“I’ve got a great idea,” Dr. Benton said, “how about you show Dr. Wright around for the rest of the morning, Sarah?”
Sarah stopped. She should have seen this coming as soon as Dr. Benton had begun giving his excuses. The chief of the department was good at volunteering her time and there was no way she could get out of this without appearing rude. Besides, if Dr. Benton followed his normal course when he had an intern or new fellowship participant, she would be helping with a lot of Dr. Wright’s day-to-day orientation. She pivoted and turned back toward the two men and forced a friendly smile on her face. Her working relationship with all the staff was important and if she was going to be spending a lot of time with the new doctor she didn’t want to mess this one up, no matter how he made her feel.
“Of course,” Sarah said. “I’m rounding right now, but I’d be glad to take you along with me.”
“That would be great,” the younger doctor said as his face lit up with a smile that was too bright for Sarah to comprehend at this time of the morning.
Sarah waited for him to catch up with her, and then started down the hallway toward the PCIC unit.
“Are you from Houston, Dr. Wright?” she asked as she gave him a sideways glance, looking for anything that would help her remember where she might have seen him before. Maybe she was wrong. But still, there was something inside her that recognized this man.
“Please, call me David,” he said. “No, I’m from Alabama, though I did my residency just east of here, in Beaumont.”
“What was your residency in?” she asked. Maybe she’d seen him at one of the many state conferences she had attended.
“It was in pediatric cardiothoracic surgery, but they didn’t have a transplant program there so—” he held his arms up in the air, then shrugged “—here I am.”
“Our pediatric transplant center is one of the best in the country as I’m sure you know. It’s always nice to see new doctors interested in the specialty,” she said.
“Believe me, I’m very well aware of what a wonderful program you have here. I feel very lucky to have been given this opportunity with Dr. Benton. The residency in pediatric cardiac was great, but my main interest now is in transplantation. It’s where I think I can make a real difference,” he said. A shadow passed over his face, reminding her of a man from the past that she had never been able to forget. But then he blinked and the pain she had seen was gone.
She was being ridiculous continuing on this path. He couldn’t be the man from the waiting room that day so long ago. David was much younger than the man she remembered.
But still...for just a second those haunted eyes—the color of fresh green pastures shrouded in the thick gray mist of early morning—had reminded her of a time she didn’t want to remember. Not here. Not now.
“Well, we’re glad to have you,” Sarah said politely. She couldn’t keep playing this game of detective. If she had met David somewhere she would eventually remember where. Till then she needed to concentrate on her job of helping him get acquainted with everything.
She stopped at the closed doors to the unit and swiped her badge, then waited for the doors to open.
They entered the unit and she headed straight to the nurses’ station where only the unit coordinator was in attendance.
“Betsy, this is Dr. Wright. He’s starting a fellowship with Dr. Benton and I’m going to be showing him around the unit today.”
“Hello, Dr. Wright,” Betsy greeted David, quickly taking the time to explain to him where the charts and miscellaneous equipment was kept in the unit.
Sarah picked up the chart with the records that had come along with a baby girl that had been transferred there during the night, turning to David once Betsy had finished.
“I want to start with a new patient we had flown in during the night. She was diagnosed at three days old with hypoplastic left heart syndrome after she became cyanotic. We have the results of the echocardiogram that was performed. It looks like the IV medications are working for now, but I want to see her first and have a talk with her parents,” Sarah said as David joined her on her rounds through the unit.
“I’m glad they caught it this early. I’ve seen cases where it’s only been diagnosed after the infant is critical and unstable,” David said as they stopped at the door of a room where a young mother stood over a sleeping infant.
As they entered the room she saw a young man asleep on a cot that had been brought into the room as well, leaving her in no doubt that it had been a long night for this young family.
“Ms. Lawrence?” she asked as she held out her hand to the young woman. Her eyes were red and damp and Sarah’s heart broke for the woman. She would never be able to forget the helplessness you felt as a mother unable to make your child whole again.
“My name is Sarah and I’m a nurse practitioner with the thoracic-cardio group, and this is Dr. Wright.”
She watched as David shook the woman’s hand and then led her to a group of chairs in the room.
“Shall we sit down?” he asked the young woman who looked close to collapsing.
“Let me wake my husband,” the young mother said. “And please call me Maggie.”
The young mother bent over and whispered into her husband’s ear. When the couple joined them, Sarah began going over the tests that had been done on their daughter so far. Though she
