Jessica walked out of the patient’s room. She rolled off a pair of latex gloves and threw them away. It was Wednesday. Instead of holding up in her lab, she blocked off a day to do patient rounds. It was why she become a physician in the first place. Sometimes, since she had a PH.D after her name, it was easy to forget.
“Doctor Parens?” A nurse had followed her out. “We’ll keep Ms. Clemens under observation for now. We still can’t understand what’s causing the memory lapses. Another thing. The symptoms are unusual. The slight fever, delirium, and slight aggravation hints towards rabies. But..”
“There’s no bite,” Jessica finished for the nurse. She bit down on her lip. While she did study the majority of these diseases back in med school, her speciality was Opthalmology. An eye doctor. She had been called down here to assess the patient’s conjunctivitis — pink eye. “Did Dr. Brody check in yet? I think he’s the attending physician for the TLC.”
The nurse twiddled her fingers. “Though a more thorough diagnosis is underway, we haven’t been given a specific treatment plan. Not ever a preliminary one,” she said. “We sent blood work and fecal samples out. Hopefully they’ll get back to us soon. In the meantime, we can’t do anything except keep the IV and pain going. Get medication going for the hallucinations too.”
Jessica nodded. That’s what she would’ve done as well. Feeling her pager vibrate, she fished it out from her belt clip. “I’ve gotta run. Urgent from F5/3. Do what you can for right now, and when Dr. Brody gets back, he should be able to update. Contact me if the pink eye gets any worse.”
Quickly making her way through the hallway, Jessica stepped around a pair of nurses as a stretcher rolled towards the TLC. It was the fourth newly admit in the past hour. Thanking a patient care specialist for holding the elevator for her, she pressed the button for the fifth floor. Staring at the door, the image’s of Ms. Clemens rolled through her memory bank. When she first came in, the lady was hollering like a crazy as she said something about ‘the dogs coming’. It was one of the more unusual things she had seen. What she couldn’t believe was the inflammation of her eyes. They weren’t just the typical light pink associated with conjunctivitis. They were bloodshot red. Actual red in color.
The elevator pinged as the door slipped open. She was on the move again. When she first arrived at Memorial Hospital housed near the CDC building, she had gotten lost on many occasions. The building was a year old, funded by the government and CDC. It was meant to be a location to serve as a study bank for the scientist in case an outbreak happened. A glorified hospital so to speak. At first, Jessica wasn’t really sure if she wanted to come here or not. The deciding factor was the grant money she received for her own research. Namely, an organic prosthetic eye for those who had lost one. Though progress slowly grew, she was far from anything conducive. She was still in the infant stages of clinical trials.
Opening the door to the clinic, she was greeted to the sight of two hospital security guards. They saw her walk in and moved towards her. “Dr. Parens?”
She felt a lump in her throat. “Yes?”
“A patient was just admitted here,” said one of the men. It was whispered so only the officers and herself could hear. “The room the man is sitting in has been cordoned off.”
Jessica blinked once. Her mind mulled over the words she had just heard. She blinked again. “May I ask why?”
The security officer exhaled as he gestured towards the back room. “It’d be easier if you saw for yourself.”
Half an hour later, Jessica was wearing a gown, gloves, hair hat, googles, and a mask. She just emerged into the patent room as two more security officers stood next to the man. He was fairly tall with mangy, brown hair. He wore tan shorts and a t-shirt — typical attire given the Georgian heat. She would’ve considered him entirely normal if blood hadn’t been trickling down his face.
“David?” she said as she stepped closer and took a seat on the swivel chair. She said his name again. He didn’t respond. “I’m Dr. Parens. Can you tell me what happened?”
David looked up as Jessica saw the scoop of the bleeding. He needed ER not an eye appointment. Sweat rolled down his forehead. “I gotta damn fever doc,” he said in slurred speech. “I’m sweating too. Can’t see a damn thing. Can you turn on the AC? I can’t see a damn thing.”
“Sure, we can get some cool air flowing in here. I’m going to step outside and see what I can do. Call building staff to see if they can’t cool this place down.”
“Appreciate it doc.”
Jessica got up from her seat as she stepped out of the room and stripped off and disposed the isolation gear. Washing her hands thoroughly, she walked towards the nurse’s station and picked up the phone and pressed a speed dialed number. “ER? This is Dr. Parens from F5/3. I have a patient who needs to be transferred to your location. Fever, hemorrhaging through the eyes, and copious amounts of sweating.”
“We’re all full,” said the nurse. Jessica could hear shouting on the other end. Even with the ER being busy, it was a new sound to her altogether. “Mr. Bowman will be sent to TLC as overflow. We’ve just notified them. We’ve been getting similar symptoms all morning. There’s some talk about the flu.”
“I don’t think it’s the flu,” Jessica said as she looked back to where David Bowman was currently restrained. “Anyway, lets get Mr. Bowman moved. Oh, full isolation protocol.”
“We’ve been doing that all morning Doctor. Hopefully this isn’t contagious.”
Jessica stifled a snort. She didn’t know if it was contagious or not, but she didn’t plan on finding out by getting sick. A feeling of dread trickled down her spine. She didn’t like any of this one bit.
“Doctor Parens?” A nurse had followed her out. “We’ll keep Ms. Clemens under observation for now. We still can’t understand what’s causing the memory lapses. Another thing. The symptoms are unusual. The slight fever, delirium, and slight aggravation hints towards rabies. But..”
“There’s no bite,” Jessica finished for the nurse. She bit down on her lip. While she did study the majority of these diseases back in med school, her speciality was Opthalmology. An eye doctor. She had been called down here to assess the patient’s conjunctivitis — pink eye. “Did Dr. Brody check in yet? I think he’s the attending physician for the TLC.”
The nurse twiddled her fingers. “Though a more thorough diagnosis is underway, we haven’t been given a specific treatment plan. Not ever a preliminary one,” she said. “We sent blood work and fecal samples out. Hopefully they’ll get back to us soon. In the meantime, we can’t do anything except keep the IV and pain going. Get medication going for the hallucinations too.”
Jessica nodded. That’s what she would’ve done as well. Feeling her pager vibrate, she fished it out from her belt clip. “I’ve gotta run. Urgent from F5/3. Do what you can for right now, and when Dr. Brody gets back, he should be able to update. Contact me if the pink eye gets any worse.”
Quickly making her way through the hallway, Jessica stepped around a pair of nurses as a stretcher rolled towards the TLC. It was the fourth newly admit in the past hour. Thanking a patient care specialist for holding the elevator for her, she pressed the button for the fifth floor. Staring at the door, the image’s of Ms. Clemens rolled through her memory bank. When she first came in, the lady was hollering like a crazy as she said something about ‘the dogs coming’. It was one of the more unusual things she had seen. What she couldn’t believe was the inflammation of her eyes. They weren’t just the typical light pink associated with conjunctivitis. They were bloodshot red. Actual red in color.
The elevator pinged as the door slipped open. She was on the move again. When she first arrived at Memorial Hospital housed near the CDC building, she had gotten lost on many occasions. The building was a year old, funded by the government and CDC. It was meant to be a location to serve as a study bank for the scientist in case an outbreak happened. A glorified hospital so to speak. At first, Jessica wasn’t really sure if she wanted to come here or not. The deciding factor was the grant money she received for her own research. Namely, an organic prosthetic eye for those who had lost one. Though progress slowly grew, she was far from anything conducive. She was still in the infant stages of clinical trials.
Opening the door to the clinic, she was greeted to the sight of two hospital security guards. They saw her walk in and moved towards her. “Dr. Parens?”
She felt a lump in her throat. “Yes?”
“A patient was just admitted here,” said one of the men. It was whispered so only the officers and herself could hear. “The room the man is sitting in has been cordoned off.”
Jessica blinked once. Her mind mulled over the words she had just heard. She blinked again. “May I ask why?”
The security officer exhaled as he gestured towards the back room. “It’d be easier if you saw for yourself.”
Half an hour later, Jessica was wearing a gown, gloves, hair hat, googles, and a mask. She just emerged into the patent room as two more security officers stood next to the man. He was fairly tall with mangy, brown hair. He wore tan shorts and a t-shirt — typical attire given the Georgian heat. She would’ve considered him entirely normal if blood hadn’t been trickling down his face.
“David?” she said as she stepped closer and took a seat on the swivel chair. She said his name again. He didn’t respond. “I’m Dr. Parens. Can you tell me what happened?”
David looked up as Jessica saw the scoop of the bleeding. He needed ER not an eye appointment. Sweat rolled down his forehead. “I gotta damn fever doc,” he said in slurred speech. “I’m sweating too. Can’t see a damn thing. Can you turn on the AC? I can’t see a damn thing.”
“Sure, we can get some cool air flowing in here. I’m going to step outside and see what I can do. Call building staff to see if they can’t cool this place down.”
“Appreciate it doc.”
Jessica got up from her seat as she stepped out of the room and stripped off and disposed the isolation gear. Washing her hands thoroughly, she walked towards the nurse’s station and picked up the phone and pressed a speed dialed number. “ER? This is Dr. Parens from F5/3. I have a patient who needs to be transferred to your location. Fever, hemorrhaging through the eyes, and copious amounts of sweating.”
“We’re all full,” said the nurse. Jessica could hear shouting on the other end. Even with the ER being busy, it was a new sound to her altogether. “Mr. Bowman will be sent to TLC as overflow. We’ve just notified them. We’ve been getting similar symptoms all morning. There’s some talk about the flu.”
“I don’t think it’s the flu,” Jessica said as she looked back to where David Bowman was currently restrained. “Anyway, lets get Mr. Bowman moved. Oh, full isolation protocol.”
“We’ve been doing that all morning Doctor. Hopefully this isn’t contagious.”
Jessica stifled a snort. She didn’t know if it was contagious or not, but she didn’t plan on finding out by getting sick. A feeling of dread trickled down her spine. She didn’t like any of this one bit.
