Cry to Me

"Dr. Hammett, there's a client on the phone with a male cat that hasn't urinated in over twenty four hours. The client says he's lethargic, has vomited twice, and has been anorexic for two days. We don't have any open appointments tonight."

Fuck my life!Dulci thought.Blocked cats were never easy.They needed extensive observation and multiple days of hospitalization to monitor urine output.Usually they would re-block at some point and need surgery to widen their urethra.She thought about telling Amy to ask another doctor if they would see it, but knew better.Half the time the others wouldn’t want to see the appointment load they already had scheduled, let alone emergencies.

"Tell them to come now and I'll squeeze them in between appointments. Please let them know they'll probably have to wait," she recited to Amy as she finished saving her previous appointments invoice.

"Amy, will you let me know when the cat gets here? I want to make sure it's stable enough to wait."

"Sure thing."

"Thank you." As Amy walked away, Dulci peeked at her watch. It was already 5:30 and she still had a fair amount of appointments to see before the hospital closed. If she actually wanted to go over and get a formal hockey education, she'd have to hustle.

The exam door shut behind her indicating another appointment was waiting to be seen. Pulling the chart out of the holder, she read that the twelve-year-old Pomeranian presented for coughing intermittently for a month. “Heart failure,” she mumbled to herself as the technician entered the exam room to get a weight and temperature. It wasn't a request for Dulci, however, and she was booked solid with requests all evening until close. She grabbed the last three charts she'd been carting around and placed them on her desk. The other doctor seeing appointments, Dr. King, was sitting at her desk leisurely writing her exams down. It irked Dulci to no end that Dr. King had to write her SOAPs after every appointment, especially when the hospital was bury, whereas Dulci felt like she had to wait until she had a break to finish her charts.

"Hey Megan, there's an appointment in room four." Dulci hoped Dr. King couldn't hear the irritation in her voice. Dulci was the newest doctor to the practice, but she was the only doctor that seemed eager to do her job.She was willing to accommodate as many clients as possible and do clients favors unlike the others, especially Dr. Megan King.

"Oh, well I'm still SOAPing in this chart and it's going to take a few minutes.I need a few minutes to catch up."

Dulci knew that meant she was going to take her time and let the appointment sit in the room until Dulci eventually caved and saw it. With an eye roll, Dulci placed the charts on her desk and after walking back into the lab, she subtly snatched the chart out of the holder, earning the look of a couple of the technicians. As she reached for the door handle, Alyssa, one of the technicians, caught her attention.

"Dr. Hammett, you're all requests tonight. She needs to get off of her lazy ass and see a damn appointment," Alyssa said pointing toward to doctor's office.

"She's busy finishing a chart." Dulci tried to remain tactful in her response, but knew that everyone within earshot could hear the sarcasm and frustration. And with that, she opened the exam door, introduced herself and started her exam.

Twenty minutes later, Dulci was standing in front of the digital x-ray monitor viewing the ventral dorsal view of the Pomeranian in congestive heart failure with a raging 4/6 heart murmur.

"Hey Hammett, the blocked cat is here. It doesn't look good."

"Ok. Put it in an exam room. I'll be right in." As Dulci stepped out of x-ray waiting for the pseudo emergency to get into a room, Dr. King walked by to review the rads of the heart patient.

"Do you need me to look at these for you?"

"No thanks. I've already reviewed them," she retorted trying her hardest to remain non-confrontational. When she walked into the exam room, the cat was laterally recumbent but still responsive. When she palpated his abdomen to feel his bladder, she almost gasped at the size. After explaining the direness of the situation to the owners, she ran the cat into surgery and sedated him. His blood work showed early signs of renal failure because of the toxins sitting in his bladder for an extended period, which meant she couldn't keep him on gas for long before it caused more damage. After struggling momentarily with the mucous plug at the beginning of the cat's penis, She quickly placed a urinary catheter and relieved his bladder. Alyssa was setting up the cat on IV fluids and hospitalization when Dr. King strolled into the surgical suite.

"Wow. Heart failure and a blocked cat. You must really like overloading yourself," King sighed. Dulci had to hold her tongue. She wanted to scream, "Well somebody has to do it," but didn't need to when she heard those exact words coming out of Alyssa's mouth. So instead, she hid her face and laughed under her breath.

"Ugh. Sorry, I can't stand her. She should've chosen another career path like a paper jockey or something," Alyssa said angrily after Dr. King walked away. Dulci just nodded in agreement.

"Please keep him on twice maintenance fluids and take his vitals while I finish with the heart patient. If anything changes, interrupt me." With that, Dulci walked back into the lab and started typing an extensive take home sheet on caring for pets with congestive heart failure.

----

"We're leaving. Do you need anything?"

"No. I'm ok. But thank you for asking," she gave Amy a tired smile.

"Just lock me in. I need to finish my charts," she motioned toward the pile starting to topple over on the adjacent desk.

"Don't stay too long," Amy gave Dulci a sympathetic smile before waving and walking toward the reception area.

She put her head on her arms and stayed like that for a few minutes. When she lifted her head and glanced at her watch. It was 7:28pm. Theoretically, if she hunkered down, she could have her charts done in twenty minutes. That was wishful thinking as she forgot she had clients to call. A little over an hour later, she stretched her neck and arms out. The last thing she needed to do was check on her blocked cat.Once he had his narcotic pain medication, he became an absolute lover.She scratched his chin under his e-collar for a few minutes as he kneaded his blanket.Relieved that she was done for the evening, she could finally leave and follow through on her plans with...

"OH FUCK!" She said out loud while digging in her bag for her cellphone. She had three text messages from Sidney.

The first text was sent at 3:56pm

What kind of carry out do you like?

The second was sent at 5:15pm

The game starts at 7:30.

The last was sent at 6:59pm

Are we still on for tonight?

She quickly typed a message back.

I've had the day from hell and haven't had time to check my phone. I'm really sorry. I’d still like to come over if it's not too late.

It was probably too late, and she knew it. It was going on 9:00 pm and by the time she got to his place, the game was sure to be over. She quickly turned off all of the lights, closed the hospital, and headed to her car. She checked her phone, only to be disappointed by the lack of response. She mentally berated herself for not checking her phone sooner. She contemplated driving to his house, but felt instantly uneasy about it like a teenager who had a crush.That was also the reason she decided against calling him.Instead, she headed home and figured, if nothing else, she'd go straight to bed.

Within minutes of arriving home, Dulci headed right for her en suite to remove her contacts and disrobe. Her eyes were killing her and she desperately wanted to get into sweat pants and call it a night. She thought about taking a bath when heard her phone start to ring on her bed. When she saw the caller ID, she answered it quicker than she wanted to.

"Hello?"She shook her head at her excitement to answer his call.

"You know, if you didn't want to come over, you couldn't just said so."

He sounded distant and a tad pissed off. She was unsure how to respond. She was brought back to her conversation two nights ago.Is this what Carly was talking about? Moodiness? For someone who dedicated his entirety to his profession, he should understand what happened. He had said that he admired her passion and drive as a veterinarian. He should realize that getting off later than expected comes with the territory.

"Dulci?"

"I'm so sorry, Sidney. It was a busy day and I had to deal with..."

"I'm kidding," he interrupted, and Dulci could hear the smile in his voice.

"Thank God. You sounded pretty angry," she exhaled as she laid down and got under the covers.

"So I looked at my schedule, and I think I can have my parents come down and take care of Sam in two weeks while she's recovering from the ACL surgery assuming you can fit her in. I'm going on a road trip for two weeks here shortly and won't have anyone to watch her."

This was her opportunity. She hadn't heard from Carly and wanted to know if she'd talked to him about her grievances.

"Carly can't watch her? I know she loathes animals, but she can't do you a favor?"

"Carly and I... She umm... We broke up. I'm sure you probably knew it was coming." He sounded crestfallen.It made Dulci feel terrible.She’d been there in the past and could fully empathize.

"When do you think you can do the surgery?"

She frowned a little when the conversation took a more professional turn. She wanted the playful conversation from the beginning. But wasn't exactly sure how to get it back.

"I believe I'm the surgical doctor all next week." She hoped her voice didn't sound as disappointed as she felt.

"I'll text you tomorrow when I decide."

"Ok."

"So tell me. Why was today so hellish that you stood me up?"

Wait. Was tonight supposed to be like a date? That would be absurd. He just broke up with Carly. Breathe and go with it, she told herself.

"How much time do you have?"

"Roughly around seven minutes before I crash due to the extensive amount of wine I've consumed by myself."

"I wouldn't have guessed you for a wine guy." She laughed. What the hell was he doing drinking wine?

“What would you have pegged me for?”

“Uhh… I’m not sure… I guess I don’t know you well enough,” she stuttered at his bold question.

"You’re right.I'm not much of a wine guy, but Carly told me you were a wine connoisseur. I figured it would go well with the Italian take out I ordered, which is now in the refrigerator."

"I'm sorry... Again... I hope you didn't buy a really expensive bottle."

"Not at all. I got it from Mario's wine cellar."

"Is that some sort of discount wine shop or something?"

Sidney laughed, hard. It was high pitched and feminine and Dulci stifled laughter in return. He really must've had a bit too much wine.

"You really have no idea, do you?"

“No.” Dulci's face was hot with embarrassment, and laughed nervously.

"Mario, as in Mario Lemieux, is the owner of the Penguins. He used to play for the team..." Sidney continued to give her a recent but brief history of the team, and while she wanted to stay up and listen, her eye kids were getting heavier and her stifled yawns were getting closer together, not to mention the distant "uh huh"s that would follow most of his statements.

"You're tired, I can tell."

"That is a gross understatement,” she said through a yawn.

"We'll reschedule our game night."

"Ok. I’ll try not to hold you up next time," she sleepily slurred with closed eyes.

"Goodnight, Dulci,” he said through a chuckle.

"Night." And within seconds, she fell into a deep sleep.

Notes