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Old 10-18-2015, 08:21 AM
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RandyT0001 RandyT0001 is offline
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Day 007
I woke a little past sunrise. The team had already made breakfast so I ate. After that, I told the team to prep and line up the vehicles for the trip to Faulkner. Joe and two other villagers were saddling up their horses. Within an hour, the vehicles were ready, the mounted escort was ready but everything stopped when a loud “Halt!” came from two grey clothed horse riders emerging from a nearby copse. As they approached, a puberphonia voice said, “I have my best squad surrounding you.” The riders stopped their approach ten meters from my position.

His horse reared, throwing the copperhead snake off its left cannon and throwing the rider off its back. The rider rolled to his left hitting the ground hard. Laura was out of the ambulance fast, running. I raised flat palms to them, told them she was an M.D., and pleaded for them not to shoot. Between moans of pain the leader told his sergeant to let Laura exam and aid him.

Laura asked for a stethoscope and a BP meter. She took a reading and examined him. His complaints of tenderness in the upper abdomen and pain in the left lumbar indicated splenic injury to Laura. She requested to move him in the ambulance to the hospital in Faulkner where she may be able to do some tests to verify the injury. The leader agreed and ordered his sergeant to cooperate. It took about thirty-five minutes to load up the Vice Chancellor and drive to the hospital. There were two brief stops, as Eric had to dismount to evaluate wooden bridges built across the rivers in the bottoms.

Once we arrived at the hospital, the nurse, Tess, guided Laura to a triage room. I told Eric to do a structural survey of the hospital. I told Angela to guard the vehicles. George would escort Eric and assist him. Tess led Laura and Charles around the surviving equipment in what was the emergency department of the hospital. I monitored Earl’s condition while they were away.

Forty minutes later, the Chancellor arrived and met briefly with his son. It took half of an hour for Laura to explain his son’s medical condition to the Chancellor using some anatomical charts. Laura wanted some volunteers for blood transfusions. She and the nurse would draw samples and cross match them with Earl’s blood. After Eric’s report of structural soundness of the building, he and George began to sanitize the OR, equipment, IV bottles, and instruments per Laura’s instructions. Laura read the procedure from her laptop and the operation started.

The operation took slightly less time that Laura expected. There was no life threatening problems. Tess did an amazing job assisting. The problem was the Chancellor’s eemdee, Killdare’s, asking questions during the operation in an effort to cast doubt on Laura’s competence. She told the Chancellor to remove Killdare from the hospital or have him take over Earl’s care. He was removed. She told him that Earl’s recover could take a few weeks.

For the rest of the day and the night the team waited, stood guard duty, and monitored the patient. The Chancellor “will allow us to occupy” the hospital for the duration of Earl’s recovery. What happens after that depends on whether Earl survives. The team is confined to the hospital until he recovers. Villagers will bring food for the team every week. It is tense.
John Aaron Bell
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