The Doctor in the Room

The city is lit up magnificently outside the hospital room window. There's only an indirect florescent light on in here, so it's pretty dim, although it's just bright enough that when the nurses come in they mercifully don't turn on the overhead lights.

A new nurse comes in after a while and looks at his computer, then looks at me, and then looks up at the IV pole that has been disconnected all day.

I'll be coming in later this evening to start a drip, he says.

I look up at the pole. Trudy and my brother look over at him in surprise.

Why? my brother asks.

The nurse isn't quite sure how to answer that question. He looks at Ben and then at me and then at the laptop in front of him as if he's thinking, because the computer says to.

Those are the orders, he says.

Why? my brother asks.

The nurse looks back at the laptop. A potassium drip, he says.

Why? my brother asks, and he identifies himself as my brother and a family doctor from Chicago. Is his potassium low?

The nurse looks back at the laptop and then concedes that he doesn't know and that he'll find out. He leaves the room. When he comes back he says something about how my most recent blood tests (There haven't been many, frankly.) do not show low potassium.

There's a moment's silence in the room.

Well that doesn't sound right, my brother says.

The nurse quickly agrees.

They never did start the IV. And we never did find out how the order appeared on the computer in the first place. I'm just glad for the doctor in the room, because I'm not convinced the exchange would have been as brief when Trudy started asking questions, which she was clearly poised to do as the doctor spoke up.

10:26:09 AM   permalink: []   feedback:   comments: []