Someone beside her gave a tired smile. “The lazy nurse.”
Avery heard them. She didn’t turn around.
Daniel wasn’t complaining about his chest anymore. Everyone wanted that to mean improvement. Avery watched what happened when he shifted his shoulders. His breath shortened, his fingers tightened around the blanket. Then he relaxed before anyone could ask.
“Daniel, what happens when you move?”
“Nothing.”
His wife, Karen, gave him a look. “Tell her.”
Daniel exhaled carefully. “It pulls between my shoulder blades.”
Avery stayed seated another few seconds. She watched him breathe before looking at the monitor. Then she checked the pressure trend again. She didn’t have a diagnosis. She had a patient behaving differently from the story in his chart.
Cole entered while reading that chart. “Medication given?”
“Not yet.”
