Outdoor Rounds - 2

Knocking on her door lightly, Erica entered Caroline's chamber.

"Carol, why don't you take the new junior residents with you for the rounds."

"Sure! Ask them to join after," she looked at the wall clock and said, "Like fifteen minutes?"

"Okay!" Erica smiled and left.

Her eyes drifted towards Morpheous, completely submerged in his system, working calmly with the Excel sheets, while her insides were in an eternal turmoil.

'Why can't I be not affected like him?' She pondered and got up from her seat to wear her white coat. But as if he could foresee what she was about to do, he stood up and said,

"Wait, I will help."

"This much I can manage by myself." And pulling the coat, she inserted her left hand inside and realized that it would stay hanging behind her. But not wanting to take any help from him, she let the coat hang on her left shoulder and picked up her stethoscope for the rounds.

"Erm… Dr. Caroline," he hesitated for a moment and then asked, "Can I join? You had agreed to it last time."

She pursed a short breath. The decision to add him into the circle of her life was becoming worse and worse for her. But she had realized one thing, arguing with him was not worth it.

"Yeah, get your notepad and note down everything if you want to learn. Even though they are junior residents, there is a lot you can learn from them."

He nodded silently, his eyes on her as if he wanted to say something.

Dammit!

"Look, I lied about my grandpa coming to pick me up becasue I hate being treated like a child. Dr. Van would have fussed over every little thing and ... " She huffed out a breath. "It wasn't becasue of what you said in the ward, okay? Don't let it get in your head."

She studies him for a second, waiting for a response. But when she got none, she reaffirmed. "Okay?"

"That much I have gathered about you, doctor."

"Gathered what?"

He glanced at her top to bottom and said one single word. "Resilient!"

Unsure how to feel about that one word, Caroline walked towards the door, but he turned and pulled the door for her before she could walk out.

'This guy!'

Without saying a word, she walked ahead, her coat swinging behind her, and he followed, maintaining a one-hand distance. But just before they were about to enter the Outdoor Ward, he paced a bit and held her gently by her shoulder.

"What are you..."

But ignoring her words and grunted voice, he wrapped the other end of the coat over her right shoulder and adjusted the crease, his palms gently gliding over her shoulder blade.

"That wasn't really needed. But thanks!" She muttered and looked towards the left, where the two junior residents were standing.

The moment they saw her, they approached. The female one beamed. "Hello, Dr. Caroline! I have read so much about your work. I am so honored to …"

"We can exchange pleasantries later, Dr. Leslie," Caroline said and smiled warmly. "This is my assistant Morpheous. He would be joining us for the rounds as well."

"Oh, I know him. We call him the knight who saved the unborn." And turning towards Morpheous, Dr. Leslie added, "Your efforts were commendable." To which Morpheous just shrugged his shoulders.

And it was then that Caroline realized she had a chatterbox to train!

"Let's go in!" She said and looked at the other resident who was looking at her with his eyes wide open as if he had seen a ghost. Ignoring him, Caroline marched ahead. 

"Okay, so the first case - Patient had a stroke because of decreased blood flow to the heart. What can be the probable cause?"

"Narrowing of arteries due to plaque?" Dr. Leslie chirped.

"Right, Dr. Leslie!"

"Now, what do we call it commonly?"

"Atherosclerosis," - Dr. Leslie replied again.

"Right again, Dr. Leslie, but that's a broad spectrum term. It affects all the arteries. What do we have when only the arteries bringing blood to the heart are narrowing?"

Dr. Leslie started biting her lips, trying hard to remember, but she got nothing.

Caroline looked at the other resident, who was just standing there nonchalantly. "Dr. Gavin! Care to take a guess?" She asked, looking at his ID card, but he preferred to stay silent. Quite the opposite specimen of Dr. Leslie.

Then showing both of them an image of the narrowed arteries of the patient, she said - "This condition is specifically called CAD - Coronary Artery Disease or IHD - Ischaemic heart disease."

"As future cardiologists, I want you to be precise to the dot. Clear?" Asked Caroline.

Both the residents nodded and noted it down in their pad, but Morpheous asked, "May I?" Placing the notepad that he was holding on the patient's bed, he took the image from her hand and looked at it carefully.

Caroline casually glanced at his notepad and saw 'IHD - Ischaemic Heart Disease' written on it already.

She looked at him in shock but found him completely engrossed in checking the image. It was as if he was imprinting it in his brain.

'How did he know?'

"Erm… so moving on …"

And next, there was the patient that she dreaded the most.

"So team, meet Hana. Doesn't she look like a ray of morning sunshine here?"

Rolling her eyes, Hana sighed. She was a smart kid who had matured way beyond her age. So much so that it was quite off-putting for Caroline as she always found her difficult to deal with.

"She has a perforation in her right atrium and is scheduled for surgery today."

Reading her chart from last night, Caroline asked, "So Hana dear, I see you had a bit of tummy ache yesterday?"

"It's gastroenteritis, to be precise." She rolled her eyes as she spoke.

"Wow, Hana, you even know what it is called? It's a big word to remember!" Dr. Leslie fondly said. Trying to gel with the patient, but Caroline laughed in her head, for she knew what was coming next.

"Of course, I would. I am not like you who forgets what they have been taught in school."

Dr. Leslie turned red, and Caroline had a hard time controlling her laugh. To be honest, she was happy that Hana had found another victim apart from her.

They continued checking on patients in their rounds.

Every cabin that they entered, Morpheous held the door open for her, making her believe that male chivalry did exist and probably he was the epitome of it.

As they moved to another patient who had been just brought in and required intravenous cannulation, Dr. Caroline asked.

"Okay, so who wants to demonstrate - How to do cannulation?" Even though she knew that Dr. Lesie would be the first to jump in.

"May I?" And true to Caroline's guess, Dr. Leslie raised her hand.

"Go ahead!" said Caroline, taking a few steps back, giving her ample room to showcase her work.

But when she inserted the needle, she couldn't do it properly, and the woman, who was already in pain, winced. Although it bothered Caroline, she was used to this. That's how newbies learned, even though it came at the expense of discomfort of patients. 

She momentarily shifted her gaze at Morpheous but was shocked to see beads of sweat glisten on Morpheous's brow in the air-conditioned room. From how his fingers were curled into a fist, Caroline realized that he was not at all happy with the junior doctor's work.

Well, neither was she, but somehow it seemed like he was affected by her pain. And as if he realized he was being watched, he turned and looked at her, catching her staring at him. Embarrassed, she averted her eyes for a second. But when she looked up, he was still looking at her, as if his eyes wanted to convey something.

"Erm… nurse, can you take care of the Cannula?"

And then she could see that he visibly relaxed.

'Is he that affected by the pain of others?' She wondered.