The Aftermath of Callie and Arizona

A New Beginning Part II

Callie's POV:

I was paged into the hospital for a 3 am surgical ER patient that was still surviving despite being in a multiple-car MVA on the Trans-Manhattan Expressway. After living in NYC, on the limited basis that I had, it's a wonder to me how there aren't more MVA's on this expanse of highway. The roadway narrows down at one point in Northern Manhattan which makes this expressway look like a Bumper Car Pavilion. 

As I quickly assessed the MVA patient, I dictated my orders, requesting STAT imaging and an OR and then fled the ER to go change into my scrubs for the day. 

Climbing the stairs to the Attending's Locker Room/Lounge to change, I flashed back to how I spent last night with Penny... 

The evening was quite chaste and neither one of us spoke much to one another. We ate our Chinese food, had a glass or two of red wine and watched streaming TV shows. The bath Penny offered, never came to fruition as Penny fell asleep on the couch while watching TV around 9 pm. 

I ended up turning off the TV in the living room, covering Penny with a blanket, taking a shower (you never know when you might get called in) and going to sleep in the master bedroom where we both normally slept. Although, it had become rare anymore that we both had the same nights off to even sleep next to each other. I figured it was coincidence and hadn't thought much about our recent non-connected schedules until last evening, as I was falling a sleep, alone...

In the moment of reflecting back to last night, I ran directly into a door jam while trying to exit the Attending's locker room. So totally me to get distracted enough I lose awareness of where I am during a thought provoking moment...

"Are you okay, Dr. Torres?!!?" 

A very young looking resident asked me as I was rubbing the area of my forehead that just struck the door frame...

"I think so, but guess we'll find out as the day goes on whether my Klutz-like nature will explain the subdural bleed I might have just caused!" I was trying to laugh off my lack of coordination.

"I apologize, but I don't believe we've met?" I asked the resident, still rubbing my forehead and coming to from the resounding blow to my frontal lobe.

"We haven't met, but I'm Sarah. I'm a 4th year Ortho resident and I'm a huge fan of your research and career. I've been working with another attending, Dr. Gaven, the last year, but would be thrilled to get some experience scrubbing in to some of your cutting-edge procedures!" 

"Well, then you're in luck. I have a MVA that has multiple broken and fractured bones and who knows what else till I get in there to fix everything. Any chance you'd want to be a set of extra hands? Sarah, the 4th year Ortho resident?" 

"Omg, it would be incredible to be the one that assists you on any procedure you perform! I would be unbelievably honored and privileged to help you!" Sarah radiated too much enthusiasm for that time in the morning, but I went with it nonetheless. 

Despite the fact I'm not a morning person, I did appreciate how this girl's enthusiasm for surgery was infectious. It's something us jaded surgeons can always use after a decade plus of cutting and the stress that generally comes from it, especially being an Orthopedist.

"Well, then Sarah, better get yourself scrubbed in and ready for a multiple Ortho procedure of unknown origins. While the CT and plain films show one presentation of the problems, until we see what's going on, we truly won't know the entire story," I said, as a result of my experience at this point in my career.

"That's what I LOVE about being an Ortho surgeon," Sarah said. "The challenge of the unknown and figuring out how to engineer patients back to where they should be. Working on-the-fly, is never easy, but it's a challenge I absolutely love. It's why I picked Ortho."

"I picked Ortho for the exact same reason. Follow me as we scrub in and I'll give you the case specific details of the patient before we step into the OR," I said.

"Right behind you, Dr. Torres!" Said the eager, young, surgeon. 

I was actually, suddenly, looking forward to being a teaching surgeon again thanks to this overwhelmingly, eager, resident. I needed a distraction from my own life after last night's lack of romantic fireworks with Penny... 

I was thrilled to get back into fixing bones again... or was I just desperate for someone to connect with? Either way, I was just thrilled to break bones again...

'Surgery will get my mind off focusing on the minutia of my personal life,' I was thinking as I started my scrubbing routine. At that moment, Sarah joined me at an adjacent sink. I began to give the 4th year resident the highlights of the MVA patient we were about ready to operate on before we proceeded into the OR.