Friday, October 18th Pt. 11
“Use the twenty gauge to draw 2.5 ml don’t worry about air. Once drawn you need to switch to the twenty-eight gauge, reinsert into the vial and push any air and extra medication back into the bottle. You want 2ml with no air bubbles.”
She whines sharply and quickly turns away from watching Demetri draw the medication.
“Is this given like the Vicodin or like the antiemetic?”
He asks. It seems he’s sped up the process not wanting to give her a chance to change her mind.
“Like the Vicodin. No breaks. It will take about fifteen minutes for her to start feeling the medication in her arm. The pain will slowly spread out into the rest of her body as it’s designed to penetrate every muscle and organ before it reaches her wolf. You and I will need to assist in taking on the pain during the most painful hour as Cole’s pain level is already a lot higher than I want it to be.”
He nods his head as he prepares the shot as I instructed.
“Jessa, this is saline to clear the line. It may feel a little on the cool side. If it’s too cold let me know and I’ll stop.”
She nods as I start pushing the saline through the line only to whine and pull her arm away as it barely gets started.
“Are you okay?” I rub her hand as it trembles.
“I’m scared. Is this the only way?”
She whispers as she stares at the shot Demetri has placed upon the table.
“You have every right and expectation to be scared. Without this medication your wolf will die in forty-eight to seventy-two hours. At your current rate of decline I would lean towards forty-eight hours at best before she’s gone. Majority of werewolves will only live seven days after their wolf dies and that time is spent in agony. Medical advances have made palliative care available but the wolf tends to live their last week in a drug induced coma. Receiving this medication isn’t much easier. The medicine Demetri will give you in a moment will take a little time as I explained and we will be taking on some of the pain produced from it. The medication I’ve started in your IV as I talk to you is morphine.”
She turns her head quickly towards me. It’s an understandable response as Demetri starts wiping down her arm as morphine is reserved for easing the worst pain a person has ever experienced. Without warning her, while her attention is on me Demetri makes quick work of the shot, giving it to her in less than thirty seconds. Her eyes well up as she knows there’s no reversal.
“It’s okay to be scared.” I nod as I reassure her. “The morphine is because your wolf is so close to dying that you’re in a lot more pain to begin with than most of the empaths that come for detox. I was hoping to get away with just the Vicodin but when Demetri held you after Cole needed to get up I realized that the transfer of pain was hiding your symptoms.”
Demetri places his hand on my shoulder bringing my attention to him.
“Do you have a stethoscope nearby?” He asks with great concern.
“Yes. Sheila, can you show Demetri to my office? He would like to grab my stethoscope from my desk.”
She smiles with a nod towards him as he follows her down the hall. Jessa has closed her eyes by the time I look back at the two of them. Cole, too, has started rocking the recliner in a predictable manner. I can see his hand under her shirt sitting low on the small of her back. His only movement is his thumb gliding slowly against her skin. Jessa has taken advantage of her arm being free after several minutes of me taking her blood. She has twisted her body so that her chest is closer to his with her hand placed on his shoulder. Marissa finally emerges from the medical wing. I smile as the young tech was thoughtful enough to bring my script pad and a pen.
“I need you to package this carefully and take this straight over to Shadowlands University. I’m sorry about the late hour and you will be compensated. I know you’ve shut everything down for the night but this can’t wait and the hospital is the only place that can start this now.”
She nods with a quiet ‘yes sir’. I grab the script pad and pen and start jotting down shorthand that I know the lab tech at university will understand.
“If the tech there tonight asks this says ‘empath with silver poisoning, wolf in critical condition, all panels are to be run. Do not dispose of extra.’ I will create a medical record in our system in the morning with an order of all the panels I want to run. They usually will wait twenty-four hours to dispose of any leftover blood but by putting it in the script it will alert them to the importance of keeping it fresh as I may find tests I want to run that aren’t part of the panels.”
She nods again as she takes the tray from my hands and hurries back into the medical wing, passing Demetri and Sheila as they leave. Sheila resumes her seat next to Charlotte, speaking to her briefly without the volume needed for me to understand.
“Cole.”
Demetri stands behind the chair Cole and Jessa are in as I clean up the unused supplies. I know I’m going to be beat by the time this is done and I want to have it so I can just put the tray down on the counter and put it away in the morning. I peek at his interactions with Cole as this is the first time Demetri has approached Cole alone and Cole can’t escape him. Cole whines briefly as Demetri pets the side of his head.
“It’s okay Cole. What does Buddy tell you about me?”
His voice is soft and soothing as he tries to reassure him.
“You won’t hurt me.”
He whispers after a long pause something that Cassius and I thought he had overcome several weeks ago.
“No sir. I won’t hurt you. During your time with me I was able to pick up clues towards how you’re doing based on facial expressions, hand movements and sounds that you tend to make. I’m concerned about you right now. You’ve taken on a lot of pain for your mate and you’re severely asthmatic. I would appreciate it if you could allow me to listen to your lungs.”
I’m standing completely still just staring as Cole manages to move forward in the seat.
“There’s no pain from me. I need deep breaths.”
Cole nods his head as he does what Demetri has asked. His whine can’t be mistaken as he breathes as deep as he can.
“It’s okay.” Demetri rubs his back even more concerned after listening carefully to his lungs. “It sounds like that’s hurting you.”
He nods again as I make my way back to the chair. Despite the sedating effects of morphine I expect Jessa to start showing us her discomfort as the medication moves into her chest.
“The lower half of both lungs are constricted. Do you have an inhaler nearby?”
“In the room.” He points towards the back of the house.
“May I get it for you?”
For a moment Cole looks confused.
“What’s wrong?” Demetri asks, touching his face briefly to bring his attention back.
“It’s just a room that I’m staying in. Anyone can enter.”
All of us take notice of his lack of recognition of his room being his room. Cassius sits up while holding Ari so she doesn’t fall.
“Just because it’s temporary doesn’t make that room any less yours. You are deserving of the privacy everyone has in their room.”
He’s looking intensely at Cass when Demetri jumps in.
“And, it’s incredibly rude to enter someone’s room without their permission.”
He states softly. Cole finally nods.
“I keep it on the dresser with my nebulizer. If it’s not on top then you need to check the top drawers for my spares.”
“Thank you.”
He gives Cole a slight smile before walking over to his room. It’s as he returns that Jessa starts getting restless.
“That’s our cue, Demetri.”
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