The Sisterhood - Michael Palmer [41]
As David took in the scene at the nurses’ station, he couldn’t help but reflect on the easy, animated relationship that existed between Armstrong and the two nurses. Quite the opposite from Dr. Wallace Huttner, even allowing for the fact that Dr. Armstrong was a woman. The contrast became even more striking when she got up and poured him a cup of coffee.
She introduced him to the nurses as the “hero of the day,” and, with a mischievous wink at Christine, added that David was, to the best of her knowledge, single. He blushed and covered his eyes in genuine embarrassment, but realized at the same time that he was carefully avoiding any further eye contact with Christine. Seconds later, Armstrong had him describing Butterworth’s operation in detail. For the moment the danger had passed.
Rona Gold, a practical nurse, joined the group as David used red and blue pens to sketch pictures of the procedure he had done.
It seemed clear to David that Armstrong already knew the details, probably from one of the O.R. nurses. Still, she encouraged him at every chance to continue.
“Well,” she said finally, “I stopped by the recovery room to see Aldous and he doesn’t remember a thing. Snoozed his way through the whole ordeal. Here he is in danger of losing a leg or worse and he sleeps through the procedure. That is my idea of good local anesthesia, what?”
“I think I put him to sleep while I was trying to explain what I was going to do to him,” David said.
Armstrong shared an appreciative laugh with the three nurses, then said, “David, you mentioned something about having a complicated patient here on four South. Charlotte Thomas?”
“Why, as a matter of fact, yes,” David said. “Are you a mind reader as well as a cardiologist?”
“Nothing that exotic. The nurses and I deduced that she was the only one on the floor who fit the bill, so I took the chance and went over her chart.”
“And?”
“And you’re right. She is rapidly developing total body failure. In fact, I have only one observation to add to the excellent note you wrote this morning outlining her many problems. Your Mrs. Thomas has, on top of everything else, definite signs of coronary artery disease on her electrocardiogram. At least, in my interpretation of her electrocardiogram,” she added modestly. “I really have nothing dramatic to contribute to what is already being done. Does it seem as though the bowel obstruction will require reexploration?”
“God, I hope not,” David said. “It would mean her third major operation in less than three weeks.”
“Dr. Shelton, I have a question,” Christine said.
He responded quickly. “It’s five, five, five-two, oh, one, six.”
“What is?”
“My phone number!” David said, immediately realizing that he should have learned more about Christine Beall before exposing her to his sense of humor.
Gold and Edgerly laughed briefly, but Christine did not crack the slightest smile. “That’s not funny,” she said. “Neither is a woman as sick and in as much pain as Charlotte Thomas.”
David muttered an apology, but she ignored it.
“What concerns me,” Christine continued, “is why, if she has so many seemingly incurable problems, Dr. Huttner has made her a full Code Ninety-nine. Espe daily after what happened last night.”
“Last night?” Armstrong asked. “What happened last night?”
David paused, uncertain which of them she was addressing. Christine sat back, looking expectantly at him for his version.
“Well,” he said finally, “Mrs. Thomas’s husband and Dr. Huttner got into a discussion about the aggressive approach Huttner has elected to take in her treatment. The husband was frustrated and more than a little angry. Understandable, I guess, and certainly something we’re all used to encountering.”
“How did Wally handle it?” Armstrong leaned forward with interest, absently rolling her coffee cup back and forth between her hands.
“As well as could be expected under the circumstances, I think,” David said. “He may have overreacted a bit. He stuck by his philosophical guns.