CHAPTER ONE

“CLEAR!” Dr. Madison Suarez shouted as she performs defibrillation to a patient who is experiencing a cardiac arrest.

“Vitals of the patient is back!” shouted by one of the nurses.

“Okay, call the neurosurgeon department and conduct a CT scan on the patient. After that, bring him to the operating room and prepare for an operation.” The nurse nodded and hurriedly did what Madison asked her to do. Madison left and went to change her clothes to prepare for the operation.

She is Madison Suarez, a general surgeon at one of the biggest hospitals in the country. She is also one of the most competent and famous surgeons in the hospital. She is only twenty-seven years old but already one of the most skillful doctors.

Madison finished changing her clothes and went in to do the scrub-in procedure before entering the operating room. While she was scrubbing-in her hands, the neurosurgeon who will operate with her stood beside her.

“Another operation? How many have you’ve done today? Other’s may think that you live in the operating room already. You should slow down and don’t overwork yourself; you might end up at an operating table.”

“I oath to save lives, and I’m just doing what I promised.”

“Being an attention seeker and a responsible doctor is different.” Madison finished the scrub-in procedure and faced her co-doctor with her arms raised on shoulder level.

“Do your job to save life instead of giving me the difference of those two. Whether I would end up in the operating room or not, the life of the patient inside must come first.” Madison walked away and entered the operating room.

A nurse assisted her in wearing surgical gown and gloves. She walked towards the left side of the operating table where the patient is laying down.

“Vitals?” asked by Madison.

“All vitals stable.”

“Anesthesia has been administered, you can now start the operation,” said by the Anesthesiologist.

“Patient is a thirty-four-year-old man who was involved in a car accident. He has a fracture on his arm and left abdomen and suspected head injury. Abdomen will be opened first since a sharp glass stabbed the area and we shall remove it first. After I’m done, doctor Hannah, neurosurgeon will take over and proceed for the head injury. Doctor Kevin will assist.” After explaining the flow of the operation, Madison bowed her head for a silent prayer. “Let us give a moment of silence for a prayer for the patient and for a successful operation.”

A moment of silence filled the room. All the nurses and doctors bowed their heads and prayed in silence. After a few minutes, the operation begun.

“Surgery will begin. Scalpel...”

Madison was concentrated in the whole duration of the operation. She has always been dedicated in her profession of being a doctor.

Madison is a beautiful and smart woman who has been admired by many. She finished her studies faster than the regular students because of her intelligence and skills to learn faster than average. She accelerated year levels in school multiple times and has always been the top one in her class. She also won multiple awards at school and as a surgeon which made her accomplish more compared to people at her age.

Hours passed and the operation has finally come to an end. It was another successful operation. Madison’s shift ended and she was packing her things at her office to get ready to go home. She lives with her friend Louve, who is also a nurse in the hospital. She waited for him outside the hospital and decided to eat first at a restaurant before going home.

When Madison sat down, she felt her whole-body ache. She did some stretching on her arms and neck.

“Ahhh! My whole body aches!” she whined as she stretches more.

“I wonder whose fault, is it? No one forced you to takeover the shift of Doctor Alvarez,” Louve sarcastically said.

“What could I do? The number of general surgeons in the hospital are limited! We have to fewest number of staff; in case you don’t know. I don’t understand why they are spending less in general surgeons.”

“Because you are a surgeon. They rely a lot on you. Anyway, just eat faster so we can go home and you could get some rest.”

“Should I resign? No, I should not. I better just eat; I lost my mind for a second.”

Louve just shook her head in disbelief. The two friends just ate their meal in silence as both of them are tired from work. After they ate and paid their meals, they went home to their apartment. Madison quickly took a bath after entering. She did her night routine and prepared to go to bed.

As she was preparing to sleep, her phone suddenly rang. The contact’s name that popped up was emergency room. Madison knew that it was an emergency call but she badly wanted to rest so she ran to Louve’s room to ask her to answer the call for her.

“Louve! The ER is calling! Answer it! Answer it! I don’t want to work anymore, and this point I might end up at the operating table. Just make excuses, like...umm... I passed away or is stuck at the bathroom! Just make something up! I just want to sleep for goodness’ sake!”

“Really Madison? You want me to lie on an emergency call? It is an emergency call for a reason. What if its—”

“Never mind! Why can’t you just save me for once! Talk about conscience when I’m dead because of fatigue!”

Louve just gave her a smile as Madison answers the phone call.

“Doctor Suarez speaking,” she said heavily.

[Doctor Suarez! There was a huge accident at an intersection! A bus with sixty passengers, a ten-wheeler truck and five cars had a collision! According to a rescuer at the site, total of seventy-two people is injured. Minor and major injuries are still unknown at this moment. All doctors are needed for standby; you are needed here doctor Madison. We have thirty minutes until patients arrives.]

Madison’s knees felt weak as she heard what the nurse said. She knew that it will be a long night considering the number of casualties. Even if she feels tired, the sense of responsibility in Madison started to get her moving and prepare to leave. She told Louve what happened and both of them decided to go back to the hospital.

They didn’t take to long for them to arrive. Both of them got ready and positioned their selves to welcome the patients.

“How many more minutes till patients arrive?” Madison asked the head nurse of the emergency room. She wore her doctor’s coat and tied her hair in a ponytail.

“Ten minutes left till their estimated time of arrival. All remaining patients in the emergency room were transferred to wards.”

“Okay, listen up!” Madison gathered the attention of all the staffs in the room. “As much as possible, all minor injuries patient should not occupy a bed. They could be on a wheelchair instead so we could maximize and prioritize the major injury patients. Our priority list would be children, pregnant woman, senior citizens and of course all major injury patients.”

It didn’t take too long until the patients arrive. All nurses and doctors started moving and assisted every patient. Madison approached a woman in a stretcher with a bleeding leg.

“Bone fracture injury! Call and orthopedist surgeon, conduct an x-ray and bring the patient to the operating room!” Madison hurriedly ordered the nurse. “Nurse Ann! Did you call the upper office? Tell them to bring every available doctor and surgeon now! Faster!”

 Everyone in the emergency room is moving busily. There were patients shouting and crying everywhere. Madison approached one of the rescuers to ask them to bring some of the patients in another hospital.

“We can’t accommodate every patient in here! Can’t bring the others on the nearby hospitals?”

“Doc, we really can’t. We already called the other hospitals earlier but all of them said that their wards are full and they can’t accommodate more patients.”

Madison just ended up massaging her head as she feels a bit of dizzy. Her attention was stolen by a patient who started shouting.

“I AM ALSO A PATIENT HERE! WHY CAN’T YOU TREAT ME FIRST?!” Madison walked towards the patient and asked the nurse what is happening.

“What’s going on?”

“He only has a minor injury. He only gained minor scratches and bruises but he is insisting in using a bed.” Madison looked at the man from head to toe and realized that he almost has no injury. He slowly approached the man to calm him down.

“Sir, a nurse will treat your bruises in the lobby. We are very sorry sir, as much as we want every patient to be on a bed, but our beds are currently limited. There are other patients who needs them.”

“I AM ALSO A PATIENT! I AM IN PAIN AND I NEED—” The man suddenly stopped yelling and held his chest. He fell down on the floor and is still holding his left chest. Madison rushed and checked the patient.

“Sir! Sir! Can you hear me?” Madison used her stethoscope and listened to his heartbeat. “Arrythmia,” she softly said before being alerted. She turned to the nurse and quickly gave her orders. “Nurse! Bring the patient to the operating room now! We have a suspected coronary artery disease patient!”

The nurse moved quickly and transferred the man to a bed and brought him to the operating room. Madison walked towards the head nurse.

“Call professor Kalvin immediately and tell him to procced to the operating room, prepare for an operation.”

Madison changed her clothes and got ready for operation. She did the scrub-in procedure before entering the operating room. Few minutes later, professor Kalvin entered the room.

“Professor, we have a coronary artery case patient. He experienced chest pain and when I checked him, he was already experiencing arrhythmia.” Arrhythmia mean irregular heart beat.

“Are we doing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery?”

“That’s what I thought too.”

“Then you don’t need me here.”

 “Professor, I only did that procedure once. I can’t—”

“Lead the surgery, he is your patient, Doctor Suarez. I will assist.”

Madison was hesitant but she could not do anything. She transferred to the left side and professor Kalvin went to the left side.

Madison started the surgery with the professor as an assistant surgeon. Madison successfully finished the operation after few hours. She hurriedly went back to the emergency room to assist other patients.

Few hours passed until the emergency room became more peaceful. All the patients from the accident have been treated and the others were transferred to the wards. Few moments later, three policemen entered the emergency room. Madison approached them as soon as she noticed them.

“Excuse me sirs, what can we do for you?”

“We are here to arrest the ten-wheeler truck driver who caused the entire accident. We were informed that he is here.”

The head nurse approached them and asked her to follow her. She brought them to the patient. Madison also came with them. The driver is unconscious. He went to surgery after having a head injury and a bone fracture that caused him to lose both of his legs.

“Why is the patient still here? Why is he not transferred to the ward?” Madison asked the head nurse.

“He is still waiting for an admission call.”

The police were about to put handcuffs on the driver but Madison saw it and stopped the police.

“What do you think are you doing?”

“We are arresting him. He violated the traffic law.”

“Still! Can’t you see that he is a patient? I understand that it is your job to arrest criminals or whatsoever but you are in a hospital and my job is to treat the patient until he recovers.”

“What is he escape? Would go to jail for him?”

“Are you blind or are you stupid? Can’t you see that he lost both of his legs? He won’t be able to walk at that condition. Most importantly, the patient is still unconscious and there is no definite answer whether he will wake up or not. With all due respect, please leave the hospital. We will coordinate with you once the patient regains consciousness.” The policemen eventually left. Madison looked at the patient.

“Doctor Jay said that the patient was under the influence of alcohol. He is such a pity, we lost both of his legs,” said one of the nurses.

“Pity? A lot of people were put on danger because of his recklessness. Multiple people died and are suffering because of him, and you pity him?” She turned her gaze towards the nurse. “Children are even put at risks because of him. Losing two legs might not be enough for the lives that we lost tonight. He should be thankful that he only lost his legs and not his life.”

The nurse was confused and Madison noticed that.

“I didn’t stop the police earlier because I pity him. I did that because I am a doctor and I am obligated to treat my patient regardless of who is he or she is.” Madison left and walked towards the nurse station.

“Have you called doctor Alvarez?” she asked Louve.

“Yes, he is already on the way. Change with him with your shift once he arrives. Go home and take a rest after he arrives.”

“He better arrives early. I might just send myself in the emergency room at this state.”

She walked away and went to the doctor’s lounge and rested there as she waited for doctor Alvarez to change shifts. She sat down on a reclining chair and opened her phone. She saw multiple voicemails from her father.

[Madi, how are you, my child? It’s been so long since you last called me. Visit your father once in a while, I’m not getting any younger.]

[Madison, the death anniversary of your mother is soon approaching. Will you come home? I hope that you will.]

[Madi, my daughter, when will you come back? I miss you.]

Madison forced herself not to cry after hearing the messages. Right after she started going into medical school, she didn’t come back to the place where she grew up. She left her father alone in a far countryside and small town. She sometimes sends money to support the financial needs of her father and also writes letter for her father. She doesn’t include her address and barely answers her father’s phone calls.

Few moments later doctor Alvarez arrived. Madison left and went back home. She took a quick half-bath and changed her clothes and went to bed to rest.