Chapter 14 - The Code
“Get medical in here now!” Frank roared into his radio, running into the hallway. “Code Blue, Room 412! I need an emergency resuscitation team right now!”
I grabbed the IV line connected to Emily’s arm and ripped the plastic catheter straight out of her vein. Blood—thin, watery, bright red blood that showed no sign of clotting—welled up from the puncture site.
I grabbed a towel from the bedside stand and pressed it down with all my strength.
“Emily, look at me!” I begged, leaning over her face. “Emily, stay with me, baby! Look at Mama!”
Emily’s eyes fluttered. Her pupils were sluggish, barely reacting to the light. “Mom...?” she whispered, her voice barely a dry rasp. “My chest... it hurts so bad... I can’t breathe...”
“I know, baby. Help is coming. Don’t you close your eyes!”
Dr. Hale burst into the room, flanked by two County General trauma nurses who had followed the FBI transport convoy.
“Out of the way, Carol!” Hale barked, dropping his medical bag onto the bed. “She received at least three thousand units of unfractionated Heparin on top of the Coumadin toxicity!”
“What do we do?” I cried, my hands soaked in my daughter’s blood.
“Protamine sulfate!” Hale shouted to the lead nurse. “One milligram per hundred units of Heparin! Push fifty milligrams IV push right now! And get four units of prothrombin complex concentrate hanging immediately!”
The room transformed into an organized nightmare.
Alarms screamed. Monitors beeped wildly.
Emily’s heart rate was spiking: *140... 155... 170.*
“Her blood pressure is bottoming out!” the nurse yelled. “Seventy over forty! She’s going into hypovolemic shock!”
“Charge the paddles to one-fifty!” Hale ordered, grabbing the defibrillator leads. “She’s slipping into ventricular tachycardia!”
“No, no, no,” I sobbed, being pushed back against the wall by an agent. “Emily! Fight it! Chloe needs you! I need you!”
The flatline tone hit the room.
A high-pitched, continuous, unending electronic shriek:
*EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.*
“Clear!” Hale shouted.
Emily’s body arched off the mattress as the electric shock jolted through her chest.
She landed back on the bed with a dead, heavy thud.
The monitor didn't change.
Still flat.
“Charge to two hundred!” Hale yelled, sweat pouring off his forehead. “Clear!”
Another shock.
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Nothing.
***
