as his partner said. “I’m starting another IV.”
Don looked at Brooke as he continued working. “How long has she been unresponsive?” he asked.
“It’s been at least fifteen minutes. We know she was hit on the head. We don’t know how many times. She was conscious when I arrived, but she was fading in and out. She finally passed out for a final time and hasn’t responded since,” Brooke said, making sure Joseph could hear her words. He appreciated that.
The two paramedics worked together like choreographed dancers, speaking in direct, rapid-fire sentences as Brooke told him all she knew. Joseph wanted to do more, but knew the best thing he could do for his wife was sit back and allow the experts to administer to her. Katherine’s beautiful face was beginning to bruise, and she was so white. But she would make it.
“We have a code three, and she’s seizing,” Don called into his mic. Brooke looked over at Joseph, their eyes connecting. She didn’t have to say a word for him to understand what was happening — they were losing his wife.
The paramedics said a few more things into the mic, and then Brooke turned to him, gripping his hand once more. She was his link to reality. She knew what they were saying and how to interpret it.
“Joseph, they are taking us to Mercy Medical. Let your kids know,” Brooke finally said. He stared at her without comprehension. He was having a hard time clearing the fog in his head, getting past the fear of what was happening. “Don’t focus on the medical or the fear, Joseph, focus on your kids. Call your family. Call Lucas, and he’ll get the phone tree rolling. Let them know to meet us,” Brooke continued calmly.
Her words finally registered, and he nodded. He knew she was trying to distract him from the needles and the mask on his wife. He knew she was trying to keep him focused so the capable paramedics in the chopper could help Katherine.
He picked up his phone, feeling dead inside.
He couldn’t talk to anyone in his current state so instead sent a group text in a family thread that had been created long ago. His children and their spouses used it to share photos of the grandkids, work out schedules and calendars for get-togethers, and send funny memes to each other.
How sad that this text was for a family emergency. Maybe he was blessed because they hadn’t had much loss in their lives. But that didn’t mean they hadn’t been scared many times. The message was short. Meet me at Mercy Medical. Mom’s hurt. Do not call. Phone is off. Just come. Brooke will send more information soon. He hit send, then turned his phone off.
He gazed at Katherine again, her body seeming more lifeless by the minute. She was now breathing with the help of a machine while the paramedics kept administering drugs through her IV. Katherine didn’t make a sound. He so wanted to hear her lovely voice. He wanted to wake up from this nightmare and find out none of it was real.
The paramedic grabbed the mic again. “Mercy, this is medic twenty-one with a trauma alert. We have an elderly female, trauma to the head from an unknown object. Suffered a ground level fall with positive loss of consciousness lasting for approximately twenty minutes. She just had a thirty-second seizure, and her airway became compromised. Current GCS is three. She’s intubated, and vitals are BP 103/78, HR 112. Sinus rhythm on the monitor, Sp02 98% and is currently being bagged at a rate of 16 breaths per minute with 100 percent oxygen. FSBG 98. Her pupils are sluggish but equal and reactive. We have two large-bore IVs in place. Our ETA is five minutes on the helipad.”
The next five minutes might as well have taken five hours. Joseph stared at the tube in his wife’s throat and felt his own closing. These men didn’t hesitate as they kept working on his wife. Joseph thought for a moment how lucky he was to have people care about her this much.
They arrived at Mercy Medical where a team of doctors were on the roof waiting. It didn’t take long for them to be taken to an elevator and then briskly escorted into a large room with a sign reading Trauma 1. A paramedic once again gave his report to the men he was handing Katherine off to as Joseph stood like a zombie, not knowing what