9. The Real Test

Ali

A li entered the conference room, where most of the nursing residents had already taken a seat. Jo was in the backroom talking to May, and Ali caught that her gaze lasted a little too long. Jo had exceeded her expectations in the month that they had been working together. But she couldn’t let her guard down. Ali still questioned why she left her previous employer so abruptly. She had to remind herself that sometimes things happened, and it wasn’t necessarily Jo’s fault.

The promotion was still a thought in Ali’s mind, and while she hadn’t heard much about it over the last couple of weeks, she didn’t want to give anyone reason to question whether she would be the right choice. She took her place in front of the room while the rest of the class settled into their seats.

Ali clapped her hands and got them to settle down. “Today, I want to do something a little bit different. By now, you all have been working hands-on with patients and should have developed various connections with them. I want you to present a patient that you have to your fellow nurses. There are no wrong ways to do this presentation, and I know no one likes to go first, but Johanna, will you please take the first slot?”

Jo’s eyes widened. Ali didn’t want to put her on the spot, but she had confidence that Jo had grown leaps since her first day, and she wanted to showcase that. If not to everyone else, to Johanna.

“Um, I suppose,” she began. She got up from her seat and just stood there.

“Please come to the front of the class.” She felt like a teacher in that moment, despite not anticipating that would be where the day led. Jo cautiously walked to the front of the room. “You can start off by describing who the patient is and a little about their background. I’ll ask questions if I have any. Begin when you’re ready.”

“The patient I want to present is a nine-year-old I’ve been working with for the past week. His name is Vincent Alvarez. He presented to the hospital with kidney disease just over five months ago. This last week, he received a kidney transplant. His mother and dad have been by his side to the best of their ability. However, the cost of surgery and treatment medicines has caused great stress on their family. His mother, Flora, is forced to work two jobs. His father has to work the third shift and many weekends, but no one can doubt how much love they have for their child.”

Ali looked down at a notebook and then looked up, her pen poised in her hand. “And how’s he doing? Any complications? What are they monitoring?” She didn’t want to continue to press her to go deeper, but most of what Johanna had shared wasn’t about the patient’s health, and that was what Ali was really looking for .

Jo continued to wring her hands in front of her. “He’s doing well. There’s been some inflammation at the surgical site, but with the treatment drugs, that’s improved. We are continuing to monitor to ensure that his fever doesn’t go too high and that his pain stays at bay. He should be in the hospital for another few weeks, and then, if there are no complications, he’ll be released.”

“Alright,” Ali looked down at her notes. “Anything else you want to add?”

Jo stood there for a moment longer before continuing. “I think that we have this bond because it feels like other staff like to treat him as a kid rather than just another patient.” Ali quirked an eyebrow. “We have a lot in common. I noticed that he had a Marvel blanket, and I love comics, so we’ve discussed that. I want to help him to know he’s not alone, and I feel I’ve done exactly that.” She nodded, grinning. “That should be all.”

“Thank you, Johanna.” Ali watched her walk to her seat, and Jo’s presentation played in her mind. It worried her a bit that maybe Jo was getting too close to the patient. If that was the case, she would have to monitor it and stop it if it became an issue. Nothing positive would come of building a bond with her pediatric patient.

Her mind stayed on Jo the rest of the morning, all throughout the rest of the presentations and up until lunch. It was obvious that she was quiet, as Nolan also seemed to notice it.

“You were quiet at lunch,” Nolan remarked.

If Ali could get her point across to Jo, she would attempt to, but it was hard to know where she could put her opinions. It was too heartbreaking to get attached to a patient only to find that the patient had a complication and didn’t make it. She had been through many cases like that and wanted to prevent other nurses from that heartache.

“Guess I have a lot on my mind.”

“The promotion, perhaps?” he asked, a twinkle in his eye.

That hadn’t totally escaped her mind, but it wasn’t quite where she was letting her brain take her. “So, I never really heard how your visit with Loverboy was. Guessing he went back home?”

Nolan laughed. “And you’re changing the subject, but that’s just fine.” He then left a grin on his face. “Things were good. Really good. I forgot how much I love that guy, but when I saw him, it was as if he never left town. I don’t think it’s forever. I just need to tell myself that and ultimately believe it.” He laughed, taking a sip of his water. “But things were pretty heated the whole time he was here. If you catch my drift.”

“It would be rather hard not to catch that drift,” Ali teased. “I’m glad it went so well, though.” She checked her watch. “I have to head out. I have an OR getting prepped for surgery and want to make sure everything runs smoothly.” She stood up from the table and grabbed her trash. “I’ll be seeing you later.”

“See ya!” He waved, and Ali left the table and discarded her food in the receptacle next to the exit. She reached in her pocket for her notepad and flipped through the schedule for the afternoon. Jo was the one set to handle the prepping of the surgery. She took the elevator to their floor and went to the nurse’s station. She pulled up the computer and went to the docket for the surgery. Next to the prep team was May’s name. She frowned and went back to her schedule. Sure enough, it said Johanna.

Georgette exited a room and headed to the nurse’s station. “Hey, G. says that May is prepping surgery. What happened? Johanna was on the schedule. ”

She shrugged. “She’s in with the Alvarez boy. Not entirely sure. He might have needed some extra attention, and they had to switch responsibilities. No telling.” She went back to her computer, and Ali left the station and went to Vincent Alvarez’s room. The door was open enough for Ali to take a peek inside. Ali was propping a pillow up behind his head. She was the only one in there and didn’t look like Vincent was in too much distress. She knocked lightly on the door, so she didn’t startle either one.

“Johanna, may I please see you for a minute?”

Jo hurried out of the room, and Ali motioned for her to follow her to the conference room. A few people were already there, so she grabbed her arm, pulled her into another office, and shut the door. She turned around, and Jo dropped her gaze.

“What are you doing?” Ali asked.

“He was alone and needed something to make him comfortable.”

Ali crossed her arms in front of her. “So, you decided to shirk your other responsibilities and have May prep the surgery because you were too preoccupied. There’s a lot wrong with that statement. And I’m sure you know it.”

“I wasn’t shirking my responsibilities. She was merely helping me out. Everything was fine.” Ali sighed, attempting to lower her racing heart. “You don’t know what you did wrong, so I’ll try to explain it.”

Looking Jo in the eyes, Ali calmly stated, “You came here and have certain responsibilities you need to achieve today. One of those was to prep for this surgery. Any of the other nurses could have taken over if the patient needed something.”

“But he doesn’t like them like he likes me,” Jo argued.

“Jo, you need to be careful here. You are getting too caught up in this one patient’s health. That’s not good for you, your stress, or the team. Trust me. I’m just trying to help you out here. I don’t want you feeling like a failure if something happens to that little boy.”

Jo’s jaw dropped, and her eyes narrowed in. There was even a hint of a tear in her eye, and Ali didn’t want to see that. She was only trying to get her point across. It appeared it worked, but not as she had hoped.

“I’m not saying it’s likely something will happen. I’m just saying that you have to protect your heart, and getting too close to this family could do detrimental harm to you. That’s all.”

Jo nodded but turned her gaze away from Ali. “Am I free to go back to work?”

“Yeah, you’re free.” Ali waited for Jo to leave the room. She knew she was right, but if Jo wouldn’t hear her out, then maybe it was best to just watch from afar and hope that she was reading too much into the situation. But that afternoon, she watched Jo and noticed that her dedication seemed to be undeterred when it came to Vincent, while other nurses were forced to assist with her other patients. It wasn’t quite fair, but was she the right person to do something about it?

Come out with us tonight. You seemed a bit down today and could use some cheering up. We won’t stay out late. You won’t regret it!!

Ali was already regretting it and hadn’t even made it to the bar. But Nolan knew her all too well, and she needed a night out with friends. She pulled into the parking lot and was glad to see that it wasn’t a full house. She could hopefully enjoy a relaxing time out with friends.

She entered the club and spotted Nolan and the rest of the group in the far corner. A waitress was still at their table, and she ordered a beer before she headed off.

“Hey, everyone!” Ali grabbed the empty seat and looked around at her friends. “Did I miss anything?”

“Not hardly,” Regina, a woman who worked at the ER registration desk, replied. “We all pretty much just got here ourselves.”

“Good.” The waitress brought them their drinks and then left them to their quiet. Ali sipped on her beer as a couple of different conversations went on. A couple wanted to discuss how things were going between Nolan and Brody.

“How’s Milwaukee going for him?” Jason asked.

“Good. He’s missing it here, but I think he really likes it. That’s what matters, right?”

Another conversation was about how the weather had been treating the crops. It wasn’t too exhilarating, and Ali abandoned that conversation rather quickly.

“How’re the nurses doing?” Regina asked, catching Ali off guard.

“Well, I’m not really too sure.” Ali took a drink from her beer. “I mean, overall, I think they’re all doing well. But I have a few misgivings about one particular nurse, Johanna. I don’t know, and I worry that she might be a distraction to the rest of the nurses.”

“Really? How so?” She turned to find that all eyes were on her, and Jason had continued the conversation.

“Well, she’s a bit flighty. She needs to stay focused on all her patients, but she latches onto just one and expects that everyone else can just maintain the rest of her workload. I don’t feel I’m at liberty to say anything, but if this continues, I’ll really have no choice. We can’t function like this. It’s too much for the rest of the team to deal with. ”

“I don’t think you’re wrong in your assumptions,” Nolan admitted.

Ali frowned. “Really? I thought you’d tell me I was just being paranoid.”

Nolan shrugged. “Well, perhaps, but I’ve heard rumors about Johanna, and I didn’t think it was my place to say anything, but it really should be considered.”

Ali sat back in her seat. This was the first time she heard anything negative spoken to her about Jo. She thought that maybe she was just being paranoid, but if Nolan heard something she would rather know what it was, than guess later.

Ali leaned in toward him. “Well, you have to tell me now, Nolan.”

He sighed. “Rumor has it that Johanna left her last hospital because she accidentally killed a patient. She had been working thirty hours straight. An oversight with the hospital, I suppose, but she ultimately worked it, and one thing led to another, and a patient died.”

“What?” Several of her friends spoke in unison, but Ali just stared at him. That would explain some things, but now she had bigger things to worry about.