Chicago Med

- We had a thing. - Weren't you 15?

I'm not a victim here.

You're not being honest with yourself.

It also takes real bravery to look a story in the face,

stare it down, see it for what it really is.

You're making this sound like I forced myself on you.

It was love.

That's something that I used to believe.

The hospital has already hired scabs?

It would be grossly negligent not to have replacements

should the nurses strike.

I don't appreciate being played

by one of my best friends.

Let's not make this personal.

I'm sorry, Sharon. I'm afraid it already is.

Did you book your flights to the conference yet?

Yeah. Why?

Any chance I could get you to join me for an extra day

in Myrtle Beach?

Mm.

Wow.

Who's the lucky guy?

And what makes you think there's a guy?

It's the heart surgeon that you mentioned, right?

What was his name? Shaye or Shader?

Dr. Hayes.

We're attending a conference, Kip.

It's the Summit on Healthcare Leadership.

- Okay, Dr. Lenox. - Uh-huh. Thank you.

- Try to have a good time. - Okay. Goodbye.

Hey, Trini, let's grab this guy a chest X-ray

and then have labs run a CBC, BMP, and a, uh...

- - Blood gas.

Okay.

You should probably go home and take care of that cough.

I'm... I'm sorry, Dr. Ripley.

Uh, I don't know how it came on so fast.

- Thank you. - Yeah.

That's the third nurse this morning

that's had to go home, Mags... what the hell's going on?

Yeah, and it's not just the nurses, FYI.

Dr. Asher called in sick this morning as well.

Something's going around.

Well, whatever it is, it's coming on like a freight train.

Somebody please help.

Our boy can't breathe. He's turning blue.

- I got him. -

- You're going to Treatment 3. - Yeah.

Right behind you. Hey, I'm Dr. Frost.

- Can you tell me your name? - Bode.

We were at a birthday party around the corner.

There was cake.

- Bode's got a peanut allergy. - We forgot his EpiPen at home.

All right, no problem. That happens. No need to worry.

Bode, can you open your mouth for me, please?

All right, we got some swelling in the pharynx, for sure.

But no need to intubate yet.

- There are no nurses here? - Long story.

- Epi? - Yeah.

Found it.

All right, Bode, slight pinch.

You ready?

Starting to feel a little better?

- Oh, thank God. - Okay.

If anyone's listening,

I could really use some help in here!

Yep.

A forklift dropped a quarter ton of pallets

on this poor guy.

Chest took the brunt of it. X-ray's up over there.

And it shows a hemothorax, which you're

in the process of relieving, so what do you need help with?

He's having a run of non-sustained V-tach.

I was worried we might have to run a code.

You know, I'm kind of shorthanded here.

Yeah, we're working on that.

Well, what do I do if he stays in V-tach next time?

I don't know, Loren... quickly grow another pair of hands?

Maggie, let's have CT bring down a wearable defibrillator

for Mr. Marquez and see if Dr. Hayes can weigh in.

Will do.

All right, just got off the phone with Goodwin.

- She's on her way in. -

Says she's trying to call in some agency nurses.

And she asks if you could hold the fort down in the interim.

Not you too.

I've been fighting it all morning.

I should probably go home before I get anyone else sick.

- Yep, of course. - All right.

Yeah.

- We got this, right? -

Excuse me. Can somebody help us, please?

My kid turned blue.

What's going on here? What's happening?

Well, I'm not detecting any distress in your son's airways,

so that's good news.

But there must be something wrong with him... look.

Could there have been some kind of gas leak in the restaurant?

Um...

Well, he was struggling earlier back at the party.

Weren't you, son?

He said that his throat felt tight.

Ezra have any allergies you guys know about?

Not that we know of.

I brought a slice in from the party

in case you wanted to run any tests.

I know Mandy said there weren't any peanuts in it,

but you never know, right?

Dr. Frost?

I'll be right back.

Lana, Kirk, how you doing? I'm Dr. Charles.

- How's Bode doing? - Better since the epi.

But shouldn't his color have returned by now?

Yeah, should have.

What are you doing?

I don't think that Bode's cyanotic.

I think his skin was dyed by a napkin

at the birthday party.

But he was gasping for breath.

I'm suspecting that the allergic reaction

has more to do with the dye itself than peanuts.

Okay. And what about the others?

- Maggie? - Sharon.

Yeah, did I hear you weren't feeling well?

Yeah, I must have caught a bug or something.

I feel horrible about this.

- Here, let me take a look. - No, no, no, no, no, no.

I don't want you to catch this.

I just think it's... it's just best that I go home.

I'm sorry.

Well, that explains the cyanosis,

but what about the complaints of shortness of breath?

Maybe some kind of mass hysteria?

I think that's taking it a little too far.

I think it's more an example of how suggestible

we can all get under the right circumstances, you know?

Kids picking up on the parents' panic, vice versa, you know?

And so none of these kids are actually sick.

That's crazy.

My guess is, they're not really sick either.

- Who? - Nurses.

This is a sick-out.

We've already called in temps,

so they'll be trickling in over the course of the day.

I'll be gloving up myself to help as best I can.

And, of course, we've got our traveling nurses,

uh, Kacy and Darla, here to pitch in.

Any you thought of putting us on diversion?

We hope that won't be necessary.

Look, I'm not saying this is gonna be easy.

Our nurses, as we all know, are irreplaceable.

But today we're gonna have to find a way

to do without them, okay?

Let's get to work.

Gentlemen, I am concerned about this backlog.

Let's have you two rip through all the fast-track stuff,

allow the rest of us to handle anything that needs a workup.

- Sure. - All right.

I heard you were looking for me.

So who can tell me what we see?

It's cardiac wall motion abnormalities

of the left ventricle.

And both the aortic and the mitral

look to be critically damaged and need replacing.

This patient just underwent severe trauma.

What should our timetable be?

With declining output and diminished ejection fractions,

his heart's just gonna get worse.

Not sure how much risk we're reducing by waiting.

So let's err on the side of action, not caution.

We'll do a modified Commando procedure,

replace both valves at once,

keep his time on the table to a minimum.

This surgery is gonna require another set of skilled hands.

I know it's not your specialty,

but I'm hoping you'll team up with me on this one.

Well, I appreciate the offer, Nicholas,

but I'm not sure the E.D. can spare me today.

It's kind of insane down here.

Because of the nurses?

I-I'm afraid I-I might even have to cancel our trip

- to Myrtle Beach. - No, Caitlin.

You can't. It's gonna be epic.

I booked us a-a private dinner at the hotel tomorrow night...

one of the finalists

from "Top Chef" season 12, apparently.

Uh, trust me, it's not what I would prefer.

I was looking forward to this.

Let's see how the day goes, okay?

We'll probably have to go on diversion,

which should open up my schedule enough

to at least assist you on the surgery.

Great.

But we'll need to be working in unison, okay?

Like dance partners.

So I think we should practice our choreography.

I'll have a training mannequin set up,

and I'll see you upstairs in about an hour?

- Yeah, sounds great. - Okay.

And I'm gonna figure out a way