Chapter IX
It Is Costing Me A Fortune To Keep The Poor Sucker On Life-support System
Eddie shifted his weight as casually as he could back into the bed as a tall, thin woman doctor entered with a clipboard clasped against one side and a pearly, white smile slapped across her face.
Long, shapely, tanned legs supported a thin torso that curved in all the right places. She reminded Eddie of one of those women you see posing on the trunk of an expensive, slicked up car in magazines.
Eddie could feel his temperature rising as he pictured himself sitting solely on the examination table in a paper gown barely sufficient to cover his tall frame, and his jaw cradled in his lap.
"Hello." The doctor said as she smiled, her gold, curling, tendrils of hair sifted back and forth on her shoulders as she stuck out her hand, her fingernails painted silver. "I'm Dr. Youngblood."
"Uh…Eddie Alden…" it took him a minute to find his voice, and even longer to lean forward and shake her hand, cringing slightly.
Dr. Youngblood's face suddenly flashed with sorrow and she looked at his hand again, as if confirming her thought. "Damn." She cursed more to herself than to Eddie.
"What?"
"You're married. Too bad, you know? You're pretty cute." She smiled and dismissed her thought with a giggle and a shrug as she set down the clipboard on the counter.
Eddie suddenly felt as if he was in the middle of a boiling cauldron and he could feel his face go red with embarrassment.
"So, it says here you have a broken radius, a sprained ankle, and you seem to have lost your appendix." She tried to make light of the subject and all Eddie could do was smile in kind.
"Well," She came towards him and he unconsciously backed away. "Let's see if we can find it."
She paused momentarily at the counter to put on a pair of latex gloves then turned to face him. "Lie back," She said, and he did as he was told, somewhat reluctantly, but did it just the same.
She gently folded up the gown, revealing the still healing, four-inch incision that was still rimmed with green and yellow and now purple bruising. He felt his cheeks flush as his blue Superman boxers were exposed.
"Nice." Dr. Youngblood remarked, smiling as he rolled his eyes in spite of himself.
Her tone suddenly turned professional and she allowed Eddie to become as comfortable as he possibly could, before she dove in.
"I'm just going to check any tissue around the injury for inflammation or tenderness."
She took her two first fingers on her right hand and gently pushed them down around the colored portion of the incision, moving them around cautiously, millimeter by millimeter. "Just tell me if it hurts."
Her fingers attained light, soothing pressure until they finally hit their mark. "It hurts." Eddie pushed out through grit teeth, sucking back the urge to cry out.
"Right here?" She pushed again, ever so gently and he nodded quickly, his teeth still set in his jaw. "Alright," She seemed to log it in her mind before her fingers continued their journey around the incision, coming up with only one more tender spot before she was done.
She turned to her clipboard on the counter and quickly scrawled her findings on the sheet before turning back to him, pulling off her gloves and throwing them into a waist basket near the bed.
"Okay," she seemed to sigh as she said it. "Let's see how your arm's doing." She began opening drawers in the counter, until finally pulling out what looked to be a garage saw.
It had a short, blunt handle and a shimmering, silver, circular, jagged toothed blade waiting patiently beneath a protective plastic cover.
Eddie felt his blood run cold as she plugged the extension cord running out the back of the thing into the wall and came towards him.
She was imperceptible to his reaction as she moved a bed tray with a light attached atop it over to Eddie's side and laid down the blade.
She grabbed a clean, white towel from one of the drawers in the counter and laid it across the tray, positioning the blade so that it looked like a clean operation.
"Alright," she sighed again, leaning forward and gently relieving his shoulder of the sling that supported his cast arm. He cringed slightly as she guided his now free arm to lay dead on the tray.
Then Dr. Youngblood caught sight of the fact that Eddie was eyeing the saw suspiciously. "Don't worry," she tried to relieve his worry. "I've done this a lot of times, and I haven't cut anyone."
"At least," she added with a grin. "Not yet…"
"Yet?" Eddie's eyes grew wide and he swallowed the boulder in his throat.
"Relax!" She said enthusiastically, throwing back her head and laughing, her golden hair flowing like a waterfall. "This will only take a sec."
"Or a section." He said dishearteningly. And only looked at her when she laughed again.
"Very funny," She smirked, then turned professional.
She moved herself so that she was between Eddie and the saw, blocking it from his view, while she removed the plastic.
As soon as she flipped on the saw and a shrill, whirring noise filled the room, Eddie went as stiff as a board, and he cinched his eyes shut.
A shiver rolled up his spine and crawled over his scalp as he felt the spinning blade come in contact with the cast, and the smell of burning plastic filled his nose.
Once, he could have sworn that he had felt the blade nick his skin, and he threatened to pull out from her grasp, but then logic - luckily - came into play.
After what seemed like an eternity, the saw was turned off and Eddie waited for the bad news, his eyes still closed.
"There," Dr. Youngblood turned to Eddie and smiled, waiting until he opened his eyes slightly. "That wasn't so bad. Was it?" She asked, moving from her blockade and allowing him to admire her work.
The red cast now lay in two pieces, with little bits of plaster crumbling at the edge, and his wet, white, shriveled wrist lying lifeless in the middle. His arm looked like it did when you take a Band-Aid off of your finger after about two days.
"Let's see how your reflexes are doing," She lifted his limp hand in hers as she brushed away the remnants of the cast into the waist basket and cleared an area before setting it back down.
She then pulled over her wheeled chair and sat down, lowering the tray to adjust to her new height as she began to do push lightly along the far right side of his arm, slowly trailing up.
"Again, tell me if it hurts." She mentioned as she continued, again hitting her mark as she hit the fractured part. "Ow." He said calmly, pain momentarily flashing through his face before dissipating.
"Anywhere else?" Her fingers trailed the rest of his arms and he shook his head. Then, she moved down to his ankle and tried to establish points of pain by moving it in one direction, then another.
After a thorough examination of broken, visible things, Dr. Youngblood put away all her things and unfolded a brown, ugly wheelchair from its confinement between the counter and the wall.
"Come on," She coaxed with her index finger, pointing him down into the chair and helping him in - despite his objection. "Now comes x-rays."
"Joy." He said with as little enthusiasm as possible.
"I'm glad to see you so happy." She quipped as they left the room, and he clasped his paper gown defensively around him, his limp hand recumbent in his lap.
After the whole lead vest and the lying on the table while a big machine drew a red line over you; Dr. Youngblood wheeled Eddie gallantly back to the room and handed him a small, Pixie cup.
"Have fun." She smirked as he grumbled and took it from her, hopping on his good foot into the bathroom around the corner and closing the door behind himself.
After reemerging, he found Dr. Youngblood looking curiously at blue x-rays clipped up on the light board, and he set the cup down beside her, quietly taking a seat on the side of the table.
She seemed to jump at the crackle of the paper covering the bed and whirled around to smile at him.
"So, what's the deal?" He said dryly.
"Well," She had one of her arms folded beneath her chest and the other clasped onto the bottom of her chin like a professional doctor on television would do.
"You're healing well and all you have to do is keep both your wrist and your ankle wrapped until you come back in two weeks for another checkup." She smiled casually as he slid from the bed and hobbled toward his clothes, which were folded neatly on a chair near the bathroom.
"Oh," She said in a matter that made him pause and turn back to her in question.
"I'll leave you a lollypop." She said with a wink.
It Is Costing Me A Fortune To Keep The Poor Sucker On Life-support System
Eddie shifted his weight as casually as he could back into the bed as a tall, thin woman doctor entered with a clipboard clasped against one side and a pearly, white smile slapped across her face.
Long, shapely, tanned legs supported a thin torso that curved in all the right places. She reminded Eddie of one of those women you see posing on the trunk of an expensive, slicked up car in magazines.
Eddie could feel his temperature rising as he pictured himself sitting solely on the examination table in a paper gown barely sufficient to cover his tall frame, and his jaw cradled in his lap.
"Hello." The doctor said as she smiled, her gold, curling, tendrils of hair sifted back and forth on her shoulders as she stuck out her hand, her fingernails painted silver. "I'm Dr. Youngblood."
"Uh…Eddie Alden…" it took him a minute to find his voice, and even longer to lean forward and shake her hand, cringing slightly.
Dr. Youngblood's face suddenly flashed with sorrow and she looked at his hand again, as if confirming her thought. "Damn." She cursed more to herself than to Eddie.
"What?"
"You're married. Too bad, you know? You're pretty cute." She smiled and dismissed her thought with a giggle and a shrug as she set down the clipboard on the counter.
Eddie suddenly felt as if he was in the middle of a boiling cauldron and he could feel his face go red with embarrassment.
"So, it says here you have a broken radius, a sprained ankle, and you seem to have lost your appendix." She tried to make light of the subject and all Eddie could do was smile in kind.
"Well," She came towards him and he unconsciously backed away. "Let's see if we can find it."
She paused momentarily at the counter to put on a pair of latex gloves then turned to face him. "Lie back," She said, and he did as he was told, somewhat reluctantly, but did it just the same.
She gently folded up the gown, revealing the still healing, four-inch incision that was still rimmed with green and yellow and now purple bruising. He felt his cheeks flush as his blue Superman boxers were exposed.
"Nice." Dr. Youngblood remarked, smiling as he rolled his eyes in spite of himself.
Her tone suddenly turned professional and she allowed Eddie to become as comfortable as he possibly could, before she dove in.
"I'm just going to check any tissue around the injury for inflammation or tenderness."
She took her two first fingers on her right hand and gently pushed them down around the colored portion of the incision, moving them around cautiously, millimeter by millimeter. "Just tell me if it hurts."
Her fingers attained light, soothing pressure until they finally hit their mark. "It hurts." Eddie pushed out through grit teeth, sucking back the urge to cry out.
"Right here?" She pushed again, ever so gently and he nodded quickly, his teeth still set in his jaw. "Alright," She seemed to log it in her mind before her fingers continued their journey around the incision, coming up with only one more tender spot before she was done.
She turned to her clipboard on the counter and quickly scrawled her findings on the sheet before turning back to him, pulling off her gloves and throwing them into a waist basket near the bed.
"Okay," she seemed to sigh as she said it. "Let's see how your arm's doing." She began opening drawers in the counter, until finally pulling out what looked to be a garage saw.
It had a short, blunt handle and a shimmering, silver, circular, jagged toothed blade waiting patiently beneath a protective plastic cover.
Eddie felt his blood run cold as she plugged the extension cord running out the back of the thing into the wall and came towards him.
She was imperceptible to his reaction as she moved a bed tray with a light attached atop it over to Eddie's side and laid down the blade.
She grabbed a clean, white towel from one of the drawers in the counter and laid it across the tray, positioning the blade so that it looked like a clean operation.
"Alright," she sighed again, leaning forward and gently relieving his shoulder of the sling that supported his cast arm. He cringed slightly as she guided his now free arm to lay dead on the tray.
Then Dr. Youngblood caught sight of the fact that Eddie was eyeing the saw suspiciously. "Don't worry," she tried to relieve his worry. "I've done this a lot of times, and I haven't cut anyone."
"At least," she added with a grin. "Not yet…"
"Yet?" Eddie's eyes grew wide and he swallowed the boulder in his throat.
"Relax!" She said enthusiastically, throwing back her head and laughing, her golden hair flowing like a waterfall. "This will only take a sec."
"Or a section." He said dishearteningly. And only looked at her when she laughed again.
"Very funny," She smirked, then turned professional.
She moved herself so that she was between Eddie and the saw, blocking it from his view, while she removed the plastic.
As soon as she flipped on the saw and a shrill, whirring noise filled the room, Eddie went as stiff as a board, and he cinched his eyes shut.
A shiver rolled up his spine and crawled over his scalp as he felt the spinning blade come in contact with the cast, and the smell of burning plastic filled his nose.
Once, he could have sworn that he had felt the blade nick his skin, and he threatened to pull out from her grasp, but then logic - luckily - came into play.
After what seemed like an eternity, the saw was turned off and Eddie waited for the bad news, his eyes still closed.
"There," Dr. Youngblood turned to Eddie and smiled, waiting until he opened his eyes slightly. "That wasn't so bad. Was it?" She asked, moving from her blockade and allowing him to admire her work.
The red cast now lay in two pieces, with little bits of plaster crumbling at the edge, and his wet, white, shriveled wrist lying lifeless in the middle. His arm looked like it did when you take a Band-Aid off of your finger after about two days.
"Let's see how your reflexes are doing," She lifted his limp hand in hers as she brushed away the remnants of the cast into the waist basket and cleared an area before setting it back down.
She then pulled over her wheeled chair and sat down, lowering the tray to adjust to her new height as she began to do push lightly along the far right side of his arm, slowly trailing up.
"Again, tell me if it hurts." She mentioned as she continued, again hitting her mark as she hit the fractured part. "Ow." He said calmly, pain momentarily flashing through his face before dissipating.
"Anywhere else?" Her fingers trailed the rest of his arms and he shook his head. Then, she moved down to his ankle and tried to establish points of pain by moving it in one direction, then another.
After a thorough examination of broken, visible things, Dr. Youngblood put away all her things and unfolded a brown, ugly wheelchair from its confinement between the counter and the wall.
"Come on," She coaxed with her index finger, pointing him down into the chair and helping him in - despite his objection. "Now comes x-rays."
"Joy." He said with as little enthusiasm as possible.
"I'm glad to see you so happy." She quipped as they left the room, and he clasped his paper gown defensively around him, his limp hand recumbent in his lap.
After the whole lead vest and the lying on the table while a big machine drew a red line over you; Dr. Youngblood wheeled Eddie gallantly back to the room and handed him a small, Pixie cup.
"Have fun." She smirked as he grumbled and took it from her, hopping on his good foot into the bathroom around the corner and closing the door behind himself.
After reemerging, he found Dr. Youngblood looking curiously at blue x-rays clipped up on the light board, and he set the cup down beside her, quietly taking a seat on the side of the table.
She seemed to jump at the crackle of the paper covering the bed and whirled around to smile at him.
"So, what's the deal?" He said dryly.
"Well," She had one of her arms folded beneath her chest and the other clasped onto the bottom of her chin like a professional doctor on television would do.
"You're healing well and all you have to do is keep both your wrist and your ankle wrapped until you come back in two weeks for another checkup." She smiled casually as he slid from the bed and hobbled toward his clothes, which were folded neatly on a chair near the bathroom.
"Oh," She said in a matter that made him pause and turn back to her in question.
"I'll leave you a lollypop." She said with a wink.