I thought you should talk to them as you know his condition better than I do.”
He hesitated, as if hating to leave Tommy’s side.
“I’ll stay,” Nancy offered. “His vital signs haven’t changed in the last fifteen minutes. I’ll let you know if they do.”
Ivy accompanied Ethan to the nurses’ station, where the Weathers were still waiting. From the worry on their faces, they obviously expected to hear the worst.
“How is Tommy?” his father asked. “Can we see him?”
“In just a minute,” Ethan said, before he introduced himself. “Tommy’s suffered abdominal trauma and I believe he has a ruptured spleen.”
At Mrs. Weathers’s gasp, he continued, “He’s stable for the moment, but he’s going to need surgery and soon.”
“How soon?”
“Within hours, I’d say,” Ethan admitted. “Dr. Harris has called for an air ambulance. It should be here any minute now to fly him to Wichita, where a surgeon is already waiting for him.”
“Is that the only thing wrong?” Mrs. Weathers’s voice and mouth trembled. “His spleen?”
“As far as I can tell. His X-rays didn’t show any problems with his spine, although we’ll have a radiologist read them to be absolutely certain. He can also wiggle his fingers and toes, so I think it’s safe to say he’ll be running around before long. As for other conditions—his liver and kidney function tests all look good, but the surgeon will know more after he takes a look inside. Afterward they’ll continue to monitor him closely. Sometimes problems crop up a day or two after the accident. For now, the immediate problem is to stop the internal bleeding.”
“Won’t it stop on its own?” Mr. Weathers asked.
“The spleen is a highly vascular organ, which means it’s full of blood vessels. Its function is to filter all the blood as it enters the circulation. The only way to stop Tommy’s bleeding is to remove the organ.”
His parents’ faces blanched. “If his spleen is a filter, won’t he need it?”
“As important as it is,” Ethan explained, “one can live without it.”
“Can we see him, Doctor?”
“For a few minutes—until the air crew gets here. Don’t worry, they’ll send a nurse and an E.M.T., so Tommy will have excellent care while he’s flying. Mind you, though, when you see him he’ll be groggy, and may not make much sense,” he warned. “And don’t be alarmed by the tubes and monitors.” He smiled. “Your son has been a real trooper. He’s a tough little character.”
Throughout Ethan’s conversation Ivy had hung in the background. She gave him high marks for his bedside manner. Once again she wondered why a physician of his apparent caliber had been so reluctant to answer her first call for help. She was equally curious as to why he’d changed his mind. But, whatever his reasons, she was glad that he had. Considering how Tommy was the only one who’d been critically injured, she probably could have managed on her own while Walt’s nurse practitioner dealt with the twins and the two older girls. However, it was nice having another physician available. As Jed had said, it was nothing short of miraculous how Walt had managed singlehandedly.
Idly, she wondered if she could talk Ethan into sticking around to help them as long as he remained in the area. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to ask, or at least to plant that seed of an idea and see what germinated. After all, what did she have to lose?
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