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Sep. 29th, 2007 08:36 pmHis meeting with Harry could have gone worse, but the outcome is far from what Guppy hoped. Disappointed, he left London early, considering trying to catch some sleep on the train.
Except some moron keeps pulling the emergency cord. And this kid keeps bouncing a ball. And then the train isn't even going to stop at his station any more.
"Passengers for Holby please alight at the next station."
Shoving the newspaper in his bag. 'A disaster waiting to happen', he gets off the train and ends up on the platform with bouncy ball kid.
Bounce.
Bounce.
The ball goes on the track down a drain.
Thank goodness for that, he's been doing it for hours
The boy jumps down onto the line and puts his hand through to get it.
Guppy frowns.
"Hey. That track's live."
Doesn't this kid's Dad have any idea about railway safety?
The father jumps down to get him out. Except now the kid's arm is stuck. Looking anxiously around for trains, Guppy grabs a tub of vaseline from his bag and jumps down next to father and son.
When this has no effect, Guppy jumps back onto the platform to get the emergency phone. Except it's broken. Feeling a wave of panic, he leaps back down and tries to help.
"You're going to break his arm!" the father wails as they try turning it this way and that.
"Well what else can we do?" Guppy looks at the board. "It's delayed by five minutes."
"Thank God." The father says, until the reason for the delay sinks in.
There's a train coming. Not just coming, coming now.
He doesn't even have time to scream, he just pulls, hanging on until even the father has dived sideways. A fraction of a second before the train roars over the track the bone cracks and Guppy hauls the boy out of the way.
Clutching the screaming child tight, Guppy feels the rush of air from the train and his own heart beating like it would explode. And then in an instant the noise and rush subsides, and he's staring into the horrified eyes of the boy's father.
All three of them are shaking like leaves as Guppy and the father haul the boy onto the platform. Guppy checks him over, the father calling an ambulance as the typical Holby Rain begins to pour over their meagre shelter. Bruises on the child's legs, old ones. A new one on his head where they landed.
He's almost stopped shaking by the time the ambulance gets to Holby City, the nearest hospital and the one he, until recently, worked in. He stops to tell Maggie what happened. When the boy, Bailey, goes to X-ray, Guppy goes to chat to the parents.
The mother threatens to sue him for breaking the kid's arm. He has neither the energy nor the will to defend himself, but instead helps take Bailey back to Resus to manipulate his arm. The very idea of doing this without waiting for the orthopods fills him with panic, particularly because the mother is watching over him. Somehow, he manages to hold on under pressure, and the manipulation goes smoothly, under sedation.
"Stay and stick this one out." Maggie says, as Nathan winges that he's not insured. Agreeing that he'd like to make sure the boy is all right, he grabs a coffee and settles nearby to wait.
"Guppy?" Kelsey beckons him over with a worried expression. "He's not waking up."
He investigates. Sluggish pupils. This is not your day Bailey He calls for the anaesthetist, suspecting an internal bleed.
The father starts blaming him, but he's not in the mood for that, not now. Guppy asks about the bruises, glancing at the blood test results and realises the previous injuries are a symptom of haemophilia. With the pieces of the jigsaw put together, he's on the phone to the neurosurgeons before waiting for Maggie to come back.
Maggie comes back with the CT scan, the kid has a massive brain haematoma and can't wait an hour and a half for the two theatres to become free. Maggie pleads with the surgeons, before the team collect to work out what on earth they're going to do.
"I've never done a burrhole procedure before." She says, fear in her eyes. No consultant. No surgeons.
"This is not Cambodia." Charlie says, eying Guppy with the well trained eye of a nurse knowing what a doctor is thinking.
Guppy talks Maggie through it. Nice and gently, through outer table, let the drill do the work. through inner table.
The hole's in the wrong place.
They have to make a second hole. Maggie's hands are shaking so much that Guppy gently takes over. Sod insurance. He does it as he did before. A gush of blood through the skull hole shows him that he was successful.
With the praise of his former colleagues in hand, he steps away from Holby City Hospital once again, looking around at the familiar place before knocking into someone.
"Harry?"
"Just don't stay I told you so."
Except some moron keeps pulling the emergency cord. And this kid keeps bouncing a ball. And then the train isn't even going to stop at his station any more.
"Passengers for Holby please alight at the next station."
Shoving the newspaper in his bag. 'A disaster waiting to happen', he gets off the train and ends up on the platform with bouncy ball kid.
Bounce.
Bounce.
The ball goes on the track down a drain.
Thank goodness for that, he's been doing it for hours
The boy jumps down onto the line and puts his hand through to get it.
Guppy frowns.
"Hey. That track's live."
Doesn't this kid's Dad have any idea about railway safety?
The father jumps down to get him out. Except now the kid's arm is stuck. Looking anxiously around for trains, Guppy grabs a tub of vaseline from his bag and jumps down next to father and son.
When this has no effect, Guppy jumps back onto the platform to get the emergency phone. Except it's broken. Feeling a wave of panic, he leaps back down and tries to help.
"You're going to break his arm!" the father wails as they try turning it this way and that.
"Well what else can we do?" Guppy looks at the board. "It's delayed by five minutes."
"Thank God." The father says, until the reason for the delay sinks in.
There's a train coming. Not just coming, coming now.
He doesn't even have time to scream, he just pulls, hanging on until even the father has dived sideways. A fraction of a second before the train roars over the track the bone cracks and Guppy hauls the boy out of the way.
Clutching the screaming child tight, Guppy feels the rush of air from the train and his own heart beating like it would explode. And then in an instant the noise and rush subsides, and he's staring into the horrified eyes of the boy's father.
All three of them are shaking like leaves as Guppy and the father haul the boy onto the platform. Guppy checks him over, the father calling an ambulance as the typical Holby Rain begins to pour over their meagre shelter. Bruises on the child's legs, old ones. A new one on his head where they landed.
He's almost stopped shaking by the time the ambulance gets to Holby City, the nearest hospital and the one he, until recently, worked in. He stops to tell Maggie what happened. When the boy, Bailey, goes to X-ray, Guppy goes to chat to the parents.
The mother threatens to sue him for breaking the kid's arm. He has neither the energy nor the will to defend himself, but instead helps take Bailey back to Resus to manipulate his arm. The very idea of doing this without waiting for the orthopods fills him with panic, particularly because the mother is watching over him. Somehow, he manages to hold on under pressure, and the manipulation goes smoothly, under sedation.
"Stay and stick this one out." Maggie says, as Nathan winges that he's not insured. Agreeing that he'd like to make sure the boy is all right, he grabs a coffee and settles nearby to wait.
"Guppy?" Kelsey beckons him over with a worried expression. "He's not waking up."
He investigates. Sluggish pupils. This is not your day Bailey He calls for the anaesthetist, suspecting an internal bleed.
The father starts blaming him, but he's not in the mood for that, not now. Guppy asks about the bruises, glancing at the blood test results and realises the previous injuries are a symptom of haemophilia. With the pieces of the jigsaw put together, he's on the phone to the neurosurgeons before waiting for Maggie to come back.
Maggie comes back with the CT scan, the kid has a massive brain haematoma and can't wait an hour and a half for the two theatres to become free. Maggie pleads with the surgeons, before the team collect to work out what on earth they're going to do.
"I've never done a burrhole procedure before." She says, fear in her eyes. No consultant. No surgeons.
"This is not Cambodia." Charlie says, eying Guppy with the well trained eye of a nurse knowing what a doctor is thinking.
Guppy talks Maggie through it. Nice and gently, through outer table, let the drill do the work. through inner table.
The hole's in the wrong place.
They have to make a second hole. Maggie's hands are shaking so much that Guppy gently takes over. Sod insurance. He does it as he did before. A gush of blood through the skull hole shows him that he was successful.
With the praise of his former colleagues in hand, he steps away from Holby City Hospital once again, looking around at the familiar place before knocking into someone.
"Harry?"
"Just don't stay I told you so."
