style="font-size:15px;"> ‘Well, Doctor, I’ve got this terrible pain here.’ He leaned forward on the bed and rubbed at his left knee through his trousers. ‘It’s awful, I tell you. Really hurts.’
‘And how long has it been like this?’
‘Since the beginning of December now, and I really don’t feel well in myself, either. It’s not good for a person to live with pain day after day.’
No. It wasn’t. Especially the emotional kind.
‘He’s diabetic, Doctor,’ the wife interjected. ‘And he’s got osteoarthritis in both his knees. Had it for years. But he says this is different.’
Eva asked if he could roll up his trouser leg and she examined the grossly swollen knee. ‘Are you on any meds, Mr Rosetti?’
‘Leo, Doctor, please. I’m on metformin for the diabetes.’
She gave him a general check and then carried out a primary survey, asking questions about his general state of health, taking his BP and arranging for a full blood count and an X-ray, even though Leo said he hadn’t knocked or damaged the knee as far as he knew.
‘Will he be all right, Doctor? We’re going away this weekend.’
‘Oh, yes? Anywhere nice?’
‘Africa—well, Kenya specifically. We’re going on safari. Thought we’d do something different for Christmas, now that the kids have flown the nest.’
Africa. What was it with Africa?
She coloured as she thought of Jacob and what it had been like to see him again. That intense look in his eyes. Still with the power to make her go all weak at the knees as it once had.
Feeling guilty at having let her mind wander whilst she was with a patient, she smiled quickly. ‘I’ll be back in a moment to do the bloods.’
She pulled the curtain across and exhaled quietly and slowly, closing her eyes as she tried to gather her thoughts, her hand still clutching the curtain.
Seriously—what was going on here? Why was she allowing herself to get so worked up?
So Jacob was here? Big deal! He was just a guy. Just a...
I need to pull myself together!
This was not like her! She was normally an organised person. Efficient. She didn’t get distracted at work! There was too much at stake to let personal feelings get in the way whilst she was there.
A distracted doctor was a dangerous doctor.
She hurried back to her seat to write up her notes, managing a weak smile as Sarah settled next to her.
‘You okay?’
‘Sure!’ She tried to answer cheerily. ‘Just...you know...busy.’
‘Really? You seem a bit flushed about that new guy. Anything I can do?’
‘Short of growing another pair of arms? Seriously, I could really do without having to babysit a new doctor—’
‘So how do you know him?’
Her cheeks burned hot. ‘I don’t—not really. We only met once before.’
‘Come on! He knew your name! You know him. How come?’
Eva stared hard at her friend, afraid to give the answer. Afraid to voice the thing that mattered the most to her in the whole world.
Because he’s Seb’s father.
She muttered something unintelligible and hurried away.
* * *
Her patient, Leo, had his bloods done and sent off, and also an X-ray that showed osteoarthritic changes and some mild widening in the joint space of his knee. The blood cultures wouldn’t be available for three days, but his Hb levels were normal.
As the knee itself was hot and swollen, she felt it was wise to do a fine needle aspiration to draw off some of the fluid for testing. As she did so she noted that the fluid was quite cloudy, and she marked the tests to check for white blood cell count with differential, gram stain and culture.
She suspected a septic arthritis, and knew the joint would probably have to be drained until dry, as often as was necessary.
‘It shouldn’t affect your holiday as it’s important you keep moving, Leo.’
Mr Rosetti and his wife smiled at each other, and she was about to leave them alone and send the aspirated fluid to Pathology, when Jacob pulled open the curtain and asked if he could have a quick word.
Excusing herself from her patient, she stepped outside of the cubicle with him, feeling her heart race once again. What did he want? Had he found out about Seb?
Her brain quickly tried to formulate an answer about that. ‘Look, I meant to—’
‘There’s been a road accident. We’ve been phoned to let us know that a number of child casualties are coming our way.’
Children? Eva’s heart sank. She could only hope that the children about to come into the department would have simple minor injuries.
They began a hurried walk to Resus. Eva’s mind was focused firmly on the news. ‘Any idea of the number of casualties?’
‘Not at this stage. But it was a school minibus carrying a number of children across town. The police suspect they hit some black ice.’
Her heart thumped hard. She knew Seb’s school had been attending a Christmas church service today.
‘What age range?’
‘We don’t have any more details yet.’
It couldn’t be Seb’s school, Eva thought. Someone would have phoned her already.
‘Has anyone let Paeds know?’
He nodded. ‘I did. They’re sending a team down as soon as they’ve got people to spare.’
‘There’s no one free now?’
What was she doing? She shouldn’t raise her voice at him. It wasn’t his fault, was it?
They burst through into Resus.
‘What’s the ETA?’
A nurse put down the phone. ‘Seven minutes.’
‘Let’s get organised. Check equipment trolleys, monitors, sterile packs, gauze—everything and anything. We’ve an unknown number of paediatric casualties coming in and I want this to run smoothly. Let’s prepare for crush injuries, possible fractures, whiplash and maybe burns. Have we ordered blood?’
Sarah and another doctor, Brandon, arrived in Resus.
‘We’re
