RED INK
EP 19: Subtle anomaly
The hospital was a huge one, probably government sponsored. It was a six-storey building which was termed "the glass house" because of the appearance it gave. It had an enormous compound space for parking, even an underground parking lot where the ambulances and workers' cars were licensed to park— that was where Aurora was switching off the engine of her SUV, proceeding to check her fuel guage; she figured she had enough to take her around the city for the rest of the week...if she was not traveling.
She removed her key from the ignition and freed herself of the seat belt.
She had five weeks plus to wait for the result of her performance from her board exam, whether she passed or failed. The answer was to be passed to the computer of her boss in this hospital. Hither. Thank God it wasn't crazy senior.
She opened the door of her car, collected her backpack from the passenger's seat and locked her vehicle. As she walked to backdoor of the hospital, she heard an ambulance nearby put on its siren, the paramedics rushing into the vehicle and driving off.
Another set of paramedics ran by her. "What is the location?" One of them asked from his phone. "Okay." They put on their helmets, three of them jumping into the vehicle, turned the wheel and drove off with speed.
Aurora adjusted her backpack and walked to the backdoor that led to the hospital floor.
She saw people being rolled on their wheel chairs, and it comprised of older people than youngsters. It wasn't new to her because the ground floor was where the Emergency room and Operating rooms were placed. It made it easier for the paramedics to bring in trauma patients and save time. The General Surgeons' offices were also located on this floor. On this floor, you will also find the EM doctors, cardiac surgeon, GS and scrub-in nurses.
On the second floor was the ICU which was divided into four sectors: The men's ward, The women's ward, Children's ward and Pregnant women's ward. There were also a number of nurses here and you would find cardiac surgeons and orthopedic surgeon roaming around here because that's where their offices were placed.
On the fifth floor was where the lab was located. On this floor, you will find a lot of specialists. An opthalmologist, a radiologist, an oncologist, an Obstetrician, anesthesiologists and a neurologist. Although the hospital did not have all the specialists, which seem impossible to have, they had the major ones and were doing well in that aspect.
On the fourth floor was where the VIP patients were treated. And on that floor was also where the Chief of Surgeon's office, Doctor Hither's office was situated, and that was where she was going to.
She stood in front of the elevator and pressed the button, She waited. When the door opened, four nurses and one General Surgeon, a woman named Freda came out of the elevator.
"Aurora?" Freda had a stethoscope around her neck, her hands tucked in the pocked of her white coat. "You are here today? How was the exam? I told you it was questions you would be familiar with. A lot of people who take the exam pass it. Anybody who fails was not prepared in the first place."
Freda was talking too much. Not like she disliked her, but she just wasn't ready for loud energy this morning. Aurora forced a smile. "I will have to wait for a month plus to get the results." She said. "Still, it was good that I revised the output." She used her hand to stop the door of the elevator from closing. "I have to go Freda, I have things to catch up on."
"Ow! Aren't you supposed to go to the Office? Why upstairs?"
Aurora didn't reply her as she stepped into the elevator.
When the door was closing, Freda said, "Make out time for us to have drinks!"
Aurora sighed when everywhere was quiet and thanked God she was the only one in the elevator. She clicked the fourth floor's button and rested her back, regaining energy.
The fourth floor was quiet as it was supposed to be. She walked to the nurses' counter, they were having subtle chitchats. "Hello." She said, cutting their conversation.
"Aurora?" One of the nurses asked, more like rhetorical.
"Patricia?"
Patricia stood up. "You are not supposed to be here today."
"Neither are you."
They smiled. They were the closest in the hospital. Patricia used to be in he Emergency room working on Trauma patients with the doctors and scrubbing-in in the Operating room. She was transferred not too long ago.
"Amy asked me to switch shifts with her."
"Is Doctor Hither in?"
Patricia nodded. "Yes, he is. He has new VIP patients come in since last week and this week. He has been working without help of any GS so far the past one week. He should be in one of the VIP'S room."
"Terrific!"
"I know right?" Patricia smiled at her. "How was the exam?"
Aurora sighed. "Let's wait for the result first."
Patricia pouted and grinned. "Guess what?"
Aurora knew that whenever Patricia said to guess what, there was a new gist and story emerging. Patricia was that kind of person that could be in her room all day but knew exactly what was going on in the neighbor's house next door. She was in and out of the gists. "What?"
"I am glad I switched shifts with Amy. I was given a rare opportunity to visit a VIP home. The mansion was so huge!"
Aurora smiled. "But seeing as you are this stimulated, I doubt that is what is making you happy."
Patricia grinned. "You got me." She chuckled."
"So, what is it?"
"I met a handsome man."
"I knew it!"
"He was so tall, handsome, good skin...Gosh!"
"So, did you approach him?"
Patricia's face fell. "Naaah!"
"Why not?"
"He has a girlfriend. She could even be his wife for all I know."
"And since when has that stopped you? I thought you have always been attracted to men who are taken?"
Patricia looked at her and smiled. "That's a subtle insult though?"
"Oh! Don't act all innocent. You have quite a reputation to attract men who are already taken. Don't make me feel down-casted for saying what I said. If I have a boyfriend one day, I will not allow the two of you to meet!"
Patricia grinned. This was how they joked around whenever they were in the same space. "But that's not my fault. A lot of this men will be lying. I mean, I see a man I find attractive on the road, I walk up to him and tell him and all because he thinks he has found a cheap girl, he thinks it's best to lie that he doesn't have a woman in his life. I do leave them once I find out."
"As you should. But the problem is you always find out in public places where you are then embarrassed by their women." Aurora laughed. "You have a profound romance with unluckiness."
"I know right? It's like I get attracted to the players."
"But honestly though, you really need to find a guy who isn't taken for yourself."
"They don't exist. Ninety-nine percent of the world's population men are taken, either by marriage or by having multiple women in their lives. There is no man you will tell me today who doesn't have a secret girlfriend. Liars everywhere."
"So why didn't you approach this VIP? You've even got some nerves to think of even approaching a VIP. Please give me some of your confidence, would you?"
"He has a girlfriend."
"I know. You said so."
"She is pregnant for him."
Aurora was surprised. She was not expecting that. "Wow! That's...terrific."
"I know. I don't do married men honey. I love a fair fight. This isn't fair in itself."
There was silence for a while, the type that left space for reasoning and drawing out answers.
Aurora adjusted her bag. "I have to go see Doctor Hither. He may be waiting for me."
"Alright. Will you be coming back here?"
Aurora shook her head. "My house mate is home today. I will have to go home."
"You are lucky. I do hope you pass your exam."
Aurora smiled at her amd turned to go.
"Oh! And one more thing." Patricia said.
Aurora rolled her eyes and looked at her. "What now?"
"That VIP patient..." She started to say.
Aurora thought they were done with this conversation. "What about her?"
"She is in the hospital. She was brought in four days ago."
Aurora wasn't expecting that either. She walked back to the counter. "She is?"
Patricia nodded. "She was unconscious for three days. According to Doctor Hither, he insinuated it was both medical and psychological. So he had Dr Duke examine her. It was slightly true after running all physical tests, the only anomaly in her body was the high bp and dehydration. It took her three days to wake up. Doctor Duke said it was trauma, she was shutting herself out from something which they couldn't determine until she was awake."
"So was it that she was in coma?" Aurora asked.
Patricia nodded and then shook her head. "Doctor Hither didn't classify it as one. A coma will require a lot of medical examination. She was just unconscious for three days. We performed CPR on her on arrival which didn't take long for her heart rate to stable itself. Doctor Hither watched her for a while before leaving her to me. She wss supposed to wake up in the night, she didn't. So she was brought to the hospital. Her brain function aside her bp was very normal."
"I've never heard of such a case. It's rare to find such cases."
"Even Doctor Hither. He decided to take notes and compile the diagnoses with reference from Doctor Duke. I would say, they are studying her case and writing on it. Something like that. Like a research. You know Doctor Hither always has a thing for making researches? He is always taking notes."
"Hmm." Aurora reasoned it. "I have to go."
"Alright. Take care."
"You too."
"Call me when you are done, okay?"
"Sure." She was curious who this girl was and was interested to see how she looked like. But first, she would go take care of what she came here for.
She walked by the pathway, looking at the compound of the hospital from where she was. She could see it through the glass house. She passed two sets of nurses that were walking in twos. The first set was young nurses the other set were in their late thirties.
She turned by the corner and walked a little before standing in front of Doctor Hither's office door. It said: CHIEF OF SURGEONS: DOCTOR ELI HITHER. It was sculpted on a metallic squared shaped stainless steel board, screwed to the door.
She raised her hand up and knocked, there was no answer. She knocked again, still no reply. "Doctor Hither? It's me, Aurora. You asked me to come in today." She knocked again, there was still no reply. "Is anyone in?"
She grabbed the door handle and turned it, pushing it open, she scanned the room. The big shelf of books by the corner, the lit reading lamp on the table, the files that laid by the lamp, the computer, the chairs and then the couch...there was no one here. Compared to how she always saw Doctor Hither with two to three doctors in his office all the time, this was empty. Or was he in the bathroom?
Aurora closed the door. She would come back when he is around. She stepped away and started walking back to where she came from. Before walking too far off, she saw doctor Hither walking towards her with two nurses by his side. He was giving them instructions and they were jotting it down. As he was done talking, they turned back, leaving only him to his stroll.
Doctor Hither was early boomer. He was within the age of 45-55. No one could tell which he was. He was about 5 ft 11 and a half inches tall. He had a friendly face but the glasses he wore made him appear too serious.
"Good afternoon sir." Aurora greeted.
"Where are you going to?"
"I was at your office a while ago. You weren't there."
"Hm." He grunted and walked passed her, making her follow him.
He opened his office door and went in. Aurora looked at the office space again, she had been here several times but this was the first time she was noticing the coffee machine by the door in his office. The office was very spacious. She stood on the other side of the table while Doctor Hither went through some files.
When he was done, he dropped the file on the table and sat down, switching on his computer and waiting for it to boot. He looked at Aurora from the top of his glasses. "Do you like standing? Want to join the military some day?"
"Oh..." Aurora smiled and sat down in her seat. "Thank you."
There was silence for while before a knock came on the door. "Come in." Doctor Hither said.
The door opened. The Radiologist, Josiah walked in with a big file in his hand. "You are here?" He asked Aurora.
She smiled at him. "Hectic work days huh?"
He nodded. "Used to it already." He handed the file to Hither. "Mr VonSnow's diagnosis."
Doctor Hither collected it.
"This is just the hard copy. I sent the soft copy to your email. You can go through it anytime."
"Huh. Thanks."
"The X-ray, CAT scan and MRI results are all in there. You will need time to access the responsive care taken."
"Yes. Thank you Doctor Josiah. You didn't have to bring it directly to me. I could have gotten it myself or gone through the soft copy."
"The hard copy is also essential. We will have to perform an endarterectomy. We will still have to consult with neurology."
Doctor Hither nodded. He looked at Aurora. "I'm sorry. I will have to make you wait again." He stood up and carried the file. "Let's go Doctor Josiah."