Best Friend to Perfect Bride (Contemporary Medical Romance) by Jennifer Taylor Page A

that.
    * * *
    Mac was thrown in at the deep end as soon as he arrived at work. There’d been an accident on the by-pass involving a lorry and a coach ferrying children to the local high school. Thirty-three casualties were brought through their doors and each one needed to be assessed and treated. Fortunately, Trish Baxter, one of their most experienced staff nurses, was on duty and she performed triage. The less seriously injured children—those with only minor cuts and bruises—were told to wait while the rest were farmed out between cubicles, treatment rooms and Resus. Fortunately, there were just two children badly injured enough to require the facilities of resuscitation and Mac dealt with them. Twelve-year-old twins, Emily and Ethan Harris, had been sitting together at the exact spot where the truck had hit the coach.
    ‘Hi, I’m Mac and I’m a doctor,’ Mac explained as the paramedics rolled the youngsters in on their respective trolleys. He listened attentively while the crew outlined the children’s status. Emily had injuries to her right arm and was in a great deal of pain, while her brother was having difficulty breathing. Ethan had been thrown into the aisle by the force of the impact and trapped under the seat, which had come away from its housing. It was more than likely that he had fractured ribs which could be compromising his breathing if they had pierced the pleura—the two layers of membrane that covered the lungs and the chest wall. If blood had entered the pleura cavity it would compress the lungs and cause a partial collapse. Mac knew that the boy required urgent treatment and turned to Helen Robertson, the F1 student, who was working with him.
    ‘You take the girl. She’ll need X-rays first and then we can tell exactly what we’re dealing with. If her shoulder has popped out its socket it will need putting back before the nerves are damaged. You also need to check if the humerus is fractured. OK?’
    Helen nodded, looking a little daunted at being put in charge of a patient. Mac watched as she hurried to the phone to request the services of the duty radiographer. She would manage fine, although he would keep a close eye on her. However, if she was to develop her skills then she needed to step up to the plate, as every young doctor had to do. He turned his attention to Ethan, checking his pulse and oxygen levels. Bailey Thomas, the Australian specialist resus nurse, was assisting him and Mac nodded when he asked if Mac intended to aspirate.
    ‘Yep. I reckon there’s blood in the pleural cavity, don’t you? Let’s see if we can drain it off and help him breathe a bit easier.’
    Bailey fetched what they needed and Mac set to work, easing the needle through the tough intercostal muscles between the boy’s ribs. He was unsurprised when he immediately drew off bloody fluid. ‘Definitely a haemothorax,’ he said, glancing at Bailey. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the radiographer was putting Emily’s X-rays up on the monitor. Even from where he was standing, Mac could see that the girl’s humerus was fractured although he didn’t say anything. He wanted Helen to find her feet and spotting the fracture herself would help her do that.
    ‘Let’s see if we can get any more out of there,’ he said, turning back to Ethan. He aspirated some more blood before he was satisfied that he had alleviated the problem. Ethan’s sats were back to what they should have been and he was breathing steadily so it was time to assess what other injuries he had sustained. Mac called over the radiographer and asked her to do a whole-body X-ray. While she was doing that he went to check on Helen.
    ‘So, how’s it going?’ he asked, leaving her to explain her findings.
    ‘It’s as you suspected—the humerus is fractured at the upper end.’ Helen pointed out the fracture and Mac nodded.
    ‘So it is. Well spotted. Her shoulder’s also dislocated so that needs sorting as well.’
    ‘What should