She got on the elevator behind Dr. Navarre, who introduced her to an anesthesiologist. Marissa returned the man’s greeting, but her thoughts were elsewhere. She was certain that her seeing the patients at that moment was not going to accomplish anything except to make her feel “exposed.” This issue had not occurred to her while taking the introductory course back in Atlanta. Suddenly it seemed like a big problem. Yet what could she say?
They arrived at the nurses’ station on the fifth floor. Dr. Navarre took the time to introduce Marissa to the night staff, who were making their initial preparations to change shifts.
“All seven patients are on this floor,” said Dr. Navarre. “It has some of our most experienced personnel. The two in critical condition are in separate cubicles in the medical intensive-care unit just across the hall. The rest are in private rooms. Here are the charts.” With an open palm, he thumped a pile stacked on the corner of the counter top. “I assume you’d like to see Dr. Richter first.” Dr. Navarre handed Richter’s chart to Marissa.
The first thing she looked at was the “vital-sign” sheet. Beginning his fifth hospital day, she noticed that the doctor’s blood pressure was falling and his temperature was rising. Not a good omen. Rapidly she perused the chart. She knew that she’d have to go over it carefully later. But even a cursory glance convinced her that the workup had been superb, better than she could have done herself. The laboratory work had been exhaustive. Again she wondered what in God’s name she was doing there pretending to be an authority.
Going back to the beginning of the chart, Marissa read the section entitled “history of the present illness.” Something jumped out at her right away. Six weeks previous to the onset of symptoms Dr. Richter had attended an ophthalmological convention in Nairobi, Kenya.
She read on, her interest piqued. One week prior to his illness, Dr. Richter had attended an eyelid surgery conference in San Diego. Two days prior to admission he’d been bitten by a Cercopitheceus aethiops, whatever the hell that was. She showed it to Dr. Navarre.
“It’s a type of monkey,” said Dr. Navarre. “Dr. Richter always has a few of them on hand for his ocular herpes research.”
Marissa nodded. She glanced again at the laboratory values and noted that the patient had a low white count, a low ESR and low thrombocytes. Other lab values indicated liver and kidney malfunction. Even the EKG showed mild abnormalities. This guy was virulently sick.
Marissa laid the chart down on the counter.
“Ready?” questioned Dr. Navarre.
Although Marissa nodded that she was, she would have preferred to put off confronting the patients. She had no delusions of grandeur that she would uncover some heretofore missed, but significant, physical sign, and thereby solve the mystery. Her seeing the patients at that point was pure theater and, unfortunately, risky business. She followed Dr. Navarre reluctantly.
They entered the intensive-care unit, with its familiar backdrop of complicated electronic machinery. The patients were immobile victims, secured with tangles of wires and plastic tubing. There was the smell of alcohol, the sound of respirators and cardiac monitors. There was also the usual high level of nursing activity.
“We’ve isolated Dr. Richter in this side room,” said Dr. Navarre, stopping at the closed doorway. To the left of the door was a window, and inside the room Marissa could make out the patient. Like the others in the unit, he was stretched out beneath a canopy of intravenous bottles. Behind him was a cathode-ray tube with a continuous EKG tracing flashing across its screen.
“I think you’d better put on a mask and gown,” said Dr. Navarre. “We’re observing isolation precautions on all the patients for obvious reasons.”
“By all means,” said Marissa, trying not to sound too eager. If she had her way, she’d climb into a plastic bubble. She slipped on the gown and helped herself to a hat, mask, booties, and even rubber gloves. Dr. Navarre did likewise.
Unaware she was doing it, Marissa breathed shallowly as she looked down at the patient, who, in irreverent vernacular, looked as if he was about to “check out.” His color was ashen, his eyes sunken, his skin slack. There was a bruise over his right cheekbone; his lips were dry, and dried blood was caked on his front teeth.