"Dr. Spiegel. I'm Dr. Price."
Jim Spiegel looked up from the stack of medical charts into the eyes of a very pretty, well dressed lady. She was extending her hand to him. Instinctively, he shook her hand and said, "Dr. Price. I have a patient with the same last name. Any chance you're related?"
"Tom Price," she said. "He's my father. How's he doing?"
"Frankly, he's lucky to be alive, but I think he'll be fine. He has a nasty contusion on the crown of his head, the radius and ulna in each arm is broken, and he broke the tibia in his left leg. Dr. Krieger, our on-call orthopod worked on him right after the accident and reported that the surgery went well. Come on and I'll show you."
As they walked toward the large flat-screen computer monitor in the back of the ICU, Rhianna Price, MD asked, "Any LOC?"
"Oh, yes," Dr. Spiegel replied. "The EMT said he was out cold. From what we can tell from their report, the truck crossed the centerline and hit your father head on. His airbag deployed and broke both his arms. Apparently, he wasn't wearing his seatbelt, so he went over the top of the airbag and struck his head on the windshield frame. The engine collapsed the fire wall and smashed his leg. As I was saying, he's lucky to be alive."
Rhianna shook her head and said, "Maybe now he'll start wearing his seatbelt. I've been on him for years. Did you do a head CT?"
By way of reply, Dr. Spiegel pulled up the CT scan image on the monitor. "No signs of intracranial bleeding, but we'll keep him in the ICU for at least 24-hours." He then pulled up the pre- and post-operative x-rays of his arms and leg for her to observe.
"Damn."
"Yep." He looked at her closely. She looked as tired as he felt. She had dark blue eyes that made him wonder if they were actually that color, or if she was wearing tinted contact lenses. Her straight dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but would have fallen to the middle of her back had she worn it loose. She had thin lips that turned up at the corners so that she appeared to be smiling and a small, cute cleft in her chin. She was immaculately dressed in a black dress that fell to just above her knees. The dress had a deep V-neck and she was wearing a beige blouse with frills around the collar. She appeared to have large breasts, although it was difficult for him to tell. Over the dress she wore a fitted red coat that ended at the same length as her dress and that enhanced the length of her body. He thought she was probably about 5' 4" and shapely. "Did you fly in today?"
"Uh huh," she said nodding her head. "I was in New York at a conference when I got the call. I jumped on the first flight I could catch. As you might imagine, I didn't sleep on the plane."
"Well, I'm on duty until 7 tomorrow morning, so why don't you head...home? Try to get some sleep."
She smiled brightly at him. She had a dazzling smile, with high cheekbones and small creases around her mouth that gave away her age. He correctly guessed she was in her early 30s. "I live in Atlanta," she said, "but I can go stay at my Dad's house. I'll leave my cell phone number with the charge nurse. Please do call me if there is a change."
He returned her smile and said, "Will do." He placed his hand on her shoulder and said, "He'll be fine."
"Do you mind if I look in on him quickly before I go?"
"Not at all. He's on a lot of pain meds so he's out and will be until the morning."
When she looked in on him both of his arms were in casts that ran from just above his elbows to enclose his hands completely. There were pillows on either side of him and the casts were resting on those pillows. His left leg was in a cast that extended to just above his knee and his leg was elevated. He was sleeping soundly and the EKG looked normal. She smiled and touched his cheek with the back of her hands. "Hi, Dad," she whispered. She kissed him lightly and headed out of the ICU.
~~~
Rhianna Price was the only child of Tom and Sue Ellen Price. Sue Ellen had died when Rhianna was in grade school, so Tom had raised her on his own. This had generated an incredibly close bond between the two of them that continued to this day. He was her best friend. When Rhianna had graduated from high school, she entered a B.S.N nursing program, and had worked as an ICU nurse for two years before she decided to go to medical school. Now as a physician, she worked as a hospitalist in the intensive care unit at one of the large hospitals in the Atlanta area. Seeing her own Dad in the ICU had been a bit of a shock, which surprised her. She had seen almost everything in her short career.
She let herself into her Dad's house and headed straight up the stairs to the spare bedroom that had been her room when she was a child. She threw her coat onto the bed and then plopped down next to it, exhausted. She began to cry, which was caused more by the release of exhaustion and stress than fear. Her Dad had been lucky. After a good cry, she dug out her cell phone and called the hospital HR department to let them know that she was going to have to take a leave of absence to help care for her father for at least 6 weeks or until the casts came off his arms. Until then, he'd be helpless.
She started to create a mental checklist of things she'd have to do. She would need to get a hospital bed delivered to his house, as well as several other pieces of equipment. She was glad for her nursing background, which would help with the care he was going to need. She decided to take a shower first, and then write down her thoughts.
~~~
Her phone startled her awake when it rang. "Hello," she said, trying to hide that she had been sleeping.
"Dr. Price, this is Dr. Spiegel. I'm sorry to wake you."
Now, she was wide awake. "How's my dad?" she asked with a bit of panic in her voice.
"He's fine. In fact, he did so well last night I'm transferring him to the floor today."
She sighed and began to breathe again. "That's great news. Thanks."
"No worries," he said, "and sorry to have scared you like that.
~~~