"She's like 12, why is she so terrified of everything?" Baker asks me as we leave the room. I look to him, incredulous. "What are you talking about, fear knows no age. For all we know, she has been abused, you can't judge people like that, especially not kids, and especially when they are alone in an emergency department" I say, trying to keep my cool. "But still..." he says and I just ignore him.
"She has crackling in her lungs, decreased breath sounds and hemoptysis, so what do we do?" I ask, wanting to test him, "chest x-ray" he answers. "Good, what do we do about her dizzy spell?" I quiz, "fluids and bloods" he replies, "and there were abnormalities in her abdomen, what does that prompt?" I ask my final question, "ultrasound" he answers quickly. At least he knows his stuff. "Right, order them for me, then come back to the room and we'll try and get a bit more out of her."
Not long after, Baker re-enters the room where my patient and I have been sitting in comfortable silence. "Ok sunshine, we have a few more questions for you, is that ok?" I ask, receiving a nod. "Are you able to tell us how old you are honey?" I ask and she looks at me fearfully. "This is just so we know how we can best help you sunshine, that's all we want to do" I encourage. Shakily, she holds up 10 fingers before closing her hands and showing another 6. "Are you 16 sweetheart?" I ask to which she nods. "Baker, grab a scale for me" I say urgently, there is no way a 16 year old should be this small.
Baker runs to grab a scale and quickly brings one back to the room, placing it next to the bed. "Alright sunshine, I'm going to help you off the bed and just get you to stand on the scales for me, can we do that?" I ask encouragingly. She nods and I quickly help her off the bed. A few seconds after she lands on the scales, her heart rate spikes once again and I see her eyes begin to flick again. "Do you wanna sit back down sweetheart?" I ask and she slowly shakes her head as she grabs onto me for support. About a minute later, her heart rate returns to under 100 bpm and she can safely stand on the scale as I look at her weight. She is 42.4 kilos and 5'4". That is NOT healthy. "Ok sunshine, you're a little bit on the small side, do you think I might be able to get you to eat something?" I ask, wanting to just take small steps, still unsure why she could be so underweight. She immediately shakes her head though. "I really think it might be a good idea, just to get you to snack on something" I try to encourage, just receiving a firm shake of the head. "Ok sunshine, we'll give that conversation a little rest" I say, knowing that she won't be leaving here anytime soon.
YOU ARE READING
Scared Of Healing
Short StoryShe's been through so much. No one deserves the lot she's been given. When her whole world seems like it's about to end, she meets the people who will save her life. Can she trust them enough to help her? Can she get better? What happened to her? DI...
