Pain, deep and throbbing pulled seventeen year old Kendall Knight from his light, pre-wake sleep. He forced his green eyes open to look at the source of the sudden pain shooting through his arm. The thumb of his right was swollen, as was his wrist. Tears slowly formed in his eyes as the pain chased the sleep from his brain. Experimentally he moved his thumb, and he wished he hadn't tried as white hot pain shot through his wrist. A cry escaped his lips as he quickly pulled his injured limb to cradle against his chest, left hand coming up to cover his right. Tears flowed freely down his face as he tried to breathe through the pain and dial it down to a manageable level.
"Kendall?" a voice his brain wanted to recognize, but refused to recall the name of, said hesitantly. "Are you all right?"
Biting his lower lip, Kendall force eyes he hadn't realized he's closed open to see who'd spoken. Large, worried brown eyes stared back him. Another small wave of hot pain moved through his wrist up his arm. Shaking his head no, Kendall moved to sit up on his bed. "No," he finally gasped out.
"What happened?" his friend asked, not coming any closer, but not moving any further away.
"I don't know," he began, taking another breath to help will the pain level lower. "I just woke up in absolute agony."
"Should I get Logan or your mom?" Carlos asked, voice laced with worry and fear. Kendall nodded. Either would work. He just really wanted the pain to stop. He'd had plenty of injuries from hockey, but none of them held a candle to the pain currently enveloping his wrist and thumb. "Okay..." the Latino mumbled, moving toward the door, "ummm, which one?"
More tears spilled from his eyes. He closed them tightly, gritted his teeth, and attempted to answer the question asked. "Whoever you find first."
"Okay," Carlos said quickly, disappearing through the bedroom door.
The pain had finally ebbed to a manageable level, and he dropped his left hand away; keeping his right hand cradle against the center of his chest. He'd just dangled his legs over the edge of the bed, bare toes resting the area rug of the floor, when the bedroom door burst open and a half asleep Logan stumbled groggily in.
"Carlos, dude, you are so not making any sense right now," he said, after catching his balance in the center of the room.
"Yeah, and you just sounded like James!" Carlos retorted, before darting back out of the room.
"So, Carlos said something about you being in pain to the point of tears?" the shorter brunet asked, moving closer to his friend and band mate. "Is it your hand?" Brown eyes flitted from Kendall's pain filled green eyes to the hand held against his chest.
"Yeah," he grunted, as another bought of pain pushed through. "Was fine last night, and then all of a sudden there's more pain than anything that happened when we played hockey."
"Can I have a look?" Logan asked, trying not to sound too hopeful at being able assess an injury.
Kendall nodded, but kept silent as he moved his aching hand from his chest to hold out to his friend. Cool fingers carefully grasped the skin of his forearm and the top of his fist. Gently Logan's fingers slid over the swollen skin of Kendall's thumb and wrist. His blond band mate let out a gasped hiss.
"Can you open your fist?" he asked, pulling back one hand. Silently Kendall nodded. Slowly long, thin fingers uncurled to hand limply from his hand. "Okay, how much can you move your hand?"
"Not much," came the terse reply.
"I'm sorry to say this, buddy, but you're going to have to see an actual doctor. I'm not sure what this is," Logan said, studying his friend's expression carefully. Curling his fingers back into a loose fist, Kendall gave a relieved nod. "Do you need help getting dressed or you good?"
"I'm good."
"All right, I'll go get dressed and talk with your mom." With those words Logan left the room.
Ten minutes later, Kendall was dressed and waiting by the door with Logan for his mom; right hand still clutched against his chest. The throbbing pain was less that way.
"Oh, baby, what happened?" Jennifer Knight questioned, heading for the front door of the apartment where Kendall and Logan stood waiting.
"I don't know," Kendall said, pain still lacing through each syllable of every word. "It was like this when I got up."
"Let's go," she said, calmly ushering the boys out the door.
The short walk to the elevators was silent. Only the ding of the elevator arriving broke the silence in the hall. The silence continued in the elevator, in the lobby, and out to the parking garage. No one spoke as they piled into the van, Jennifer silently helping her son buckle his seatbelt. Doors banged closed, the engine roared to life, and they were off to the nearest ready care clinic.
"Kendall Knight?" a small, dark haired woman called from the door leading back to the exam rooms.
Wordlessly the trio stood and followed the woman through the door. She lead them down a hall to a largish room on the left. She moved quickly through the weight check, temperature and blood pressure readings before moving on to why Kendall was there. Kendall did his best to explain what the problem was through his obvious pain. Logan did his best to fill in anything Kendall couldn't.
"A provider will be with you shortly," she said, finishing up her notes before exiting the room.
Long minutes later, the door opened and in came an older blonde woman. Sitting on the stool in front of Kendall, she asked what happened.
"We don't really know," Logan supplied, "he woke up to immense pain in his right wrist and has been keeping cradled against his chest since then. His thumb and a portion of this wrist are swollen. He has a difficult time moving either, as it seems to cause acute pain."
The doctor nodded, listening to the information Logan relayed. "May I?" she asked, reaching for Kendall's injured hand.
With a slight nod he slowly stretched his arm out toward her. Her smaller, cool hands carefully held his arm to examine his wrist. "Can you open your hand?" He uncurled his fingers. "All right, now can you give me a thumbs up?" Slowly, Kendall willed his thumb to rise and his fingers to curl all the way in to a fist. He'd barely gotten his thumb half way up when pain, hot and strong, stopped him. Fresh tears fell from his green eyes. "All right, I'm gonna have them take you back for some x-rays and see if that'll tell us anything." With that she left.
"Kendall?" a tall, brunette with curly hair asked, poking her head into the room. Wordlessly, he slid off the table and followed her from the room.
Doing his best to fight down the pain, and follow her directions, Kendall silently made it through the process of x-raying his hand. face freshly teared, and hand in almost more pain that had been when he woke up, Kendall followed her back to his room and sat himself back down on the table.
"All right," the doctor from before said, coming through the door. "There's nothing broken in there. However, I can see that you're in a great deal of pain. So, we're going ot fit you with a brace and give you some pain pills, as well as anti-inflammatory medication to help with the swelling. What I think happened is a case of tendonitis. It's probably from over use of the hand."
"Okay," Kendall sighed, relieved to finally know what was going on.
The brunette who had taken his x-rays pushed a small cart through the door. Two different sized braces sat atop it in their boxes. She regarded his wrist and hand a moment before going for the larger of the two boxes. With carefully expedient movements, she placed the brace on his arm. Pulling the Velcro straps somewhere between tight and loose, she fastened it.
"How does that feel?" she asked, lifting her hands away.
"All right, I guess," he said, not saying what he really felt-bulky, was what he really wanted to say.
"So," the doctor said, slipping back into the room with paperwork. "Prescription slips, and care instructions. Were the brace for a week, but be sure to take it off at least once a day and use that hand some. Don't want it getting stiff or muscle to be lost." Mrs. Knight took the paperwork and the three headed for the exit.
FIN
A/N: And that was my February-March. I discovered that there are 2 tendons in your thumb that run up to your elbow, both of them became inflamed at the same time. Yes, it really was that painful, and worse really. I'm a tough chick, so for me to be in tears over it, it hurt. Also, think that I should mention that I'm not doing this exercise to prove how tough I am, or make anyone feel sorry for me. Honestly, I've had more pity than I can since the end of August. And, yes, each and every injury in this series is something I've had happen to me. I'm just dividing them amongst the boys. Again, only giving them the more note worthy injuries though. I'm a wreck that by some grace can still walk.
