Vicky gave Eden’s details and the woman asked her to take a seat. Vicky stepped away from the desk and was frantically searching for somewhere to put Eden down when a door opened and they called Eden’s name. For a moment Vicky felt relieved that they wouldn’t have to wait but that was short-lived as she feared they would only call her in so quickly if this was serious.
The triage nurse was lovely and he had a calming influence on Vicky as he took them straight through the back of the small room and asked Vicky to lay Eden on a bed that dwarfed her. He asked questions while checking Eden over. He even managed to make Eden smile despite her clutching a cardboard sick bowl. He pulled a large green curtain around the bed and popped out but soon returned with a woman about Vicky’s age.
‘Hi. I’m Doctor Karavadra. I’m going to take a look at Eden.’
‘What’s wrong?’ asked Vicky as the doctor checked Eden over and noted when she winced.
‘It could be a number of things. Let’s get her up on the ward and run some tests.’ She squeezed Eden’s hand. ‘We’re all going for a ride in the big lift. I only get to go in that one with special patients.’
The nurse put a label on Eden’s wrist and checked back her details again. It reminded Vicky of the label they’d put on her as a newborn. She remembered thinking how big the wristband had been and how tiny and delicate her daughter was. She still had that label, safely tucked in an envelope alongside a number of treasured items in a keepsake box. It had seemed special at the time; the first time Vicky had seen her daughter’s name written down had been on that label. This label didn’t seem special. It was a sign that they were expecting her to be in hospital a while. It was a worry.
The curtain swished opened and in walked Owen. ‘Here you are. I’ve cleaned up the sick as best I could with a chamois leather and I’ve parked in zone B.’
She was so taken aback to see him that it took a moment to respond. ‘Why are—’
‘Right,’ said the nurse appearing through the curtain. ‘I’ve brought my mate Alan to move you up to the ward. He’s the best driver of beds I know.’ A large man appeared, pushed a pedal under the bed and it was suddenly on the move, making Vicky jump to her feet.
‘I used to be a racing driver,’ said Alan to Eden. ‘We’ll have you on the ward in no time.’
Vicky walked alongside the bed clutching Eden’s hand as they strolled down a long white corridor with grey linoleum flooring and a mix of people darting around them. She was scared. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this out of her depth. Eden groaned and threw up in the cardboard bowl. The nurse whipped it away and replaced it with another one. Eden looked so pale and small in the bed. They reached the lift and Vicky let go of Eden’s hand for a moment to adjust her handbag, which was when she realised how much her hands were shaking.
Alan pressed the button to summon the lift. ‘Only the most important patients go in the big one,’ said Alan. As the lift pinged its arrival Doctor Karavadra joined them. The doors opened to reveal a steel interior;once the hospital bed was inside everyone else had to squish around the sides. Vicky turned around and was surprised to see Owen.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked, very aware that there were a lot of people in the small space, all listening.
‘I thought you’d like some support.’
‘That’s kind, Owen, but I don’t think we can have lots of people…’
‘It’s okay,’ said the nurse. ‘It’s two per patient but that’s really only at the bedside. There’s a waiting area with a drinks machine and one that dispenses sandwiches but I had a cheese one out of it last week and swear there wasn’t enough cheese in it to keep a mouse going to the end of my shift.’ He grinned. Vicky frowned at Owen.
‘Great. Thanks, mate,’ said Owen. ‘I’ll keep you company, Vic.’ He smiled. Vicky clenched her teeth. As if this wasn’t bad enough, she now had to suffer Owen and be nice to him because he was being kind – it was a nightmare.
The lift doors finally opened and Alan pushed the bed out and everyone else followed. They were buzzed onto a ward and ushered into a small bay of three beds and three empty spaces. The doctor stopped at the nurses’ station. Alan manoeuvred the bed into place and kicked the lever under the bed again – presumably the brake. ‘This is where I leave you. No charge – just make sure you recommend me to your friends,’ he said to Eden. As he passed Vicky he leaned into her shoulder: ‘Best team in the hospital. She’ll be fine, Mum.’ Unexpected emotion swept over Vicky and she had to swallow hard.
The doctor returned with another nurse and they said goodbye to the one they’d met in A and E. The new nurse explained what she was doing as she swabbed the back of Eden’s hand and put a canula in as she said they were going to give her something for the pain. She took some blood from Eden’s other arm and Vicky thought she was going to pass out. Eden was becoming less and less responsive and Vicky’s fear was rapidly increasing. Owen stayed on the periphery, which she was grateful for because she couldn’t deal with him, along with everything else.
After a brief detour for a scan of Eden’s middle they were back on the ward with Doctor Karavadra who pulled the curtain around Eden’s bed and beckoned Vicky and Owen to one side. She clearly thought they were together but Vicky didn’t want to delay any news on her daughter’s condition by explaining her convoluted relationship with Owen.
‘We’re fairly certain it’s her appendix,’ said the doctor.
Vicky stifled a gasp. ‘Does that mean surgery?’
‘It does. We want to get her into theatre as quickly as possible. I’m just waiting on a colleague who is in theatre with an emergency at the moment and then we’ll prep Eden.’
‘Fairly certain?’ said Owen, leaning forward. ‘Should you not be dead certain if you’re about to slice open a child?’
Vicky’s hand flew up in the air. ‘For heaven’s sake, Owen! Not helping.’
He pulled his head in. ‘I just thought that—’
Doctor Karavadra stepped in. ‘All the signs are that it’s appendicitis, but you can’t be absolutely certain until you operate unless you do a lot more tests and given the stage I believe she’s at, delaying for further tests is not what I would recommend. If the appendix ruptures that’s life-threatening, so it’s something we want to avoid. We’re hoping to do keyhole surgery and go in through her belly button so she’ll only have two small scars, but again we won’t know until we operate if we can complete it safely by keyhole or if we need a bigger incision to remove the appendix without it bursting.’
Vicky felt her knees buckle. ‘Can I come in with her?’
‘Not for the surgery, I’m afraid. But you can come down to theatre and be with her while she’s anaesthetised.’ Doctor Karavadra smiled. Vicky wondered if they had any spare paper bowls because she had a feeling she was about to vomit.
22
