your personnel file, please?’ Monica Lowe, the practice manager, said. ‘Nothing urgent.’ She smiled, dropping a tea bag into a mug.
‘It’ll seem odd without Jo.’ Natalie Wellings, the practice nurse, said thoughtfully. ‘And speaking of your wife, how is she this morning, Brady?’
‘Supposedly taking it easy.’ Brady’s mouth quirked. ‘But she said something about rearranging the nursery and colour co-ordinating the baby stuff on the shelves.’
Vicki, who had a one year old tot herself, joked, ‘As if that’ll last long.’
‘Jo’s nesting,’ Kate came in quietly. ‘I remember feeling just like that before both of mine were born …’
Aiden felt something shift inside him as he saw another side of Kate’s personality. Suddenly she seemed in her element, her face alight as the baby reminiscences tumbled out. He shrugged inwardly. He didn’t have kids. He had nothing to contribute to the conversation. He exited the staffroom quietly.
Kate’s day settled into a rhythm, her confidence growing as each patient left, seemingly satisfied with their consultation. And the swarm of butterflies that had been stirring endlessly in her tummy had well and truly settled.
Swinging off her chair, she stretched and prepared to call it a day.
‘Oh, Kate?’ Vicki tapped and popped her head round the door. ‘I’ve a patient looking really ill. Simone Butler. Could you see her? She said she was due to go on shift at the supermarket but felt so ill she detoured here.’ Vicki paused for breath. ‘I know you have to pick up your kids soon and I wouldn’t ask, but Aiden is on hospital visitation and both Brady and Angelo are on long consults.’
‘Ah …’ Kate blinked and with the merest glance at her watch, saw her hopes for a reasonably early end to her first day fly out the window. But patients had to come first. ‘Of course I’ll see her, Vicki. Just give me a minute to call the school and rearrange things for the kids, then show Simone in.’
‘I think I’ve caught flu.’ Simone sagged into the chair beside Kate’s desk. ‘Feel so grotty …’
‘Well, if it’s flu, there’s not much we can do for you, Simone, except to prescribe the usual rest, paracetamol and fluids.’ Kate began a preliminary examination of the young woman. Her temperature was certainly raised and she looked flushed and uncomfortable.
‘I took a strong headache tablet at lunchtime,’ Simone said as Kate prepared to look down her throat.
‘Didn’t help?’ Kate asked.
‘No.’
‘Do you get migraines?’
‘Never.’
So scrap that theory, Kate thought. ‘How about aches and pains in your joints?’
‘Mmm. And my back. Feel so sick.’ Simone grimaced and scrunched up her eyes. ‘Could you close the blinds? Light is killing me …’
In a second, Kate’s watchful manner changed to red alert. Her mind reacted like quicksilver, spinning through her patient’s symptoms. There were no conclusions but, by heaven, there were some distinct markers.
Meningococcal?
Kate’s stomach clenched but her mind stayed clear and calm. There was no room for guessing games here. She needed to act and act quickly. ‘Simone, I’m going to give you an injection.’
Checking her patient wasn’t allergic, Kate moved with lightning speed across the corridor to the small dispensary. Kate hit the code that would unlock the drugs cabinet and whipped out a prepared dose of penicillin.
She was going by her gut instinct here. That was all she had. But it had never let her down. If Simone had indeed contracted the deadly virus, then vital minutes, even seconds may be all Kate had to save her life. She ran back to her patient.
‘I feel c-cold …’ Simone’s head had dipped forward like a rag doll’s.
‘Hang in there, honey.’ Kate quickly swabbed and plunged the lifesaving drug directly into the vein, knowing full well, they didn’t have a proper diagnosis yet. All she could do was buy Simone time. She prayed there was no sign of a rash. But she had to check.
Helping Simone out of her simple shirt-dress uniform, Kate’s examination was meticulous. She knew what she was looking for: a minute scratch mark, a blister, a purple pinprick, any or all of them indicating that bacteria was already present, multiplying by the second in the blood vessels under Simone’s skin. If they were there, then Simone’s entire body organs were in danger of collapsing.
With relief, Kate saw there was no evidence of a rash. Yet. But she wasn’t waiting for the possibility.
Instinctively, she began following protocol, snatching up the phone and pressing the key that would connect her with Reception. ‘Vicki, would you call an ambulance, please? Tell them we have an emergency hospital admission. And stress the patient is critical.’
‘Expect them within a few minutes,’ Vicki said. ‘I’ll run out and open the back doors so they can reverse in.’
‘Thanks. Is Natalie about? I could do with some help.’
‘She had to leave early,’ Vicki sounded dismayed. ‘Could I—?’
‘No, Vicki. It’s fine.’ Kate felt put on her mettle. But she’d cope. She needed a space blanket. Diving across the corridor to the treatment room, she searched blindly for a second until she located them. She pulled one from the stockpile and turned to retrace her steps.
‘Kate!’
Distracted momentarily from her mission, Kate’s head spun towards the voice and saw Aiden striding along the corridor towards her. She slipped back to her consulting room with Aiden on her heels.
‘What’s up?’ He demanded shortly.
‘Suspected meningococcal.’
Aiden swore under his breath. ‘Ambulance called?’
‘On its way.’ Kate began tucking the space blanket around her patient.
‘What can I do to help?’
‘I’ve done all I can for the moment. But I’ll need to scribble some notes for the admitting MO. Just keep an eye on Simone, if you would.’
‘I think she’d be more comfortable if we get her up onto the treatment couch.’ So saying, Aiden lifted the young girl as though she weighed no more than an armful of feathers and laid her down gently on her side. She moaned softly.
‘Would you recheck for any sign of a rash, please, Aiden?’ Kate was scribbling furiously.
‘Nothing.’ He replaced the space blanket. ‘She’ll need bloods taken on arrival.’
‘All requested.’ Kate slashed her signature at the bottom of the notes.
‘Ambulance is here, guys.’ Vicki appeared at the door.
‘Coming
