DOKITA-CHAPTER 2

In the distant future of Raymond’s dreams, horns were blasting and a commotion of sirens were blowing with oh so urgent frequency.
There was no doubt; his current dreams were chaotic.
And so, he tossed to and fro his temporary bed in the doctors’ call room.
A sharp knock on the door.
Followed by another; this time, more persistent and not seeming to stop until one of two things would have happened: either the door was opened, or it was broken down.
‘Doctor! Doctor!’
Raymond awoke with a start, was barely able to scratch his itchy eyes before another rapid knock.
‘Doctor!’
He sprang forward towards the door, sad that his barely 2 hours of sweet sleep had been interrupted. His sleep break, was over.
His hair was in disarray, and so; were his thoughts.
What greeted his florid sight was enough to make him almost swirl.
Damn.
He was in for it, he instantly decoded.
5 patients had just been wheeled in.
Turns out, the sirens of his dream were the sirens of his reality.
There seemed to have been an accident and of course, there was commotion.
He braced up to do the job he had signed up for amidst high pitched cries of pain from patients and gut-wrenching cries of despair from their relatives.
His eyes scanned quickly, the scenery before him.
There was a man with a huge gash across his forehead, dripping with blood as he was wheeled in.
A woman crying at the top of her lungs about someone warning her not to travel. She had a gash on her left arm; she most likely had a fracture.
Two little boys with fractured limbs.
And lastly.
Lastly.
Oh God!
Raymond’s heart began to race.
A man whose groans were low and soft. He was barely conscious, and obviously fighting to stay alive.
Raymond couldn’t make out his face. By now he had stopped scanning and rushed towards the man.
A quick general examination of his patient. He touched his upper and lower limbs.
Cold; very clammy.
Checked his pulse; very fast.
His chest rose and fell 27 times in one minute.
This man, was going into shock as a result of severe blood loss.
He quickly raised the foot of the bed, so Mr. X’s legs were up.
‘I need two units of O negative cross-matched packed red blood cells from the blood bank, now!’
‘Get me 2 liters of normal saline.’
‘God please, let him live. Let him live.’ Dr Raymond half-pleaded with God.
He saw, his father in Mr. X, this man who likely had little children and other dependants.
This man, who must not die.
He struggled to obtain intravenous access, started him on fluids and began to clean Mr. X’s wounds.
He checked his pulse, still fast.
‘Where is the blood?’ Dr. Raymond asked the nearest nurse.
‘It will soon be here.’
‘Soon…’ Raymond cooned impatiently.
His other colleague who had also happened to be on call was attending to two of the other patients.
Raymond moved to the two little boys with fractured limbs.
Their mother was crying profusely beside them.
Raymond muttered some condolences before taking materials from the tray.
He started them on intravenous analgesia and antibiotics; and assessed that their problems were no more than unilateral humeral fractures.
He muttered some more condolences before jetting over to Mr. X. These kids, could wait.
‘Dr. Raymond, the packed cells you ordered for!’
‘God bless you!’ Raymond said as he smiled transiently.
He set up the blood after thawing and kept on monitoring Mr. X.
Checked the pulse again. Thankfully, it was getting slower.
The limbs were now warmer.
Raymond heaved a sigh of relief.
Stepped out to wash his hands before checking on the twin boys.
As Raymond stepped in, he heard groans, this time from Mr. X.
He checked the pulse oximeter and ECG readings.
He didn’t want to believe what was happening, but it was true.
He was losing Mr. X
Frantic attempts at resuscitation.
Chest compressions, with ardent zeal.
Frantic attempts at helping oxygenation with ambu-bagging.
The ECG readings became flat.
His colleague who had joined him in resuscitating spoke, 2 minutes later.
‘Raymond, call the time of death.’
His eyes misty, lips quivering;
Raymond said
‘Time of death, 3:34am’
With that, he stepped out of the room for a minute
His back against the wall, he groaned deeply;
His Father’s scene had replayed.
He had failed Mr. X.
He had failed his Father.
He couldn’t save a life, and after all, he was just a man.