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The Journal of Arnold: Week 8

Week 8, Teusday Day 50: Pile-ups and Graves

I was following the mayor today to see if he would actually set up his appointment with Mr. Harvey to make sure he doesn’t have Yellow Fever, which would return in just a few days after the signs went away, but I didn’t catch up with him until he stopped outside a graveyard and looked at a freshly dug grave.  He claimed that the marks were wrong for a new grave and that someone was digging up the dead.

Moving here was such a lovely idea Maddox, don’t you think?

I continued to follow him and met with a Miss Elleon (though I had to confirm her name later) and we had a brief discussion about the mayor. It turns out he doesn’t believe in the mer, which I haven’t seen yet.  During this discussion he left without ever setting up an appointment.

Later that night, just before midnight, I ran across the great pile up of trolleys, which had also attraced Scald, Chav Paderborn, and Grendel Footman.

Grendel and I talked for a short time, and I pointed out that common sense is often ignored in this city in the pursuit of advancement, though I admitted that it does seem to get results.  Grendel said, “Can’t let some common sense get in the way!”

Personally, I think that should be the town’s motto, but Grendel was right when he said they aren’t likely to change it.  He also told me to tell Harvey that Grendel is ready to be on call again.

Week 8, Wed Day 51: I tried to do my job.

I found Scald early this morning outside of the city hall, as well as his dad.  Scald complained about having a nightmare about his brother, and Vic had a slight accident with a manhole.

Kristos and I also discussed the heart from our sub and our patients at the hospital and even talked about the mayor and events from yesterday and the day before and I openly confronted him about being called a collector and asked what they meant by that.  I’m sure there were more polite ways of doing that, but it’s just not me.

Considering he was after the heart and was a surgeon, I was sure they meant he collected organs, but he seemed amused by the idea.  He never said he wasn’t a collector in some fashion, but it doesn’t really matter to me if he is or isn’t.

I went about my day, and while doing my ”exercises” I ran past Gilhooly who had been attacked by the snake.  Emerson Lighthouse and a drunk man, who I found out later calls himself the Emperor, had saved Gil from the snake.  They were going to cut him and suck out the poison, which I knew was a horrible idea since it would spread the poison to another person.  I held my finger down to cut off the circulation, but since we were so far away from the hospital I was worried we couldn’t get to the antivenon in time.  I considered briefly their advice so far as cutting his leg to let it bleed out the poison a little while we made our way to the hospital, but Nathaniel who had been in the canals with his ship was passing by on a test run to see how well it would work in them.  I abandoned the idea, which I intend to look up and see if it would have done any good, and helped Gilhooly get aboard.

This was the first time I’d been at the hospital with an emergency patient on my own, and though I knew some things that I’d read in books and had to perform before in emergencies I knew that I still had a long way to go before I should consider myself a real nurse.  For example, I realized later, that I should have held Gilhooly’s hand to help him brace himself or offored him morphine before ever allowing his leg to get cut.  I should have prevented cutting his leg at all, since the holes from the fangs were more than large enough to bleed out of to begin with since the fangs appear to be much bigger than a human thumb.  I should have made Mr. Emerson leave, but I ended up having to take care of him as well.  I’m aware of most of the things I did wrong now, but I’ll be sure to never repeat the same ones again.  I also intend to talk to Mr. Harvey about it.

I talked to Doctor Sonnerstein again that night along with some urchins who were visiting from Cala Mondrago.  Lionheart also stopped by, and we talked about the hospital, Mr. Harvey, Maddox, the candy shop with no candy, and my past a bit.

Day 52 Thursday:  I try to do my job a little better.

I spent most today with our patients.  Gilhooly, Pippy, Chris, and Emerson, though some were discharged relatively early on in the day.  Pippy at least seemed to love the company, since her friend had left the same day he’d gotten the heart to go look at the other steam lands before he returned here.  I also spent the time reading more about how to treat shock, snakebites, and other maladies.

Day 53 Friday:  Yang and I have a disagreement.

I ran into an automata named after the greek god Hephestus, and his operator.  I made a few inquiries and will make sure to point Miss Maddox towards him for future questions she has on the subject.

I spoke with a few other people today, but the most noteworthy thing I have to say is that I got the feeling that Mr. Yang does not like me very much. We had a bit of an argument and he didn’t seem to like my standpoint on the matter. 

Week 9 Day 54 Saturday:  While they dance, I study.

There will be a ball tonight, but I won’t be attending.  I did find Scald dressed for the occassion as well as Dr. Sonnerstein, though it was hours before the event was going to start.  I talked with Mr. Harvey and he did tell me that my first attempt was lacking in basic first aide.  I should have shaved the area around the wound, washed it more thorougly with more antiseptic though I had used some, and a few other things.   Now that I know I don’t intend to make the same mistakes twice.

We also talked about my distrust in Mr. Harvey himself, and other things I had been looking into.  I was able to tell Mr. Harvey that we had not been threatened yet, nor had Dr. Sonnerstein, but that this city itself was a threat and between that, backstabbings, bad dreams, and just the depressing atmosphere of the city in general it was enough to make anyone leave.  They might have been threatened, but if so it hadn’t just been for working here.  Of course, now that I’ve said that I’m bound to be approached by someone who will tell me just that and prove me worng.  I spent the next few hours of the night reading more and more about treatments and medicines.

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