Jay and Kay looked up as the doctor came in and begin to carefully check Elle, measuring the swelling in her arm and looking at the bites shaking his head all the while.
"I'm afraid we're going to have to operate," he said as he finished checking the bites. "The edema's compromised her circulation and the tissue's dying. We're going to have to remove the dead tissue and then do a fasciotomy to prevent further damage. I'm going to need some papers signed giving us permission. If you would follow me, please."
A little while later, Jay and Kay were in the waiting room. Elle had been moved to surgery only moments before and they had no idea how long the operation might take.
"Uh, Kay, I was just wondering exactly what we signed for?" Jay asked. Well, technically Kay had been the one to sign the forms but Jay still felt terribly responsible.
"Basically what they're going to is clean out the dead tissue and then they'll cut her arm open so the swelling will have some place to go and won't put anymore pressure on her tissues." Kay explained.
Jay grimaced at his partner's discription. It didn't sound pleasant at all. At least Elle was on some heavy-duty pain killers so she wasn't going to be hurting, though. That was a tiny comfort. Suddenly, Jay though of something. "Kay, they're just doing that to her arm, right? They aren't going to touch her face, are they?"
"I don't think so," Kay murmered. The doctor had rushed him when he was signing the consent forms but he was sure he would have noticed something like that! He stood up and went over to the nurse's desk. He had a few questions to ask her.
A minute later, Kay came back with an unhappy expression. "They're operating on her face, too." he said as he sat back down.