feeling as she rounded the corner into A and E. It couldn’t be, could it?
No. Not a chance.
It couldn’t be a nephew as Callum didn’t have any brothers or sisters.
And Callum would have mentioned something as important as having a son. Wouldn’t he?
But as she walked over to the curtains she recognised the frame hunched over the little figure straight away.
She froze.
She wanted to turn on her heel and run away. She wanted to disappear out of the hospital and take a minute to catch her breath. To try and get her head around the thousand thoughts currently spinning around in her brain.
But that was the second that Callum looked up. And his relief at seeing her was plastered all over his face.
She’d seen that look a hundred times. The parent worried out of their mind about their child. Hoping against hope that their worst fears weren’t about to be realised.
Professional mode. No matter how she felt, or what her questions were, she had to move into professional mode right now. There was a sick little boy to be dealt with.
She kept her voice steady and calm. ‘Callum? I didn’t expect to see you.’ She picked up the chart, her eyes skimming over the notes and observations. ‘Is this your son?’
Calm. Rational. That’s how she was hoping she sounded.
Callum had the good grace to look embarrassed. ‘Yes. This is Drew.’ There was a shake to his voice. He really was scared for his son—he must be. He’d deliberately brought him here and asked for her, even though he’d known she would have questions. ‘He’s five and he’s had a sore stomach on and off for the last two weeks. We’ve been back and forth to the GP with no diagnosis. But tonight he’s much worse.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Sorry. I was going to tell you about Drew at dinner on Saturday.’
Her brain was still stuck on the ‘five’ part. She tried not to wince as she glanced at the date of birth. Drew was almost the same age as her son Lewis would have been.
She tried not to let the tight squeeze around her heart affect her. Everything was so unfair. Callum had the little boy she should still have. A little boy he hadn’t even mentioned.
She took a deep breath and looked over at the little boy on the bed. The junior doctor had done everything he should, but he hadn’t made any provisional diagnosis. Which meant he was stumped.
‘Hi, there, Drew. I’m Dr Jessica. Do you mind if I have a look at your tummy?’
‘No. Daddy, don’t let them touch my tummy again.’ She could hear the distress in the little boy’s voice. The fear of someone touching a part of him that was already very painful.
She looked at the chart, making sure he’d been given some analgesia. ‘Hasn’t the medicine helped your sore tummy? It should have made it feel a little better.’
The little boy shook his head. ‘It’s still sore.’
‘Can you tell me where it hurts if I promise not to touch?’
He nodded. His face was pale. ‘It started in the middle but now it’s over here.’ He pointed to his left side.
She pointed to the IV in his arm. ‘I’m going to put a little more medicine in here. It will work really quickly and help your tummy.’ She nodded towards the nurse. ‘Can I have point two milligrams of morphine, please?’
She waited a few minutes until the nurse returned with the syringe and ampule for her to check before administration. She prescribed the dose and signed the ledger before giving Drew the analgesic. She placed her hand on his forehead and bent down to whisper in his ear, ‘It will start to work really quickly, I promise.’
Some doctors didn’t agree with giving analgesia to paediatric patients before a diagnosis was made. They thought it could mask abdominal symptoms and delay a diagnosis. But Jessica had read a whole host of studies with evidence that analgesics reduced pain without interfering with diagnostic accuracy. Besides, Jessica could never leave a child in pain.
Right now, Drew was showing most of the signs and symptoms of appendicitis, but the pain for appendicitis was associated with radiating to the right, not the left.
She bent down and whispered in Drew’s ear. ‘Okay, I know I’m a lady doctor but I need to have a little check of your testicles. Do you know what they are?’
He shook his head.
She lifted her eyebrows. ‘Your balls.’
He gave a little giggle.
She nodded. ‘All I’m going to do is have a little feel to make sure they are where they’re supposed to be. It will only take a few seconds, and it won’t hurt, okay?’
He nodded and she checked quickly. It was important with boys to rule out a twisting of the testes, but everything seemed fine.
She did another few tests, one—the McBurney’s—the classic indicator of appendicitis. But nothing was conclusive.
Drew’s guarding was evident. Something was definitely going on.
The nurse appeared at her side. ‘Drew’s blood tests are back. They’re on the system.’
Jessica gave a nod. No wonder the junior doctor had been puzzled. She was puzzled. ‘Let’s get an IV up on Drew and I’m going to order an abdominal ultrasound to see if we can get a better idea of what’s going on.’
She walked over to the nearest computer and pulled up Drew’s blood results. His white-cell count was up, just as expected in appendicitis. She gave a little nod of approval as she saw the junior doctor had grouped and cross-matched his blood too, in case surgery was needed at a later time.
She looked over at Drew again. He was curled up in a ball, guarding his stomach like a little old man. And the strangest feeling came over her.
She unhooked her pink stethoscope from her neck. ‘Drew, I’m just going to have a listen to your chest. It will only take a few seconds.’
She placed her stethoscope on his chest, waited a few seconds then took a deep breath and repositioned it.
She looked sideways at Callum. ‘Has Drew ever had a chest X-ray?’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. He’s never had any problems with his chest. Why? What’s wrong?’
Jess signalled to the A and E nurse. ‘Can you arrange a portable chest film for me—right away?’
The nurse nodded and disappeared for a few minutes. There was always a portable X-ray machine in the emergency department.
Callum walked over to her. ‘What is it?’
She placed her hand on his chest. ‘Give me a minute. I need to check something.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘Have you ever had a chest X-ray?’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Jess, I’m a fireman. I spent years working
