Chapter Text
Fact #1: Frank Langdon was 33 when he became an R4 at PTMC.
- 33 is just slightly too old for most people to be R4, and that is because Frank doesn't know how to say no to things.
- The age discrepancy is due to the fact that Frank took a gap year in between med school and residency because his program offered a first-ever trial partnership with Doctors Without Borders. Frank's advisor suggested the program was a good way to gain experience in the field, and it would look good on a resume if he did choose to pursue EM. The program promised a safe, supervised foray into the world of emergency field medicine. Frank said yes.
- Frank started working in the field hospital alongside a handful of other doctors across different backgrounds, nationalities and experiences. He was assigned to work under Dr. Helen Kihirini and alongside a girl named Alina who also served as a translator between doctor and patient.
- She wanted to learn basic medicine because she suspected her brother had an autoimmune disorder. She sang in the closet when fetching supplies when she thought no one was listening.
- The war broke out 3 months later.
- While the field hospital was civilian run and not a military organized endeavor, that did not end up mattering at the end. The American embassy had more urgent issues than trying to extract a random med student in a remote town in the middle of nowhere. When they came, they took what they thought could be used and disposed of the rest. They found them in the closet. He watched as a scalpel opened a carotid, and Alina's blood soaked into the puppy pads she once sang to.
- War is expensive, and Frank is an American, as evidenced by the passport he was told to always keep in a pouch under his scrubs. He was dumped in what looked like a cave with various other bodies strewn around it. Frank hadn't really had the chance to examine American military uniforms too closely before, but the red, white and blue stitched on was a pretty good indicator of who they were.
- Two were beyond saving. The other two had some kind of upper airway obstruction, but one of them had a penetrating wound to the abdomen. Frank had half a cric kit stashed in his cargo pants. He made a choice.
- The rescue came sometime later, he couldn't really tell when. He later found that five bodies were carried out of that cave. Two were breathing.
Fact #2: Frank Langdon is one hell of a doctor,
- and doctors really do make the worst patients.
- The CT scan told him he has a first signs of a slipped disc, and the orthopedist told him he should keep tabs on it. He got a script for some muscle relaxers for the bad days. There weren't too many of those.
- Dr. Michael Robinavitch had the kind of face that made you want to make him proud. Frank never really figured out why that was the case, but he figured it was something about the permanently tired eyes that had him pushing himself to the limit for the slightest hint of a nod of approval from the man. The ER was a jumbled mess of organized chaos, and Frank thrived in the midst of it all. Who knew doing a tracheotomy was more fun with the proper equipment and while not being dehydrated in a dark cave?
- The ER involved a lot more heavy lifting than Frank would have initially thought. Between moving the patients from the stretcher to the gurney, to transporting equipment, to some of the actually procedures they had to complete, there were more bad days now than when he first started. A trip back to ortho confirmed that his lifestyle was unsustainable, and the injury was progressing rather than improving. Surgery was recommended.
- The insurance coverage from the hospital as a resident was shit. He really couldn't afford to take out more loans over the ones he had from med school, and with a wife and kid on the way he needed to keep working. Surely, he could make it until he made attending. Then, with a higher paycheck and better insurance, he could get that surgery.
- The R4 graduated and transferred to a different hospital. They had an unusually high fraction of female med students and interns this year. Frank had to take those video trainings on how to lift patients properly, but who was thinking of those when you had an incoming trauma? Robby, Shen, and Frank bore the brunt of the weight for most of the stretcher transfers. Frank had more bad days than good ones, now. When Robby looked at him with those proud eyes, Frank felt like he would do anything for him.
- Tanner was born 7 pounds, 2 ounces the week after Frank finished R2. When he held his son for the first time, Frank swore that he would do anything to make sure he got a better life than the one Frank grew up with.
- Frank supposed that one benefit of having to wake up every two hours to a screaming baby was that he wasn't really bothered by the nightmares anymore.
- Louie never took all of his Librium, and while Frank knew that he wasn't overly emotional or sympathetic like Samira was towards her patients, Louie had already been in the ER 6 times in as many months. The next time Louie came in, Frank made him bring his half full Librium prescription bottle with him so he knew how much he had to lecture him for. He really hoped Louie got better. He was a good man.
- Collins definitely had a situation with Robby. Frank made sure to needle her about it an appropriate amount in the break room. Collins denied anything and everything, but Frank wasn't blind. He had eyes, and a wife. He knew when flirting was taking place right under his nose. Robby was many things, but subtle he was not. It was probably breaking every HR policy under the sun, and the ethics of it were questionable, but Frank was just glad Robby was looking happier without the whole weight of the world on his shoulders.
- Frank refused to be the one to put the permanently worried frown back on his face. Robby needed him. Frank needed Robby to need him. Frank was a good doctor.
- Louie never took all of his Librium.
- Trinity Santos was a pain in his ass. She was too mouthy for her own good, does not respect him enough, does not respect Robby enough, and looks at him like he's murdered her kittens when they've known each other for a total of 5 hours. She made risky calls that might work, but the risk wasn't warranted. Not here in a fully stocked ER where they could run all the tests in the world. She didn't have the gut instinct yet for these things, not without the years of experience of looking at thousands of people dying in various horrific ways.
- Mel was an angel.
- It turns out Santos had some correct gut instincts, just not for the ones he wanted her to have.
- Pittfest was a clusterfuck of massive proportions.
- Frank was a clusterfuck of massive proportions, and realized that Robby's hurt face was infinitely worse to face than his worried face, and things came out of Frank's mouth like a torrent of words he definitely should not have said. Robby didn't say anything to him, after that.
Fact #3: Frank Langdon is an addict.