Out Of The Ashes (part 1)

Abby was roused from a deep sleep by the ringing of her cell phone on the bedside table.  As she reached for it, and sat up all the reasons for this call rushed to her mind. The most likely was one of her patients had been raped. She was often called in to assist in the care of her patients when they came to the E.R. “Hello?” she said, still groggy. “Dr. Harrison, this is Nurse Stacy, in the ER, one of your patients, Hannah Stevens. Her heart sank when she heard the name, Hannah had already been through so much, to be raped was unbearable. She needed this least of all. “Please tell her I will be there in fifteen minutes.” Hanging up the phone, she got out of bed, and crossed to her dresser. Five minutes later she was climbing into her car.  While she drove her mind drifted back the time Hannah had been diagnosed with cervical cancer. Even with the aggressive treatments Hannah had still almost lost her battle. It had been a very scary time for Hannah and her husband Paul. Just in the past three years they had slowly begun to bounce back. After inquiring at the front desk, Abby found a shaken, but seemingly unharmed Hannah in a secluded exam room in the ER. Entering the room she read quickly over the police report of the attack, then turned her attention on her patient. “Hannah, I’m just going to check you to make sure that there is no internal damage.” She said quietly as she slipped on her gloves and then rolled to the end of the table. After she was confident that Hannah would suffer no permanent effects, she rolled away, and threw her gloves in the nearby trash bin while a nurse helped Hannah sit up on the edge of the table. Turning back to the frightened girl, she tried to calm some of the worry she saw in her eyes.  “Chances are slim you will get pregnant from this rape.” She said reassuringly. “The medicine you will take home with you tonight should prevent you from getting any disease your attacker might have attempted to pass to you as well.” She continued. Some of the tension in the face of the woman sitting in front of her drained away, but not enough to ease Abby’s concerns. She didn’t expect her words to be the fix all of the situation, but she liked to ease as much of her patient’s worry as she could, not being able to do that bothered her. Before she headed home again, Dr. Abby helped Hannah schedule a follow up appointment for the next week. When she was once again in her car, driving home, Abby realized how tired she really was. It had been a long day at the office, and then her sleep was interrupted by the telephone. Not a good mix. In a few hours, she would be back at the office to start over. Taking the day off occurred to her, as it often did after a long night like this one, but she dismissed it quickly.