Chapter 2

I trotted up the ramp and through the double doors in time to see Dave being wheeled into the treatment room.

Bryan stopped at the desk to deliver the paperwork to the nurse.

"How's he doing? I asked.

"Not real good, Johnny. He never arrested, thank God, but he was on the ragged edge. We pumped him full of drugs and got him stabilized but he's either going to need some stents or bypass surgery right away. They'll be taking him over to the Cath. Lab in a couple minutes."

"Thanks Bryan, I'll pass the word along to his wife when she gets here. I'll catch a ride back with somebody when we know how things are going to look."

One good thing about being a FF/EMT is that people around the ER know you and don't run you out, even though you have no business hanging around. I grabbed a cup of (incredibly bad) ER coffee and sat down at the Nurse's station to wait on Dave's wife Rita to show up.

Rita showed up in about 15 minutes. She'd had Tommy drive her up after he shut down the shop. Dave wasn't back from the Cath lab yet.

"Johnny! How's Dave? Have you heard anything? Oh God I can't believe he had a heart attack!"

"Hi Rita" I said, giving her a hug "Dave's still in the Cath Lab. He was stable when they took him back, but he'd had a pretty good heart attack. He never arrested, and I think he has a good prognosis if they can get the blockages opened up and put some stents in. Otherwise he'll have to have bypass surgery. We should hear something before too long."

"Thank God you were there Johnny! Tommy told me what you did. I'll never be able to thank you enough."

"I'm glad I was there too Rita. Dave's been a friend ever since we were kids. He's done a lot for me. I'm glad I could do something for him now."

I told the Head ER nurse where we'd be and asked her to call my cell phone when Dave came back from the lab. I took Rita down to the cafeteria where I got another cup of (slightly better) coffee and the slice of pie I'd set out for a couple of hours ago.

Tommy left to pick up his wife from her job. He offered to come back and pick up Rita, but she told him she'd find a way home on her own, since she had no idea how long she'd be there.

Finally my phone rang and the nurse told me that Dr. Pettit was on his way to see us. Jim was a high school classmate of mine and I knew he was both a top-notch doc and a straight shooter.

Jim came striding into the cafeteria a couple of minutes after I got the call.

"Hi, Johnny, hi Rita".

"Hi Jim, how's Dave doing?" asked Rita.

"Well, I just left him in the recover room after we did the catheterization. First off, Dave had a serious heart attack. If he hadn't gotten the care he did in the field, he would have arrested and most probably died. From what I heard, you're mostly responsible for that, Johnny"

"Second- he has an excellent chance of making a full recovery. He is going to need bypass surgery, since he has serious blockages in all his coronary arteries. We put in 4 stents, and got things going again, but it will just be a matter of time before one of the other narrowed spots closes up again, and next time he might not be as lucky, since he's already lost some heart muscle", Jim went on.

"Thank God for that, Jim. When will the surgery be done and when can I see him?" said Rita.

"I've put him on the schedule for Friday morning. As of right now, it looks like they'll take him back around 6 am. From the looks of the arteriogram, he'll need at least four bypasses, maybe as many as five. He'll come out of recovery in about another half hour and he'll be admitted to 3-West in the CCU. I want him under constant monitoring. We have his arteries open now, but the situation's not totally stable. I'll be here at the hospital for at least the next 3 hours seeing patients, so I'll look in on Dave again before I leave."