I don't know much of anything about skin graphs so I might be completely wrong on all of it, so give me some artistic license here please! Please review!
Chapter 36
The appointment went much better than Mike anticipated. Hannah's lung capacity was almost completely normal. The lung doctor was also there and encouraged the swimming, but not the basketball yet. He agreed that if Hannah could stay inside, that was best, especially during the winter. She asked him about the oxygen at night, and he told her that she could try it, but not to get frustrated if Mike ended up putting it back on her in the middle of the night. Mike still used the baby monitors so that wouldn't be an issue, he knew he would have some pretty restless nights full of worry without her on oxygen but he also knew it was a matter of independence for her.
The blisters on her feet looked incredible and Rios said that they could go to just monitoring them, no bandaging twice daily unless one of the blisters popped back open. Rios gave her some cream for the scars on her back, feet, underarms, and legs. Rios and a nurse had examined the scar on her back because sometimes scars like that would break back open, and it was the first time Mike had actually looked at it. It made him sick. The burn scars would fade, but the one from the whip was a keloid scar, and there was no fixing that. He and Rios stepped out while the nurse helped Hannah with her clothes.
"I know it sounds stupid considering everything, but that scar on her back? Will it fade? I know it's a keloid and I have more than a few of those, but I HATE her having one. There has to be something you can do? A lotion or cream? I'd rather she not go through any procedures, but that shouldn't stay with her for the rest of her life. "
Rios had listened to him patiently, he could tell Mike was angry and Mike's temper was volatile at best, and this was concerning his very ill daughter so that upped the ante.
"I hate telling you this, but yea, the scar will be there forever. I will talk to a plastic surgeon who has worked with domestic violence victims who have been scarred. She is amazing and might have a solution, however it may involve a skin graph and I am not sure given her general health, Hannah could have her skin taken, would you be willing? Her blood type is obviously the same as yours, and it would be easy for her to heal up from it if she didn't have to provide the skin. You would have a great deal of pain, but I am sure you would be happy to endure it. I can't say for sure, that it's the answer, but it would be the normal treatment…"
"Call the surgeon and get whatever needs to be set up. I'm off until the first of the year but can take time off further out if need be. She won't be in any pain? I don't care about me, but I don't want her to hurt. Won't the skin tones matter? She is dark complected, and I'm lighter complected…"
"I'll talk to Dr. Wilson, the skin in that area might be a little discolored post procedure but it will still look better. Sir, you need to be prepared, they will take a portion of skin from your hip or possibly your calf, given the size of her scar, at least 8 inches long and 3 to 4 inches wide. It will be extremely painful and you need to be prepared. It won't be bad for her, but for you? It will be agonizing. They normally use skin from the victim but given Hannah's situation, it would be best to use a donor and since you're her father, you're her best option. I just don't want you thinking this will be easy. I understand your reasoning, and in your shoes…yeah, I would do the same thing. Let's get some blood work on you just to make sure you are completely healthy. Do you want to tell Hannah or wait until you know for sure?"
Mike choose to wait, not because he was concerned about his pain, but he was adamant that Hannah not hurt. Rios took blood from him on the guise that he needed to do a check up since Mike had endured so many blood donations in Takehaya's camp. Hannah knew Mike had been a p.o.w. and didn't question it, other than out of concern for Mike. They both assured her that all the tests that had been done previously had come up clean, and there were not any symptoms, it was just a matter of safety. Hannah was still concerned but seemed to let it go.
They choose to go to the burger diner that Mike had taken Hannah too when they were getting Mallory's birthday gifts. At first Mike thought it was because Hannah knew they had a private dining room and the waitress was patient but then Hannah told him she didn't care about that stuff, she just wanted some more pumpkin pie. She had apparently worked up an appetite, because she ate her cheeseburger, all of her onion rings, part of his French fries, a strawberry milk shake, a piece of pumpkin pie and part of his piece of chocolate pie. She had left the hospital weighing 72 pounds, lost 3 pounds at first while she was home, but gained that back plus 8 pounds. She was still underweight but she was gaining ground. If Mike didn't know any better, he would have thought that he was having a conversation with a normal fourteen year old, not one who had severe health issues, was scarred, had watched her mother and several other people be murdered, had been homeless for months, taking care of her nine year old sister, or had been pronounced dead, less than a month before. It was amazing.
They checked out the indoor gym and agreed they would wait until Mallory found a dad approved swimsuit. Mike had found out that it would be almost completely private from two to three everyday and they had an area that Emma could play in. Mike would prefer to find other accomodations for Emma, someone he knew and was comfortable with. Leaving either girl with a stranger bugged him. Mallory had told him that on days that she worked eight hour shifts, she normally woke up from about one thirty and stayed awake until four or five, and then would take a nap before work, she would be happy to stay with Emma. Her sleep schedule had changed since she had been living at Mike's because she felt safer.
They went home and rescued Kara from Emma, they had been working on math trying to get Emma caught up. Kara had told Mike that she was doing remarkably well with it. Both girls were very intelligent, and took after Christine in that respect. Lucas had struggled with what little bit of school he got to go to before he died, and was much more interested in dinosaurs and baseball. Every time Mike saw a graphic of a dinosaur, it hurt Mike's heart. He hoped some day that would get better.
When they finally got home, Mike quietly spoke to Mallory about the possibility of a skin graph, with him as the donor. She was familiar with Dr. Wilson because of her past as a domestic violence victim and told Mike that she was an amazing doctor and Hannah's scar would be almost completely gone. She also had warned him about the pain that he would be in but she knew Mike's mind was made up. He had already received a call from Dr. Wilson, she wanted to make sure Mike's blood work came back okay and they would proceed. His and Hannah's appointment was in two days and if all the blood work looked okay, than the surgery would be towards the beginning of December. Mallory told him to find out the date and she would take off work, she had plenty of vacation time built up, and he would need help. She also would find a dad approved swimsuit for Hannah, and laughed at Mike's specifications on it…no bikini, he wanted the back covered as much as possible, preferred one piece, etc.
Mike finally told Hannah that he was wanting to have the skin graph to cover her scar, and they would be going for an appointment with Dr. Wilson in two days. Dr. Wilson had mentioned using Emma's skin but Mike was adamant that Emma would not be going through that kind of pain. Mike had a high treshhold for pain and so he was sure he would be fine.
Mallory headed to work and Mike started supper. Hannah was a little worn out from her day out and was looking at swimsuits on Mike's ipad in the recliner. Emma was working on some math problems Kara had given her. He kept hearing, "Hey, daddy, look at this..." or "Daddy, can you help me with this?" Before the plague it would have driven him crazy, now it was refreshing.
Hannah found a swimsuit that Mike was semi okay with, and they decided to order a size larger than what she needed, until it fit better, Hannah agreed to wear one of Mike's shirts to the pool. He had not realized it but Emma didn't know how to swim, and so he promised her that when it got warmer out, he would teach her. He had been deployed quite a bit of the time when she was at the right age to teach and Mike refused for her not to know. He had taught Hannah and he would teach Emma, he just wished he had a chance to teach Lucas.
For some reason, Mike had been thinking about Lucas a lot that day and both girls had picked up on it. It was weird the things that reminded him of Lucas, the dinosaur graphics, teaching Emma how to swim, the fact that Lucas would have loved his chocolate pie at lunch. He had spoke with Russ and asked if it was normal. Russ' daughters had been dead for a couple years even before the Red Flu, and he was the only person that Mike felt comfortable asking. Garnett was still struggling with losing her daughter, and in a lot of ways was in worse shape than Mike. Russ let him know that it was completely normal and it would go on for the rest of his life, but told Mike that he was associating it with good memories so that was a good sign.
After supper both girls landed on the couch with him in the middle, they picked a movie, and ate popcorn. Lucas was still on his mind a lot, he would think that would Lucas would have liked the movie, would have wanted root beer, Mike would imagine him curled up with them. A couple different times he had teared up, and one time Hannah reached up and brushed a tear away. She didn't say a word, just seemed to understand. Both girls curled up that much closer to him and eventually went to sleep. He couldn't understand why this particular day was so hard. It wasn't Lucas' birthday, the anniversary of his death had passed, it was just a random day, Mike just choose to focus on his two girls, its what Lucas and Christine would have him do.