Human Blend (7 page)

“Hi Joy,” Julie said.

“Hi kiddo. So what's the verdict? I haven't
seen Kathy yet this morning.” Joy asked.

“She said I am gonna start with you, so you
can evaluate my skills,” Julie said.

“Yes!” Neal exclaimed.

“Neal, GO!” Joy said, more firmly. Neal
finally left, but Julie knew that wouldn't be the last of him.
“Don't worry. We have a full day today, so he won't have time to
annoy you... much,” Joy promised. The cafeteria was starting to
clear out as the clock moved closer to nine. Julie quickly downed a
few bites of her bagel and drank her orange juice on the way to the
elevator. “See you in a few,” Joy said, heading up to the fifth
floor.

Julie walked down the hallway. Kathy's office
was on the same floor as the cafeteria. Julie was about to knock on
the door when a voice called from behind her. “I'm here, I'm here,”
Kathy said. She carried a cup of coffee in one hand, and a half
eaten cinnamon bun in the other, as she rushed down the
hallway.

“I'm always chasing my tail,” Kathy said. She
looked at a loss on how to juggle things to unlock her office.

“Can I hold something for you? Julie asked.
Kathy started to hand her the half eaten bun, then thought better
of it, and handed her the coffee instead. Julie held the hot liquid
while Kathy fumbled with the keys and unlocked the door.

Kathy entered the office and quickly rushed
to answer her phone that was already ringing. “Kathy speaking. Yes,
I'm aware. I have the new schedule. I'll bring it to the meeting.
Okay, see you then,” she said, before hanging up the phone and
plopping in her chair.

Julie eyed Kathy carefully. “How did your
doctor's visit go on Friday?” Julie asked.

“He thinks I have an ulcer,” Kathy said, with
a laugh. “I don't have time for an ulcer,” Kathy chuckled.

“It seems to have time for you,” Julie
said.

“Okay, Miss Smarty Pants, save your cuteness
for the patients,” Kathy said and smiled. “Something tells me you
are gonna be just fine.”

Kathy went over a few policy protocols with
Julie before taking her up to the fifth floor nurses station. The
floor was a flurry of activity from the moment the elevator doors
opened. The fifth floor consisted of patients that were recovering
from some type of cardiac event. It also had rooms for physical
therapy and an infusion department. Joy was behind the nurses
station, on the phone, writing down something. She smiled brightly
at Kathy and Julie when she finished. “You owe me,” Kathy said to
her.

“I'm sure you'll collect,” Joy kidded
back.

“Work her until three with an hour lunch,
then send her back to me,” Kathy instructed.

“Aye, aye captain,” Joy said then came around
to Julie. “C'mon girlie, I'll show you where you can change.”

“Good luck,” Kathy called after them.

Joy led Julie to a locker room. “I'm gonna
use the little girls room while you change,” Joy said and excused
herself. Julie changed into her uniform and grimaced at the old
fashioned garment. “You're gonna be beating the interns off with a
stick,” Joy said, appraising Julie.

“Gee, thanks,” Julie replied
sarcastically.

“There are some pretty hot looking ones,” Joy
said. Julie wanted to tell Joy that she was not interested in 'hot
interns'. She just wanted to make people feel better.

Back out in the busy corridor, they headed
towards the nurses station where Joy introduced Julie to a few of
the other nurses. Julie was glad that they all wore name tags,
because she would never remember everyone's names. “Time to work,”
Joy said, grabbing a basket filled with various medical supplies.
“Follow me.”

They entered the first room. “Good morning,
Mr. Frankel. How are you feeling this morning?” Joy greeted.

“Oh, no... Not you again,” the patient
grumbled.

“Yes, it's me again. Aren't you happy to see
me?” Joy asked.

“Not when you've got that basket full of
pointy things. I know it means you are gonna stick me again,” Mr.
Frankel replied.

“I'm gonna have to start concealing my stuff
better. You have me all figured out,” Joy teased. “I've brought
someone with me this time,” Joy added.

“What? Reinforcements?” the patient asked.
Joy gave a look to Julie, and Julie got the hint.

“Hi, Mr. Frankel, my name's Julie. I'm a new
volunteer here,” she greeted. The patient turned his head towards
Julie who was on the other side of the bed.

“Oh, hello,” Mr. Frankel raised his hand.
Julie grabbed it and smiled. “Glad to see they finally got some
pretty young things working here,” he said to her.

“Why, thank you, Mr. Frankel,” Julie replied
and continued to make small talk while Joy readied the patient to
draw some blood.

Julie could tell that most of Mr. Frankel's
discomfort was normal due to the fact that he was recovering from
valve replacement surgery. He was well on his way to recovery, so
Julie just took the pain he was feeling from the aches he had from
post surgery and being bedridden for so long. “All done,” Joy said.
Julie released the patient's hand.

“Wait... what? I didn't feel a thing,” Mr.
Frankel said, looking down at the small bandage Joy had placed on
him.

“Guess you were distracted,” Joy said, with a
wink to Julie.

“Well, I'll be,” he remarked. Julie made sure
she had rid the pain from herself as well before she started for
the door behind Joy.

“You take care, Mr. Frankel,” Julie called as
she left.

“Well, I'll be,” they could still hear him
mumbling.

They stepped outside in the hallway.
“Whatever you did, keep doing it,” Joy said and Julie laughed.
“That man always gives me trouble before, during, and after,” Joy
added. Julie just smiled and followed along with Joy on her
rounds.

The rest of the morning went pretty
similarly. One thing that surprised Julie was that most of the
patients were well on their way to recovery. She pointed out that
fact to Joy. “We are lucky to have one of the best pulmonary care
units on the east coast,” Joy bragged. “Our Chief of Surgery, Dr.
Elsworth, is amazing. People seek him out from all over. Not to
mention he is tall, blond, and extremely good looking. He is
single, to boot,” Joy embellished. “He is very serious, though; you
can't joke with him. In fact, today's his day off, but I bet he is
here somewhere,” Joy finished.

“Maybe that's why he is single,” Julie said,
making Joy laugh.

“Good point.”

Joy had Julie doing various jobs, such as
running blood down to the lab and picking up prescriptions from the
hospital pharmacy. Julie's favorite part was tending to the
patients.

“Break time,” Joy announced. It was already
noon, the morning had flown by. “You get an hour. It goes by quick,
go relax,” Joy instructed.

“Don't you get a break too?” Julie asked.

“I do, but later. I'm actually working a
double shift today,” Joy explained.

Julie decided to grab a multi-grain bar from
the vending machine and explore the rest of the hospital. She
remembered that Pediatrics was on the fourth floor. She took the
steps down one floor. Her eyes were greeted with the wonderful
colors of the children's unit. Julie checked in at the nurses
station and got approval to visit with the children. One area of
the children's ward was a big room, with a play area in the center.
The edges of the room were lined with beds.

Julie walked over to the first bed that held
a sleeping child. The child was buried under the covers, with only
a hairless head sticking out. The child had several IV's hooked up
to her. Julie recognized the drugs; the child was being treated for
cancer. “You poor thing,” Julie whispered, reaching to touch her
tightly curled hand that was clutching the cover. Julie held in a
gasp as she felt the tremendous amount of pain buried deep inside
the little girl. She was heavily sedated. Julie was unable to
remove the girl's pain, or even attempt to work on ridding the
cancer. This was not because she couldn't, but because of the large
amount of time she would need for her own recovery. She had done it
once before for one of them, and had collapsed into unconsciousness
for a few hours. She could not take the time to disappear for a few
hours on her first day in the new job. “I'll come back soon,” Julie
whispered, lightly brushing the girl's head. She looked at the
little girl's chart, and committed her name to memory.

Julie felt a tug of her uniform and looked
down. A little boy who looked to be around three or four years old
looked up at her. Julie knelt down to his level. “Hi. What's your
name?” she asked.

“Billy,” the little boy replied.

“Nice to meet you, Billy. My name's Julie,”
she said.

“Can you help me build a tower?” Billy asked
her.

Julie smiled. “Of course, I can,” Julie
answered. She stood and held out her hand to him. He grasped it
tightly and led her over to a plastic bin filled with colored
wooden blocks. Julie could tell the boy was recovering from
Salmonella poisoning. The boy's body was having a hard time ridding
itself of the bacteria. The short walk to the blocks was enough to
take most of it from the boy. She took some deep breaths as she sat
down to build with him, battling the infection within her now. It
was a resilient strain, stronger than she had encountered
before.

“Are you okay?” Billy asked when she didn't
start building right away.

“Mmhm,” Julie grunted. Julie felt a hand on
her back. She turned to see a handsome man kneeling down next to
her. There was a concerned look on his face. “I'm... fine,” Julie
stammered as she battled. She knew she would be fine in another
minute, and just wished the man would go away.

“You're as white as a ghost, and look very
nauseous,” the man said. “I don't think you are okay.”

Julie's body gave a final shake and was done.
“I appreciate your concern...” Julie said, then paused as she
noticed the name tag. It was the doctor Joy had mentioned. “Doctor
Elsworth. Really, I'm fine.”

“I'm fine, too, Mister Doctor,” Billy piped
in. Both Julie and the doctor looked at the boy. His color had
improved, and he was smiling. “Doctor Julie fixed me,” Billy said.
Julie smiled at Billy and averted her eyes from the doctor's.

“Tell you what, Billy: Why don't you and
Julie come with me, and we'll see how you are both doing?” the
doctor suggested.

“I, um... have to be getting back to the
fifth floor, actually,” Julie said, standing.

“You're the new volunteer I've been hearing
so much about,” the doctor commented.

Julie raised an eyebrow. “What have you been
hearing?” she asked.

The doctor smiled. “I'll be down to check on
you later,” he said to Julie. She took that as her cue to make
haste, and headed for the stairs.

She was cut short by Billy, who had run up to
her and hugged her leg. “Thanks, Doctor Julie,” Billy said. Julie
knelt down, gave him a hug, and sent him on his way. Her eyes met
the doctor's briefly, before she continued on back to the fifth
floor.
What's he thinking
? Julie asked herself. She had
little time to dwell on it as she was thrust right back into
work.

Julie had tucked away her encounter with the
doctor for now. She spent the rest of the afternoon assisting
patients to Physical Therapy and back. Joy, at one point, allowed
Julie to just do random visits on her own, as she was tied up with
other things. It was during one of those random visits that Julie
ran into Doctor Elsworth again. She knocked and then entered Mrs.
Bosley's room. She had visited the older woman before, with Joy.
Julie didn't notice the doctor in the patient's bathroom, washing
his hands.

“Oh, there you are, honey. Come on in,” Mrs.
Bosley called to her.

“I just wanted to see if you needed anything
before I leave,” Julie said.

“I'm fine, sweetie. Thank you. In fact, I was
just talking about you to the doctor. I told him what a dear you
are and how much better I felt after talking with you,” Mrs. Bosley
said. “The doctor even says I am getting better. So much so, that I
might even be able to go home soon,” she finished. “Isn't that
right, Doctor?” Mrs. Bosley addressed someone behind Julie.

“You are doing remarkably well, Mrs. Bosley,”
a voice from behind Julie said. She froze at the sound of the
voice. She knew who it belonged to and felt his eyes on her.

“That's wonderful,” Julie said, still looking
at Mrs. Bosley. “I'll see you tomorrow, then,” Julie said, and
turned to escape out the door.

“Miss Miller,” the doctor addressed her.
“Please wait one moment. I'd like to speak with you.”

Julie took a deep breath and turned to face
him. “Certainly, Doctor,” she said.

“Meet me in my office. It is down the hall
and on the left,” he instructed. “I'll join you shortly,” he
finished. Julie nodded and left the room.

Out in the hallway, Julie hung her head.
I
messed up somewhere.
I should have paid more attention to
who was around. I wonder what he is thinking? What is he going to
say to me?
These were all thoughts going through her mind.
“Hey, kiddo. You okay?” Joy asked, suddenly beside her.

“I'm fine,” Julie said.

Doctor Elsworth walked out of Mrs. Bosley's
room. “Oh, Miss King,” the doctor addressed Joy. “I'm glad you are
here. I need to borrow Miss Miller for a little bit,” he
requested.

“Sure. No problem, Doctor,” Joy said. “Jules,
go see Kathy whenever you get done with Doctor Elsworth, before you
leave,” Joy reminded her.

“I will, and thanks for all your help,” Julie
said.

“You're a hit,” Joy said with a wink, and
walked away.

“Right this way,” Doctor Elsworth gestured,
and the two walked silently to his office. Julie wondered if this
was what it felt like to be a prisoner walking to the gallows.