The Montana Doctor's Love (New Montana Brides Book 8) Read Free Page B

was more valuable. He treated himself to a good meal in a restaurant once a week.
    His many hours of studying paid off, and because he graduated number one in his class, he had his choice of internships. He chose a one year internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and selected Washington General in the nation’s capital to complete his medical residency.
    In 1900, he returned to Helena, an exhausted thirty year old man. One month after he returned, he applied for his license to practice medicine. He successfully passed the examination and entered practice with his father.
    The practice had grown so much; they rented an office on Warren Street, across from St. John’s Hospital.
    Carter was now sixty two years old, and ready to slow down. Patrick began taking all of the house calls. Called Young Doctor Palmer, he gained the reputation of proficiency rapidly. A few of the old timers would only allow his father to treat them,
    Patrick had seen his last patient of the day when the phone rang. “Hello, this is Doctor Palmer,” Patrick said.
    “This is Mary Wells, my husband is having trouble breathing and I don’t know what to do.”
    “Does he have a fever?” Patrick asked.
    “I don’t have a thermometer, but he feels warm,” Mrs. Wells said.
    “Has he been coughing? Any blood?”
    “I haven’t seen any blood, but he’s had a cough for a few days,” she said.
    “I can see him at Saint John’s or I can come to you,” Patrick said.
    “It would be easier if you came here. We don’t have anyone to stay with our daughter,” she said.
    “Give me your address,” Patrick said.
    With the address, Patrick told Mrs. Wells he would be there in thirty minutes. He told Carter where he was going, described the symptoms, and grabbed his bag. He hitched the horse to the buggy and was on his way.
    He knocked on the door. A pretty, young girl with red hair and the light complexion common to most redheads answered the door. She looked to be six or seven years old “Are you the doctor?” she asked.
    “Yes I am,” he said. “Could I speak to your mother?”
    “Mama, it’s the doctor,” she called out.
    An attractive woman, with long, red hair, and about five feet, five inches tall came into the room. The little girl was the image of her mother.
    “Patrick?”

Chapter four
    A Reunion
    “I heard you were back. It never dawned on me, you might answer my call,” she said.
    “It’s nice to see you, Mary Louise,” he said. “It’s been a long time.”
    “It has been a long time,” she said. “About twelve years. Press is in the bedroom.”
    She led the way to the bedroom. The room contained a dresser, a chest of drawers, one chair and a bed. Patrick went straight to the bedside, and placed his hand on the man’s head. He opened his bag and took out a thermometer, and a stethoscope.
    “Mr. Wells, I need to get your temperature,” he said. He soaked a cotton pad with alcohol and wiped the thermometer several times and then shook it down.
    “Call me Press, Doc,” he said. “Thanks for coming.”
    “Hold this under your tongue,” Patrick said, and took his pulse. With the sphygmomanometer, he took Press’s blood pressure.
    “Can you sit up and let me listen to your chest and lungs?” he asked. “Take a deep breath, and let it out slowly.” He listened, and moved the microphone, “Again.” Two more times and then he repeated the process from the back.
    “What do you think it is?” Mary Louise asked.
    “Pneumonia. His temperature is 103º. The pulse is a little fast. The profuse sweating, the shakes and there’s fluid in the lungs. All of these are indicative of pneumonia.”
    “What do we do?” she asked.
    “I would be more comfortable with him in Saint John’s,” Patrick said.
    “Can’t I take care of him here?”
    “You could possibly do that, unless there’s an emergency.”
    “Isn’t there anything you can give him?” she asked.
    “It’s not something I have, but there is an inoculation