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dath ilan marian alt in atlas shrugged
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A self-deprecating chuckle turns into a gurgling cough. "I had a nasty fall! Silly me. My son will be so miffed with me." 

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"Hey, I'm sure he won't be. Does he know you're here? - Sorry, one moment, it's going to be tight on your arm now." 

Using unfamiliar equipment, she has to concentrate quite hard to make sure she gets a blood pressure reading on her first try. And then try harder than that not to reveal any of her worry at the result. 

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Sherry looks anxious. "Oh dear. I don't know! He must be so worried." 

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"Shh, it's all right, try not to worry. We'll contact him and tell him. Can you tell me today's date?" Unfortunately Merrin will have to check that with someone else because she has NO IDEA how the local calendar system works. 

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Sherry scrunches her brow. "I'm afraid I can't recall. How embarrassing. I'm sorry, dear. Would you mind checking on the oven for me?" 

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"Um, I can't - we're at the hospital right now, remember? Not your house. We could maybe ask your son to go check, when we reach him. How are you feeling?" 

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"He's going to be so miffed with me," Sherry repeats plaintively, and doesn't answer the question. 

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"I really don't think he will be! I'm sure he just wants to know you're safe in the hospital. Are you in any pain?" 

There are SO MANY metaphorical alarms screaming in the back of Merrin's mind right now! She cannot understand at all why nobody else is tracking this. 

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"Well, yes." A chuckle. "The nice firemen said I might have a broken hip. How very silly of me. I hope my son won't be too upset with me, I was going to take my granddaughter to..." She trails off again. 

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"I'm sure it'll be okay. Sherry, just hang in there for a minute, all right? I'm going to be right back with one of the other nurses." 

And she pats the woman's arm and then marches out and heads for the nursing station. 

"The lady in bed twelve," she says to the clerk, calmly but forcefully. "Who's assigned as her nurse? She doesn't look well." 

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"That would be . . . Cathy Wilson. She also has bed six, if you're looking for her."

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"Um, can you tell me what she looks like before I go hunting for her? Also, do you know if the doctor's seen bed twelve yet? And where he is right now? I think he needs to see her immediately." 

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"Bleached blonde with a red shirt. Why do you think you know what the doctor needs to do?"

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"Thanks." She's about to speed-walk off again, and stops. "I - what? I'm not sure what treatment she needs yet and also I don't think I have the authority to do it on my own, that's why the doctor has to see her?" 

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"He'll get there when he gets there, don't go pestering him. He's got more important things to worry about than some nurse with opinions about a patient that's not even hers."

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Merrin is not at all used to having to conceal her reactions from people and so she's not even trying! She's not upset, though, just nonplussed. 

"I'm not going to waste his time," she says, because this is more diplomatic than 'I'm not an idiot', and then she heads off to try to find Cathy. Who she ought to talk to first anyway, because (hopefully) Cathy has a bit more information on the patient than she does, and also plausibly ought to be the one to approach the doctor in order to avoid chain-of-authority confusion. 

Is there a nurse meeting Cathy's description near bed six? Or anywhere else in sight? 

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Not in sight, no, but if she checks the bathroom a woman of that description is finishing up fixing her hair. She turns to leave as Merrin comes in.

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The bathroom is definitely not one of the first five places Merrin checks! She thinks to check eventually, though. 

"- Oh, hi! Are you Cathy? I'm Merrin, I'm new here. You're the nurse responsible for Sherry Williams in bed twelve, right?" 

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"Uh, yeah?"

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"I think we need to have the doctor see her right away, if he hasn't yet - I was walking past and she looked off so I went in and did a quick assessment, and I'm worried. She's confused and her vitals aren't great - heart rate was above 120 and irregular, blood pressure was 80/50 or so, and she looks sick. She thinks she might have a broken hip, but I don't think it's just pain, she looks like she's going into shock and without more background on her I'm not sure what's wrong but my highest credence so far is on internal bleeding or maybe a pre-existing illness that contributed to the fall. How did she look when you saw her?" 

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"Typical nervous old lady? More worried that she'd left the oven on than having anything serious. I couldn't get a blood pressure though."

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"- Yeah, I had to go pretty carefully to get one, her pulse is weak. And it's not just anxiety, she doesn't know the date and she seemed to think I could personally check on her stove even though we're in the hospital, she's not reasoning clearly at all. Can we go get the doctor right now? For a start I'm pretty sure she needs fluids but I don't know if we have the authority to just start that without asking him." 

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"Yeah, sure, go tell him," she says like she's mostly interested in getting as far from the problem/this conversation as possible.

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"O....kay," Merrin says uncertainly. (Clearly the other nurse is feeling overwhelmed right now? Merrin's only patient is much more stable, so she might as well take over here, being flexible like that is an important part of any functional team although she would really like clearer communication given that it's literally her first day.) 

She checks on roof guy first. "Hey, I may be busy for a little while after this, but wanted to as how your pain is doing?" 

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"A little better. I think I could fall asleep if it were a little quieter. Thanks for asking."

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