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“Yo, Kwon, you want some suturing practice?”
Joy startled, looking up from her phone screen. She’d fully tuned out from the world around her when Ogilvie had started monologuing to Whitaker about potential causes of bradycardia in the elderly. Santos was standing across from her, brows raised expectantly.
“Oh, Doctor Santos I’d love to—” Ogilvie started but Santos shook her head, glancing between him and Whitaker.
“Sounds like the two of you are about to be pretty busy with nursing home drop offs,” she gave Whitaker’s arm a playful punch and they exchanged the type of look that people gave each other when they were saying something without words. What they were saying, Joy couldn’t begin to guess, but the exchange ended with an eye roll from Whitaker and Santos looking back at her with a nod toward the north patient rooms.
Joy got up to follow her without a second thought. She’d hardly worked with Santos so far, but anything was better than having to listen to Ogilvie’s rambling.
“The patient came in with a laceration on the bottom of her foot,” Santos said as they walked. “Not deep enough for nerve damage and a nice straight line, perfect teaching case.”
“That you picked me for?” Joy couldn’t help the skepticism in her tone. She had very rarely been pulled individually into a case once since her rotation had started.
Santos looked at her impassively, “I mean, I can do it myself if you’d rather go back to farm boy and slenderman.”
“Please, no,” Joy said quickly and Santos snorted.
“Thought so. It’s like being trapped in a podcast you can’t turn off. Plus, it sucks when no one gives you the chance to actually get your hands dirty, huh?” Santos waved her fingers in some strange little jazz-hands motion and Joy didn’t have a response for that.
Pausing outside an exam room door, Santos knocked twice before stepping inside, Joy close behind her. The woman sitting on the bed seemed to be in her early twenties and Joy could see that blood was beginning to seep through the gauze that was taped to the sole of her foot. One of the nurses was already in the room. Princess, Joy was pretty sure, there were so many names to remember in the ED but she was trying her best.
“Hi again Tessa,” Santos greeted, stopping at the end of the bed and bending down to check the gauze. “This is Joy Kwon, one of our student doctors. Are you still okay with her helping out?”
“Yeah, that’s totally fine,” Tessa said.
Santos stepped back and gestured for Joy to pull over a stool and Joy felt a sudden surge of nerves at the idea that she was actually about to sew this woman’s skin closed. After spending so much time shadowing Whitaker, whose catch phrase seemed to be best to watch the first one it was both exciting and alarming how easily Santos let her take the reins.
“Can I ask what happened?” Joy asked Tessa as she sat down, gently pulling the gauze back from the wound.
“I was taking out the trash and stepped on a broken bottle. The glass went straight through my flip-flop,” Tessa said with a grimace.
“Yikes,” Joy said, and then she caught herself and added, “I’m sorry that happened.”
Tessa gave a dry laugh, “I think I’ll be wearing solid shoes to the dumpster from now on, that’s for sure.”
“Good thinking,” Joy said. Then she turned to Santos, “Was the wound sterilized already?”
“Yep, and she’s already been numbed up so we’re good to go,” Santos grabbed a second stool to sit beside Joy as Princess brought over a tray of everything they’d need to repair the cut.
It was kind of amazing to have the chance to practice her suturing skills without anyone breathing down her neck, waiting for her to make any minor misstep.
Santos talked her through each step of the procedure, thorough and calm as she let Joy work.
“Nice,” Santos said once she was done. “Want to explain at-home care and next steps?”
Joy nodded, looking back at Tessa. “You’re going to want to keep the wound dry as it heals. No weight on it while the stitches are in. If you notice and redness or oozing, come back so we can check for infection.”
“Thank you,” Tessa said.
“No problem,” Santos said. “Princess is going to make sure you get set up with some crutches before you leave. And you’ll need to come back in two weeks to have the stitches removed. Do you have any questions for us?”
“I think I’m good. Thanks again,” Tessa said.
Santos stood up and Joy followed suit.
“Take care, Tessa,” Santos said as they left the room.
“Good work in there,” she said to Joy as they walked back to the central hub.
“Thanks for letting me help,” Joy said. She felt a rush of relief when she glanced around and Ogilvie was nowhere in sight.
“Of course,” Santos said as she sat down at a computer. “This is your first rotation, right?”
“It is,” Joy said, keeping her tone neutral.
But apparently Santos saw through that. She didn’t even pause her typing as she said, “It’s okay if emergency med’s not your thing. I won’t be offended. What specialties are you actually interested in?”
“Ideally something that pays well and has an actual work-life balance,” Joy didn’t see the point in avoiding being honest any further.
Santos looked up at her with an amused expression, “If you’re going for derm, you can just say that.” She was good at reading people, Joy had to give that to her.
“I mean— it’s important to, like, keep my options open, right?” Joy had heard that dozens of times since starting med school.
“Yes, but there’s also nothing wrong with knowing what you want and going after it. No one’s gonna hand you anything in this career,” Santos said.
Before Joy could figure out how to reply to that, they were interrupted by Dana.
“Young woman with acute abdominal pain in north three, can I get you on that Doctor Santos?”
“Sure thing,” Santos replied, locking the computer as she stood up. “You coming?” She said to Joy, who nodded and followed her.
“What are we looking for with this one?” Santos asked as they walked down the hall.
There were almost too many possibilities, but Joy began to list anything she could think of. “Appendicitis. Gyn-related issues, we’ll have to check for pregnancy but it could also be a cyst or ovarian torsion. Maybe something gastro, like an ulcer?”
“Solid list, let’s go,” Santos said as they stepped into the patient’s room, where Perlah was already waiting for them.
“Good morning,” Santos greeted the patient. “I’m Doctor Trinity Santos and this is one of our student doctors, Joy Kwon. Is it okay if she joins us?”
“That’s fine,” the patient said.
“Great,” Santos replied. “And can I ask your name and what brought you in today?”
“Erin. And I’m having a lot of pain in my lower stomach.”
“Can you tell me more about the pain? Did it come on suddenly?”
“It did,” Erin said. “I woke up to it this morning, just out of nowhere. And it’s sharp, it feels like I’m being stabbed.”
“And did you do anything recently that could’ve caused any injuries, that could’ve pulled something?”
“No,” Erin said. “I had the whole week off of work and I’ve just been using it to catch up on rest.”
Santos turned to Perlah, “Can you page Garcia? We’ll need a consult on this one.”
Then she turned back to Erin, “Is it one specific area, or a more general pain?”
“It’s mostly on my lower left side,” Erin touched a spot just beside her left hip, “here.”
“Do you mind if I touch you there?” Santos waited for Erin to nod before placing her hand on her stomach. “Does it hurt more when I put pressure on the area?”
Erin shrugged, “It’s about the same, I think.”
“Okay,” Santos said. “I have just a few more questions. Is there any chance you could be pregnant?”
“No,” Erin laughed, “that would be quite a surprise to me and my girlfriend.”
And the way Santos grinned at that and said, “I feel you there,” confirmed a suspicion that Joy had had. “Do you have any history of ovarian cysts or endometriosis?”
“Nope, this is the first time I’ve ever experienced anything like this,” Erin said.
“Alright, we’ll start you on some meds for the pain and—” a knock at the door cut Santos off.
“What’s up party people?”
Joy turned to see Garcia walking into the room. She paused at the end of the bed, “I’m Doctor Yolanda Garcia, one of the surgeons here. Catch me up?” Garcia turned to Santos with a smile.
That was weird. Joy had only ever seen Garcia treat the ED staff with thinly veiled derision, she never went around smiling at people.
Santos looked at Joy, “Tell her what we’re working with.” She didn’t seem to sense anything off about Garcia’s behavior, so Joy just put that aside in her mind.
And Joy tried not to show how intimidated she felt presenting the case to Garcia as she ran through their findings so far.
“Perfect,” Garcia said, as she moved to perform her own brief exam.
“I was about to order an ultrasound when you showed up,” Santos added.
“Sounds like a plan,” Garcia said, stepping back.
“We’ll be back as soon as we have the ultrasound results, okay Erin?” Santos said and Joy followed her and Garcia to the door.
“Thanks,” Erin called out behind them and Joy could hear Perlah beginning to explain what the next steps would be.
“I can’t believe you’re poaching Whitaker’s ducklings,” Garcia said to Santos as the door closed behind them
“Just the one,” Santos argued with a smile. “He still has custody of the boy genius.”
Garcia snorted, “Good luck to him. Call me once you get those results, yeah?”
Joy was pretty sure she wasn’t hallucinating when she saw Garcia’s fingers run across Santos’s lower back as she walked away. Very interesting. She really wanted to gather more intel on whatever was going on there.
Unfortunately, this time when they made it back to the hub Dana stopped her.
“Joy, Doctor Al-Hashimi wants all of the med students in trauma one. I was just about to come look for you.”
“Okay, thanks Dana,” Joy said, holding back a sigh.
Santos patted her on the shoulder, it was hard to tell whether the motion was sarcastic or sympathetic, it might’ve been both. “Catch you later.”
Heading for trauma one, Joy felt a bit like she was heading toward her own execution as she spotted Ogilvie already in the room. Not to be dramatic about it or anything.
“Hey Samira, mind if I steal Kwon?”
Joy had been standing at the edge of one of the curtained-off central patient beds, watching as Javadi and Ogilvie desperately vied for Mohan’s attention.
Mohan looked at Santos, who’d made the request, then looked at Joy with her eyebrows raised mildly in surprise.
And Joy couldn’t help the way she perked up at the question. She knew Santos was on triage the following morning, so she had no idea what could be worth pulling her for. But she was more than happy to go when she’d been trapped in between Ogilvie and Javadi and their beef with each other all morning.
With a shrug, Mohan said, “Yeah, of course.”
“Awesome, come on,” Santos nodded toward the hall. Joy followed her without question.
“You said you’re interested in derm, yeah?” Santos asked and Joy nodded. “Well, I’ve got this gnarly bleeding mole we’re gonna have to remove and send to the lab. I thought you might want in.”
The mole really was gnarly, and Joy felt oddly touched that Santos had thought of her to help with it.
Once again, Santos walked her through the procedure step-by-step, letting Joy do the actual work.
“Now when you’re on your derm rotation and a mole removal comes up, you get to brag about how you’ve already done those before,” Santos said after they’d finished with the patient.
“Yeah, thanks for letting me help,” Joy said.
“No problem,” Santos said. “You might as well get something out of this rotation.”
After the mole removal Joy just… stayed in triage. Maybe she was leaning into the whole duckling thing too much with how she was following Santos around, but it was better than going back to the other med students. And Santos didn’t seem to mind.
“Time to head back,” Santos said around noon. “We only have a doctor on triage for the first few hours unless we’re crazy slammed. You can keep shadowing me if you want, though.”
“Really?” Joy was surprised by that, she’d been waiting for Santos to brush her off all morning.
“Unless someone more senior needs you for something,” Santos shrugged. When Joy just stared at her she added, “Look, I know what it’s like to be overshadowed by a know-it-all white dude. Take the offer or don’t,” she took a step backward, spreading her hands.
“Yeah, okay, thanks,” Joy wasn’t going to question her any further. She had a feeling that would just end up with Santos rescinding her offer. Plus, Joy would really like the opportunity to try to piece together what was up with Santos’s various interpersonal relationships.
“Cool, let’s check out the board,” Santos began walking again, not waiting to check if Joy was following, because of course she was.
With any luck, she could manage to avoid Ogilvie for at least a few more hours.