Marrying the Playboy Doctor - By Laura Iding Page 0,16
that.
Her problem, not his. “Bye, Seth.” She turned and walked away before she made a bigger fool of herself than she had already.
Seth was just being nice. Taking pity on a single mother with a young son who were new to the area and didn’t know many people in the community yet.
Reading anything further into his casual invitation to watch the hospital baseball game was just asking for trouble.
CHAPTER FIVE
SETH didn’t see Kylie again until Wednesday, toward the end of his shift. A page had come, regarding a motorcycle crash, and when she arrived with the patient a few minutes later he realized her unit must have been the first responder to the scene.
“Nineteen-year-old male with multiple contusions and road rash. Also has a right broken tibia.”
Kylie spoke calmly and succinctly as she reported. He admired the way she kept her head in an emergency.
“We kept him on the long board to rule out back or neck injuries. He was wearing a helmet. He woke up during transport and has been answering questions appropriately.”
From the extent of the road rash, he could see riding a motorcycle in shorts and a T-shirt wasn’t smart. The guy was lucky he’d been wearing the helmet or he would have been in far worse shape. Seth stepped forward to take charge of the patient, although it seemed Kylie had things pretty much under control.
“All right, let’s get a full set of labs and vital signs. Then get ready for a trip to the scanner.”
“I suspect he might have a history of seizures,” Kylie murmured in a low undertone, as if she didn’t want the patient to overhear. “When we arrived at the scene I thought for sure he looked postictal. But when I asked him about having a seizure disorder on the ride over he denied it.”
He lifted a brow. “Hmm. I don’t think he’s supposed to be riding a motorcycle if he has a seizure disorder. And it makes me wonder if a seizure is what caused the crash,” he mused. Turning to the nurse who held the numerous lab tubes in her hand, he added, “Make sure they run a full tox screen. I want to know if he has any medication in his system.”
“Maybe this is a new onset of seizures?” Kylie asked with a perplexed frown.
“Not very likely. Although I guess anything is possible. I’ll know more when we get his labs back.”
Seth liked the way Kylie stayed around after bringing her patient into the ED. She didn’t do a dump and run, like many of the other paramedics did. She made sure every aspect of the care was fully transferred over to the hospital staff and all questions answered before leaving.
They found the patient’s ID and discovered his name was Dustin O’Malley. Seth knew the kid’s parents—mostly because John O’Malley was in charge of the local hardware store and had helped Michael with some renovations on his house. He’d thought Dustin had gone off to college, but apparently the young man was home for the summer. He asked for Dustin’s medical records to see what his history might be. Sure enough, Seth read that Dustin did have a well-documented seizure disorder.
Did his parents even realize he’d bought a motorcycle?
Dustin was lucky. He’d escaped without too serious an injury. But next time a seizure at the wrong moment could cost him his life.
Once Seth was satisfied that Dustin’s vital signs were stable, he sent him off to get a CT scan of his entire body.
He checked on another patient while Dustin was in Radiology. When he returned to the trauma bay Kylie was loading the long board onto the paramedic gurney. Quickening his pace, he caught her arm before she could leave. “Hey, wait a minute. How did Ben’s eye appointment go?”
She smiled, but he noticed her eyes were shadowed with worry. “The appointment was fine, except Dr. Greenley saw something that might be abnormal and he wants to make sure it doesn’t get any worse. We have to go back for a follow-up visit in another week.”
Something abnormal? Like maybe a detached retina? He’d been worried about that himself, it was no wonder she was concerned. “I’m sure he’ll be fine,” he reassured her. He almost offered to go with her to the follow-up appointment, but caught himself in the nick of time. What was he thinking? There was no reason for him to go to Ben’s appointment. Bad enough he’d invited her and Ben to Saturday’s game.
“Yes, he’ll