SCRUBS AND CROCS (Episode 5)

Previously on SCRUBS AND CROCS…

*

A tense few moments passed, heavy with the awkwardness of two men who suddenly didn’t know what to say to each other. Ehis stood with his mouth forming a slight O of astonishment, while David stood in front of him, fiddling with his phone, looking quite upset.

Feeling the need to say something, anything, Ehis finally broke the silence, “Well, don’t be angry sha. I didn’t mean to pry.”

“Why will I be angry?” David snapped. Then shooting Ehis a furious gaze, he continued, “It’s one of my patients. The guy has anal warts and in the clerking, he said his sexual orientation is homosexual. I have never understood how these guys do it – having anal sex with their fellow men. Yuck!” He made a face, a rictus of disgust rippling over his features. “I just wanted to know what gay sex looked like. That’s all, nothing more.” He glared some more at Ehis, as though daring him to counter his explanation, before continuing sternly, “And I don’t appreciate you going through my phone. Please don’t do that again.” With that, he turned and started back toward the kitchen.

Ignoring the remark he made about gay sex, Ehis followed after him, saying, “Dude, we’ve been friends for years. You of all people should know how open-minded I am. I won’t judge you or anything. You can talk to me.”

And with a fresh flash of anger, David whirled around and spat, “Whaddafuck! What are you trying to say? Wait – are you by any chance insinuating that I’m gay? Why the fuck would you think that? Do you see me swinging my waist when I walk? Do I make gestures like I’m a woman? Do I care about all those chick flicks and girlie stuff? No!” And jabbing a finger in Ehis’s face, he said, “If anything, you’re the one who does like gay sef.”

David’s taller frame was now towering over Ehis, causing him to take a step back, startled by both David’s fury and the way he suddenly turned the tables on him.

“Yes now!” David continued, warming up to his target on his roommate. “You don’t watch ball. You don’t have a girlfriend. You even sometimes behave like a woman. And you’re always full of all these extreme feminist views. You never support the guys in these arguments about feminism. Now that I think about it, I believe you are gay!”

Ehis stood there, feeling a torrent of emotions roil inside him. His startle had given way for an overwhelming tide of anger directed at David for suddenly making this about him – never mind that it was the idiot’s phone browser history that had gay porn in it. He could not believe how he was now the one left feeling defensive over the topic of homosexuality, when all he’d initially tried to do was give his friend a sense of support.

Finding his voice, he said in a voice that shook slightly from how emotional he was getting, “David, I am not gay. I’m sorry I went through your phone. It was an honest mistake and it will not happen again.”

And he turned and stormed out of the room.

His anger fueled his feet and he just kept on walking. He was angry with David for turning the tables on him and he was angrier with himself for being such a coward and denying his sexuality.

As a boy who grew up effeminate, he had endured a lot of taunting from his mates in school and at home to last a lifetime. His naturally light-skinned and delicate features did not make a case for his masculinity. His sisters, who were physically stronger and more sports-inclined than he was, always held more of his father’s admiration than he ever did. His academic brilliance was never enough; could never wipe away the disappointment his father often looked at him with whenever he had to recognise Ehis as his son. Ehis had gradually had to chip and clip at bits and pieces of his identity, until he finally began to feel, look and act more like a “man”. And now, here he was, getting thrown back into the world of that scared little boy who felt hated by the whole world, simply because his roommate had made some barbed comments about his effeminacy. He couldn’t help feeling like he had failed himself, and this all the more angered him.

He really did not have any reason to have denied his sexuality. He could have been selective in his response to David. He could have simply not deigned to rise to the bait, while still denying David the satisfaction of an upper hand in the altercation.

“Anyway, that’s all in the past now,” he said to himself as he continued walking.

Ehis remained deep in thought, feeling the heat of the sun intensify, as the morning approached midday. He snapped out of his pondering upon suddenly realizing that he walked all the way to the hospital.

He went into the Trauma Emergency Room to see Doctor Yvonne Emenike trying to put up an IV line for a patient.

“May I help you with that?” he said as he walked over to her.

She turned to give him a puzzled look. “What are you doing here on a public holiday when you are not on call?”

“Nothing really,” he said with a shrug. “I just took a stroll down here to clear my head. I’m guessing that a bit of action would put me in a better frame of mind.”

“Pftt!” Yvonne scoffed while rolling her eyes. “Wo, it’s initial gragra that is worrying you. First do one month straight call in ENT and do alternate day call in Pediatrics surgery for another month, and see if you would be coming to the hospital to ‘clear your head’.”

Ehis was laughing and she was smiling as she added, “In fact, I promise you, you would be running away from the hospital to clear your head once the job really hits you. All this your joy and enthusiasm to save the sick and dying is just ‘new wife’ syndrome. Give it three months.”

Ehis had barely spent some twenty minutes in the Trauma Emergency when he heard the sirens of incoming ambulances approaching the Ambulance bay. As soon as the vehicles were parked in the bay, the paramedics began wheeling in bloodied and injured patients while rattling out brief histories to each of the doctors that came forward to attend to each patient.

Ehis and Yvonne darted toward one of the patients being wheeled in, and assisted the paramedic in bringing the patient in.

“He’s thirty-five-year-old teacher who was a passenger on a Toyota Hiace bus that ran into a trailer,” the paramedic was saying. “He suffered a traumatic amputation of his left hand and has a laterally rotated right knee, most likely from a femoral fracture, as evident by a swollen thigh. Vital signs are stable and there’s no obvious neurologic deficit.”

Ehis felt a rush of adrenaline as he assisted Yvonne, the paramedic and a nurse in transferring the patient to a bed.

“Let’s set up two wide bore IV accesses on both upper limbs,” Yvonne began issuing instructions, “and collect blood samples for grouping and cross matching four units of fresh whole blood, full blood counts and electrolytes. Let us also catheterize the patient and start him on broad spectrum antibiotics, IVF fluids – 1l stat and then maintenance with ongoing losses. Also place him on IM Diclofenac 150mg stat as well as IM tramal.” There was a sense of urgency to the doctor’s attitude now, as she gestured to the paramedic and Ehis while assisting the nurse in taking off the patient’s clothes in order to expose his bare body adequately.

Ehis and the paramedic got to the task immediately, carrying out Yvonne’s instructions.

Now addressing the nurse as she catheterized the patient, Yvonne said, “Let’s irrigate the wound and dress it so that we can secure haemostasis. Give him a Tetanus shot, and please monitor his vitals closely as well as his urine output. Then send the porter to deliver consults to the Plastics and Orthopedic surgeons. Let us also get this man a trauma series of X-rays. Let’s move, guys! This man is probably bleeding into his thigh!”

“And he can lose as much as an equivalent of 3 pints in that thigh,” Ehis interjected.

“Exactly!” Yvonne agreed. “So let’s move quickly. Someone, please page Doctor Adeoye. We need an OR. Also inform the anesthesiologist on call.”

And the team went to work, stabilizing and prepping the patient. Doctor Adeoye soon arrived, and in his usual fashion, began complaining about how poorly the wound had been dressed and why it was taking so long for the blood to be made available. He seemed to direct much of his ire to Ehis, as if he was the reason everything was not going the way he wanted with this case.

“Why are you so slow! Why is the blood not ready! Can’t you do anything right! You had better move faster if you don’t want to repeat this call!” the older man kept shouting every time he addressed Ehis.

“Sir, the lab scientists are on it and they said the blood will be here in less than three minutes,” Ehis said, his tone thready with irritation. “And also, I am not on call today. I just came to help out.”

“Ok, so you came to help. Oya now! Let’s all grovel at your feet in humble appreciation of your ample magnanimity,” Doctor Adeoye snapped with heavy sarcasm.

Ehis chose to ignore him and carried on with his work.

And so, after over six hours of surgery, he finally emerged from the theatre, along with the lead and assisting surgeons, with a stable and very-much-alive patient. He suddenly felt exhausted but very happy that he had been part of a team that saved a man’s life. He reached for his phone and saw five missed calls with a message from Xavier to call him. In all the rush and activity, he had totally forgotten about the date he had with Xavier.

He hit the redial button and waited to be put through to Xavier.

While he was waiting, Doctor Adeoye walked up to him and said in a carefully neutral tone, “Good job in there. You showed a lot of initiative. You are a brilliant doctor. Your weekend extra call is hereby revoked. What are you doing this evening?”

A stunned Ehis just stood there, too robbed of his faculties to know what to say to the other man.

Written by Bryan Peters