Shock!
The day shift in Ponyville Regional Network Hospital was a little different than the night. The slow steady plod of the night was replaced with a constant stream of interaction. It wasn’t as emergent but still satisfying. It also made the day breeze along.
Nurse Redheart finished her third sprained hoof this morning. It felt like a strange epidemic. Ponies left and right were falling over themselves, as if gravity had been turned up. Redheart sighed as Noteworthy was wheeled by and joined the rest of his fallen squad.
“We got another one, Red,” Klinger Gauze said as he and Ace Bandage wheeled in another pony on a stretcher.
“What is going on out there? Why is every pony tripping?” Redheart bemoaned.
“Oh this one didn’t trip so much as fall, from the sky,” explained Ace while he stared at Nurse Snowheart. “She was flying along and ..”
“Ahem,” Nurse Redheart interrupted, causing Ace’s head to frantically turn toward her. A slight blush shown through his red coat.
“Oh sorry Nurse Redheart. I Umm, yeah so Rainbow Dash here just kind of fell out of the sky according to bystanders. Do you think it’s related to the falls all over town?” Ace asked earnestly.
The rookie Emergency Wagon technician seemed to love linking as many calls together as he could. Equestria could be under magical threat on a daily basis according to his findings.
“I don’t think so, Ace, unless dehydration is contagious,” Redheart stated as she used her hooves to pull up Rainbow’s skin. It slowly returned to its smooth shape. “Do you see how long it took to bounce back?” she explained. “That’s called tenting. It’s a sign of dehydration. She probably was practicing too hard again and forgot to hydrate. Place her over in bed 3.”
Nurse Redheart followed the emergency team over grabbing a saline bag in her teeth on the way. The pegasus already had an IV started by Klinger. She attached the bag and began taking Rainbow’s vitals. She checked the downed pegasus’s eyes and mouth noticed the dried mucosa. This confirmed her suspicions. She pierced the saline bag with a dropset and purged it. Then she attached the end to the catheter hub and ran the bag open wide.
“Where is she?! Ah will tan her hide!” shouted a voice from the entrance. The staff and patients scattered as the voice’s owner barged through.
Nurse Redheart turned to her ER tech, Scrubs. “Watch her. Let me know if her vitals change,” she commanded. “I have to find out what’s going on.”
“You can count on me,” Scrubs said with an exaggerated salute. The little yellow unicorn knocked the glasses off his own face once doing that, and Redheart couldn’t help but smile.
“I’ll be right back.” The Nurse stomped her way to the entrance like a tank ready for battle. She did not tolerate a chaotic ER. She had even less time for over dramatics. Ponies had enough trouble recovering from their various ailments without some family member making a scene.
She sought out the trouble maker and was surprised to find Applejack shouting at nurses from the in-patient wings.
“Tell me where Rainbow Dash is! If she ain’t dead Ah mean to make her!” the cowpony shouted.
“Applejack!” Nurse Redheart reprimanded. “What do you think you’re doing?!”
“Ah heard Rainbow fell outta the sky! Some dang fool trick!” Applejack explained, rounding on the unflinching nurse. “Is she here?!”
“And if she was, what is scaring my staff and interrupting everypony else’s peace going to do?”
Applejack turned red and ground her teeth but became more silent. Redheart waited and said nothing. Finally the farm pony looked down at the ground still red. “Ah’m sorry Ah’m just a might worried. I-is she here?”
“Yes she is,” the nurse said in a softer tone.
“Is she gonna be alright?”
“She was just dehydrated. She should perk up once we give her some fluids.”
“Can Ah see her?”
“Do you promise to behave?” Redheart said eyeing the red faced farm pony suspiciously.
“Yes ma’am,” she responded much meeker than before.
“Then I will let you in to see her, but no killing or threatening my patients. Including her.”
Applejack fervently nodded. There was less anger and more fear in her eyes. Redheart couldn’t turn her away. Something different was in Applejack’s stance and pleading state that the nurse hadn’t seen before. It felt like this was not just a friend.
Redheart turned and led the concerned mare to Rainbow’s bed. The farm pony nearly bowled her over to grab the fallen comrade’s hoof.
“Ya dang fool,” Applejack softly chided. “Ya didn’t have ta practice so hard just ta impress me. Ah know ya wanted our first Heart’s and Hooves day together ta be special but ya gotta know me worrying’ over ya is not how Ah wanted to spend it.”
What had Applejack just said? Redheart looked around and noticed Nurse Ivy Push leaning a lot closer to Klinger then they ever had. She caught Ace giggling sheepishly in the corner while Snowheart stared. Snowheart was like that and didn’t show much emotion. She looked back at Applejack leaning on Rainbow’s chest with a look of concern.
Then it all made sense. The heart decorations everywhere. The music in the park she passed. The leg sprains from couples looking into each other’s eyes and not where they were going.
It was Hearts and Hooves day! The most uncomfortable day for a single pony like Redheart. Everywhere couples were experiencing bliss with each other right in front of her face. They were gushing about gifts and plans and love itself.
The nurse was about to shout at the couples in her ER, especially the staff, when the door to the emergency room opened and a panicked unicorn carrying a pegasus burst in.
“I am in need of assistance! My friend has collapsed!” screamed Rarity. A pegasus Redheart had never seen before was draped across her shoulders. Well she seemed to be. On closer inspection the nurse noticed Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo holding the pegasus up.
“I’m not hurt, Rarity, don’t cha know. My prosthetic just gave out,” the pegasus explained. Redheart had not seen a pegasus quite like her. She had a bright pink mane with a light pink streak through the middle similar to Redheart’s own mane color. Her coat was an aquamarine covered partially by a knitted vest. She also had a strange pin covered accessory in her mane. Her left rear leg was a mechanized prosthetic, which hung limply in Scootaloo’s outstretched forehooves. But the one thing that stood out more than those was her violet eyes. They shone like purple beacons of hope and interest.
Nurse Redheart shook her head. She let the moment pass and returned to her job. “Are you injured, miss…?”
“Kerfuffle..,” the pegasus said to her hooves. “And, umm, no. My prosthetic leg just collapsed. It’s not working right. Maybe I could just fly home and have my mechanic look at it.”
“And where is home?”
“Hope Hollow.”
“That’s quite far for a pegasus with only three legs. If you can’t walk you won’t be able to land on it properly and could injure yourself further.”
“Oh don’t make too much fuss over me. I’ll be fine,” Kerfuffle lifted herself off of Rarity’s back with a flap, much to the relief of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “See?” She stated triumphantly. “I think I can manage.”
The pegasus ended her demonstration by landing on the ground only to have her prosthetic leg slide back limpy placing the poor pegasus on the floor.
Redheart sprang into action and was by her side in milliseconds. She lifted the surprisingly light pegasus back up and shouted,”can some pony get me a wheelchair?”
Kerfuffle said nothing but looked up at Redheart with a scarlet face. The poor thing must be embarrassed about needing help. Ponies can be stubborn that way. They don’t like to be seen in a state of weakness. The nurse placed on her warmest of smiles to reassure her patient.
“Perhaps I should get it looked at,” Kerfuffle finally relented. “Ya got some strong forelegs there, Nurse.”
The nurse had to shift her hooves for a better grip of her fallen patient. Pegasi might be light compared to earth ponies but they still got heavy after a while. Ace showed up with a wheelchair and looked at the pair wide-eyed.
“Is there a problem Ace?” Redheart’s icy tone froze the emergency pony’s blood.
“No ma’am you two just looked… nevermind,” Ace finished before he began. Whatever it was, he did not think it was worth saying.
Nurse Redheart placed Kerfuffle in the chair and began to wheel her to a vacant exam room. Rarity and her entourage followed.
“While we’re at it, I‘ll see if I can mend that terrible cut to her vest,” Rarity bemoaned. “It’s just awful. That’s a hoof knitted item. Nearly impossible to fix.”
“I’ll, uh, leave that to you, Rarity,” Redheart informed. If there was a cut on Kerfuffle’s vest then it could mean that her skin was cut too. She would have to make a thorough examination. “Now if you and your ...underlings could wait out here I need to do my job.”
“Yes, Nurse Redheart, of course,” Rarity replied, shooing the CMCs out the door with her.
The nurse shut the door to the room and noticed Kerfuffle jump a little. She was quite skittish. She wondered if it was her or hospitals or the situation that was making the pegasus so uncomfortable.
“Alright I’m going to help you to the bed and we can get a good look at you,” informed Redheart. “Oh and that vest and hair piece will have to come off. Just so I can really check you out. I’ll give it to Rarity to mend.”
Kerfuffle allowed the earth pony to once again lift her from the chair to the hospital bed. The pegasus seemed more sheepish than when Redheart lifted her by the front. She slowly took off her vest and hair piece and Redheart noted the laceration on the pegasus’s side.
“So you did receive an injury from the fall.”
Kerfuffle nodded. “I didn’t want ta make Rarity feel bad. Weren’t her fault my leg stopped working.”
“Lie down and I will take a look.”
Redheart began her normal exam. It started at the pegasus’s head. She lightly prodded and pressed her hooves around Kerfuffle’s body being sure to don her gloves prior. The pegasus didn’t react much. Redheart would ask if there was any pain every so often but was met with a head shake.
“Ooo,” Kerfuffle said and winced as the Nurse passed over her shoulder. There was some slight bruising but Redheart didn’t feel any crepitus or deformity. She found an ice pack and placed it on the pegasus’s side to help reduce the pain and swelling.
“Any other pain I should know about? Did you hit your head or pass out at all?” Redheart asked while attempting to gauge her patient’s reaction.
“No.”
The response was so curt that Redheart started to feel concerned. “Look, I know I might seem kind of rough but I do mean well. If you would like a different nurse I can get one for you. I don’t want any pony to feel that uncomfortable in my care.”
“What?! No!” Kerfuffle shouted and lifted her head to look at the concerned earth pony properly. “I’m just not used to all this attention. Yer hooves are very gentle fer some pony so strong.”
“I don’t think any pony has said that before, especially when I am examining a sore spot,” the nurse said, taken back by the sudden compliment. She deflected by pointing to the door, “Now then, here comes the doctor.”
Doctor Horse liked to give off the air of one who is confident and calm in all situations. When he wasn’t panicking. Which happened pretty regularly. This time the doctor seemed to feel he had everything in hoof. He sauntered into the room and glanced at Kerfuffle on the table.
“Hello I’m Doctor..gosh you’re cute.”
“Doctor! You are not allowed to say that to your patients!” Redheart berated.
“But when I say it to you, you hit me,” whined the Doc.
“You’ll get a hoofful now if you don’t treat this patient with respect.”
The Doctor sighed and resumed his lower more “doctor-like” voice. “Miss..” He paused and glanced at the patient care report. “Kerfuffle, it says here that you are having issues with your prosthetic leg and had a little tumble.”
“Yeah I did,” the pegasus admitted unashamedly. “I got a little cut on my shoulder and a little bruising but nothing too bad.”
“Is your leg functioning now?”
“Nah. It’s just hanging there, like a loose bit of yarn.”
“I see,” the Doctor said and peered at the offending limb as if his gaze alone would bring it back to life. When it didn’t, he placed his hooves on the limb and began to inspect it more thoroughly. Redheart wondered if the good doctor actually knew what he was doing despite his overtly confident expression.
Doctor Horse inspected the prosthetic and probed it with his hoof. He found the main power source then traced the wire array that directed the magic. He got to the ankle and said, “I think I found the problem. One of the wires is cut. I just have to find the wire trimmer and…”
The Doc’s treatment discussion was cut short as the wires arced and threw him against the wall. He crumpled and looked at Redheart with wide eyes.
“Oh no!” Kerfuffle shouted, sitting up in surprise. Shock and fear traced across her face.
“Doc?” Nurse Redheart asked and rushed to him. She placed her hoof on his carotid artery and prayed. She felt a slight quiver. The doctor’s chest wasn’t moving. “Oh no. He’s not breathing.”
She quickly grabbed the bag-valve mask hanging from the wall and placed it over the Doc’s mouth. She depressed the air filled bulb in the back. It forced the air through the mask and inflated the unconscious Doc’s lungs, causing his chest to rise.
Redheart felt adrenaline boiling up inside her, but knew better than to let it consume her. She allowed her mind just ten seconds of panic, each one followed by a breath. As they ticked away, her focus returned with sharp intensity - now was not the time for panic. She needed to manage the situation.
“Klinger! Ace! Snowheart! We need a crash cart and a hoof in here! Ivy, manage the floor.”
The stunned staff rushed to the nurse’s command. Each instruction was like a crack of lightning and had the same ferocity.
“What happened?!” Klinger immediately demanded rushing to the fallen pony’s side. “Does he have a pulse?!”
“It’s faint and I don’t think it’s viable. He got hit with a magical discharge,” Red explained. “We need to get him to the table to work on him. Snowheart, take over bagging. Ace, Klinger help lift him onto the table. I’ll get Kerfuffle off.”
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry,” Kerfuffle began to wail.
The team moved with panicked precision. The head nurse quickly lifted the light pegasus off the table and placed her in the nearby wheelchair. She tried holding the pegasus a second longer than she should have to help calm her down.
“Hey,” the nurse said, releasing the panicking Kerfuffle. “This isn’t your fault dear. The doctor should have known better than to touch wires without turning the magic off.”
“But it was my leg! Is he dead?!” the pale pegasus whimpered.
“No. And he won’t be until his wife finds out and then she will kill him.”
She gave Kerfuffle the warmest smile and was given a meek flushed face in return. Then she turned to assist the team. Ace was still squeezing the bag and Klinger was throwing a set of defibrillator pads onto the doctor’s chest. Nurse Snowheart was deftly finding a vein and inserted a long sharp needle into it.
“IV is in,” Snowheart declared.
“We have a rhythm,” Klinger said looking at the cardiac monitor.
Nurse Redheart watched the display as the lines rapidly traced across in high fast arcs. She could barely see any of the signifiers that helped her interpret the electrical activity. The panic threatened her again. The rhythm wouldn’t last long and soon his heart would fail. It was a lot harder to restart a heart then it was to knock back into rhythm.
“He’s in V Tach,” she definitively declared.
“What’s that?” Kerfuffle demanded. Her eyes were like saucer plates and her color still pale.
“It means his heart’s ventricles are firing too fast to fill with blood first,” Redheart explained. “It’s a rhythm we call ventricular tachycardia. It’s not good.”
“Oh dear.”
The earth pony didn’t want to upset her patient further but she always believed in telling the truth. She hoped that if she could explain what was happening Kerfuffle would calm down. Patients don’t like to be left in the dark and this one felt personally responsible.
“We can shock him back into a normal rhythm,” Klinger said as he charged the defibrillator. There was a practiced calm in his voice. Klinger had seen this multiple times before. “Hopefully.”
The device emitted this high-pitched whine that caused Kerfuffle to place her hooves in her ears.
“Clear!” shouted the Medic. The group pulled their hooves back in response as the Doc’s body jumped on the table. Ace was a little late but he knew the risks of keeping his hooves on the patient. The electricity that ran through the Doc’s body could easily pass into him. If he wasn’t careful they would have two patients with the same problem.
“We got nothing,” Nurse Redheart announced. It was a worst case scenario. If the rhythm didn’t convert back to its normal beat then the heart didn’t have long. “Snowheart administer the amiodarone.”
“The what?” Kerfuffle had wheeled closer to get a better look. The nurse nearly tripped over her.
“It’s an antiarrhythmic,” Redheart said with no heat, just purpose. “It helps the heart return to its regular rhythm. And please Kerfuffle I need some space”
“But I want ta help,” Kerfuffle said with a look of panicked determination.
“That’s cute..I mean appreciated. But we have it from here. Why don’t you wheel over there and I’ll talk to you when we’re done.”
“Amiodarone in.”
“Still in the same rhythm we’re going to shock again,” Klinger announced as his hoof caused the machine to begin its warning scream. “Clear!”
The doctor’s body jerked as the joules of electricity coursed through his body. Redheart could feel her breath still. She stared at the monitor and watched the rhythm. If her gaze were any more intense the monitor would have caught fire. The rest of the team waited.
The heart’s electrical system reset and it returned happily to the thing it did best. Pumping blood and keeping ponies alive.
“It’s back to sinus,” Redheart sighed. She could feel the adrenaline buzzing through her own body. She helped put an oxygen mask on the doc as he resumed breathing again. The other ponies in the room sighed in relief.
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Calling a code on the doctor: that's a new one.
Good job with the medical accuracy!
Nice job knowing that a defib is to be used to FIX a wrong rhythm and not restart a heart
11774905
It’s actually part of my job.