wondered where the consultant had gone.
‘We’ll get you transferred to the burns unit within the next hour,’ Nick was saying. ‘For the moment we’ll keep the area moist and make sure that there’s no danger of infection setting in. Just ask the nurse if you need more pain medication.’
He spoke quietly to the nurse, and then turned to Laura. Moving away from the cubicle, he said, ‘I take it that your brother’s gone home?’
‘Yes. It didn’t take long to fix him up.’ She glanced around. ‘Where’s Tom?’
‘He went to have a word with the patient’s relatives. He’d done all that was necessary for his patient, but the family were anxious and needed reassurance.’
‘He was coping all right, then? From what you said earlier, I thought there might be a problem looming.’
Nick shrugged. ‘I guess I was wrong.’
Laura gave him a sideways glance. It wasn’t like him to admit a mistake…or to make one, for that matter. ‘It was thoughtful of you to send those jigsaws for Connor,’ she murmured. ‘They kept him amused for quite a while.’
His jaw moved in a faint grimace. ‘Well, you know my feelings about this place and children. It isn’t a good environment for them, and if I can brighten up the experience for them in any way, that’s what I try to do. It’s something I’ve mentioned to your father.’
‘You could try approaching the Friends of the Hospital for funds. I’m sure if you put your case in a suitable fashion they would want to help in any way they could.’
‘I think my plans would take more financing than they would be willing to provide. Besides, I believe that your father, being in administration, is the man who holds the key to unlock the funds. You’d think that since he was a consultant himself in A and E, he would know what needed to be done and he would have some sympathy for the changes I’m suggesting.’
Laura bridled at his tone. ‘I’m sure that he does. After all, he was the one who set aside separate cubicles with resuscitation equipment especially for paediatric patients. When he was in charge there wasn’t the money to do any more than that. Besides, he spearheaded the drive to get the public to donate funds for the MRI machine that the hospital has now. That took a lot of effort and persuasion and years of hard work. You don’t give him enough credit for what he has done.’
Nick’s eyes darkened. ‘I accept that he did a good thing where the MRI machine was concerned. It’s what he plans to do now that concerns me.’
‘Whatever he does, it will be with the best of intentions,’ she said sharply. ‘If my father is cautious, you should realise that it’s because he sees both sides of the coin.’
‘You mean that he has to toe the management line. He’s forgotten what it was like to be at the cutting edge of things.’
‘That’s unfair.’
‘Is it?’
Laura’s opened her mouth, ready to speak her mind, but just then Jenny hurried towards them.
‘You have to come quickly, both of you,’ she said breathlessly. ‘It’s Tom—I think he’s having a bad angina attack. He’s in the doctors’ lounge. I’ve tried giving him his usual medication, but it’s not working.’
‘We’re on our way.’ Nick was already moving towards the door, and Laura was at his heels.
Tom Edwards was in his early sixties, a tall, thin man, with greying hair. Now he was slumped on the floor, beads of perspiration on his forehead and his face ashen.
‘I left him in the chair while I went to get help,’ Jenny said. ‘The attack must have worsened while I was coming to find you. I’ve already given him aspirin.’
‘Good thinking.’ Nick was loosening Tom’s tie and then he positioned him so that his upper body was elevated. Laura grabbed some cushions to help support him.
‘Tom, can you hear me?’ Nick spoke in a low, urgent voice and Tom made a faint movement of his head in acknowledgement.
‘You’ll be all right. We’ll take care of you,’ Nick said, beginning to make a swift examination. ‘Are you in pain?’
Again, Tom managed to nod faintly. ‘Chest. Bad.’ He began to choke, and Nick said quickly, ‘Don’t try to talk. We’ll take care of you now.’
Tom subsided, and Nick turned swiftly to Laura. ‘I’ll intubate. Let’s get him hooked up to oxygen quickly.’ Glancing at Jenny, he said, ‘We’ll give him glycerine trinitrate sublingually to expand the arteries, and set up an infusion of isosorbide dinitrate. You had better do an ECG, and keep an eye on his blood pressure.’
‘Will do.’
Laura was already starting an intravenous line. Tom looked to be in a bad way, and she was afraid that if they didn’t work fast he would go into cardiac arrest. ‘Are we giving beta-blockers and morphine?’
He nodded, working swiftly as he answered. ‘I’ll make arrangements for him to be admitted.’
Laura taped the IV line in place, and for the next few minutes they worked as a team to resuscitate their consultant.
‘If he’s not pain-free in forty-eight hours, they’ll probably want to do coronary angiography. Given his condition over the last few months, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up having bypass surgery. It’s been a wonder to me that he’s coped for this long.’ His mouth tightened as he spoke, and Laura frowned.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I guessed this would happen one day,’ Nick said under his breath. ‘I’ve been telling him for a long time now that he should have opted for early retirement on health grounds, but he wouldn’t listen.’
‘Can you blame him for that? He’s worked hard all his life to get where he is, and no one would lightly throw it all away.’
His mouth twisted. ‘That’s what your father said. They’re great friends, aren’t they, he and Tom? He went out of his way to defend his actions.’
‘Because he believed the medication was working.’
Nick shook his head. ‘It’s clear that it wasn’t. I told Tom that he shouldn’t be treating patients while he was ill, but he always said that we work as a team and that there would be enough warning of an impending attack for him to be able to hand over to someone else.’
Laura sent Tom a swift, anxious glance, but it was doubtful that their patient could hear what they were saying.
‘That’s true, though, isn’t it?’ she murmured. ‘He put himself at risk by carrying on, but not his patients.’
‘Like your father, you’ll believe what you want to believe.’
Frowning, she looked up at Nick. Was he right? No matter what her reservations were about him, she had to respect him as a doctor. He was doing everything in his power to save Tom. He worked quickly and efficiently and he was very clear thinking. But, then, as he’d said, he’d seen this
