~Chapter 3~
Sunday
The next morning when Elsa awoke, she still felt sore, but she felt a little less weak than yesterday. Elsa and Anna laughed and wished each other a good morning. The charge nurse on duty came and took Elsa's temperature, pulse, and respiration, and she also checked the incision site.
Afterwards, the sisters were served breakfast. Anna relished in bacon, eggs, and toast, while Elsa was stuck eating porridge. However, Anna snuck Elsa a piece of her toast when no one was looking.
After breakfast, Anna and Elsa got washed up, and then Anna took Elsa for a walk around the hospital. She waved and chatted a bit with some of the nurses and doctors that passed by her in the hallway. A nurse took them down to the first floor and showed them the gift shop.
Inside, there were lots of pretty bouquets of flowers, toys, and candies, and Elsa was delighted when Anna bought some flowers and a teddy bear for her.
"No chocolate?" asked Elsa jokingly, after thanking Anna for the gifts.
"No sweets until you get better," said Anna, with a sly smile on her face.
After the gift shop, they toured the rest of the downstairs, the nurse showed them where the children's ward was, where the cafeteria was, and different lounging areas were. After the tour, it was time for lunch. Anna ate a sandwich, one of her favorite cuisines, while Elsa reluctantly ate soup again.
The nurse checked her vitals again, and then left. Kristoff and Olaf arrived at around one' o clock in the afternoon, right when Elsa was taking a nap. When she awoke around three, she greeted Olaf and Kristoff with surprise and a hug.
"We miss you at home," said Olaf, a sad look on his face.
"I miss you too," said Elsa, patting his head as she sat up in bed. "But I'll be home soon, Tuesday is what we're hoping for."
"You'll have quite the story to tell the Northuldra once you get back to the Enchanted forest," said Kristoff, leaning up against the door.
"Definitely," said Elsa. "And the spirits too, although I get the feeling they already know that I'm okay, even if I am technically ill at the moment."
"I hope I don't get appendicitis," said Anna. "It just seems so awful."
"Well, I'm glad it's over and done with for me," said Elsa. "Hopefully no more crazy experiences."
"If an appendix has no purpose like the doctor said, then why do humans have one?" asked Kristoff. "You'd think that after all this time, we'd be born without one."
"Maybe there is a reason, and we just haven't discovered it yet," said Elsa.
"Maybe so," said Kristoff. "But it makes me curious, you know."
"The human body is a strange, yet interesting place," said Anna. "Like, for example, why is it that sometimes I look up into a bright light, and then suddenly, I'll sneeze?"
Kristoff shrugged.
"No idea," said Elsa.
"Maybe something to do with the light affecting my eyes? But then how does my nose get involved in all this?" asked Anna.
"Perhaps one day, there'll be research done and there'll be and answer," said Kristoff, wrapping an arm around Anna. "I wouldn't worry about it too much."
They talked all through the rest of the afternoon, telling stories, debating, telling jokes, until six o' clock, and then they all had dinner. A nurse brought in a chess board and they all took turns playing rounds of chess with each other, until it was going on ten o' clock.
"Woah, look at the time!" said Anna, as she looked up at the clock.
"It doesn't feel like it's this late," said Elsa.
"Time speeds up when you're having fun," said Olaf.
"It sure does," said Kristoff.
"You should probably get on home again," said Anna, as she stood up.
"Why, you ready to get rid of me?" asked Kristoff jokingly.
"No," said Anna, pulling his collar. "But I want you and Olaf to get home safely, and not be travelling late at night by yourselves in the middle of the night."
"Well, we won't be by ourselves technically, since we'll have the guards," said Kristoff, leaning down to kiss Anna. "But I understand, we'll probably be home after one o' clock in the morning, and be up here again sometime in the late afternoon."
"Okay," said Anna, kissing him back. "But please be safe."
"We will," said Kristoff. "We will."
After they all said goodbye, Anna and Elsa stayed up chatting a little while longer, until at last, it was after eleven o'clock, and both girls retired to bed.
"I can't believe tomorrow's the last day," said Elsa, as she climbed into bed. "It went by so fast, but I'm ready to go home."
"Me too," said Anna. "I hope Dr. Ulrich gives the okay."
"I hope so too," said Elsa. "It's nice having people take care of you, but it's better to be home."
"I agree," said Anna.
"I just wish Mama and Papa were here," said Elsa. "I can only imagine what things would be like now."
"They would be proud of you, that's for sure," said Anna. "But of course they wouldn't like to see you in this condition."
"I agree," said Elsa, tearing up in the memory of their parents.
"Them keeping us apart may have not been the best decision, but look where we are now," said Anna. "We're together."
"Together," said Elsa.
Anna leaned down to hug her, and then they shut off the lights and went to sleep.
Monday
The next day was similar to yesterday, like a routine. Elsa and Anna woke up, the charge nurse came and took her vitals, and changed her dressing. Elsa wondered that if this nurse, or the previous nurses before her washed their hands at basins like how the other nurses who helped during her surgery did, but she decided not to ask, since she thought perhaps the nurses washed their hands in a different room with a different basin, and she didn't want to upset the nurse in any way, considering she was just doing her job.
The sisters ate breakfast, and then they washed up and went for a walk again. This time, they walked outside and went to the greenhouse, where beautiful flowers and other vegetation grew strongly despite the cold, almost-winter temperatures outside. After visiting the gardens, and walking the hospital grounds again, the sisters ate lunch, and Anna read aloud again some latest news from a newspaper.
They then played a few rounds of chess against each other, as well as other mini games, until Kristoff and Olaf arrived sometime after three o' clock. They played charades again, with the exception of Elsa, who sat up in bed, and took the main role of guessing who was acting out what.
When the nurse came in to take Elsa's vitals for the evening, she was very amused as Kristoff stood in the middle of his act. They had dinner again, and then they played games and read again, this time until almost eleven o' clock.
"Well, tomorrow's the big day, go home day," said Elsa, with a smile on her face.
"Yeah," said Kristoff. "We all hope so."
"Dr. Ulrich will stop by in the morning and do a physical check on Elsa, and he'll look over the vital records that were recorded by the nurses over the past couple of days and determine whether or not she is ready to go home," said Anna.
"You look fine," said Olaf. "I don't see why he would say no."
"Unfortunately, everything is up the doctor's decision," said Anna. "He has the final say."
"Some doctors can be wrong though," said Kristoff. "Not everyone can be a hundred percent on everything."
"That's also true," said Anna. "But hopefully doctors are right most of the time."
"It'll all be said and done in the morning," said Elsa. "For now I want to go to bed."
"Right," said Kristoff. "Well, we best be going."
Anna and Kristoff kissed goodbye like they had been doing the past couple of nights, and then he and Olaf left. The room was silent once more as Elsa and Anna prepared to turn in for the night once more.
"What a hospital stay," said Elsa.
"You can say that again," said Anna. "But it's like you said, it's better to be home."
"Agreed," said Elsa, pulling her covers around her. "Is it cold in here, or is it just me?"
"You're cold?" asked Anna, her brows furrowing in worry. Normally, Anna would just brush off someone being cold, especially since now that it was fall, going on winter; but Elsa was different, Elsa never got cold, and the night she had fallen ill before they left to go to the hospital for her to have the surgery she was cold…
"Yeah," said Elsa, shivering a little, which worried Anna a bit more.
"It is a bit chilly," decided Anna. "But I can ask the nurse to bring you a blanket."
"That would be lovely," said Elsa, curling over to her left side.
The nurse gave Anna the blanket, and both her and Anna happily draped it over her sister and tucked it in.
"Better?" asked Anna.
"Much better," said Elsa.
"Good," said Anna, with a smile. "Now, let's get some sleep, shall we? Tomorrow is going home day."
"Yes, let's," said Elsa.
Both girls lied down to sleep, ready to say goodbye to the hospital experience and go home to their daily lives.
Something woke Anna up in the middle of the night, she wasn't sure why she woke up, but she did. She saw that Elsa's covers had fallen away from her body in her sleep, and so Anna got up to fix them and pull them back over her, so that she wouldn't be cold.
As Anna did, she noticed beads of sweat on Elsa's forehead from the moonlight shining on her through the partly open window shades. Worry creeping into her, Anna placed her hand on Elsa's forehead, and to her alarm, Elsa was very warm to the touch, almost hot. Fear now flooding through her, Anna quickly left the room, to get help.
"Nurse! Nurse!" cried Anna, in a panic.
No sooner had she yelled those words, did two nurses come running to Anna's aid.
"What's wrong Your Majesty?" one asked.
"My sister…Elsa, something's not right, she's burning up with fever!" cried Anna.
"Fever?" said the other nurse, and both were equally concerned.
They followed Anna to the room, and one nurse felt Elsa's head and neck, and took her temperature, while the other unwrapped her bandage from her abdomen. Elsa's incision site looked red and inflamed around the area, and there was a bit of fluid leaking from it.
"Oh my," said the nurse. Then she turned to the other nurse. "Go and fetch a doctor immediately!"
Anna just stood there in a frozen state, fear running through her. It seemed a long time before the doctor came into the room to help, but it was only five minutes. He came into the room and took Elsa's vitals again, which concerned him, and then he unwrapped the bandages around her abdomen as the other nurse did, and he was deeply concerned by what he saw.
"What's wrong?" asked Anna, fear in her tone.
"Elsa has a surgical site infection," said the doctor, whose name was James.
Anna was confused and alarmed. "What?! But, how? She was just fine yesterday!"
"That's how fast it develops," said Dr. James. "Unfortunately, these types of infections are still very prevalent with operation procedures, especially with those involving the abdominal cavity."
"But how could this have happened?" asked Anna, still in a frantic mode. "I thought everything would be fine after the surgery!"
"There's no exact pinpoint of what could have caused Elsa to develop an infection at her surgical site," said Dr. James. "But it can be from a number of a reasons. Germs are everywhere, people and places, and we try to keep it from spreading, but unfortunately, medicine is still trying to find out the mysteries and the ways of the microbe world. In fact Your Majesty, Elsa's among a group of lucky people who even manage to survive such a surgery."
"So, you're saying, even after the surgery, Elsa could still die?! After all this?!" Anna cried, tears in her eyes.
"There's always a chance, but we're going to do everything in our power to get Elsa better," said Dr. James.
"How?" cried Anna.
"For now we need to stabilize her, focus on getting her fever down, so that she doesn't go into shock or have a seizure, and then when Dr. Ulrich comes in first thing in the morning, he'll need to take her into surgery immediately, to irrigate and clean the wound," said Dr. James.
"Surgery again?!" cried Anna once more.
"Yes," said Dr. James. "If Elsa has the best chance of recovery from the infection, she'll need the additional surgery to remove the infected tissue."
"But what if it doesn't?" asked Anna, her trust wavering in the doctors now.
"It will," said Dr. James, firmly. "I promise."
"All this because of appendicitis," said Anna, wearily shaking her head.
"I understand your fear," said Dr. James. "But trust me when I say that Elsa is a young woman, like you are, and she has health on her side. The stronger the immune system the better chance a person has of surviving and recovering from an illness."
"I hope so," said Anna.
"I'll be back in a few minutes," said Dr. James. "Wait right here." Then he left the room.
Anna got up and walked over to her feverish older sister who lay in bed sleeping with unresponsiveness, and she just started crying.
"Oh Elsa," Anna cried, tears streaming down like a river. "Why does so much have to happen? I don't understand."
Anna kept crying, but then the sound of people entering the room caused her to wipe her tears and turn around. Two nurses were holding buckets of ice, while another held some sort of sheet. Dr. James came into the room behind them.
Anna watched as the two nurses put there buckets down and rolled Elsa onto her side, while the third nurse slipped the sheet underneath her. The nurses then took scoops of ice and placed them around Elsa's arms and legs, then they brought the ends of the sheet up and rolled them over Elsa's body.
"A small ice bath should help bring the fever down," said Dr. James. "It won't be long before morning, and then the irrigation surgery can begin."
Dr. James told Anna that he would send the urgent note to Dr. Ulrich's office, and then in the meantime he would have the nurses come in every two hours or so to check Elsa's temperature. After Dr. James and the nurse left, it was a sleepless night for Anna.
Besides the constant checking of Elsa's temperature, Anna did not want to sleep, for fear that Elsa might die in her sleep, it seemed a long time until the sun rose, bringing forth a brand-new day. Anna was tired, but she was concerned more for her sister's health than hers.
Dr. Ulrich was shocked and alarmed to see the surgical site infection, just as Dr. James was, and he took Elsa away, back down to the operating room, but not before Anna kissed her on her forehead and said "I love you," and then Elsa was wheeled away.
Anna sat in the empty room, waiting for Kristoff and Olaf to arrive. She felt there was no need to send a telegram over if they were on their way already; they would know what had happened as soon as they arrived.
Elsa underwent her surgery at seven in the morning, and it was a little after eight when she came into the recovery room, but it wasn't until after nine when Elsa finally awoke, after being asleep since eleven last night.
"Anna," said Elsa weakly. "I'm so cold. Where am I?"
"You're in the recovery room," said Anna, coming over and stroking Elsa's face, and pulling the covers tighter around her.
"The…recovery room, why am I in the recovery room?" asked Elsa weakly in confusion. "What happened?"
"You had a fever, your surgical site was infected," said Anna. "I happened to wake up in the middle of night and saw that you were burning up, so I got the nurse, who got a doctor, and he sent a note over to Dr. Ulrich. You went into surgery earlier this morning so they could wash out the wound."
"Surgery," said Elsa. "I don't understand. I felt fine yesterday, with the exception for last night, and now here I am. I don't remember anything else."
"You were that out of it," said Anna. "The nurses came and put ice around you and wrapped you in a sheet."
"Ice huh? Who would've thought," said Elsa. Even in her sickest moment, she could still crack a joke. "I feel like I've been run over by a horse."
"Oh Elsa, I was so scared," said Anna. "When I saw you with fever, I didn't know what to think or do. I thought I would lose you, because you got sick so quickly!"
"I'm alive Anna," said Elsa. "I may not be at my best at the moment, but I'm alive. And I'm going to get better."
"I hope so," said Anna, laying her head on Elsa's chest. "I hope so."
Kristoff and Olaf were quite shocked to see a feverish Elsa lying in bed, dark circles under her eyes and all. Anna explained everything that had happened, and all Kristoff and Olaf could do was be in surprise and worry.
"I guess I'm not going home anytime soon," said Elsa.
"Not until you recover," said Anna.
"Figures," said Elsa, with a sigh. "I feel thirsty."
"I'll get you some water from the pitcher," said Anna, getting up from the chair, only to get hit with a wave of dizziness, causing her to grab the chair for support.
"Anna!" cried Kristoff, rushing over to her. "Sit down."
"I don't know what just happened," said Anna, gripping the chair.
"You're stressed, tired, and worried," said Kristoff. "You need to rest."
"Lie down Anna," said Elsa, gesturing towards the cot. "Get some sleep."
"But I want to make sure you're okay," said Anna.
"I'll be okay, when you're okay," said Elsa. "Now, lie down and get some rest."
Anna obeyed her older sister, and placed her head on the pillow on the cot. Already, she did feel like she was drifting off to sleep.
"I'll get your water for you Elsa," said Kristoff, going towards the basin.
"Thank you Kristoff," said Elsa.
Anna lied down to sleep, but a little after ten, Dr. Ulrich came into the room, with two nurses behind him, one was holding some cloth dressing, and another had a jar of something in her hands. Everyone was curious.
"Good morning Elsa," said Dr. Ulrich. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel like I was run over by a horse," said Elsa. "Much different than what I was feeling last night."
Dr. Ulrich nodded. "Well, you gave your sister and everyone else here in the hospital quite the concern last night. Luckily, we were able to re-open your surgical wound and flush it out."
"Am I going to be okay?" asked Elsa.
"Well, we're going to try a rather unusual approach to see if it can stop further ailment and infection," said Dr. Ulrich.
The nurse with the jar walked forward towards Elsa and unscrewed it. The other nurse unwrapped the dressings, revealing a rectangle of cloth. The nurse with the jar now began pouring out a familiar-looking golden liquid onto the cloth.
"Honey?" asked Anna in confusion.
"Of course," said Elsa, with a slight smile.
"Honey is an old, ancient, wound healer and helps with infections," said Dr. Ulrich, as the nurses began to change Elsa's old dressings and apply the now honey-coated one. "If this works, Elsa's surgical site should begin to heal, her fever should go down, and hopefully the swelling too."
"Will Elsa be able to go home soon?" asked Anna.
"Once her fever goes down and her wounds begins to heal, then she would be able to go home," said Dr. Ulrich. The nurses finished applying the honey dressing to Elsa's abdomen, and then Dr. Ulrich took Elsa's vitals.
"I'm sure my sister will heal fast," said Anna. "She is magical after all." She winked at Elsa.
Dr. Ulrich chuckled. "Elsa is quite the very, very, unique individual indeed. But the healing process can take some time, even for those who are magical." He smiled at Elsa.
"How long does the honey have to stay on the wound?" asked Anna.
"This type of treatment will need to continue for at least a week," said Dr. Ulrich. "If Elsa's fever and swelling goes down in two days and she is able to go home, she would still need to apply the honey dressing for five more days, to promote optimal wound healing."
"I hope bees don't swarm around me," joked Elsa. "Even though it's nearly winter, anything's possible."
Dr. Ulrich chuckled again and patted Elsa's hand. "Let's hope not, my dear."
Once Elsa was settled again, and Dr. Ulrich had recorded Elsa's vitals for the morning, he and the nurses left.
"Dr. Ulrich likes you," joked Kristoff.
Elsa rolled her eyes. "Oh please."
"Don't worry Elsa, you're going to heal and we'll be going home soon," said Anna, securing the covers around Elsa's chin.
"And then it's back to work protecting the enchanted forest," said Elsa, closing her eyes.
"I think I need honey too," said Olaf. "Maybe then my body parts can stay together."
Anna laughed. "It doesn't quite work that way, Olaf."
"Who would've thought that something sweet and made by insects could be used to treat a wound?" asked Kristoff.
"Nature has a way of everything," said Elsa with a smile.
Author's note: Lack of knowledge of proper aseptic technique and standard precautions was the top reason of hospital inquired infections, and high mortality rate in the 1800's.
By Frozen's time period, medicine had changed, such as the experimentation and usage of chloroform as a anesthetic, but many doctors didn't even yet wash their hands commonly, as differently portrayed in this fic here.
In fact, many doctors and surgeons went from putting their bare hands inside a cadaver in the morgue, to straight to the OR to perform surgery. There was no handwashing or PPE of that time period, nor their was any true antiseptic and sterilization as seen today.
It wasn't until 1865 that a surgeon by the name of Joseph Lister first discovered that the use of carbolic acid could sterilize surgical instruments, as well as clean wounds. This discovery led to a significant drop in sepsis and death after surgery.
Later, another physician by the name of Joseph Lawrence, was inspired by Dr. Lister and in 1879, used his practices to create a liquid antiseptic used for wound bathing in surgeries, called Listerine, now a commonly used mouthwash in today's households.
Handwashing was now more common during this time, and by 1889, the first surgical glove was introduced, making infection rate drop even further.
Hospital acquired infections and surgical site infections still happen today, but one like Elsa's could have been avoided had there been the existence of proper hand-washing, wearing gloves and PPE, and knowledge of how germs can transfer between people and instruments without proper sterilization.
Infections can happen anytime, anywhere. That's why today, even in the medical world, if something doesn't look right or seems fishy, when in doubt, throw it out! Never assume sterility, even if someone else before says that it's been checked.