Precaution

The elevator ride to the surgical pediatric wing was tense.

Not because I felt awkward around the players or anything, but elevators just seemed to have this sort of affect on me. I fought off the urge to laugh at the tension and just stood there and watched the lights on the buttons, awkwardly squeezed between massive hockey players.

The doors finally sprang open and I was the first to move away from the crowd and onto the floor.

“There’s about twenty kids here, but we’re only going to see ten. The other group gets to see the other ten. They all have some long-term illness that’s kept them in the hospital for a while and they were all surgical cases. “

Jordan was the first one out behind me, followed by Marc and the rest of the boys. Marc and Jordan came up in front and Jordan put his hand out in front of me to signal stop.

“You still haven’t met the rest of the group.” Marc-Andre said, smiling towards me.

“That’s Kris, Benny and Sidney.” He said pointing each player out. Kris had a defined jaw, long brown hair and large brown eyes that sat under heavy, masculine brows. He grinned towards me and waved. Benny was cute and had a childlike expression and grin all over his face. His eye was slightly bruised and his cheek bore a row of sutures, but he seemed perfectly content. The next boy I recognized from earlier, the one with the stained black hat on.

“Hey there” he said and I gave him a quiet greeting in return before turning back on my heel to walk towards a door. I smoothed out my white lab coat and walked in, seeing a bald boy lying in bed while his parents and teenage older sister sat in the chairs surrounding him. The sister flipped the channels of the TV, obviously annoyed but her expression changed completely when we walked in. And I had a feeling it wasn’t because I was there.

I grabbed the chart and smiled towards the boy and his family, but they were too interesting in the Penguins as they shuffled into the room. A nurse wheeled in a tray of Christmas presents and Sidney, who was in the back of the group, grabbed one off of the tray with the words ROOM 102 written on the tag.

“Hey there, Peter.” I said towards the boy. “I’m Dr.Anderson, I brought some friends to come see you today. Are you a fan of hockey?” The boy shook his head eagerly and glanced at his mother. He couldn’t have been over the age over seven and the excitement glittered in his eyes. “I have a Crosby jersey!” He said in breathy delight while his mother went to go retrieve it out of his overnight bag.

“What? Crosby jersey? Fleury is so much better” Marc replied, shaking the boys hand.

“But not as good as Talbot.” Max answered back to Fleury’s quip and the whole room erupted in laughter.

“Oh man, Max. Too Easy.” Sidney said as he walked up to the front of the room to give the boy his present. I waited patiently on the side, reading his chart and glancing up every now and then to watch him unfold the Hotwheels car playset.
“Yes!” Peter screamed happily, clapping his hands and reaching out to high five the team. Sidney signed the boys jersey and Max collapsed in a chair next to the sister, who smiled flirtatiously towards him. Max returned the favor and looked back towards the group.

I remembered Pierce’s assignment and reached for my stethoscope, admittedly excited to do my first real doctoring ever. I placed the cold metal face of the stethoscope on the boys chest and asked him to breathe in and then out.

“You look so legit.” Max whispered towards me and Jordan laughed, taking a spare stethoscope off of the emergency supply basket behind the door. “Breathe in Maxy!” He said and placed the instrument over Max’s chest. Peter giggled and I shot the two a look, suppressing the smile that had formed over my lips.

“Peter has some uneven breathing, I’d like to get Dr.Pierce back here. His vitals are good though, so he’s recovering well. Dr.Pierce will be in here soon and she can take a look. Don’t worry about it though” I said to his mom before moving out of the room, rounding up the Penguins. “Bye Peter!” Marc shouted as he filed through the door.

“That was fun.” Jordan said, the stethoscope still slung around his broad shoulders. Sidney walked up along side him and even though he was by no means short, Sidney looked like it in comparison.

“Thinking about switching careers?” Sid asked Jordan as they walk side by side. Jordan punched Sid lightly and Max and Marc bounded up to the two, leaving Kris and Benny talking about something hockey related.

“So whats your story, Dr.Anderson?” Max asked, separating himself from the group and moving closer to me.

“What do you mean?” I asked moving through the hallway to find our next patient.

“Well, I figured you weren’t from here. You didn’t recognize Jordan when he spilled coffee over you.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m not from here. I could just not like hockey” I replied, throwing him a smile as we paused and waited for the rest of the team to catch up.

“That’s a lie. Every one loves hockey. Best sport ever.” Max returned, putting a hand to his heart to feign shock. I just rolled my eyes and pushed through the next door, grabbing the kids chart and watching as they got excited over the arrival of the hockey players.

The afternoon rolled around and as it turned out, Mark was right. It was a quiet board and an overall easy day for everyone. I wandered down to the cafeteria with the Penguins in tow, Max and Jordan complaining about how hungry they were. I was used to not eating for hours at a time, as medical school constantly forced me to stay for hours without eating. Leaving to get food at Stanford meant weakness and some vulture would eagerly come by and snap up your study material if you left it unattended.

“You’re such a baby” Marc murmured to Max in his French accent, slapping his teammate on the ass as he went up to my side.

“So what’s good to eat here?” He asked, surveying the sprawl of grey cafeteria tables. A few members of the hospital staff looked up and pointed at the players, but the majority of them were too tired to care or were trying to hurry through their lunch to get back to their patients. I spotted my group of interns at the far end of the cafeteria, smiling at the scene. Kat was pulling out a wad of cash from her scrubs pocket and Mark added to the pot in the center of the table. Their stares turned up towards me and Lexie turned away from me and took a sip.

“I don’t know” I said, snapping my attention back to Marc. “It’s my first day.”

“What?! We were shown around by a rookie?” Jordan cried, coming over to stand next to Marc.

“Sadly. I just moved here a week ago from California, I started my internship here today. “ I replied casually, moving through the line and picking up a bag of chips and some carrots and celery and a diet coke. Kris pointed at my choices, picking up a salad for himself and a side of grilled chicken.

“Aren’t doctors supposed to eat healthy?” He said, pointing to my chips and soda. I grinned back, shaking my head at his selection.

“Healthy food is gross. Don’t tell anyone I said that. “ I said as I grabbed a bag of mint M&M’s. They were Lucy’s favorite and somehow, she had got me hooked on them too. Kris laughed and grabbed a bag of skittles. “Plus” I continued, “I’m not a nutritionist. I just cut people open”

Max popped his head in, cutting Kris in line to grab a Danish. “That’s kind of hot.” He added in, smiling and throwing a wink to the lunch room staffer that was at the register.

We paid for our food and sat right at the table across from the interns. I made sure to get a seat directly facing Kat and the whole lunch period was spent me trying to ignore her as she and Mark blatantly discussed my day. Over Kats shoulder, the glass wall of the cafeteria faced the ER doors and I could see the flow of surgeons running over. I knit my brows together and stretched out to look over Kat’s head, before the sound of sirens filled my ears and the piercing call of my pager rang against my hip.

“Sorry boys.” I said getting up. “I’ll be back soon. Take your time down here, I’ll meet you up by the third floor in room 123.” I shouted as I rushed forward with the other interns who had abandoned their lunches in favor of the pit.

Mark tied the yellow surgical apron around my neck and I snapped on gloves before I turned around and tied Olivia’s. The attendings fluttered around us and Novikova was there, telling us to stand back.

“21 year old male versus car, car won. Head went through the windshield. Obvious cranial injuries, internal bleeding.” The paramedic ran down the list of injuries as she unloaded the man from the ambulance. Dr. Jackson Savard, head of cardio, ran down with Dr. Milan Christensen, the trauma attending to collect the man. Hollary and Novikova brought down a stretcher as they wheeled the guy through the pit. I could barely peel my eyes away from the body, my feet frozen in place and my hands shaking. This was it. This was what I wanted.