The Life We Lead: Ascending by George Nagle Read Free Book Online

showed the
location of the injury. It was the middle of the left side of the
chest, which led James to believe Alexander had a punctured lung.
If that was the case, his chest was slowly filling with blood.
    “Do you feel like there’s a very heavy weight
on your chest, making it hard to breathe?” James asked
Alexander.
    He nodded.
    James asked Daen to bring over the portable
x-ray machine he’d spotted and began raising Alexander’s bed. “I’m
going to be as fast as I can,” he said. “I know this position won’t
be comfortable, and I apologize for it. I think you have a
punctured lung.”
    James stopped short of putting Alexander in
the full position. It would essentially cut off all breathing if he
had him there too long, and it would take a minute to get him fully
set up.
    “Do you know how to use this?” Daen
whispered.
    “Yes, I was a volunteer in radiology two
summers ago,” James replied. He had never actually used the
equipment but had watched enough to understand the basics.
    Two minutes later, they were ready to go,
aside from putting on the traditional lead radiation bib. This was
a one shot deal, so it wasn’t worth taking the time to look for
it.
    “Alexander, stay with me. Nikolias and Igor,
I’ll need your help to lift him so I can place this plate for the
film behind him. At the same time, Ola, if you and Bryan can
manually bring his bed up to support him as I get the film in
place, that would be best. Anna will hit the radiation. Nikolias
and Igor, we’ll need to then move him back up so I can get the
film. Ola and Bryan, you’ll reset the bed manually to how he was
when we came in. Everyone clear?”
    Ola signed James’s instructions to Anna, who
had obviously run the machine before, while Daen translated for the
others.
    “On three.” James verbally counted up and
held up three fingers. He had the film in his left hand, ready to
be placed, and started counting. He pointed to Anna to signal for
the radiation.
    “Now,” he said to kick off the second half of
the maneuvering. Moments later, he retrieved the film and handed it
to Anna to process.
    Meanwhile, Alexander’s blood pressure was
dropping, as was his heart rate. James began gathering tools to
drain the lung. He suspected this was the most immediate threat,
and he used the time while the x-ray developed to grab those tools
he would need to address the lung. He also grabbed a defibrillator
and had it ready to go.
    Anna came back with the x-ray. The lung was
damaged, but the puncture had missed the heart. James noted that
Alexander’s lungs were rather small for an adult, which added a
level of unneeded complexity.
    The man was starting to fade. James moved
quickly and removed all the bandages.
    The moment they were off, James reached for
iodine.
    At that moment, the monitor flat lined.
Simultaneously, there was the unmistakable sound of a chambered gun
behind James’s head.
    James moved so fast no one expected it. He
turned and disarmed Igor before the man could respond. He removed
the bullets, tossed the gun, and said, “I’m trying to save his
life; leave me alone.”
    “Leave it,” commanded Ola to Igor, who had
gone to retrieve the gun.
    James did a quick wipe over the ribs with
iodine. He made the incision, placed the draining tube, and secured
it. He was a bit sloppy but fast. “Turn him toward me,” he
instructed.
    Nikolias and Daen gently lifted
Alexander.
    “Stop, that’s good enough,” said James when
they had him at the correct angle. Anna had already started
propping him up. The blood began to drain.
    James placed a manual respirator on Alexander
and had Nikolias operate it. Now the tricky part was shocking
Alexander’s heart back. If it didn’t take the first time … James
didn’t have time to worry about that.
    He gelled up the paddles and told everyone to
move away. Anna was ready for the signal.
    “Clear,” James said and nodded to Anna.
    Two tense seconds passed before they heard a
bleep on the