It had been 2 months since Meghan’s last admission to the hospital, and she was grateful for every day that passed. It had been a hard summer, learning to be content with knitting, cooking, and hanging out at home while getting adjusted to life with a chronic illness. Oh, how she itched to get back on the ambulance! But her two ICU stays had pressed home the fact that life had changed and she needed to back off until she was adjusted and used to her new medications.

That realization didn’t come easily, of course. She still had a tendency to want to do more than her system would allow, and paid for it the next day. Mitch, Kelsey, and Rick had all had to sit on her and her ambitions a few times for her own good, and looking back she was grateful, even if it did mean her independent streak took a hit.

Meghan was able to keep abreast of the goings-on with the department through frequent invitations to breakfast with the crews and visits to the station. Her coworkers regaled her with stories of the juicier runs, and her boss, Brandi, let her come hang out as much as she needed to keep her sanity.

Rick Brant kept up his pursuit of a relationship, taking her out for coffee, dinner, and an occasional weekend shopping trip. Meghan was becoming more comfortable with spending time with him, and was warming up to the idea of being his steady girlfriend.

Meghan pulled over her planner and looked over the week to see what was coming up. Classes at the school were scheduled to start in a couple of weeks, and she and Fred were going to co-teach again this semester the two classes. Part of it was a concession to Meghan’s recent health issues, and partly because the two had enjoyed sharing the teaching responsibility. Meghan had helped Fred this summer with some of the medic classes. She enjoyed the teaching, but it still wasn’t a big enough draw to settle for teaching when there was still hope to actively work on the ambulance again in her future.

I need to get over to the school this week, she thought. Teacher orientation is… next week. She flipped to the next week to confirm. Fred and I need to put in a workday with the store room, and I need to see if there are any supplies we need to order. Thankfully, I finished the lesson plans last week.

She flipped back to the current week. Kelsey was supposed to go back onto the ward full-time later this week. Meghan smiled fondly at the thought of her sister, and how hard she had worked to recover from her knife accident.

Meghan picked up a letter she had placed in her planner, sighed, and looked at the envelope, tapping it on the table. Her current apartment lease was up in a couple of months, and she held the notice to renew. Meghan really didn’t want to renew – too far away from family and the station, and she was definitely over climbing to the third floor every time she went out. She pulled a flier from the front of her planner for another apartment complex in town. I should just sign with them – the ground floor apartment would be ideal, and it’s closer to everything. She sighed. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to relocate – she just didn’t want to pack.

She had been discussing the possibility of moving with Rick, who was encouraging her to go for it. He had gone with her to tour the facilities, and was impressed himself. “Laundry facilities inside the apartment? Sure beats the laundromat! And it’d be ground floor – no more hauling groceries up three flights of stairs.”

“Just because you get tired of carrying milk up three flights of stairs isn’t a reason for me to get a ground floor apartment,” Meghan had argued, laughing. “Besides, I thought that all of the stairs were considered good exercise.”

Mitch and Kelsey, who had been with them for dinner that night, laughed. Mitch raised his eyebrows at Meghan. “Oh? You weren’t saying that when you had the broken leg.”

Meghan nodded thoughtfully. “True. And it’s not that I don’t want a better location – and floor level. I just hate all of the packing and unpacking.”

“Who doesn’t? But you have an opportunity for a prime apartment, and I think you said the price isn’t much of a difference from where you’re at now,” Kelsey pointed out, taking a bite of her steak.

Meghan had nodded in agreement, and she found herself nodding again as she remembered the conversation. She sighed again, then reached for her phone. A quick phone call to the apartment confirmed the apartment was still available and had the application paperwork on its way to her inbox.

I’ll work on that later, and get it and the application fee off this afternoon. What else is going on this week? Maybe Rick or Mitch will help me get some boxes so I can start packing. Meghan turned back to her planner.

Friday had been bolded and written in red: Rick’s birthday. He wanted to take her to a nice Italian restaurant, and she had agreed. She started musing about what to wear when the sounds from the pool behind her building caught her attention.

The occasional peal of laughter and shriek of kids enjoying the water during the summer heat had turned into yells for help. The apartment pool was “Use at your own risk”, as there were no lifeguard services provided. Meghan grabbed a pair of gloves and her phone and ran down the stairs as quickly as she could, then down the corridor to the pool.

Two adults were in the pool, pulling a teenager up from the bottom of the pool and towards the side. “Call 911!” Meghan directed another woman, pulled on her gloves, and crouched down at the edge of the pool closest to the men. “What happened?” She helped pull the teen up onto the concrete. He wasn’t breathing, so she started rescue breathing while reaching to check for a carotid pulse. She sighed in relief inwardly at the bounding under her fingertips. The teen coughed and brought up some water, breathing on his own. He was still unconscious, though.

“Parker was showing off and dived off the side of the pool. I think he hit his head on the bottom or something,” one of the men said, standing next to Meghan and drying off with a towel. “Shouldn’t we turn him on his side or something to keep him from swallowing more water?”

Meghan, who was doing a quick injury exam, shook her head. “No, we need to keep him as still as possible. The firefighters will get him secured to a board just in case there is a head or back injury.” Not finding any major injuries or broken bones, Meghan made her way up to Parker’s head and held C-spine stabilization. “Are Parker’s parents here?”

The other man who had pulled Parker out of the water stood up from where he was drying off. “I’m his dad. What do you need?”

“How old is Parker?” Meghan asked. “Does he have any medical issues?”

“He’s 18, headstrong, and stupid,” his dad answered. “We warned him against diving into a shallow pool, but it’s not like he listens anymore.” He sighed. “As far as I know, he doesn’t have any health issues, and doesn’t take any medications.”

Meghan nodded. “Thanks. That will be good information for the hospital.”

“Should I be worried that he isn’t waking up?” His dad seemed to be becoming more aware that Parker wasn’t in a good condition.

“It is worrisome,” Meghan agreed. She heard sirens in the distance. “Good – the fire crews are almost here. They’ll take good care of Parker and get him to the hospital. They’ll allow you to ride with him.”

The fire engine pulled up first. The crew exited the vehicle and started for the poolside. The engine captain got to them first. “Meghan! Long time no see! What do you need?”

Meghan greeted them. “Hey Cap’n. I need backboard and collar and some vitals. He dived and hit his head.”

Captain Bowers nodded and radioed his crew to get what Meghan had requested. Soon, strong hands helped her logroll Parker onto his side, slip the backboard behind him, and get him secured to the board. A cervical collar was secured around his neck, and his head was secured.

Meghan squinted at the sun in her eyes. “Let’s move him to the shadow of the engine and get a set of vitals. Do we have an ETA on the ambulance?”

Bowers nodded. “They were about 10 minutes behind us. It’s been a busy day for everyone today.”

Meghan frowned. “Let’s get him in the shade and I’ll do what I can to get him ready for them. Do you guys carry fluids, or are you strictly BLS?” She walked alongside the backboard as the crew carried Parker into the shade of the fire engine. One of the crew had already pulled the EMS bags and had them waiting for her.

“We are BLS, but as we get more paramedics trained and on the rigs, they are having us carry advanced kits. Are you wanting an IV setup?” Bowers asked.

Meghan nodded. “I’ll go ahead and get a couple lines started for EMS while we wait for them to show up.” She knelt down next to one of the firefighters who was getting vital signs. “Got some vitals for me, Mark?”

He nodded and handed her his pen so she could write them down. “BP is 156/92, pulse 112, respirations 18. He didn’t respond to anything. Do you want us to hook him up to the monitor?”

“Yes, please.” She accepted the IV supplies that Bowers handed her. “Thanks. Go ahead and put him on 2 liters of oxygen by nasal cannula, please.” She applied a tourniquet and inserted the first of 2 IVs by the time they heard the faint sound of sirens in the distance. Meghan nodded to herself, switched sides, and had a heplock inserted on the other side by the time they pulled up.

Jerry and Tamara were working today. “Meghan! What do you have? And what are you doing here?”

“Hi to you too, Jerry,” Meghan said. She gestured towards the apartment behind them. “Home sweet home. I heard shouts for help at the pool and went to investigate.” She gestured to their patient. “This is Parker. Eighteen-year-old who dove from the side of the pool and hit his head on the bottom. Our pool is only 5 feet deep at one end. Had to initiate rescue breathing for approximately a minute after extrication from the water.” She rattled off the last set of vital signs and relayed the information about the IVs she’d started while Tamara and the fire crew got Parker secured to the ambulance cot.

Meghan followed them to the ambulance and hopped inside as Jerry did his initial assessment. “Jerry, no signs of cerebrospinal fluid or blood in the ears, but there is a bruise forming behind his left ear. Pupils are unequal and sluggish.”

She heard the passenger door open and shut. Tamara popped her head in the back. “Dad’s in the front seat, Jerry. Need anything?”

“Just speed and some good luck for this kid. Okay, guys, we gotta go. Chat soon, squirt,” he added, as Meghan exited the ambulance and shut the doors behind her.

The ambulance pulled out and raced off towards the trauma center, lights flashing and siren blaring. Meghan stripped off her gloves and headed back towards the mess she had made by the engine.

“What do you think, Meghan?” Captain Bowers asked.

She shook her head. “Definite head injury. He’s probably going to be headed for surgery. There’s reasons why our pool has signs saying not to dive.” She picked up trash, sticking it in the sack Mark held out to her. “Here, I’ll take the bag. I’ll put it out with my trash pickup tonight.”

Mark smiled and handed her the bag. “So you live here? It was good you were here to help.”

“Yeah, for another couple of months. I’m planning to move closer to work if I get approved for the apartment I found.”

“Well, if you need help moving, just spread the word. I’m sure you’ll be able to get enough help to load and unload a moving van.” Mark smiled again, then opened his door to the engine. “Take care Meghan, and we’ll see you at the next breakfast.”

Captain Bowers waved, and the engine pulled out, heading back to base.

Meghan climbed the stairs back to her apartment, depositing the bag of trash outside her door for valet pickup. She could feel her pulse bounding, and went into her bathroom to grab her pulse ox and blood pressure cuff. She hooked herself up, and waited for the blood pressure cuff to cycle. Good, everything is staying in normal ranges… Well, except for my pulse, but then again that always goes up with those confounded stairs. Three floors of stairs for a year, you’d think I’d be in better shape, she laughed to herself.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw it was Jerry calling. “Hey Jerry.”

Hey Squirt. Thought you’d like an update.

“Oh, yes, please.”

The kid is going up to surgery for a subdural hematoma. Surgeon doesn’t seem very optimistic about the prognosis, though.

Meghan let out a huff of air through her teeth. “That’s not good. Thanks for letting me know.”

If I hear anything else, I’ll pass it along. How are you doing?

“I’m doing okay. I did a set of personal vitals once I got back in my apartment, and everything is firmly in the normal range. Dr. Woodruff said that I might be about ready to get back to the rig in another month or two, provided everything stayed like it needed to. I guess today was a good test.” She smiled.

That’s great, Meghan. But make sure you don’t push further than you should. We want you back 100%. Oh! I think there’s a breakfast planned for Thursday. I’ll shoot you a text as soon as that’s confirmed. Meghan heard tones in the background. Gotta go – car wreck. Talk at you later!

Meghan hung up. Parker was precariously close to being one of the statistics listed every year for diving accidents. She sighed. Her good mood from earlier was replaced with some depression. I wonder who I can call? She mused for a minute, then dialed her sister’s house.