Medically Speaking

Chapter 18

Sharp claws kneading into my back pulled me unceremoniously from my sleep. "Ow!" I growled half-heartedly as I squinted towards the clock from my position on the couch, my face squished against a throw blanket that I had knitted about a year ago. Light was filtering hazily through the blinds, the faint silhouette of shifting branches dancing slowly like shadow puppets against a translucent paper scrim. "I was out late last night, earning the money to pay for your catnip addiction, and this is how you repay me?"

The other set of claws pressed down, and I hissed in pain as I started to sit up, dislodging Echo completely as she meowed at me indignantly. "I already fed you, you little demon. Why couldn't you let me sleep?"

I was at the hospital until after 2 AM this morning helping Sean smooth things over with the physician on-call and navigate rushing the lab orders. Some things couldn't be rushed so it would still be a few days before the cultures came in, but Sean came to the conclusion that Brandon had a secondary infection that was clearly not susceptible to the antibiotic he was already on.

Which would have been fine. A setback, but a manageable one. Corey and Raven had come in with Sean and Sean had everything he felt like he needed a little after 10 PM. Knowing that Brandon was in good hands, I had been ready to head home... until he had an allergic reaction to the new antibiotic.

He started out with hives and complaining about it being hard to breathe. Most patients that have allergic reactions to antibiotics can be easily managed with antihistamines and this was Sean's initial plan until things started going completely south. Cementing himself firmly in the 'problem patient' category, Brandon went into full on anaphylactic shock. In a matter of minutes, his blood pressure had cratered, his heart rate had skyrocketed, and he couldn't get a breathe through to his lungs.

Fortunately, Sean and I were both in the room and we were able to stabilize him quickly. Even I had to admit that we worked well together in a crisis; never bumping into each other and seeming to naturally know what the other needed with minimal communication. Sean didn't even have the word 'epinephrine' completely out of his mouth before I was handing it to him.

Things had stayed rough for a few hours afterwards. Brandon couldn't stop trembling and was one of the poor souls that vomits after using epinephrine. Being Brandon, he was stubborn about me holding a basin up for him to puke into but I felt him lean into my hand as I rubbed his upper back. Corey was, naturally, terrified and Raven was confused. Sean and I had to spend quite a while explaining what had happened to all of them and calming Corey down.

I had slipped out of the room under the guise of needing to use the restroom and once I was safely locked behind the door, trembles had taken over for me, too. It was adrenaline that had nowhere left to go now that the crisis was over. The heat of the moment had allowed me to think, just fall back on my instincts as a nurse. Seeing Brandon react like that... It was terrifying. As far as life threatening allergies go, that's a manageable one. He could have gone his entire life without ever being exposed.

But he had been. He could have died. He could still die. It's not unheard of for patients to have biphasic anaphylaxis hours after the initial incident, basically a second wave reaction without additional exposure. He was in the best place he could be if something were to happen, but it still left me on edge. I'd ended up having to splash water on my face to calm myself down and when I went back into his room, Sean had given me a knowing look. He had the good sense not to mention it, though.

Once I was confident that Sean had a handle on Brandon's needs and that Corey, Brandon, and Raven were all doing alright, I allowed them to talk me into going home. Separation from the situation would do me some good. I had come through the door, fed the rather angry cats, showered the smell of vomit off myself, and then fallen directly into bed only to be woken up at 6 AM by the cats demanding breakfast. I had grudgingly made it down the stairs, fed them, and then fell face first on the couch and right back to sleep.