want to be there if it was Allie having the attack.
‘Let’s confirm the identity of our patient…’ She trailed off as a car drove into the emergency drop-off point and the sliding doors swished open. The child in the passenger’s seat was hunched forward so that she couldn’t see a face. But the bob of straight dark hair looked all too familiar.
Her stomach swooped.
‘Call Luke, stat, please, Susan,’ she called, picking up an oxygen cylinder and mask as she raced for the door.
CHAPTER SIX
‘OH, DOCTOR, thank goodness,’ gasped the young pale woman rushing around the car to intersect with Terri at the passenger door. ‘The attack’s so bad. I didn’t think we were going to make it.’
Terri leaned into the car, conscious of the teacher hovering behind her as she ran a critical eye over Allie. Hunched shoulders, hands pressed to her sides as she laboured for breath, audibly wheezing with each hard-won lungful.
‘Hi, Allie. Can you understand me?’
The glossy head gave a tiny nod.
‘I’m going to put an oxygen mask on you.’ She fitted the soft plastic mask over the blue-tinged lips and flaring nostrils. Frightened blue eyes clung to hers briefly before closing.
‘I’ve got a gurney here, Terri,’ said Susan.
‘Okay, let’s get her inside.’
Terri was shocked by how frail the child felt in her arms. She settled her on the gurney, seating her as upright as possible.
Susan wheeled the gurney through to a cubicle as Terri took a set of obs. Allie’s slender shoulders rose and fell at a rate of about forty respirations per minute. Beneath her fingertips, Terri could feel the child’s radial pulse rocketing at one hundred and sixty beats per minute.
‘I know it’s hard, sweetheart, but I want you to try to relax as much as you can, slow down your breathing.’ Terri clipped a pulse oximeter onto one dainty finger.
Another slow nod.
‘We’re looking after you now and we’ll have you comfortable in no time,’ she said soothingly.
‘Where’s Daddy?’
‘He’s on his way, sweetheart. Susan’s taking your shirt off now so she can attach some dots to your skin.’
With the clothing stripped away, Terri could see the way each desperate breath hollowed out the soft tissues around Allie’s clavicle, leaving skin gleaming white over angular bone.
Terri placed the stethoscope diaphragm on Allie’s chest and listened to pounding heartbeats accompanying the harsh wheeze in the girl’s lungs. No sound at all would have been a very bad sign.
‘Do you think you could do a peak flow for me?’
The dark head bobbed and Allie reached for the tube.
‘Good girl.’ Terri glanced at the scale on the side of the tube. The baseline reading was forty percent of what she’d expect for a child of Allie’s age and size. ‘Allie, have you been taking preventative medication?’
‘Didn’t. Take.’
‘What about your puffer, sweetheart? Did you have it with you at the museum today?’
The cubicle curtain clattered and suddenly Luke was beside the gurney.
Allie raised shadowed eyes to her father then looked at Terri and shook her head tiredly.
‘Okay, sweetie,’ Terri said. ‘Susan, a gown, large, and a pair of gloves, please.’
‘Allie, honey, what happened?’ Luke stroked the hair off her forehead with hands that shook visibly. ‘Try to relax, sweetheart.’ He looked up at the oximeter and then pinned Terri with a fierce look. ‘What’s going on? Her oxygen sat is only eighty-nine per cent. Why isn’t she on a nebuliser?’
‘We’re just about to start one,’ Terri said gently. ‘Luke, you have to let us do our job. Your job is to be calm for Allie.’
His face worked as he pulled himself back under control. When he spoke, his voice was rough but more measured. ‘I’m staying.’
‘I know. Susan’s beside you with a gown and gloves for you. So, let’s get this nebuliser started.’ She was aware of him moving, pulling on the gown, as she broke an ampule of bronchodilator into the nebuliser cup. Oxygen gurgled noisily through the liquid, delivering a fine mist of life-saving bronchodilator. The clear plastic frosted with Allie’s urgent rasping breaths.
Terri glanced at Luke. How hard it must be for him to see Allie’s battle. His strong features reflected the suffering his daughter was going through. The naked emotion brought a hot lump to her throat.
She turned away to check Allie’s readings.
Little response. She prepared a second inhalation and bent to swap the nebuliser cup. ‘Do you think you could swallow something for me, Allie?’
The girl nodded.
‘Have you got a favourite jam?’
Another nod.
‘Apricot?’ The dark head shook.
‘Strawberry,’ Luke said, his voice hoarse. A nod from Allie.
‘Susan, could you mash prednisolone in jam, please? We’re going with the strawberry.’
Luke watched Terri smile at his daughter. He could see the situation was desperate. As a father he wanted to yell and rage and demand she do something to help Allie, to relieve his daughter’s suffering, to make it better.
Stat!
As a doctor, he knew everything that could be done was being done.
Thank God for Terri. Calm, competent, caring. Confidence-inspiring. He was grateful for the small tasks she assigned him. He was there to be with his daughter, that’s what mattered. It helped him that he was doing something, no matter how small.
Three hours later, Terri opened the door to Allie’s room and tiptoed across to the bed where Luke sat keeping watch. They’d worked for two hours to stabilise Allie. He’d been ready to slay monsters to save her if necessary. His protective concern appealed deeply and Terri realised she felt acutely vulnerable having seen him this way.
Only now that the frightening attack was over could she admit how serious the situation had been. The thought that she might have failed Luke, failed Allie, sent a shaft of nausea into her stomach.
She touched Luke’s shoulder. He stirred, turning to look up at her. His expression was dazed.
‘She’s going to be okay now.’
‘Yes, thanks to you.’
‘Thanks to the team.’ She looked at his drawn face, lines of exhaustion etched around his mouth, and her heart squeezed. ‘Take a break, get something to eat and drink, Luke.’
He opened his mouth, refusal in his eyes.
‘Just for a few minutes. I’ll stay here with Allie.’
She could see he still wanted to refuse.
‘I promise I’ll be right here when you get back.’
‘Okay.’ He stood slowly and arched his back. ‘Thank you. I won’t be long.’
‘I know.’ She smiled.
Alone with Allie, Terri smoothed the sheet at the edge of the bed and allowed herself a moment longer to watch the sleeping child. It was a pleasure and a relief to see the steady respirations and better skin colour. To check the monitor and see pulse, oxygen saturation and respiratory rate all nearly within the normal range. A stark contrast to the girl who had presented in the emergency department.
For the initial one hundred minutes of her admission, it had been all too possible that her condition could have deteriorated disastrously. She’d been so tired, using accessory muscles as she’d fought for breath.
Terri stroked Allie’s forehead, watching the fragile eyelids flutter open above the oxygen mask. Blue eyes,
