Feelings

Chapter 28

The phone in the ER rang, informing the staff that an ambulance was less than ten minutes away from St. Bonaventure. Morgan and Park were assigned to the ER this rotation, and it had been a quiet shift before now. When the ambulance arrived, all three physicians immediately went to assess the situation, "Patient is an eight year old female, Casey Garrison, she collapsed at soccer practice, but regained consciousness on the ride here, complaining of shortness of breath and chest pain, she also has an arrhythmia," informed the EMT.

"Any history of congenital heart disease?" asked Park.

"None known," informed an older woman, whom the doctors assumed was Casey's mother.

Lim listened to Casey's heartbeat for several moments before she put her stethoscope back around her neck. She smiled warmly at the young girl, who looked absolutely terrified, as she was reaching out for her mother, who took her daughter's hand, "Hi Casey, I'm Dr. Lim and this is Dr. Reznick and Dr. Park. Is it okay if I ask you a few questions?" she looked over at the girl's mother, silently asking for her permission before looking back at Casey.

"Of course," the mother said, "I'm Martha Garrison, by the way, Casey's mother," the woman explained.

Lim gently smiled and asked Casey, "So you play soccer?" Casey nodded mutely, "Have you ever had chest pain before?"

Casey shook her head, "No," she finally uttered.

"How about a feeling that your heart is racing inside of your chest?" asked Lim softly.

Casey hiccupped amongst her tears, but nodded, "Yes."

"How about trouble catching your breath when you run?" asked Lim again. More silence, but Casey nodded once more. She turned to Morgan and Park, "Do you mind if Dr. Reznick and Dr. Park take a listen to your heart?"

Both Casey and Martha shook their heads, so Lim had both of the residents take a listen. Lim pulled Martha aside and Martha asked, "So what's wrong with my daughter?"

"It could be a number of things, Mrs. Garrison, but right now, I'm going to page cardiology and have one of our cardiothoracic surgeons run a few tests so we can determine a cause," informed Lim.

"Will she need surgery?" asked Martha worriedly.

"Not necessarily. It could be something as simple as overexertion, but it's better to be safe than sorry," said Lim, "Dr. Reznick, page the cardiology department and Dr. Melendez and have them prepare an EKG and an echo lab, possibly an MRI machine depending on those results," ordered Lim.

"Right away, Dr. Lim," said Morgan. Both Martha and Casey still looked terrified, so Lim smiled again and said, "Well Casey, in order to see what's wrong with your heart, we're going to have a doctor who specializes in treating heart things take some pictures of your heart using a machine that's like one when a mommy has a baby in her tummy."

"Are you coming with me?" asked Casey.

Lim sighed and shook her head, "No, but I promise you that Dr. Melendez is one of the best doctors here at St. Bonaventure. He'll take great care of you, okay?" Casey nodded.

Morgan stuck her head into the triage room and said, "A few nurses will be down in a few minutes to take Casey to cardiology."

"Okay, thank you, Dr. Reznick," confirmed Lim. She turned to Martha and asked, "Do you have any other family members you'd like to be here? If they come to the ER, I can direct them to cardiology."