sooner she could start Lewis’s treatment, the better. She had the X-rays, now all she needed were the results of the blood tests she had ordered.
Arriving at the A and E department, she pushed Lewis’s wheelchair towards a cubicle that had been set aside for paediatric patients.
Lewis looked around at the austere white-painted walls, and his eyes were wide and frightened as he stared at the lifesaving equipment nearby, but he didn’t say a word, and that worried Laura. There were no other children being treated right now, and she guessed that he must be feeling very lonely. She desperately wanted to comfort him.
‘I’ll draw the curtains around so that you can be a little more private,’ she told him gently. ‘I expect your mother will be here soon. Try not to worry, Lewis. We’ll look after you, I promise.’ She glanced at the box of puzzles in his lap and pointed a finger at a picture he had made up. ‘Goodness, it looks as though that girl’s had a real fright, doesn’t it? Her hair’s standing on end.’
‘I bet she’s seen a spider.’ Lewis giggled. ‘I’m going to make another one, with a really scary face.’
Laura smiled at him. ‘I can see you’re good at this.’
‘I take it you’ve finally finished with the X-ray department?’ A familiar deep voice came behind her and she made a faint grimace. Didn’t that just prove what she had been thinking earlier? Nick seemed to follow her everywhere. He had scarcely given her time to settle her young patient before he had appeared once more.
‘Yes, we’ve finished.’
‘What was the result?’
Laura glanced down at Lewis and saw that he was still engrossed with his puzzles. At least they were taking his mind off his troubles.
‘I need to check with the laboratory to be absolutely certain,’ she said in a low voice, ‘but I think the X-rays confirm that the original respiratory infection has travelled and is affecting the bone.’ She turned to the nurse who had come to stand alongside the bed. ‘Would you stay with Lewis for a while, please, Jenny? His mother should be back at any moment.’
The dark-haired nurse smiled. ‘Of course.’ She walked over to Lewis’s side, and said cheerfully, ‘I’m just going to make sure that you’re comfortable, sweetheart, and then I’ll take your temperature again.’
Laura moved out of the cubicle and drew the curtains behind her. Nick followed. ‘So you think it’s osteomyelitis?’ he queried.
‘I do.’
‘OK. If you’re right, you should admit him and start antibiotics. He may need surgical drainage.’
‘Yes, I know. I’d intended to start him on antibiotics straight away.’ Her green eyes flashed momentarily. Didn’t he believe that she was capable of making her own diagnosis? Why did he feel it necessary to step in with advice?
She pulled in a deep breath. There was no point in feeling resentful, was there? After all, he was in charge while the consultant was away, and he was just doing his job as he saw fit. Maybe when he got to know her better he would come to realise that she was a good doctor, and that she knew her stuff.
Frowning, he said, ‘You may find that you need to explain it carefully to the parents. They could be worried that it might mean a long spell in hospital for him.’
‘It doesn’t necessarily mean that, though, does it? He might have to take antibiotics for several weeks but, provided he shows signs of improvement after his initial stay in hospital, he could probably continue those at home.’
‘Yes, you’re right. Have you thought about analgesia?’
‘Of course. It’s obvious that he’s in pain.’ She sent him a brooding look. ‘I am capable of looking after my patients, you know.’
His eyes crinkled at the corners. ‘Sorry. It gets to be a habit, overseeing junior doctors. A lot of them are nervous when they start work in A and E. They come across things they’ve never seen before, and they need as much support as we can give them.’
His unaccustomed humility came as a surprise, and she found herself looking at him in a new light. Her gaze travelled over his strongly sculpted features, the edges softened now by wry amusement. He was a good-looking man by any standards, but when he smiled it lit up his face, and she was uncomfortably aware of his sheer maleness. She looked away. She didn’t want to find him attractive—that was the last thing on earth she wanted.
‘I appreciate that you don’t know me very well yet,’ she murmured. ‘But you can have confidence in me. I’m not going to let you down.’
‘Well, we’ll see. You wouldn’t be the first to believe that you have it all under control.’ He paused, and then added, ‘There is just one other thing that you might not have thought about. It’s possible that the parents might be feeling guilty. Perhaps that’s something you should address.’
‘Why should they feel guilty? They’ve done nothing wrong.’
‘Sometimes parents feel that they should have recognised the problem before it reached this stage. That’s something you might need to reassure them about.’
He walked away then, leaving Laura to dwell on his words. Was he right? Lewis’s mother had seemed confident enough on the surface, though now she came to think about it, the woman had been a little weepy. Laura had put that down to natural worry about her son, but there could be more to it after all.
She went off to check with the lab about the blood tests, and just as she put the phone down, Lewis’s mother came hurrying towards her.
‘I’m sorry I’ve been away for so long,’ she said breathlessly. ‘I had trouble getting through to my husband at work. I didn’t realise he was already on his way here.’ She looked anxiously at Laura. ‘How is Lewis? Have you had any results yet? Do you know what’s wrong with him?’
Laura nodded. ‘It looks as though Lewis’s recent chest infection could be the source of his troubles. The infection has been carried in his bloodstream and is affecting the bone in his leg. It’s a very painful condition, but we’re giving him something to ease that.’
Mrs Watkins looked panic-stricken. ‘It’s bad, isn’t it?’ Her face crumpled. ‘It’s all my fault. I didn’t realise how bad it was. I should have done something sooner.’
Laura shook her head. ‘You haven’t done anything wrong, Mrs Watkins. You must believe that.’
She grimaced inwardly. Much as it troubled her to admit it, it looked as though Nick had been right. The woman did blame herself, and it should be a lesson to Laura that she took too much for granted. She still had a lot to learn.
‘Lewis had treatment for his chest infection,’ Laura explained, ‘but the bacteria were aggressive and resistant. There was nothing you could have done about that.’
She gave the woman a reassuring smile. ‘We’re going to give Lewis much stronger antibiotics than those that he had before,’ she said. ‘We’ll be giving them intravenously so that we can do everything in our power to beat this infection. We’re expecting him to recover completely, but it will take a while, possibly a few weeks.’
‘Will
