Chapter 2

Chapter 2


Derek was so worried about his daughter. She was wheezing really heavily when they were escorted into the exam room. They sat next to the small exam table in the aquatic themed exam room. It was a small space, it had pictures of Disney’s characters from the movie Nemo: Nemo, Dory, Marlin, and Crush; on the walls. It also had a small mobile over the table, which looked like fish swimming thru seaweed.

The nurse recognized the distress Elizabeth was in, and immediately ran to get the test equipment she needed, after a quick explanation. The nurse took an O2 test to see if she was getting enough oxygen into her blood by placing a probe on her toe that looked like a piece of medical tape with a red light in the middle, which was attached to a long cord that connected to a monitor that gave a read out to the nurse. Her O2 levels were only 87%.

The nurse immediately brought in a nebulizer, a small machine that blows filtered air thru a tube hooked to a vial which held medicine of albuterol and continued airborne thru a tube connected to a small mask that was placed over Elizabeth’s small mouth and nose. Elizabeth had immediately started fussing, because of the fear and confusion as to what was going on. The nurse reassured Derek that it was best if she fussed, because that meant she was taking deeper breaths and the medicine would work better the further into her lungs it got. The nurse said that when the medicine appeared to be empty that the doctor would be in.

Five slow minutes had passed, all the while the machine made a terrible humming sound. Elizabeth had finally calmed down after about 3 minutes and sat there patiently listening to her father read her a book from the lobby. The medicine looked like simply water, but the nurse wouldn’t give a distressed child a placebo, especially to a man like Derek. He was well known in Anchorage, as a brutal lawyer with unlimited funds.

The doctor, Dr. Erik Miller, came in and turned off the machine, and followed thru with Elizabeth’s physical exam. As an older gentleman in his late 50’s, Dr. Miller’s presence was that of a grandfather figure. He was jolly and kind and playful. He had a great bedside manner. With his graying hair peaking out on the back of his head below the ring of baldness, he looked like a bald Santa Claus, complete with beard, round belly, and smiling eyes. He made simple silly jokes about the shine of his head and Elizabeth laughed for the first time in several days.

The joking helped make the experience more agreeable to Elizabeth. The Doctor asked if she had bugs in her ears, and she let him look with his little magnifying light. He made a funny comment about her hanging down thing in the back of her mouth – the uvula, and she giggled. He listened to her lungs and her heart all using the stethoscope which had a picture of Winnie the Pooh on it. He checked her reflexes by tapping her knee at just the right places. He also placed the probe from the O2 test on Elizabeth’s toe again. The medicine had done its job, her O2 levels were at 94%. A substantial improvement! Elizabeth also sounded like she could breathe easier again.

Dr. Miller explained that Elizabeth suffered from asthma. This could be due to a minor ear infection she had at the moment; however it could very well be from other means. Derek explained to the pediatrician that Elizabeth’s mother had suffered from asthma, as well as allergies. Dr. Miller had never met Derek’s ex-wife as she had never returned from San Francisco when he returned, with Elizabeth, after his father’s death to take over the responsibilities at the family law office.

The doctor went over the signs and symptoms of an asthma attack as well as how to know when to rush Elizabeth to the ER and when he could treat her at home. The doctor wished him good luck and directed them to the nurse to finish the appointment.

“Elizabeth will need to have treatments 3 times a day on the nebulizer. And there is a prescription for the inhaler that she will use only for attacks. Also, you will need to pick up the albuterol for the nebulizer from the pharmacy. What pharmacy do you want to use?” The nurse went over the information, while Derek was holding his daughter in a loving embrace.

“We will be using the CVS pharmacy in Palmer, it’s near our home.” Derek answered.

“Mr. Murdock, are you sure you can handle this. Should we get an on call nurse to stop by your house on a regular basis to ensure that Elizabeth is still doing okay?” The nurse voiced her concerns, knowing that he worked his inherited reindeer farm, as well as Murdock, Murdock, & Klein, attorneys at law, on an over full time basis. Being a single father, of a two year old, had its challenges even with nannies and housekeepers.

“We will be fine, Thank-you very much for your concern, but I have vacation coming at the law office and Lucy is always hovering over her like she is her own,” Derek said speaking lovingly of the elderly maid who once, as a baby, diapered his own behind. That seemed to quiet the nurse, as she finished the paperwork, handed over the prescription, and sent dad and child home.

Derek buckled Elizabeth in to her five-point car seat in the back seat of his Mercedes-Benz M Class SUV. Climbed behind the wheel himself, and pulled out of the doctor’s office complex heading for the pharmacy for Elizabeth’s prescription and then onto his house on the butte.