Casualty

my friend got a phone call last night. his dad. called to tell him that this girl in MIT (daughter of a friend) was very sick, and would he please go to the emergency room and find out exactly what went wrong.
we rushed there, it was 10pm. he asked me to come along because the presence of a med student might allow the doctor to explain what was wrong better. (but honestly, he knows as much as me, maybe more)
we strode into Casualty confidently, ignoring the students (dressed so obviously like MIT) huddled outside. Found her lying unconscious on the bed, with an IV line in her wrist. Her room mate was standing by, she told us:
She hasnt been eating well. for the last couple of days. yesterday i got back from class and she was asleep. i dint disturb her, i think her medication makes her drowsy.

medication?

yeah, she's been on something for her skin problem

skin problem? what problem?

um, she has these rashes on her arms.. anyway she's been taking medicines for that since a year or so. long time. but she hadn't woken up till dinner time, and when i tried to wake her up she wouldnt respond. i panicked, and we got her here. you know, she's so quiet and withdrawn, she never talks about her problems with anyone...

the doctor had arrived and he looked at us questioningly. no one likes a crowd around a bed in Casualty. asked him what was up, (i'm a KMC student, i will understand your words):
She came in altered sensorium. as you can see, she still hasnt woken up. we're going to keep her here, and run some tests. base line tests.

will she be ok?

i can't say now. we have no idea what happened. lets wait for the blood reports.

seizure? hypoglycemic shock? anti histamine overdose? steroid withdrawal? (i whisper 'suicide' in my head and add it to my list)

we cant know for sure, he says. not until she wakes up and we can ask her what she remembers.

we told the MIT kids to call us anytime if they needed something. tried to explain to them what information we'd gathered. i went through her case sheets, prescriptions. no oral steroids, thank god. but still, loads of anti histamines.
what more could we do?
we walked away thinking about how precious life is, and how narrow the margin for error is.