Dearest Constellation

“Narcan, STAT!” Sometimes it seems like screaming is never enough. As Millie, the latest intern, handed me the Narcan, she had this shattered look in her eye, but I just couldn’t place the reason behind it. I assumed she just wasn’t used to the desolation you have to feel when somebody overdoses. It’s a feeling all of its own, really. She seemed like the sensitive type that was easily traumatized. Not exactly fitting for this job, but okay. The patient was slowly responding and starking up to consciousness. His eyes rolled open and Millie obviously felt relieved.

“More Narcan, now!” Millie scrambled to get the needle into my hand and immediately into this man’s bloodstream. Luckily, he was responding rather well to the Narcan. Often times we have to go to much more extreme measures, but it seems that he hasn’t overdosed many times. Lucky him.

“Patient is responding, hook up the fluids. He’s severely dehydrated. Clean him up and start waking him. Very slowly!” I left the room of confused interns to care for the patient and made my way over to the sanitation room. At times, there is nothing better than cleaning the smell of emergency room off of you. I pulled the bloody gloves off my hands and took off the overly starchy outfit that I’m bound to wear every day for eternity and stepped into the shower. A hot shower in a hospital doesn’t exactly seem fitting, but it sure as hell feels good. I figured the group of men in the waiting room are awaiting my prognosis of what appears to be their friend, so I made my way out of the shower and into some more comfortable scrubs.

“Doctor Hall, please report to the ICU lobby. Doctor Hall to the ICU lobby.” Impatient fucks. Do they not realize they’ve already sent me like, four messages about this? This hospital is fucking huge, therefore, it takes time to walk across it. I’m not even going to acknowledge the message they just sent me for the fifth time. These people have no patience.

“Doctor Hall, I ne-” I immediately cut Shawna off.

“Where are the people with the overdose patient?”

“Right there, the three of them. But Doctor Hall, this is imp-”

“Thanks, Shawna!” I manage to get away from her long enough to have her distracted by some other major event.

I walked further into the hell on earth that is the waiting room and looked for the group of men that brought the man in. I seen three men that appeared to be about my age all sitting in chairs, presumably calling people to tell them what happened. As I approached them, they figured I was a doctor and immediately stood up and hung up their phones.

“Are you Taylor’s doctor?” A man with blonde hair asked me. I looked down at my clipboard and sure enough, the man’s name was Taylor Hawkins.
“Yes, I’m Doctor Young, and I’ve been Taylor’s doctor since he arrived here.”

“So, uh, is he, you know, alive?” The same blonde man asked me. I could see the heartbreak in his eyes, yet I knew he was trying to be strong for his friends. One of his friends was just flat out crying. Obviously, the man crying had experienced something like this before. He knows what it’s like to lose somebody to something so trivial.

“Taylor is doing very well for the amount of heroin he had in his body. He took the Narcan exceptionally well. He hasn’t overdosed before, has he? Or at least severely enough to come to the ER?”

“No, he’s taken too much before, but he’s never had to be hospitalized.” He sounded a little bit relieved from my news. The man who was crying stopped and has almost calmed down enough to talk. He’s been trying to say something, but he just hasn’t been able to breathe deep enough to get words out yet.

“Hm, well, I suppose he’s well enough by now to have you all come see him. But one at a time, please. I’m assuming at this point that he has just woken up and is getting the fluids he needs. The staff have cleaned him up a bit and gotten into these sexy hospital clothes.” They laughed a little and they were definitely relieved to hear that he’s okay. I motioned for them to follow me down the corridors, and it seemed like they were trying to hold themselves back from running.