If she did get the job, Cate knew there was going to be a lot to deal with.
‘Is this cubicle ready?’ Abby, who was doing triage, popped her head in. ‘I’ve got a gentleman that needs to be seen.’
‘Bring him in,’ Cate said. ‘Kelly, if you could carry on sorting out any empty cubicles, that would be great.’
Kelly nodded and headed off and Cate took the handover as they helped the painfully thin gentleman move from the wheelchair to the gurney. His wife watched anxiously.
‘This is Reece Anderson,’ Abby introduced. ‘He’s thirty-four years old and has recently completed a course of chemotherapy for a melanoma on his left thigh. Reece has had increasing nausea since this morning as well as abdominal pain.’
‘He didn’t tell me he was in pain till lunchtime.’ There was an edge to his wife’s voice. ‘I thought the vomiting was the after effects of the chemo.’
‘Okay, Reece.’ Cate introduced herself. ‘I’m going to help you to get into a gown and take some observations and then we shall get you seen just as soon as we can.’ Reece was clearly very uncomfortable as well as dehydrated, and there was also considerable tension between him and his wife.
‘The heat has made this last round of treatment unbearable,’ his wife said. ‘We don’t have air-conditioning.’ She looked more tense than the patient. ‘I’m Amanda, by the way.’
‘Hi, Amanda. Yes, I’m sure the heat isn’t helping,’ Cate said as she looked at Reece’s dry lips and felt his skin turgor. ‘We’ll get a drip started soon.’
Melbourne was in the grip of a prolonged heat wave and more patients than usual were presenting as dehydrated. Cate had been moaning about the heat and lack of sleep herself, but to imagine being unwell and going through chemotherapy made her rethink her grumbles.
‘Why don’t you go home?’ Reece suggested to his wife as, between retches, Cate helped him undress. ‘I could be here for ages.’
‘I’ve told you, I’m not going home. I don’t want to leave you till I know what’s happening.’ Amanda’s response was terse.
‘You have to pick up the kids from school.’
‘I’m going to ring Stella and let her know what’s going on. She can get them…’
‘Just go home, will you?’ Reece snapped.
Cate looked over at Amanda and saw that she was close to tears.
‘Just leave,’ Reece said.
‘Oh, I might just do that!’ Amanda’s voice held a challenge and Cate guessed this wasn’t the first time they’d had this row. ‘I’m going to ring Stella and ask her to pick them up.’
Amanda walked out of the cubicle and Reece rested back on the pillows as Cate took his baseline observations. ‘I can’t believe I’m back in hospital. Amanda should be sorting out the children, not me.’
Cate didn’t comment; instead, she headed out and had a brief word with Harry, who was working with Kelly on a critical patient who had just arrived. He said he would get there just as soon as he could but, given how long the wait might be, Harry asked if Cate could take some bloods and start an IV.
Reece was pretty uncommunicative throughout but, as she went to leave, finally he asked a question. ‘Do you think it’s the cancer spreading?’
‘I think it’s far too early to be speculating about anything,’ Cate said. ‘We’ll get these bloods off and a doctor will be in just as soon as possible.’
While she had sympathy for Reece and could guess how scared he must be, Cate’s heart went out to Amanda when she found her crying by the vending machine.
‘Come in here,’ Cate offered, opening up an interview room to give Amanda some privacy. The interview rooms were beyond dreary, painted brown and with hard seats and a plastic table, but at least they were private. ‘I know you must be very worried but it’s far too early to know what’s going on.’
‘I can deal with whatever’s going on health-wise,’ Amanda said. ‘We’ve been dealing with it for months now. It’s Reece that I can’t handle—his moods and constantly telling me to leave him alone.’
‘It must be terribly hard,’ Cate offered, wishing she could say more.
‘It’s nearly impossible.’ Amanda shook her head with hopelessness. ‘I’m starting to think that maybe he really doesn’t want me around.’
‘I doubt that,’ Cate replied.
‘So do I.’ Amanda took a drink of coffee and slowly started to calm down—all she had needed was a short reprieve. ‘You know, if that really is what he wants, then tough! I’m not going to walk away,’ Amanda said, draining her drink and screwing up the cup as she threw it into the bin. ‘Like it or not, I’m not going anywhere.’ Amanda wiped her eyes and blew her nose then walked back to be with her husband.
Cate was wondering if she should try and find the intern to see Reece, though she did want someone more senior; then she considered calling in a favour from one of the surgical team and asking them to come down without an emergency doctor’s referral, but then she saw Juan walk in.
He really was the most striking man Cate had ever seen. His tall, muscular frame was enhanced by the black Cuban-heeled boots that he wore. Today he was wearing black jeans with a heavily buckled belt and a grey and black shirt that was crumpled. His black hair was long enough that it could easily be tied back, but instead it fell onto his broad shoulders and, fresh from the shower, his hair left a slight damp patch on his shirt.
Cate’s first thought on seeing him wasn’t relief that finally there was an extra pair of hands and she could get Reece seen quickly.
Instead, as always, he begged the question—how on earth did she manage to say no to that? He was sex on long legs certainly, but more than that he made her smile, made her laugh. Juan just changed the whole dynamics of the place.
‘You made good time!’ Cate said, as he came over and she caught the heady whiff of Juan fresh from the shower.
‘I got a lift.’
Ah, yes, Cate reminded herself, he’d had company when she’d called. Juan didn’t have a car, he wasn’t in any one place long enough for that, so instead he used public transport or, more often than not, he ran to work and treated everyone to the delicious sight of him breathless and sweaty before he headed for the staff shower.
‘Where would you like me to start?’ he asked. Juan was always ready to jump straight into work.
‘Cubicle four,’ Cate said, giving him a brief background on the way. She saw Reece’s and Amanda’s eyes widen just a fraction as a very foreign, rather uncon-ventional-looking doctor entered the cubicle, yet Juan was so good with patients that within a moment he had Reece at ease.
Juan put one long, booted foot on the lower frame of the gurney and leant in and chatted with Reece about his medical history and symptoms before standing up straight.
‘Can I borrow your stethoscope?’ he asked Cate.
‘There’s one on the wall,’ Cate said. There usually wasn’t but the rather meticulous Cate had prepared the cubicle herself.
‘I can’t hear very well with them,’ Juan said. ‘I prefer yours.’
‘I know! You took it home with you last time you borrowed it.’
‘I