The Turning (38 page)

“I do, Kelly. I want you to be happy, and I will do anything to be with you. You take all the time you need, as long as you come back to me.”

“Thank you for understanding, Brian. I hope you understand why I took Julie up on her offer,” I ventured.

“I understand the logic behind your decision. I do not know if it will help, but if it means we can be together then I accept it.” I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t really asking permission, more that he saw my reasons. Then again, it was Brian and he was upset.

“I will call you at the end of the week and maybe we can figure out a night to go out, okay?”

“Yes, my love. I will wait for your call. Again I am dreadfully sorry for what I did. I will do everything I can to make it up to you. Sleep well and be yourself tomorrow. They will see how special you are,” he assured me, and we said our goodnights. That went much better than I could ever have hoped for.

A few minutes later, Nicole knocked on my door and stuck her head in. “Night, Kelly, see you in the morning. I locked the door and turned off all the lights, so get some sleep.”

“Thanks, Nic. I’ll see you bright and early. I’ll fill you in about Julie’s visit, it can wait until then. Sleep tight, sweetie,” I said as she closed my door. I snuggled under my blanket and felt every inch of my body tingle from Julie’s blood. That was what I was thinking as I drifted off to sleep.

My alarm woke me up at four in the morning. I rolled over and shut it off. I banged on the bathroom wall nearest to her bed a few times before I heard Nicole’s alarm go off as well. I took a quick shower, got dressed, chugged a few pints of blood, and grabbed my stuff. We met out in the living room—Nicole with a breakfast bar—locked up the apartment, and walked over to the hospital.

It was nice to know that we were so close we didn’t even have to speak in the morning. We split when we got up to the surgical floor to go to our designated residents, after wishing each other luck.

“Good morning, Dr. Malinowski,” I greeted, walking up to him. “Am I the first one here?”

“Same to you, and yes, considering you are over two hours early.” He gave me a strange look and shook his head. Odd. “Here are the charts for rounds, get as much information off them as you can, rounds start at seven am sharp. We hit the rooms in numerical order. You remember the procedures from orientation?”

“Yes, of course. Can I look them over in the doctor’s lounge?”

“Yep, you remember where it is?”

“I do, thank you. I’ll see you in the first room at seven,” I assured him with the best confident smile I could muster that early in the morning.

“Sounds good. I heard you brought over lots of flowers for the nurses yesterday?” Dr. Malinowski asked me with a smirk. “Smart.”

“Yes, Dr. Thomas and I did. Our apartment is like a florist right now.” I continued when I saw his raised eyebrow, “Someone went overboard with I’m sorry gifts.”

“Really? Wow, must be nice to be rich. I can see why rich guys always get the best girls.” He snorted and then seemed to realize what he’d just admitted.

Way to have another awkward conversation with my resident.
“I’m not sure if I’m forgiving him yet.”

Dr. Mike Malinowski looked me up and down as if knowing I would. “See you at seven.”

I groaned when he was gone and headed over to the doctor’s lounge after I swung by and dropped my stuff off in my locker. Nicole was already sitting on one of the couches and patted the seat next to her.

Nicole looked around to make sure no one was within hearing range as I sat down. “So what happened with Jules?”

“I had her adopt me, that way my relationship with Brian is no longer confusing. It seems it elevates my status. I’m now equal to Brian and any other elder. Well with the exception of a few of the heavy hitters,” I filled her in, rolling my eyes.

“That was smart. I mean about leveling things out with Brian. How did he take it?”

“Better than I would have thought. He wasn’t excited about it, but he understands my reasons at least. Oh, there’s more, with my new status comes certain rules. I have to live up to expectations of the position, that kind of thing. So Jules is sending me a card to her corporate accounts.”

“Well that’s pretty cool! So you’re like a big shot now?”

“I guess, I mean the only ones she’s made are Charles and Brian and now I’m with them. I told Brian I’d consider giving him another shot and I’d call him at the end of the week.”

“I think you did the right thing,” she hedged as she glanced at me.

My jaw dropped open at that. “You do?”

“Yeah. He’s basically a good guy. It’s just he’s out of the loop on things. I know he would never intentionally hurt you. He really loves you.”

“I know and that’s what scares me. Everything is just too fast. He knows me way better than I know him. He watched me for months, deciding if I was the right one. It’s almost sweet in a scary stalker kind of way. I’m just not sure I can handle all of this, but I will try,” I said not very confidently.

We went back to reviewing our files for a good hour before anyone else on my team showed up. I handed over the files to them when I was finished with them. Nicole’s first teammate showed up shortly thereafter. I was in the first patient’s room at five before seven on the dot.

“Good morning, who’s giving this patient’s rundown?” Dr. Malinowski asked as he walked into the room. No one spoke up so I gave the patient details. Why they were there, what has been done so far, and what came next.

When I was finished, Dr. Malinowski said, “Very nice, Dr. Murphy. Take notes, guys. That’s the way it’s done.”

We moved on to the next patient, then the next, and so on. Out of the seven patients I gave the history on four of them, each on the money. Guess I had my answer if getting there so early was worth it. Dr. Malinowski grabbed my arm after he sent the other four interns to run some labs.

“Very impressive in there. You’re with me today. I’ve got two surgeries I’m assisting on, and you’re going to scrub in. You stay in the back, don’t ask questions until after the surgery, you got me?”

“Yes, I do. Thank you, Dr. Malinowski. I appreciate this.” I beamed at his praise, trying not to scream in excitement.

“Check out the surgical board. Look at what and when they are, go study up on them. You will be asked questions by me and other surgeons. Don’t embarrass me,” he warned.

“I won’t, I promise. Thank you.” I tried not to run over there. He had a small bowel resection at noon and a gallbladder removal at four. That meant I had to research both before the first surgery and brush up quickly before the second. The small bowel resection could take two to three hours, but if it took longer, I couldn’t risk not knowing anything for the second surgery.

I went and studied for three and a half hours before I bolted to the locker room. No one was around. I grabbed one of the bottles of blood and chugged it as fast as I could. I ran into Nicole on the way to the first surgery. “Hey, I’m scrubbing in for two surgeries today. I got four of the seven patients’ histories done perfectly this morning. What are you up to?”

“I’m scrubbing in for one. I got two right I answered for of the eight. I’ve got some labs to run until about three, then I have to study for a five pm surgery. Good luck, Kel! Show them what you got, sister.” She gave me a quick high five as we started back in different directions.

I was on an adrenaline rush as I scrubbed in early, making sure I wasn’t blocking the sinks for the residents and attendings. I stood in the back of the surgical room, waiting for instructions. Doctors scrubbed in and took their place in the room over the next fifteen minutes. I caught Dr. Malinowski’s glance and he signaled with a tilt of his neck where I should be. I moved over and gave him a nod back to show that I was ready for anything they were going to throw at me.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman!” boomed a doctor I had never seen before. “For the new interns who might not know me, I’m Dr. Gorban, and welcome to your first small bowel resection. Please identify yourselves, interns, so I know which doctors I am torturing during this procedure.” There were five interns in the room. After we identified ourselves, someone turned on some seventies disco music. “All right people, let’s begin!”

Dr. Gorban asked one of my colleagues the first question about which scalpel and incision to make. They got the first one right, but the second part wrong, which made me feel pretty nervous. He didn’t ask any more questions for about twenty minutes or so.

“Dr. Murphy, what are the three parts of the small intestine?” Dr. Gorban quizzed me.

“The duodenum, the ileum, and the jejunum, sir,” I answered right away.

“Very good, Dr. Murphy, I can see why Dr. Malinowski and the chief have such high hopes for you. Please move to the front of the group since you obviously studied hard for this surgery. You should be able to get one of the best views.”

I moved up from the back, almost feeling bad for my colleague who hadn’t answered correctly. They were my competition, I reminded myself, no pity. I watched intently, amazed at how they made the surgery look so easy. He asked two more questions of other interns before I was asked anything again, even though I wasn’t next in the rotation. I realized at the rate they were going, we would be done just over the two hour mark.

“Dr. Murphy,” Dr. Mike Malinowski addressed me. “Since in this case we are doing an ileostomy, what is the main concern post-surgery for the patient?”

“That constant or frequent drainage of liquid stool can cause the skin around the ileostomy to become inflamed. Careful skin care and a well-fitting ileostomy bag can reduce irritation.” Dr. Malinowski nodded in approval at my answer, but I continued, “Also for the first three to five days eating needs to be restricted, but it can be hard to enforce that.

“The patient can feel better as soon as two days after surgery and may feel that the continued restriction is not needed. As well as the concern of pulling out stitches since the incision is above the belly button to the bottom of the sternum. It’s almost impossible to make any sort of movement that doesn’t involve the muscles of that area.”

“Very nice, Dr. Murphy,” Dr. Gorban praised before Dr. Malinowski could. “I’d say congratulations, Dr. Malinowski, on your teaching, but I highly doubt you were able to teach your interns all this in one day. You are lucky, though, you know you have at least one ace in your hand.” I held back the laugh I almost let out, since I got the poker pun in that.

“I agree. Nicely done, Dr. Murphy,” Dr. Malinowski replied.

I got through the rest of the surgery without being asked any more questions. It was a textbook procedure, not a single hitch. I waited for the docs up the food chain to scrub out first, and when they did, I used the next available sink.

Dr. Malinowski was still at the sink next to me. “You did very well, Kelly. I’m very impressed as I’m sure the chief will be as soon as Dr. Gorban is done talking to him.”

“He’s going to go tell the chief? Why?” I choked.

“It’s part of our jobs at a teaching hospital, giving feedback on the interns. Don’t worry, it will be high praise. Dr. Gorban doesn’t hand out compliments very often,” he assured me with a smile as he finished scrubbing out and left the room.

When I finished, I looked at my pager. I had just around an hour and a half until the next surgery. I grabbed another quick bottle of blood since no one was around, and chugged it. I studied until it was time for the next surgery, then I went and scrubbed back in. Mentally I thought I should maybe add moisturizer to things I wanted in my locker. Do vampires use moisturizer? I would have to check with Jules or Brian on that one.

The second surgery went like the first. I was asked a few questions, which I aced but a few colleagues didn’t do as well. It was done laparoscopically, which was pretty damn cool to watch! After my first correctly answered question I got to move to the front again.

The surgery was done in under three hours, and this time I was told to follow the attending as he talked to the patient’s family. It went pretty well, since there were no problems during the surgery. I had a family member hug me as well as the attending. I didn’t have the heart to tell them I hadn’t done anything but observe. Afterward, I went back to search for my resident and find out what was next.

“Dr. Malinowski, what would you like me to do next?”

“Please check on the vitals of the patient from the first surgery,” he replied as he turned away.

I did as he said. The patient was doing just fine and all vitals were where they should be. I went to find Dr. Malinowski again.

“Vitals are stable,” I told him. “All within range.” I showed him the printout and my notes so he could verify it himself. “Anything else I can do?”

“No, this is perfect. Your shift is actually over. See you tomorrow, Kelly,” he answered and started to walk away.

“Wait, over? How is that? Someone quit already?” I blurted. I remembered that the chief had said during orientation that our first shift would be over as soon as an intern quit. That someone always quits during the first week, so they like to get it out of the way, but it was harder to believe when it was happening.

“Yes, someone from Dr. Smother’s group, a few hours ago. So see you tomorrow.”

“Do you know who? Was it Nicole Thomas?” I pumped him, almost frantically.

“I don’t know, sorry. I tend to only learn the names of my interns. Great job today, Kelly. Have a good night.”

“Thanks, I appreciate the opportunity. Have a good night, Mike.” I took off to the locker room. I went straight to Nicole’s locker… It wasn’t cleaned out. I took out my cell and called her, then hung up when I didn’t get an answer. Shit! I decided to go check the lounge, but she wasn’t there either.

Next I checked the observation areas of the surgical rooms. I didn’t see her in any of those, but I couldn’t tell if she was in one of the surgical suites, because everyone had on scrub caps and masks. One room was starting to scrub out. I ran down there and intercepted her on the way out.

Before I could stop myself I launched into giving her a big hug. “I’m sorry, I heard someone quit from your group. I was so scared. You didn’t quit?”