TW: Mild medical gore

—

"No, I haven't had the chance to look at Mr Campbell's CT scan results yet. What does it show?" She halted on the final step of the staircase leading to Juniper ward; her right hand meandering around the iron railing of the bannister, whilst her left hand nested upon her stealthily rising-and-falling chest as she caught her breath. "Or should I be asking how bad it is?"

"Get on the nearest computer and load up the images," Isaac guided Caliana from down the phone line.

Noting the urgency within Isaac's instructions, Caliana headed directly to Juniper. She settled down onto the only vacant computer at the nursing station, disregarding the incessant glowering of Nurse Jedd Maddox. She set Bleep 101 beside the computer monitor, dismissing its frequent blaring but making a mental note of the caller ID to redial back later. Now, she cast a sigh of profanity as she hastily typed her username and password incorrectly thrice. The fact that she had become increasingly receptive to Isaac's breathing from down the line was the probable solitary cause of her erroneous actions; the sheer sound transporting her back to their time in the Zoo cloakroom. She bobbed her head twice to evacuate her mind of the disfavored thoughts, as she finally inputted the patient identifier information, and Mr Campbell's images flashed upon the screen. "Okay, I've got the images up now."

"Now, go to the third set of images – the ones of his spinal canal. Trace down from the base of his brain, down to the cervical spinal cord, until you get to the tenth thoracic vertebrae — T10. The vertebrae appear bright white, but on his scan, you can see a layer of black surrounding the spinal canal. Are you able to distinguish between the two on the images?"

Caliana tracked her finger down the screen, counting the vertebrae out loud down to the tenth line, and sure enough, there was a gigantic black entity encasing the tenth level of the vertebrae obscuring the spinal column. "I see it. But it's actually tracking all the way down from the thoracic vertebrae to the lower lumbar vertebrae at L3?"

"Exactly," Isaac affirmed. "It's an abscess. An epidural abscess to be exact. A very very large collection of pus is surrounding his spine and compressing against his spinal column. Because of how large it is, and the fact that this specific type of bacteria created a protective capsule around them, it's unlikely that the intravenous antibiotics will penetrate deep enough to treat the infection. And, as you've correctly said, the epidural abscess is tracking down to the lumbar level, at L3. Which means what exactly, Doctor Monsoon?"

Caliana allowed her eyelids to flutter closed, as she desperately recalled her final year anatomy classes. "Which means...it means..." She stuttered out the words.

"Don't rush it. Think it all through logically. You know this."

She bit down on her lower lip as she endeavoured to quench her nerves. "Well...the spinal column terminates at the level of L4. So, if the infection is compressing at the level above the final level, then it means..." She ceased, emitting an audible gasp as the realisation dawned upon her. "It means that if the spinal nerves at that level are compressed for long enough, he'll lose all function from that level below. Which means being unable to control his bowels and bladder, and not being able to mobilise. Essentially, he'll be paralysed from his waist and downwards."

"Precisely. So, we need to move fast now." Isaac exclaimed. Caliana's eyes remained fixated on the pixelated images glaring back down at her from the screen. Her hand clutched around the mouse, as she repeatedly traced around the area of compression. "Caliana, are you still there? Please don't go silent on me, it's rather unnerving."

"Sorry. Sorry." She muttered incoherently. "I'm just thinking...that all that running around trying to find a scanner to accommodate him was all for nothing. Because he might not be able to walk even when he does come around. It all just feels...futile. Like, I didn't help him at all. Not really."

Isaac remained muted for a moment, and Caliana wondered if he had hung up the call. But alas, as she raised the phone to her eye level, the call was still running. "It's not futile at all. Because if — I mean, when he recovers, that'll be all thanks to you. And you should know that you're one of the only people to have given him a fighting chance of a full recovery." She remained silent, gaping down at hyper er chewed-up fingernails which were evidential of her wavering uncertainty.

"Especially...especially since you're going to be one draining the abscess. Today."

"What?" Caliana's eyes widened in stupefaction, but she lept up in her chair. "Really? Me?!"

He released a hearty chuckle in answer to her audible excitement. "I think you've more than proven you're up to the task, Caliana. I've dropped a message to Gerrard — Dr Ali. He'll be the one supervising you since I'm not in today."

"Wait, what?" She questioned. "I mean, I'd much prefer to be supervised by you. It's just since I know you better, I'd feel more comfortable." She addended her words thoughtfully. "That's only if you're feeling any better, of course...from your sickness."

"Well, I do suppose you're right; we have gotten a real feel for one another recently." Caliana almost snickered at his selection of words before he resumed. "In a professional remit, of course." He halted for a mere second considering his next words. "I'll be there in thirty. Gather the equipment, and have the patient ready and sedated in the minor operations unit."

--

Caliana perched up at the donning station outside the Minor Operations unit, where procedures were performed under direct radiological imaging.

She had begun to collate the equipment, positioning them one by one on a sterile trolley. She gazed through the tempered translucent glass dividing her from the operating room. Mr Campbell was already washed, prepared and sedated within the room, his body set sideways on the hardened table. A pale blue drape shrouded him, save for his back which was rendered exposed to all.

It was sad, she thought. She was doing all she physically could to give him a continued chance at life. And yet, she knew next to nothing about him. Was he married? Did he have children? Did he have a career that he would want to hurry back to? But such was the case of the tired and ran-down hospital physician. Whilst becoming ept at managing emergencies, they'd never know how much they truly altered the trajectory of their patients life. Because really, they knew next to nothing about what mattered to the patient at all.

She inhaled deeply, before rechecking the table for all the equipment. It was at this juncture that she realised that the most vital piece of equipment was missing from the table — the scalpel. She spun around, glancing over the labelled shelves and finding a drawer marked surgical blades. She stood on her tiptoes, and placed her hand blindly into the drawer, launching out a blade which she quickly unsheathed to check for any breaks.

The door behind her creaked open with a clangorous grunt, catching her off-guard, and she pivoted around on her heels, still clenching the unsheathed scalpel.

Isaac stood at the entrance of the room, gaze drewing straight to Caliana and quickly dúescended to the foreign object perched within her hand. "Doctor Monsoon, I know we don't always see eye to eye, but really, a surgical scalpel?"

Caliana gulped, blinking up at him, her eyes darting around, not quite meeting his demanding gaze fully. Speaking to him down a phone line was one thing, but being in the same vicinity as him after admitting to having a small crush on the man following their heated make-out session was Worlds apart. "It's for you. I was gathering the equipment like you had asked." She reached her hand outward, the sharp item encased within her nimble fingers.

He bit back a smirk. "And what would you like me to do with the surgical scalpel?" His hand grazed her fingers as he removed it from her, the mere three-second-long touch was enough to invoke heated memories for both of them. "I'm no surgeon, but would you like me to remove your kidney?"

She blinked up at him, her eyebrows crunched up in bewilderment. Was he toying with her? Was this some type of test? "I...I think I would like to keep my kidney if that's okay."

He tilted his head to the left, still holding her gaze. "Gallbladder, then?" He was surprisingly blasé given his rapid guilt after they'd locked lips earlier that week. "Two-for-one offer. Limited time only."

"Bargain." A ghost of a smirk graced her lower face. "But I'll still decline. You look like the type of Man who enjoys taking things apart, but doesn't have a clue how to put them back together again." She whipped around, not remaining within the donning station long enough to await a response.

"This is a surgical scalpel, Doctor. It's a lot bigger than the instrumental scalpel we'll need for the incision and drainage." Isaac raised his voice from behind her.

As the two entered the operating room, Nurse Maddox was already seated beside the patient, having plugged the ultrasound machine into the nearest socket port. The probe was residing upon the patient's uncovered loin. "Ah, doctors, I'm glad this patient is sedated, because we wouldn't want a repeat of the runaway teen patient whilst you two are at each other's throats again." He presented a knowing grin to both doctors.

Isaac ignored the mild taunt, tugging the ultrasound probe nearer to the patient's exposed back. He grabbed the liquid jelly from Nurse Maddox and applied it to the end of the probe and began scanning along Mr Campbell's spinal canal. In the near distance, Caliana's bleep began ringing.

Simultaneously, Caliana grabbed the iodinated chlorhexidine cleaning solution, ignoring the ringing in the background and applied it to the patient's back, leaving a thick orange residue in its wake. With her glove-donned hands, she ambled her fingers down the spine, finding her designated landmark, and watching the ultrasound screen light up under Isaac's guidance. "I think T10 is about here." She used the back of a syringe to make a small indent upon the skin. "I can feel the hard groove between the vertebrae here."

Isaac rested a gloved hand on top of Caliana's, and conceded that it was the correct location.

Caliana made eye contact with Isaac, waiting for his nod of agreement before she brought the scalpel to his back, and made a vertical 6cm incision, exposing the underlying yellow fatty subcutaneous tissue. She placed her index and middle finger within the flesh, separating the multiple layers, until her knuckles clashed against the hardened bones of his vertebrae. She glanced up at Isaac twice. "I...think I'm at the vertebrae now."

"Look at the ultrasound screen, you can see the swelling. It's approximately less than a centimetre from where your finger is. You should be able to feel the bogginess against your finger. You'll need to use the scalpel to pierce the capsule and drain the pus."

She could just feel the firm, yet soft swelling against her knuckles. She crinkled her nose in concentration as she angled her face closer to the patient's back. She utilised her free hand to grip the scalpel and reach closer to the swelling.

"Be very careful at this point. One wrong move, and you could hit the spinal nerves and end up paralysing Mr Campbell. The exact thing you're trying to prevent from happening."

She ceased her movement, blinking down at Mr Campbell, acknowledging that whether he walked or not was in her hands from now. It hadn't helped that the bleep had begun to sound once again, causing Caliana to feel both nauseous and uneasy.

Caliana felt Isaac's hand on the small of her back, and he leaned closer to her slightly. Perhaps unknowingly, he brushed away a stray strand of hair from Caliana's messy bun, his breath blowing streaks of warm air against her face. "Every procedure comes with a risk. But you can do this. I don't have heaps of confidence in most people, but I have full confidence in you right now. Just look at the screen, rather than at the patient. You can see the tip of the scalpel on the ultrasound to gage exactly where you should be aiming."

Caliana focussed, emitting a hesitant breath from between pursed lips, her stance noticeably becoming more at ease and poised in response to his words. She watched the scalpel make contact with the enlarged swelling on the screen, narrowly missing the bundle of nerves at the rear end of the vertebrae. At that exact moment, a considerable quantity of yellow-brown exudate flew out from the incision site and flung onto Caliana's scrub trousers. She squealed in response but kept her hands frozen still within the patient's back where the thick sludge continued to flow down, and onto the cool operating table. "I did it."

"Yes, you did it." Isaac murmured. She glanced up to meet his gaze. Despite the current situation being less than ideal with her fingers all but nestled within the patient's body, the pungent stench of pus heavy in the air, and her loose scrubs doused with the same pus, she felt her chest blossoming with pride as she saw his clear-blue eyes soften as he acknowledged her achievement.

She heard Nurse Maddox bustling from behind her, his head peeking from between the gap that was formed of Caliana's and Isaac's shoulders. "Ugh. I've gone right off my lunch now. That pus looks like the anchovy paste I put in my Caesar salad."

Caliana glared back at Nurse Maddox, but she glanced towards Isaac for her next actions. "How do I know when the abscess has completely drained? It's...quite thick, and it seems to be flowing nonstop."

"Hard to tell. You'll be surprised how much pus the spinal column can contain. Last month, I had to wait twenty minutes to completely drain an epidural abscess." Isaac disclosed.

"You're kidding me?!" Nurse Maddox whined. "And to think I was hoping to take an early break today." He emitted a small yawn, before turning towards Isaac, and exaggeratedly fluttering his eyelashes at the Man. "Say, since I did you a favour by helping with this impromptu draining and eating into my own break time. How about you make me some of that chicken you brought over to last year's staff Christmas party?" He leaned closer to Isaac. "You must tell me what seasoning you used, by the way. My husband and I couldn't get enough!"

"Hard pass to making you the chicken. But I can send over the recipe after work today. No problem."

Caliana glanced incredulously between the two men, back and forth, listening to them converse about the meat as though it was the most natural environment to do so. "Are you two seriously talking about chicken when I have literal pus on my hands and trousers right now?"

"Well, it's either that, or we sit in silence while you drain that anchovy sauce!" Nurse Maddox stated matter-of-factly. "No, but seriously. You need to try Doctor Rhys's chicken. It is simply divine!"

"I'm good," Caliana murmured, her fingers beginning to cramp up slightly from where she was holding the patient's spinal cord back from the draining abscess. "I'm very able to marinate my own chicken, thanks."

"What? You scared it'll be too spicy for your taste?" Isaac spoke up, poking his tongue against his inner cheek with the taunt. "Worried you might not be able to handle my heat?"

Caliana clicked her tongue, stifling a chuckle that was threatening to roll off her lips, despite the current situation at hand. "Actually, quite the opposite." She offered Nurse Maddox a small smile. "You see, I've already had a taste of Doctor Rhys's...garlic bread. And, if I'm completely honest, it was pretty bland. I won't be going back for seconds."

Isaac all but guffawed beside her. "That's funny because that's not how I recall it. Frankly, I don't recall you complaining while you were eating...my garlic bread. I think you were speechless from how flavourful it was."

"Oh, trust me. I was speechless, but not for that reason." She continued to taunt back. "See, I'm a Mango Habernero type of girl. You, Doctor Rhys, you're a very mild Nandos Lemon and Herb kind of guy."

"Hey!" Nurse Maddox interjected. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with a little lemon and herb seasoning!"

"I'll have you know I use a dry rub on my chicken for maximum flavour." Isaac retorted, an all-knowing smirk etched upon his face. The harsh theatre-light reflected upon his face, and inadevertedly amplifyed the dimples on his cheeks, only adding to his handsomeness.

"Oh?" Caliana laughed in return, relaxing into the playful exchange. "I stand corrected, then. You sound like a Man who knows how to handle his meat."

Now, it was Nurse Maddox's turn to gaze between the two going back and forth in front of her. "Wait, wait? Are we still talking about chicken here?"

Caliana's bleep rang heavy in the air once again. Isaac groaned. "The way that things have been ringing, it's like you're the only foundation doctor on-call in this bloody hospital." He tugged his latex gloves off, and headed to the donning room, straight to Caliana's bleep. "Whoever keeps bothering you better be calling about something urgent, otherwise I might just have to show my wrath. And let me tell you, it's not a pretty sight."

"Hey! Don't you dare go upsetting any of my nurses again!" Nurse Maddox yelled after the man.

"I won't. I even surprise myself with how diplomatic I can be when I want to be."

--
AN:

Happy International Women's Day! Hope you're enjoying the chapters so far. I'm super excited to say we'll be heading to Greece in the next couple of chapters. And I'm super excited to share the shenanigans with you all.

Who's your fave character in the book so far?!
We will be seeing what Roscoe, Dawn and Amari have been getting up to in Caliana's absence in the next chapter too 👀

Please do vote and comment as it does encourage me to keep writing a bit quicker 🙂