Dr. Pauley Faces Near Death Trauma-short story by Cheryl V.

Email: cherbear
1950@yahoo.com
word count-5,8l5
A DOCTOR’S NEAR DEATH TRAMA
CHAPTER I
At Chicago County General, resident doctor, Dr. Tom Pauley, jus arrived for his shift at the hospital. And after placing his coat in his locker, upon walking back to the main desk, the head of the hospital, Kathy Walker handed him, a chart, and said to him, Dr. Pauley, a patient has jus come into the emergency ward, and go see him in trauma one.”
So, as he walked into trauma one, the patient said to him, “I’ve been having terrific headaches, they have been so bad, that sometimes, I get them, jus in the middle of the night. And I’ve been having these nightmares, and this morning a nightmare drove me to bumping into a wall.”
“So, I see, let me check out that big bump on your head? Man, this one is a doozy.”
“Hey, leave me alone, doctor,” said the patient, Joe Davidson, as he started squirming around.
“A medical student jus told me, that you’ve been seeing things. Is this true?”
“Hey, who is this medical student? She thinks, she is a teacher, doesn’t she?”
So, the medical student, Linda Walker came to the patient’s bedside because she’s under Dr. Pauley. So, he said to her, I’ve got another trauma case. You, Linda, watch this guy, and get psyche counsel for this guy. And while you’re at it, treat this guy’s head wound; I’ll be right back to see how you’re doing.”
So, the doctor went into the other trauma room, and this patient was in a lot worse condition than the other one. In fact, he was complaining of chest pains, and ready to jump out of bed. So, two nurses rushed into the trauma room, and one of them and the doctor held onto the guy’s arms as he’s strapped down. Then, the doctor ordered some blood tests on this patient, besides an x-ray of his chest because he was coughing, and the doctor suspected bronchitis or maybe even lung cancer. Also, he’s to see an iconologist after he’s taken for his chest x-rays.
So, then, the doctor, quickly, went back to the other trauma room, but the patient isn’t in his bed, and neither is the medical student there, either. So, the doctor ran through the hospital, trying to find the patient, and as he was, bumped into the medical student, he put in charge of the patient.
So, breathless as the doctor caught up to Linda, he said to her, “I thought, I told you to take care of the patient in trauma one. Has he had his psyche counsel yet?”
“I’ve waited for the psychiatrist, but I guess, he must have the patient, because I, already, treated his head wound. Put ice on the patient’s head, and a nurse came in, and gave the guy, a Haldol shot?”
“What was the Haldol shot for, may I ask?”
“The psychiatrist was in too much of a hurry to get to another patient, and didn’t tell me what the shot was for. Also, the patient was released. His brother’s supposed to come and get him.”
“Hey,” as he shouted to some nurses and the attendant, what’s my patient doing running around the hospital. Track him down, and bring him back to his room. There he is, grab him and put him back in his bed. I’ll be right back to his room.”
So, jus after he grabbed a drink, he half ran back into the patient’s room. As he arrived inside the room, he isn’t aware of it, but jus as his brother came up to the floor, and has to grab his brother by the arm, he gets away from him. Since, he didn’t like the care, he received from the psyche counsel that Haldol shot, he sneaked behind Dr. Pauley, and his medical student, Linda, who’s jus beside him as the two walked back into the patient’s room.
Suddenly, Dr. Pauley felt something jab right into his back, and his mind has become foggy, as he fell right onto the floor. As he hit the floor, he saw something which was a horrible sight to him. His medical student’s lying underneath a bed in the room, and appears to have passed out. But the doctor isn’t aware of her condition because for some unknown reason, he doesn’t want to believe, that it’s her lying there in pool of blood.
Not too much time later, the head, Kathy Walker , is looking around for the doctor being he’s wanted about his patient because the attendant jus talked to the psyche counsel, and found out, that the patient has been diagnosed with Schizophrenia. Also, the patient has been taken to another trauma room, next door, to where the doctor and his medical student are, still, lying in that one room, bleeding to death.
So, just as Kathy’s checking to see if the doctor is in the first room, that the Schizophrenia patient was, first, sent, upon seeing the blood all over floor and the doctor and his medical student on the floor, she lets out a scream. Then, she goes running out of the room, and over to the attendant, and whoever is by the main desk, and yells out to them, “Come on, I need two gurneys. It’s Tom and Linda; they’re lying on the floor in Trauma two and are in bad shape
So, upon hearing Kathy yell out for help, resident doctor Pauley’s friend, a surgeon, Dr. Paul Harrison who used to have Dr. Pauley as one of his medical students, runs into the trauma room along with Kathy, a head nurse. When he, first, started out as a medical student, back then, he worked along with Dr. Harrison in surgery. Then, the two, Linda and Dr. Pauley are brought right into the ICU area. Other doctors rush into ICU, and, are rushing around to where Linda and Dr. Pauley are lying on the floor, and are, suddenly, full of energy as they are trying hard to stop the two patients from bleeding.
Linda’s found to have wounds, mainly, in her chest and her head, and is being treated while the head attendant is inserting a tube into her chest, so, she can breathe while other doctors are trying to treat her wounds. Its matter of life for her, so, can’t be taken for tests.
So, Kathy said to the others, trying to help her out, “One of you get some blood while another one of you, hands me, so dopamine, as Linda’s pressure is dropping fast. Also, you, nurse Mary Anne, start doing compressions on her.”
In the meantime, Dr. Pauley is in another trauma room, and the surgeon can’t seem to stop his bleeding as he’s bleeding eternally in his stomach. So, the surgeon and a couple other surgeons rushed into the surgery room after scrubbing up good for Dr. Pauley’s life and death operation.
So, the top surgeon, Dr. Paul Davidson, and two other surgeons are working on Dr. Pauley, trying to stop the internal through an incision in his stomach. And another surgeon has opened up his chest, and inserted a tube to help him, breath, so, he won’t choke on his own blood.
Surgeon Dr. Paul Harrison said to one of the other surgeons around, “Come on, we have to work a little faster. He’s in pretty bad condition, and some blood has collected around his heart. While I’m working on, trying to repair his stomach, and heart to stop the internal bleeding, one of you give him, some blood, as he’s losing it very quickly.”
“Oh no,” said Dr. Harrison, “he’s starting to code. Hand me those heart compressors.”
So, as they are handed over to him, he shocked his open heart for a few minutes. And then, finally, a sinus rhythm started to show on the monitor. Then, he administered so more blood, himself, to his patient.
And most of the time, while the surgeons are working on him, he appears to be very pale, and very out of it, close to a coma. But, finally, after the internal bleeding is brought under control, the top surgeon, the patient’s buddy, then, orders another surgeon, “Come on, and close up his heart while I’m closing the incision on his stomach.”
After the patients’ stomach and heart were closed up, Dr. Harrison asked another surgeon, “Okay, now, administer some dopamine to his IV, as his blood pressure is dropping fast. Next, let’s roll him over, one, two, and three.”
After the patient is rolled over, Dr. Harrison starts working on his knife wound in Dr. Pauley’s back, luckily, it isn’t a big one, and the patient didn’t lose much blood from that wound. In fact, Dr. Harrison was able to stop that wound from bleeding with some cat gut after cleansing his wound. And his patient, Tom, is coming out of his coma, and trying to mumble some words to him.
Finally, Dr. Harrison could make out some of his words, “All I can say is to thank you and all the other surgeons around me, for saving my life. Could have died from that knife wound in my back if it wasn’t for you, Dr. Harrison.”
But all this time, the attending physician, head nurse and doctors have been working on Linda, in another trauma room. But surgery was never attempted because of her concussion, couldn’t be moved to surgery. She had so many wounds in her stomach, chest, and head that she bled faster than the bleeding could be stopped, and blood administered to her. So, they all are, nearly, in tears, as head nurse, Kathy, pronounces her time of death, and after looking into Linda’s eyes for a few minutes, places a sheet over her.
In the meanwhile, the attendant found the Schizophrenia patient, wandering around in the halls. So, he and the nurse, Mary Ann , somehow, managed to get that patient back into one of the rooms after much struggling with him.
And as Kathy and the attending physician, Dr. Ted Miguel were, almost, half dragging the Schizophrenic back to a bed, Kathy said to the attending physician, “This patient needs another checking over. When I found him, he was on the floor. And looks like he’s got a wound on his arm. But it doesn’t look bad. In fact, we’re short a medical student. So, you, Mary Ann, stay with him until he gets his prescriptions. Be sure to come, and get the attending physician if you need any more help, as this guy’s been a doozy.”
“Okay, Kathy, why don’t you have Dr. Miguel, check on Dr. Pauley to see how he’s doing?”
And as soon as they had gotten settled in bed enough, two nurses grabbed the guy by his arms because he’s getting very unsettled. So, the attending physician, Dr. Miguel, administered a large dose of Haldol which settled the patient down, also, the nurses strapped the guy into the bed. Then, he waited for another psyche counsel for the patient being that Kathy is afraid, that patient could hurt himself or even someone else in his family, or injure some more staff inside the hospital.”
Head nurse, Kathy and Dr. Miguel go to the recovery room where Dr. Pauley is recovering from his surgery. And as they arrive inside his room, surgeon, Dr. Paul Harrison has been inside the room with patient and long-time buddy, Dr. Pauley for a little time.
Jus before Dr. Harrison left the room, so, nurse, Mary Ann, can check up on the patient, Dr. Harrison said to him, “Be sure to get a lot of rest. If you need anything, jus page me. And if you can’t, page Dr. Miguel, he’ll be more than willing to help you out. And by the way, if you aren’t in a lot of pain, and feel ready to do it, please try to start walking around with your walker in 12 hours if you can.”
As Dr. Pauley is walking with his walker, he can sense, that upon Dr. Harrison approaching him by the main desk, that Linda has been a tough case. So, then, he said to Dr. Harrison, in a sad voice, “Linda didn’t make it, did she?”
“I and Kathy, the head nurse, and two other doctors have been working on her for hours. And we couldn’t stop her internal bleeding in time. Every half hour, we gave her, blood, but she was losing too much blood, and, also, kept looking very pale. In fact, the dopamine, Kathy kept giving to her, didn’t help her much, and her blood pressure was dropping fast. But she had stomach, chest, and head wounds, and she had a massive concussion which, literally, killed her.”
So, he was too choked up on words, and couldn’t say anything to Kathy, so, he jus walked back to his room on his walker, and tried to get some more rest.
In the meantime, two nurses happened to be walking the main desk, and one of them, noticed a bloody knife on the floor. As she picked up, she said to the other nurse, “We had a party before in the main lounge. And we were missing the knife to the cake. This looks like the knife that was supposed to be used on the cake. So, another one had to be used.”
Jus as the nurse picked up the knife, the area where Linda and Dr. Pauley had been stabbed, has jus been blocked by some yellow special tape, used whenever an accident occurs, and has to be investigated. Also, some cop jus walked away from the crime scene, after investigating it.
And as the cop walked near the main desk, he, gently, took the knife from the nurse, after telling her, “Miss, may I please, have that knife? It, probably, is the one, that happened to be used on a medical student and doctor, who had been stabbed. Need it to look it over and the blood on the knife needs to be put in a plastic bag, and taken to the lab. Also, the knife has to be studied for any fingerprints.”
The schizophrenia patient, after having been kept at the hospital for a couple days, and given some strong medication by injection, he, then, is transferred over to a mental institution, taken over there in a cop car.
And as he arrived at the mental institution, immediately, one of the head doctors took the papers on this patient from the cop. Then, he took the patient to a room, away from all the other patients, and to stay in isolation with straps around him for as long as it took for his new medication to work.
Dr. Pauley, finally, is released after being put on strong medication, and, now, is walking on crutches. So, his buddy surgeon, Dr. Harrison, gave him, some strict orders to follow jus before he left the hospital with him. “Now, Dr. Pauley, you’re to walk, every two hours if the pain isn’t that bad. Also, be sure, to take your pain medication as ordered, and not more than prescribed, you could become addicted to it. Bye, see you, my buddy.”
As they arrived at Kathy’s house, Dr. Harrison even helped him inside the house where he’s renting out a room in the upstairs from head nurse, Kathy. Also, Dr. Harrison had a nurse to come over to the place, being that she didn’t have the time to take care of him day and night.
CHAPTER II
After about two weeks, the hospital staff were very surprised to find out, that Dr. Pauley is so determined to get back to work, and head nurse, Kathy, then, wondered why he didn’t take some more time off from his job. That he should have taken, at least, a month off after being stabbed in the back with a knife.
But as he tried hard to get around on his job as an emergency physician, he thought to himself, “Wish I could get that schizophrenic patient back for what he did to me. That’s a near death knife wound which I have in my back. Could have died from all profuse bleeding, and, barely, got out of that coma, in which he caused me to go, after stabbing me in the back.”
All during his shift, that day, every so often, he would have to stop, and rest his back. He wondered why he came back on his job so soon. It’s determination to do well on the job that influenced him not to complete his two more weeks that he should with this knife wound.
And he couldn’t hide, the fact that he, still, was in a lot of pain, because every so often, one of the staff would catch him, wincing. And, at least, one of the staff kept asking him, if he’s alright which, of course, he isn’t, jus because he’s limping around on the job.
Soon, he realized, that he, not aware he’s doing this, in mumbling to himself, every so often, “That schizophrenia patient, I had, wanted me dead. Can feel it in my skin. In fact, didn’t like me, even, taking him on as my patient. Jus watch me, kid, if I ever see your face again, you’re going to wish, you never lived. What you deserve is for me to have some revenge against you.”
That night after Dr. Harrison drove him back home from his shift, being that, for one, his schedule didn’t carry him to have to try to catch some sleep, over night at the hospital. And on the way back home, Dr. Pauley said to him, “Have been very lonely at night. Miss my family, ever since, the last Christmas dinner. And feel, I should, and need to lean on someone in the family, right now. So, do you mind if you drop me off at my grandma’s house, so, I don’t have to take a cab there?”
Dr. Harrison to him, “No, I don’t mind driving you there. In fact, where does she live? She doesn’t live too far from here, does she? In fact, I don’t mind at all. Jus give the directions over there.”
Dr. Pauley kept going to work over at the hospital, even though, he, still, is in pain, and thought, he could handle the stress of the patients which fell on him all during his shift. And then, it started getting too much for him, but he’s afraid, that if he takes any more time off from his job, that he couldn’t get laid off, or fired from his job. But the stress of the knife wound is taking its toll on him, and it started affecting the way, he acted towards the staff and the patients too.
Dr. Paul Harrison jus happen to notice, that he isn’t taking his job in stride any more, and that he’s in a lot pain yet. Also, more than once, he would fire off his anger at a patient when things aren’t going well, mostly, around trauma patients. Also, he is hooked on his pain medication, and has been taking medication out of a medicine cabinet over at the hospital, medication not prescribed to him.
So, one day the attending physician figured, that Dr. Pauley couldn’t take on any more patients, that night, because he’s getting moody around them. So, the attending physician, Dr. Miguel approached him, and said to him, “Come on, this is enough for your shift. Besides I’ve been noticing something. Have lost your professionalism towards your patients. And can’t seem to handle your pain from your knife wound anymore which is coming out as anger towards the staff and your patients like you used to do.”
As the attending physician nudged himself aside, away from a patient, and also, a staff member with whom he’s having an argument, he led Dr. Pauley to the conference room. And once, there, had a good talk with him.
“Now, Dr. Pauley, jus have a seat. Need to talk something over with you. Have noticed that, lately, you have been acting out in anger towards your patients. And, also, Kathy has told me, that got into an argument with her over a patient. Think that these are signs of drug overdose. Also, a nurse happened to catch you, today. She saw you, taking medication out of a cabinet. Also, saw you, pop some pills.”
“Well, the pain, I’ve been from that stab wound, I haven’t been to tolerate. In fact, it has been getting worse. And didn’t want to quit my or take any more time off. Was afraid, that it would lead to me, losing my job.”
“Well, you’re going to lose your job if you keep this up. Is the attending physician here at the hospital? And won’t tolerate, the way, you’ve been taking out your anger over that patient who stabbed you either. Jus are going to have to face it. Need some professional help, real bad.”
Dr. Harrison happed to find Dr. Miguel in the conference with Tom. So, Dr. Harrison said to Dr. Miguel, “Was wondering, why he mouthed off at a patient of his. And because of his attitude against that patient, he wouldn’t accept Dr. Pauley’s treatment,” Dr. Miguel said to the attending physician.
Since, the attending physician and surgeon, Dr. Harrison approached Dr. Pauley about his job, while Dr. Harrison sat down with him at the conference table, the attending physician said to him, “Since, you wouldn’t take my advice, and take the next plane to Seattle; you will lose your job. Can’t put up with your intolerance towards your patients, any longer, and neither can any of the other staff here either.”
“Jus a minute here. Is it true, Tom that you have been popping pills?”
“Yes, Dr. Miguel, my pain has been getting worse instead of better.”
“Now, will you go on the plane now to Seattle for a treatment program, if Dr. Harrison goes with you? Will you allow him to drive you to the airport, tonight?”
He’s so choked up inside and bewildered by what both the attending physician and Dr. Harrison have brought up to him. So, without a word, he grabbed his things out of his locker, and followed Dr. Harrison to his car.
Once, inside his car, for some odd reason, he felt more comfortable with him, than with the attending physician. So, then, Dr. Harrison drove him right over to the airport, and even took the plane there to Seattle with him, so, that when they arrived in Seattle, that he could help get him, settled into this program.
So, on the way to the airport, Dr. Harrison said to him, “Now, if I take you all the way to Seattle for this program, are you sure, that you’ll stay with it until your addiction goes away?”
“Yes, I’m sure, I will. Have made up my mind that I’ll do whatever it takes. Because when I get back from the program, I want to get my job back.”
So, the two didn’t say another word to each other, and, even though, this was hard for Dr. Pauley, he didn’t even try to get out of this. He, simply, allowed Dr. Harrison to drive him, all the way to the airport, and to take the plane ride with him all the way to Seattle. It took about an hour or so on the plane, but this didn’t seem to bother him. He, simply, was so drugged up from all the pain medication, he has been taking, and so tired, from not being able to take on the stress of having a knife wound, that he jus fell asleep while on the plane.
But, once, they arrived in Seattle, they took a cab over to where the drug treatment program was being held. And, once, there, Dr. Harrison walked inside with him, and, once, he is signed up into the program, Dr. Harrison had to get back to Chicago to his job.
And jus before he left the building he said to Dr. Pauley, “Now, remember what I said. Be sure to follow the program, carefully. And no matter how much, you’re tempted to take an overdose again, don’t allow yourself to do it. Because if you do, you’ll have to take the program all over again. And then, it’ll take that much longer for you to back to Chicago, and to your job again.”
So, then, he got himself settled into a room with a bunch of other people, men and women, who, already, were signed into the program.
In the meanwhile, Dr. Harrison took a plane back to Chicago, and he didn’t have to wait for more than a hour to get on the next flight back there. And as soon as he got on the plane, he tried to sleep on the plane being that being the weather is bad, and it’s snowing like crazy, it could take him, at least, two hours to get back to his destination.
And about two hours later, as his plane landed in the airport, he took a cab over to the hospital. And once, he arrived at the hospital, he walked inside and over to the main desk.
But as he arrived at the main desk, he happened to run into Kathy, the head nurse, and she said to him, “Since, you have had a long night, why don’t you jus go home for the rest of the night. Things have turned quite slow, and for the last two hours, there hasn’t been any patients. So, why don’t you jus take off for your place, and get some sleep when you arrive back home? In fact, there’s no surgery scheduled until tomorrow morning. Jus be in by six in the morning for your first surgery.”
So, in a way, Dr. Harrison is glad, that he didn’t have to stay the night being that he is very tired, and he had a very tough night with Dr. Pauley, already. It, really, had taken a lot of guts to put up all those hours in being with Tom because he, certainly, has been in a crabby mood, lately, from trying to overdose on all that pain medication. This knife wound has been putting an awful lot of stress on the guy, ever since, that Schizophrenia patient of his, attacked him with that knife.
It wasn’t easy for him, at first, to have to be off all that codeine medication which he had been stealing from the medicine cabinet over at the hospital for about a few weeks now, even though, during his treatment program, he, still, was allowed to take what they gave him during the whole course of the detoxification from the codeine.
When his four weeks was up, before leaving Seattle, he made a phone call over to the hospital, and the attending physician happened to answer the phone. So, he said to Dr. Pauley, “How have things been going for you? Are you, really, ready to come back to your job over here at the hospital? Because if you feel, that you’re jus going to get hooked to all that codeine again, then you’re, really, not ready to come back to work.”
So, Dr. Pauley said to him with a confident voice, “Believe me, all this time, I’ve been in the program, have learned my lesson. Since, I’ve been off all that codeine, it has speeded up the healing of my knife wound. And I, seriously, think, I’m, ready, to take on all those emergency patients.”
“Okay, will see you when you get here at the hospital. But don’t forget, that as soon as you’ve arrived back, here, it’s very necessary, that you have a meeting with me before even considering getting into emergency medicine again. For one thing, you’ve been away from your job for about a month, and, probably, have lost some of your skills. We’ll talk more about the situation when you get back to the hospital. When you do, be sure to go to the main desk. I’ll be there waiting for you.”
Dr. Pauley didn’t know what to say, as Dr. Paul Harrison caught him by surprise, so, he jus said to him, “Okay, then, doctor, see you then. Believe me, I’ll be glad to get back into emergency medicine. Bye for now.”
So, Dr. Pauley, then, got all of his stuff together, and after getting everything together, and checking to see that he didn’t forget anything, he went back to the main desk. And once there, he called for a cab from the airport. And it didn’t take long for one to get to the building.
He caught a ten o’clock flight because it was the earliest flight available. And he managed to stay awake during the whole flight, even though, this flight ended up being quite scary being that he had a wing seat. And being that a cold front came against a warm front, the scary part was him, seeing the wings seem to split apart to steady the plane against the strong winds. But once, he arrived over at the airport in Chicago, in no time at all, he caught and was over to Chicago County General before noon, even though, the attending physician had been expecting him over at the hospital before then.
As he got out of the cab, and walked through the hospital doors over to the main desk, all of the staff were very happy to see him back there. And as he bumped into the attending physician, Dr. Miguel, both he and Dr. Pauley were choked up for words at first. But then, finally, Dr. Miguel, simply, said to him, “Jus follow me over to the conference room. We all are glad to have you back. But there’s some important issue, standing, right now. And I have to talk to you in private about that matter.”
So, as they both arrived inside the conference room, and took a seat near each other, the attending physician tried to sound as casual as possible, because after all, for Dr. Pauley, this day is like being on the job as a emergency physician for the first time. So, then, Dr. Miguel said to him, “I’m glad to have you back on staff. And you’re kind of rusty on your job right now. Also, since, you’ve just got back from a drug treatment program, and that your knife wound could, still, be in the process of healing, that I don’t think, you should take on trauma cases right away.”
Then, not knowing what else to say, he said to Dr. Miguel, “Well, what are you, actually, expecting of me on my job right now? Realize, I’ve been away from my practice for a month now. So, what do you want me to take on?”
“First, of all, don’t expect a lot of you right away. So, it’s best, that you kind of take it easy on your cases for now. Another thing, is that you, probably, don’t realize it. But it’s possible, that you could have forgotten a lot of your duties as an emergency physician at this point. So, want you to just start taking on less stressful cases, like suturing. When you feel, you’re ready to take on trauma cases, will let you do it. But for now, jus stick with the more mild cases. And jus leave the rest to me.”
“How long do you, want me to stay away from trauma cases?”
“What I’m trying to address to you, is being you’ve been going through trying times with a knife wound in your back, feel that you’re not quite ready to take on your full duties. So, jus don’t worry about trauma cases at this point. Need to think of yourself as a medical student, like you’re learning the whole procedures of an emergency physician all over again.”
“Is there anything else I should do, or know about before I go back on the floor?”
“There are some rules to which you’re going to have to stick being you’ve jus gone through a drug addiction program. You’re to meet, weekly, with me, here in the conference room. Also, you’re, only, to take what I give you as far as pain medication goes.”
Then, as the attending physician got a bottle of pain medicine out of the medicine cabinet in the conference, he said to Dr. Pauley, as he opened up the bottle, “Here, before you even think of going on the floor, take this pill,” as he handed it over to him. And another thing, if a nurse or someone else on staff, ever catches you, popping pills ever again, report to me right away, if you catch yourself slipping, because if you don’t, you won’t have a job here anymore.”
After taking the pain pill, the attending physician, then, said to him, “I’m in charge of you right now. So, will be the one who will be assigning you all the cases during your whole shift. Whenever you’re done with one of your cases, or even find you, need help with handing a patient, always, be sure to page me. Don’t worry if a treatment which a patient is supposed to receive, doesn’t come to mind right away. That’s why I’ve been placed in charge of you. Am here to help you throughout your shift.”
“Do you have any case right now on which you want me to take?”
“Yes, in fact, I do. Here, take this chart from me. A suturing case has come up. So, start with this one. But jus remember one thing. Don’t ever allow yourself to be tempted to go into a medicine. Because if you, I’ll find out about it. Every single day jus before you go on shift, you have to take a urine test. It’s required of you, since, you’ve jus gone through a couple months of a drug addiction program.”
ENDING:
So, Dr. Pauley took on simple cases for the first month or so, partly, because he’s, still, recovering from a knife wound, yet. And the attending physician felt, strongly, about him avoiding taking on any trauma cases for awhile. Also he, felt, that it could take some time for Dr. Pauley to get used to being an emergency physician again. So, he had to start all over again, taking on duties of a medical student.
And in a couple of months, he was doing good on the job, except that he slipped, once, on his promise to the attending physician, to never pop pills again. And in a few months time, he took on his full duties as an emergency physician with no problems, whatsoever.