~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"All right Carey. We have your x-rays back." Dr. Nelson broke through Carey's semi drugged haze. "It's not as bad as it could have been luckily. Should I go ahead and call your family in here?"
"Sure. That way you wont have to explain this all twice." Carey was relieved to hear it wasn't so bad. His pain had dulled slightly with whatever they were giving him intravenously. He was able to doze once again, at least until the next disturbance. His dazed dreams were filled with beautiful guitars strumming perfect melodies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ned and Irene sat tenderly on the chairs besides Carey's hospital bed in the sectioned off corner of exam room. The guitars in his head had struck sudden minor chords as he listened to the doctor's words.
"The joints in your fingers were stretched and torn. You'll need to go through physical therapy to regain full use of your hand once the joints and muscles heal." Doctor Nelson spoke gently knowing that Carey needed a lot of time for this to sink in.
"What about the rest of my arm?" Carey's voice wavered as he asked his question.
"There were some pretty bad breaks but those will heal just fine once we set your arm. You'll have a cast up to your mid upper arm and we'll set your shoulder and give you a positioning device. For a while you'll have to have a sling running to your other shoulder to support your arm."
"But I will regain use of my fingers, right?" Carey felt himself falling apart.
"With time, healing, and the therapy, you will regain full use after 6-8 months." Doctor Nelson was dreading having to tell him the time period.
"But... my guitar....and......the tour......and......" Carey began to freak out slightly and tried to get up but his medicated state made it hard for him to move. As he tottered Ned caught him and helped him back into the bed. Irene helped him lay back and tried to calm him.
"Shhhhh. Sweetie, it will be okay." Irene was heartbroken to see Carey like this. She may not have been too happy when he quit college and joined the tour but she had never seen such passion and life in her son. "He will be able to play again though, right?" Irene was concerned that a deeper truth might be hiding under the Doctor's calm manor.
"He will regain full use but it will take a lot of time. The danger is in a further injury or aggravation which often occurs out of impatience and desire to do things before the fingers have healed." The Doctor was stern in his speech. "Very few ever lose usage of their fingers unless the joints are completely torn apart or bones are crushed."
Ned and Irene sighed as they looked at each other. They were in for a long ride of frustration and pain. They would have to talk about a lot of things with Carey. For now they left him to have his arm set.
"Here are the prescriptions for pain medication. The pharmacist will go over dosage and times of day with you. One is weaker for all day use and the other is stronger for night. He wont need them for long." Doctor Nelson handed them the slips of paper with a weary smile. "We'll bring him out when we're done."
"Thank you Doctor." Irene and Ned chorused as they left to go join the others in the waiting room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jack had long since fallen asleep on the chair in an awkward position while Fi sat next to him in a tired haze. She barely noticed he brother next to her, curled up into the fetal position on the single seat chair. Ned and Irene had come out thirty minutes earlier with the news about Carey and now they just waited for them to bring him out.
Molly and Irene had returned from the pharmacy after only ten minutes since it was already 1am. The ER was still quiet and the waiting room belonged to them. In the corner Molly, Irene, and Ned discussed things in hush tones.
"We don't know what he'll want to do. There are plenty of options." Ned stated for the sake of argument.
"It might too hard for him to do physical therapy on the road. Plus the emotional toll." Irene expressed as she toyed with her hair, a nervous habit.
"I guess it's all up to him. Ben's on his way and I guess I'll have to ask him about staying on for a while. I don't even know if we'll still be on tour by the time Carey's arm heals." Molly felt so horrible to be dealing with totally replacing Carey while he was still in the hospital.
"Plus who knows how he'll be playing when he's able to again. He'll have to relearn practically and get his fingers to make those stretches again." Irene spoke in a frustrated tone.
"I didn't want to have to be the one to mention that." Molly stated as she glanced at the doors momentarily. "We all know Carey though. As soon as he can he'll be back to where he was." Molly tried to stir some hope in the disheveled pair.
They were all ripped from their temporary holds as the doors opened and a nurse wheeled Carey out. He looked very tired and vulnerable in his huge cast and sling. It took over his entire front and it was practically bound to him by the support device. His jacket was slung on his good side and his hair was a mess.
"How are you doing Carey?" Molly asked gently.
"As good as I can Miss P." Carey yawned as the words escaped his mouth.
"They give you some good drugs?" Jack asked.
"Jack!" Molly scolded him.
Carey almost laughed. Jack was always good for amusement. "It's very nice. I'm floating on a cloud."
Fi stood back a ways. "That's quite a cast." Fi remarked.
"It's heavier than anything I have ever dealt with. It's going to suck having this thing attached to me." Carey sulked at the idea of being 'cast boy' for the next few months.
The nurse was very gentle as she handed the chair over to Ned. "The people at the front desk will take the wheelchair when you're done."
"Will anyone mind if we pull our bus up to the side by the entrance?" Ned's request seemed to bewilder the Nurse.
"Ummmm. Sure. It's pretty slow. No one should mind if it's only for a short while."
"Thank you very much."
"You're welcome. Goodbye Carey." Carey acknowledged the Nurse's goodbye with a nod and a mumble. The folder by his side contained numbers for physical therapists near his home and ones he could see on the road. The decision of what to do would be hard for him. For now he just wanted to sleep off the pain.
"All right Carey. We have your x-rays back." Dr. Nelson broke through Carey's semi drugged haze. "It's not as bad as it could have been luckily. Should I go ahead and call your family in here?"
"Sure. That way you wont have to explain this all twice." Carey was relieved to hear it wasn't so bad. His pain had dulled slightly with whatever they were giving him intravenously. He was able to doze once again, at least until the next disturbance. His dazed dreams were filled with beautiful guitars strumming perfect melodies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ned and Irene sat tenderly on the chairs besides Carey's hospital bed in the sectioned off corner of exam room. The guitars in his head had struck sudden minor chords as he listened to the doctor's words.
"The joints in your fingers were stretched and torn. You'll need to go through physical therapy to regain full use of your hand once the joints and muscles heal." Doctor Nelson spoke gently knowing that Carey needed a lot of time for this to sink in.
"What about the rest of my arm?" Carey's voice wavered as he asked his question.
"There were some pretty bad breaks but those will heal just fine once we set your arm. You'll have a cast up to your mid upper arm and we'll set your shoulder and give you a positioning device. For a while you'll have to have a sling running to your other shoulder to support your arm."
"But I will regain use of my fingers, right?" Carey felt himself falling apart.
"With time, healing, and the therapy, you will regain full use after 6-8 months." Doctor Nelson was dreading having to tell him the time period.
"But... my guitar....and......the tour......and......" Carey began to freak out slightly and tried to get up but his medicated state made it hard for him to move. As he tottered Ned caught him and helped him back into the bed. Irene helped him lay back and tried to calm him.
"Shhhhh. Sweetie, it will be okay." Irene was heartbroken to see Carey like this. She may not have been too happy when he quit college and joined the tour but she had never seen such passion and life in her son. "He will be able to play again though, right?" Irene was concerned that a deeper truth might be hiding under the Doctor's calm manor.
"He will regain full use but it will take a lot of time. The danger is in a further injury or aggravation which often occurs out of impatience and desire to do things before the fingers have healed." The Doctor was stern in his speech. "Very few ever lose usage of their fingers unless the joints are completely torn apart or bones are crushed."
Ned and Irene sighed as they looked at each other. They were in for a long ride of frustration and pain. They would have to talk about a lot of things with Carey. For now they left him to have his arm set.
"Here are the prescriptions for pain medication. The pharmacist will go over dosage and times of day with you. One is weaker for all day use and the other is stronger for night. He wont need them for long." Doctor Nelson handed them the slips of paper with a weary smile. "We'll bring him out when we're done."
"Thank you Doctor." Irene and Ned chorused as they left to go join the others in the waiting room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jack had long since fallen asleep on the chair in an awkward position while Fi sat next to him in a tired haze. She barely noticed he brother next to her, curled up into the fetal position on the single seat chair. Ned and Irene had come out thirty minutes earlier with the news about Carey and now they just waited for them to bring him out.
Molly and Irene had returned from the pharmacy after only ten minutes since it was already 1am. The ER was still quiet and the waiting room belonged to them. In the corner Molly, Irene, and Ned discussed things in hush tones.
"We don't know what he'll want to do. There are plenty of options." Ned stated for the sake of argument.
"It might too hard for him to do physical therapy on the road. Plus the emotional toll." Irene expressed as she toyed with her hair, a nervous habit.
"I guess it's all up to him. Ben's on his way and I guess I'll have to ask him about staying on for a while. I don't even know if we'll still be on tour by the time Carey's arm heals." Molly felt so horrible to be dealing with totally replacing Carey while he was still in the hospital.
"Plus who knows how he'll be playing when he's able to again. He'll have to relearn practically and get his fingers to make those stretches again." Irene spoke in a frustrated tone.
"I didn't want to have to be the one to mention that." Molly stated as she glanced at the doors momentarily. "We all know Carey though. As soon as he can he'll be back to where he was." Molly tried to stir some hope in the disheveled pair.
They were all ripped from their temporary holds as the doors opened and a nurse wheeled Carey out. He looked very tired and vulnerable in his huge cast and sling. It took over his entire front and it was practically bound to him by the support device. His jacket was slung on his good side and his hair was a mess.
"How are you doing Carey?" Molly asked gently.
"As good as I can Miss P." Carey yawned as the words escaped his mouth.
"They give you some good drugs?" Jack asked.
"Jack!" Molly scolded him.
Carey almost laughed. Jack was always good for amusement. "It's very nice. I'm floating on a cloud."
Fi stood back a ways. "That's quite a cast." Fi remarked.
"It's heavier than anything I have ever dealt with. It's going to suck having this thing attached to me." Carey sulked at the idea of being 'cast boy' for the next few months.
The nurse was very gentle as she handed the chair over to Ned. "The people at the front desk will take the wheelchair when you're done."
"Will anyone mind if we pull our bus up to the side by the entrance?" Ned's request seemed to bewilder the Nurse.
"Ummmm. Sure. It's pretty slow. No one should mind if it's only for a short while."
"Thank you very much."
"You're welcome. Goodbye Carey." Carey acknowledged the Nurse's goodbye with a nod and a mumble. The folder by his side contained numbers for physical therapists near his home and ones he could see on the road. The decision of what to do would be hard for him. For now he just wanted to sleep off the pain.