EPISODE 3
‘Oya sorry now, we’re almost
there.’ Felix kept saying as he partially carried his dear
friend.
She wouldn’t hear the last of this episode
once it was over, that much he knew!
‘Awww…you don’t know how painful
awww… this is’
‘Sorry, sorry’;
he kept saying
So
they eventually got to the ER and after pulling out her card, used ‘medical
student connection’ to see the resident that was on call in Internal Medicine
unit.
‘Hello dear’,
Dr. Brown said, looking keenly at the girl that was almost doubled over in pain
‘I think you should lie down on
that couch’
‘What exactly is the problem?’
‘She just started complaining about
her abdomen about half an hour ago’
‘Oh’. ‘Can you point to where
exactly the pain started?’ he asked
‘Here’.
Linda pointed to the area around her umbilicus.
‘Have you had any episode of
vomiting?’
‘No sir’
Felix answered spontaneously.
‘You must be her boyfriend, right?’
Dr.Brown asked, with a mischievious grin on his face
Almost
unanimously, Felix and Linda answered ‘No
sir!’
‘I see’
‘Any history of nausea?’
Felix wasn’t in such a hurry to answer this time
‘Yes sir, I’ve been feeling
nauseated since yesterday’
By
now, Linda was lying down on the couch with her hips flexed and knees drawn up
‘I need you to extend your lower
limbs so I can examine your abdomen’
Felix
excused them.
He
touched her abdomen and removed his hand. ‘Awww….!’
There
was more pain on removal of his hand than when he even touched it.
Classic
indication of rebound tenderness.
Marked
tenderness in Right Iliac Fossa, and a whole lot of abdominal guarding!
‘When was your last menstrual
period?’
‘On the 12th of last
month sir’ Linda said admist groans.
Dr.
Brown documented his findings:
‘22 yr old patient presents with a
day history of periumbilical abdominal pain which later migrated to the right
iliac fossa. Positive history of nausea, no vomiting. Systemic review not
contributory.
On examination, patient is not
pale, anicteric, afebrile with a temperature of 37.2áµ’C; Tenderness over
McBurney’s point, Rebound tenderness and guarding. Positive Rovsing sign.
Assessment: Acute Appendicitis R/O
Ectopic Pregnancy’
He
motioned towards Felix, and the recently present Tolu
‘Your friend will be on admission,
and will most likely be worked up for an appendectomy. So you guys would have
to take her blood and urine samples to the lab’
Tolu
was the first to react ‘Ah!’ and then
she left her mouth ajar
‘Ok sir’
Felix said, trying to be the ‘man’ in the not so palatable situation
**************************************************************
Bunmi
had been with Dr. Brown all day.
‘Dr. Bunmi Phillips’, he motioned
towards her. Please follow up this patient’s lab results. And also, inform the
Surgery team about her. My clinical assessment is acute appendicitis’
‘Ok sir.’
‘Oh oh!’
Bunmi thought. ‘I really can’t afford to
be kept here for too long’
Fola
had replied her message not too long ago, letting her know that he’d be free in
about 3 hours times; as he wasn’t on call. She wasn’t on call either and was
sincerely hoping she’d get off the hook early enough. Provided surgery team
didn’t pull any stunts.
Afterall,
she was only an houseofficer, and they could do as they wished with her!
Dr.
Brown was speaking to her again ‘…and I
need all these test results in before 5pm,ok?’
‘Yes sir.’
2
hours later, and Bunmi was still in the ER
Actually,
not really. What she had really been doing was chasing lab results up and down.
Life
of an H.O! She sighed.
‘Well, at least I haven’t been
abused today. It’s been a relatively benign day’.
She said to herself
As
if on cue, Paparazzi walked in. well, it wasn’t really the paparazzi. Only Dr.
Afuarida and of course, closely on his heels were medical students.
Bunmi
was immediately pissed off. He was the general surgeon on call and intuitively,
Bunmi knew she was going to be here till eternity today!
‘Good
afternoon sir!’
‘Young lady, hello. Are you back
here?’
‘Yes sir’
‘Good, good’
He said
‘So I hear there’s a patient here
being clinically adjudged to have acute appendicitis and who is being worked up
for the removal of her appendiceal structure; otherwise called an appendectomy
or an appendicectomy’
‘Yes sir’.
Hmmmn. Grammar of life. Paparazzi and shalaye sha! ‘On top appendectomy o?’
Bunmi giggled a little
‘Where is she? I would like to take
my students on the symptomatology and clinical signs of appendicitis as we just
discussed it in class about 2 days ago. Right?’
The tired and hungry looking students nodded in
unison.
Bunmi
shook her head as she led them to where Linda was.
‘This girl is in for a lot of
wahala today.’ She muttered.
3
hours later, and they were still on this matter. Bunmi checked her wrist watch
for the umpteenth time.
Fola
had already called thrice. She hadn’t been chanced to pick his calls.
‘Good Lord! This boy deserves
better. I can’t afford to stand him up, not today.’
She groaned.
The
effect of the meds given to Linda to mask her pain was wearing out and thankfully,
wisdom had prevailed.
She
was going in for surgery now. Laboratory tests had arrived and were judged to be
in favor of acute appendicitis as well.
Bunmi
inhaled deeply. A sigh of relief followed. Linda was no longer her patient, at
least, for now.
As
she headed out of the ER, she heard a voice
‘Bums!’
It was Fola’s unmistakable baritone voice.
Her
left-over feelings resurfaced and almost overshadowed her. She had missed this
man!
Putting
her thoughts in check, she looked back
‘Hi Fola!’
A side hug followed.
‘I’m so sorry. See, I had a patient
to transfer to surgery team and guess who came?’
‘Paparazzi!’
They
both said. Laughter ensued.
She
almost fell and had to stabilize herself by touching his shoulder.
She
looked into his eyes and memories from her prefrontal cortex flooded her entire
being. It was almost like cold ice flooding her bloodstream and she shivered a
little.
Fola
noticed.
‘Are you cold?’
‘No…no’
she said.
‘Fola, I’m so sorry for everything.
For all the pain I’ve caused you.’
She
looked up ‘And for not keeping in touch
for the past 9 months. I needed to clear my head.’
Fola
swallowed some saliva. He had indeed gotten an apology!
‘At least, we’re here now right?
And we can start all over.’ He said, with an obvious twinkle
in his eyes.
All
he was waiting for, right now, was the perfect moment to sweep her off her
feet-literally and spin her round and round- a funny game they used to play.
‘There’s something I need to tell
you, Fola’
Gnawing
doubts reared their ugly fingers.
‘Lord, let this be good!’
He desperately prayed
‘Fola’,
she said, almost apologetically; ‘I’m
getting married’
He
stood fixated, motionless for the 2nd time in 24 hours.
‘I’m sorry, you said what?’
The series continues with the 4th
episode next Wednesday.
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