Title: How Much is that Mutant in the Window?
Author: Sarge
E-Mail: Shalimarfox2@aol.com
MX-MX-MX-MX-MX-MX-MX-MX-MX-MX-MX-MX-MX-MX-MX-MX-MX-MX
A few minutes later, they made it back to sanctuary and they rushed Shalimar to the lab.
Hitting the scan button on the computer, the rest of the team stood back as the light from the scanner slowly flew over Shalimar body. When it was done, Adam went turned around to read the results.
"Dammit!" he muttered.
"What's wrong, Adam?" Brennan asked as he moved over next to Shalimar and took her hand in his.
"She has traumatic pneumothorax along with hemothorax," he said.
"Which is?" Brennan questioned with a frown.
Adam immediately snapped into 'scientific' mode. "Traumatic pneumothorax is when air and gases build up between the lung and chest wall causing the lung collapse. It's usually the result of a blunt or penetrating chest injury. In Shalimar's case, one of her broken ribs has punctured her lung causing this to happen. Now, hemothorax is when, along with the air and gases, blood starts to build up between the lung and chest wall as well," he explained.
"Well, what are we going to do?" Emma asked as tears began to well up in her eyes.
"Yeah Adam…what are…you …going to do?" Shalimar asked as her breathing became more rapid.
"First off, Shalimar you're not going to talk. You need to concentrate on breathing," Adam said. "Secondly, I'm going to need to drain the blood, air, and gases from the pleural space…or in between the lung and inner chest wall. Now, I'm not going to be able to do it using the machines for most of this procedure and I can't really put you under anesthesia because that will slow your breathing and right now, you need all the oxygen you can get. I can give you a localized anesthetic, but that's it."
"Whatever Adam…Just fix…me," she replied.
Adam nodded and then turned back to the computer. After programming the laser to where he wanted the incision, he turned back to Shalimar and gave her a localized anesthetic.
"This won't really do much, but it will help a little with the pain," he said.
Shalimar nodded. "Do it."
With that, Adam pressed the button on the computer, starting the laser.
Shalimar's face contorted with pain as it began to slice through her skin.
Emma started crying and not being able to watch, turned away.
Seeing this, Jesse immediately pulled Emma into his arms and held her as he continued to watch the procedure.
"Adam…stop the…laser," Shalimar whimpered as her grip tightened on Brennan's hand.
"Just hold on a few more seconds. It's almost there," he told her.
Just as he said, a few seconds later, the laser reached its destination and automatically turned off.
"Now what?" Brennan asked as he looked up at Adam.
"Now I have to insert a tube to drain everything out," he replied as he picked up a long tube that was sitting on the counter next to the computer. "Ok, here it goes," he said as he slowly started to insert the tube into the incision that the laser had made.
Shalimar gasped in pain and squeezed her eyes shut.
Brennan immediately put his other hand over Shalimar's and gave it a comforting squeeze.
"Alright, the tube is in," Adam announced as he grabbed a small electrical pump and placed it on the end of the tube. "Now, I'm going to use this pump to suck out everything," he explained as he pushed the button; starting the pump.
After everything was drained, Shalimar seemed to be breathing a little more easily, but she still had a broken rib piercing her lung.
"Does that feel any better?" Adam asked her.
Shalimar nodded.
"Good. Now, the next thing I need to do it make another incision so that I can remove your rib from your lung. Then I have to heal your lung and all your broken ribs," he explained.
"Sounds fun," Shalimar quipped quietly.
Adam gave her a small smile before he turned back to the computer and programmed the laser again. Then he gave her some more localized anesthetic and started the laser.
Once again, Shalimar tightened her grip on Brennan and let out a sharp gasp.
When the laser completed its task, it turned off.
After putting on sterile gloves, Adam moved over beside Shalimar, saying, "Ok, now I have to put my hand inside and pull the rib back. It going to hurt a lot, but now that I've removed all the air, gases, and blood that were keeping you from expanding your lung, I can give you something for the pain."
She nodded again. "Yeah…that'd be nice."
"Ok," Adam said as he picked up a pain-numbing agent and injected in into Shalimar's arm.
Once she was sufficiently numb, Adam slowly reached into the incision and with a sickening crack, pulled the broken rib out of Shalimar's lung.
This caused Shalimar to start coughing violently and while her lung was now filling to its normal capacity, pulling the rib out had caused the wound to start bleeding heavily. Shalimar immediately raised her free hand to her mouth to minimize her coughing, but suddenly pulled her hand back and looking down at it in horror, she noticed that it was covered in blood.
Alarmed, Brennan looked over at Adam, asking, "Adam, what's going on. She's coughing up blood!" It was then that he noticed that there was a lot of blood coming out of the incision that Adam had made with the laser.
"When I pulled the rib out of her lung, it started bleeding more heavily. Don't worry, I can fix it," Adam replied as he picked up a pen-shaped device that was on the counter and then turning it on, he inserted it into the incision.
As the second went by, Shalimar could feel the wound in her lung healing.
Then Adam pulled his hand and the device back, saying, "Ok, the puncture wound in your lung is healed. Now, we just have to fix your ribs and close you up. Then you'll be all done," he stated, trying to cheer Shalimar up.
"Just get it done," she said.
Adam nodded and went back to healing her ribs. When he was done with them, he closed up both incisions.
"Ok, you're all done," he declared with a grin.
"Great. Now, we need to go back to that building and kick some ass," she said as she started to sit up.
"Oh no you don't!" Adam exclaimed as he pushed her back down. "You are doing nothing but getting some rest. You've just been through a very traumatic experience and you're not completely healed. I mean, you're relatively healed, but your bone integrity and lung is still very weak. So, you need to rest. You're going to be very sore for about a week and we still don't know if there will be any complications to your injuries."
"Complications? Like what?" Brennan asked.
"There's a chance she could get an infection in her lung…maybe pneumonia. Something like that. All I can really do is give her antibiotics, but there's till no telling if that will work," Adam replied.
"Adam, I'll be fine," Shalimar argued.
Adam opened his mouth to reply, but Emma beat him to it. "Shalimar, please just listen to Adam. Get some rest. If not for you, than for us," she said.
Glancing over, Shalimar noticed the tears that were still running down Emma's face and that while Emma facing her, Jesse still had his arms around her waist to comfort her. Than she looked up at Brennan to see that he had a look of worry etched across his handsome features. "Ok, fine," she finally replied.
Brennan gave her hand another gentle squeeze while Adam, Emma, and Jesse merely smiled.
"Good. Now, you can either rest in here or I suppose you could go to your room…as long as someone stays with you," Adam told her.
"I'll stay with her, Adam," Brennan declared before anyone else could open their mouths.
Adam grinned, "Alright. Make sure that she does rest and that she doesn't do anything too strenuous."
"I got it," he said as he bent down and scooped Shalimar up in his arms.
"Brennan, I can walk on my own!" Shalimar insisted.
"Shalimar, when I said strenuous, I meant walking as well. You just have had surgery and you need to do as little as possible. Now, be quiet and let Brennan carry you," Adam ordered in a very fatherly tone.
Shalimar frowned. "Fine," she huffed.
Brennan smiled at Adam and then walked out of the lab carrying Shalimar.
TO BE CONTINUED!
(So, what do you think? Horrible, huh? I'll have you know that I took quite some time researching the whole traumatic pneumothorax thing so I hope you like it!! TELL ME IF YOU DO!! REVIEW!!!!)