Part 4
Sunday night
7 p.m. - 7 a.m. shift
"God, 508 has about driven me nuts today!" the off-going nurse exclaimed as she rattled off her report. "He is supposed to be on 4 liters of oxygen, but he refuses. Even his parents have given up on making him wear it. I got the doctor paged to see if we can give him something to make him calm down. He's out of bed, been pacing most of the day. He's wearing himself down. I've told him he'd relapse if he wasn't careful, but he acts like he doesn't believe me. We've converted him to a hep lock because he complained of being tied down by the IV, so now he's only hooked up to the pump for thirty minutes at a time. Just long enough for the antibiotics to run in. Does this satisfy him? NO! He wants to take out the hep lock. I hope he goes home tomorrow. He was started on PO antibiotics, so I don't see why he can't. Even his lab work shows his white blood cell count coming down."
Leaving the nurse's station after report, Rene was unable to believe the man who had been so kind last night would be so aggravating today. The night before last when they had done the thoracentesis, Peter Caine had been so weak that even writing his name had been beyond his ability. The pulling of fluid off his lung had been the turning point in the patient's illness.
Rene remembered last night when she had come on, Peter's determination to feed him self and sit up in the chair instead of staying in the bed. When he was too tired to sit up any longer, he wouldn't become angry when the staff was unable to make it to his room quickly to put him back to bed.
As she gave out medicines to each patient, Rene came to room 508. "Maybe they are exaggerating," she thought as she opened the door to hear the patient yelling at the lab tech.
"Stop treating me like a pin cushion, damn it! At the rate you guys are going, I'll be sucked dry by the time I leave here!"
His dark eyes flashed at the white uniform of his nurse, and Rene braced herself for the attack she knew was coming.
"Mr. Caine," Rene's voice was stern as she took in her patient. "Let me remind you that you are in a hospital, a place where people come to get well. Debbie is here to draw blood so we can see how well you are improving. She's only drawing out a few cc's, which by the way, compared to the amount you have flowing through your body, is insignificant."
"Then let me go home! You can't make me stay here!" Peter said through clenched teeth.
Watching her patient's skin color go from an almost healthy color to pale during his exertion made the nurse in her mad. "Look, Mr. Caine. If you want to go home, fine, I'll be glad to get the AMA papers, but I want you to think about what will happen when you go home. Right now, you can't even argue without giving out. You may not care what happens to you, but what about your parents? They'll worry, especially your mother. And how is she going to take care of you with a broken hand?"
The look of confusion that crossed Peter's face made Rene realize that the man didn't know about his mother's hand, nor how she had received the injury. Exhaustion made him lie back against the bed, unable to fight any longer as the lab tech, who had remained quiet during the episode, inserted a needle and drew the blood she needed to get.
"How…how did she get the broken hand?" he asked, his words soft enough that Rene had to listen closely to hear them.
"It was an accident. Look, Peter, I know you are tired of being here. It's a sign that you are getting well, but you can't push yourself or you'll be right back here in a matter of days. Dr. Sanders is working late tonight and I'll talk to him about the amount of lab work we have to get, OK?"
"I'm sorry."
Turning to leave, Rene smiled. "It's all right. Just don't let it happen again." She met Peter's father in the doorway as she was walking out.
A whispered "Thank you," made her realize that he had heard the conversation, but the look on his face made her understand that now he had to tell Peter how his mother came to have a broken hand.