Dressing the wounds on my current patient, I glance out the window and stare at the baby blue sky. Birds perch on rooftops of the buildings across the street as others soar through the air. Fastening the dressing, I smile at the patient and tell her I’ll be back in a couple hours to check on her and to buzz a nurse if she needs anything.
As I exit the patient’s room, my supervisor, Dr. Elle Calloway, calls me over to her.
“Yes doctor?”
She asks, “Melanie how long have you been working this shift?”
I count the hours in my mind. “Uh, going on six hours I believe. I was just about to head to room eight to check on the patient.”
Her hand rests on my shoulder. “What I need you to do is go home and rest.”
“But I—”
She raises her palm. “No buts. You’ve been here a total of eighteen hours. Don’t think I don’t know these things.”
I smile at her, appreciating her respect and likability. “Yes ma’am.”
I head upstairs to the locker room and quickly change out of my scrubs and into a t-shirt and jeans. Ten minutes later, I find myself outside, walking toward the subway and inching my way to the crash site. Emergency personnel continue to dig through the rubble, searching through the voids for any survivors. In the past day, they’ve managed to pull out three people—just three. Utility vehicles crowd the sidewalks as crews ensure that gas, electricity, and water services are all turned off.
I send up a silent prayer, hoping that everyone is found safe and sound. For those who don’t make it, I can only imagine what their families are going through. Just before I climb down the stairs to the subway, I send a quick text to Gia letting her know I’ll call as soon as I get home. She’ll want to know everything that’s happening, that’s for sure.
******
As I stand in line at the cafeteria, waiting to pay for my sesame seed bagel with cream cheese, I overhear a conversation behind me. Two nurses from the ICU discuss the discovery of a firefighter who was buried in the rubble at the collapse site.
I spin around, joyous to hear that someone was saved. “That’s great news!”
One of the nurses, Amanda, chimes in, “Yes, can you believe it? They found him yesterday. He was so deep they had to dig a tunnel under the rubble to get him out.”
Hoping for good news I ask, “Well, how is he? Is he all right?”
She nods. “He’s been in surgery for the past three hours. He’s been badly burned and I’m sure he has internal bleeding.”
I gasp. “Oh god. How did they find him? Was he calling for help?”
“Actually, one of his fire crew kept looking for him. He never gave up. I heard that they saw the reflection of the flashlights on his fire suit pants. And get this: he’s the one that saved the kid.”
I reach the cashier, giving her my debit card to pay for my meal. “I thought the firefighter climbing the ladder saved the boy.”
She shakes her head. “No, there was someone else inside who found the boy and got him out just before the buildings collapsed.”
Amazed, my voice shrieks, “Wow! I didn’t even know that. Thank goodness they found him.”
She returns my astonishment with a smile. “Yes, he’s very lucky.”
The cashier hands me my debit card and I make my way to an empty table to eat the bagel, but suddenly I’ve lost my appetite. Instead, I wrap the bagel in a napkin and race upstairs to the nurses lounge. Opening the door, I place the bagel on the counter, grab a pen and paper, and write down my name. I place the slip of paper under the bagel to tell the lunch thieves to stay away from my meal.
I glance at the clock, only now realizing it’s already one forty PM. Shift starts in twenty minutes. I change in the female locker room, pull my hair into a messy bun, and pin my hospital badge on my scrubs. Once dressed and washed up, I head to the ICU nurses station to start my day.
******
Three hours into my shift, I sit at the nurses station, powering on the computer to start the paperwork for the day. Amanda sits at the desk next to me and turns on her computer screen to continue watching the local news.
I glance over to her as I fill out the online patient charts. “So, anything new about the collapse?”
“Nope, nothing. The only thing they’re saying is the building was so old, the wood couldn’t withstand the flames. The collapse was inevitable.”
Letting out a deep breath, I shake my head, still reeling over these crazy past couple days. “You know I saw the whole thing happen?”