Molly said. “But hang in there.”

“That means she could die any second.”

“Or she could wake up. Like the surgeon said, anything could happen in the next couple of days.”

“So you think she’ll be okay?”

A glimmer of hope came back in his eyes. Molly measured her next words carefully. Mrs. Ramirez would live, but Molly couldn’t promise what state she’d be in when she woke up.

“Is she a fighter?” she asked.

“Yeah, she’s a fighter.”

“Then give her that chance to fight.”

Nodding, a spark lit up his eyes that hadn’t been there since he was first admitted. “Yes,” he said. “She’ll fight. Yes.”

Then Molly’s stomach dropped as she felt a terrible sensation. The ice shards shifted, pulling closer together. Before she could do anything, Mr. Ramirez lost consciousness and Molly realized she’d had it all wrong this whole time. The ice shards hadn’t been there for his wife. And now they’d formed into an ice block.

By the time the doctor declared time of death, a report came back from the lab. There’d been an aneurysm, visible on the CT scan. If the doctor hadn’t missed it or Mr. Ramirez hadn’t been so worried about his wife, they could have treated it before it ruptured. Or if Molly had just stopped to think. Why would the ice shards be about someone off in surgery? How could she have been so stupid?

Molly collapsed into a seat, hardly able to breathe due to the cold in her chest. It felt much colder than usual. A hand landed on her shoulder, startling her. She looked up into Irene’s warm eyes.

“Why don’t you go home for the rest of the night?” Irene said. “Get some rest.”

Molly nodded absently, stumbling as she stood.

“Hey.” Irene gripped Molly’s shoulder. “This isn’t your fault, all right? You didn’t see those scan results. You didn’t know.”

Looking to the ground, Molly shoved past Irene and made her way out of the hospital. A dull ringing followed her as she walked to her car. Though she wanted to get as far away as possible from that place, her hands shook too much to drive. Instead, she curled up in the back seat of her car and sobbed as she went back over the night again and again, trying to pinpoint the moment she should have turned everything around and saved Mr. Ramirez.

_____________

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