Chapter 3: Run Silent, Run Deep

Amelia stepped out of the room after Owen's request to be left alone. She climbed the stairs and pasted on her best fake smile as she approached Lynne and shared, "I'm going to hop in the shower. Owen's doctor is coming by. Can you show her to our downstairs bedroom when she arrives?"

"Absolutely," Lynne smiled as she looked up from pulling leggings onto Ella. "Everything ok?"

"Not really," Amelia responded without detail. Then she lied, "I might need to go in today. I'll let you know."

Lynne grinned and assured Amelia, "Not a problem. I'm here all day and can stay as late into the evening as needed."

Distracted, Amelia mentioned, "Owen cancelled the 24-hour care I arranged, but a physical therapy assistant will be here from 10-noon. You won't need to worry about him."

Amelia walked into her bedroom and closed the door. Looking at the bed, she was tempted to crawl in, hide under the blankets, and fall asleep. Forcing herself to plod through the day, she proceeded to the bathroom. While Amelia sat in the corner of the large tile shower and sobbed, she soaked in the hot water hoping it would drench away her confusion and pain.

Meanwhile, outside the melancholy scenes in each master suite, Lynne set up a Barbie Village for Bronwyn and the babies in the nursery. To explain why the Barbie shoes weren't anywhere to be seen (nor choked upon), Lynne shared that the city had just been declared barefoot-only. Creatively, she asked Bronwyn what other laws might rule in Barbie Village. Bronwyn quickly responded, "Rule Number One: Daddy's aren't allowed to go away to wars. Never ever ever."

The boys both chose to be alone. Since he had a headache, Finley had asked if he could go lie down in his room. Oliver, having checked out a library book about airplanes the previous school day, was snuggled in a bean bag chair reading.

The doorbell rang and Lynne went to answer the door. She asked Oliver to help keep an eye on the babies for just a minute while she ran downstairs. He obliged happily, entering the nursery and pretending to be Godzilla attacking Barbie Village. The girls giggled and screamed as Godzilla roared his way through the nursery.

Lynne opened the front door to find Callie standing before her. Bundling her coat around herself tightly and holding a med bag, Callie stated, "Hi. Lynne, right? I think we've met…or maybe I just hear so much praise about you that I feel like we know each other. I'm Callie Torres. Did anyone mention I'd be coming by?"

Lynne offered an embarrassed chuckle and invited Callie inside. "Yes, let me show you to Dr. Hunt. Then, I apologize, I need to hurry back upstairs to the children."

"Right. Yeah. Absolutely," Callie nodded as she surveyed the house. It pretty much looked the same as the last time she visited, but a peculiar vibe seemed to pervade the space. Lynne pointed to the door and encouraged Callie to go in.

Callie stood still for a moment before knocking on the door and took a deep breath. With exuberance and a wide smile, she approached Owen and announced, "I understand my boss is looking for the best ortho surgeon in the country."

Turning his head just enough to see her face, Owen grinned and said, "Callie…thanks for coming by."

"No problem," Callie shrugged, "this way, everyone will be jealous because I got to see you first." She hugged him and then sat on the edge of the bed. Entering into doctor mode, she asked, "So how's your pain? Let's start there." She placed a thermometer under Owen's tongue and removed her stethoscope from her bag. Then she wound a blood pressure cuff around Owen's left arm.

"About a 7 or 8," he shared with a thermometer under his tongue. She took his BP and removed the thermometer.

Jotting notes on a steno pad, Callie smirked and inquired, "140/95, temp of 100. Both high but within reason, considering. Tell me about your meds and their dosages."

Pointing across the room at his pack, Owen listed aloud, "Cipro, 500 mg, twice a day; Percocet 2.5 mg/325 mg, 1-2 pills every 6 hours; Flexeril 15mg, once a day. Ambien if needed, which it hasn't been. Motrin, Arnica cream for my side, 200 mg Vitamin C."

"And with that cocktail you're at a 7 or 8?" Callie, surprised, sought to confirm.

Owen explained, "I haven't had any meds since last night."

"That helps explain your BP. Why haven't you taken your meds?" Callie asked with confusion, "It's after 8 am. You could take the whole gambit if you needed to."

Owen grimaced, "First morning home, we're trying to find a routine. Kids come first. You know how it goes…"

Standing up and heading to the pack, Callie asked where the meds were and then brought them to Owen's bedside. "It's going to be challenging staying on schedule with the Percocet and Motrin if you don't have them within reach. Just sayin'…"

"Any chance you could prescribe a different pain med?" Owen requested.

Callie moved her chin down and toward her shoulder with a look of concern, "Are you having trouble tolerating these? Both tend to be very effective."

"I'm not sure how much you know about Amelia's past, but…" Owen began.

Callie interrupted and recollected, "Right…her drug of choice was oxy. Absolutely, I can get you started on something else. Since your pain is consistent, let's try a Fentanyl patch. That should provide consistent relief and avoids the whole pill issue, especially with so many little ones around here. Are you having any pain spikes?"

"No," Owen answered.

As she wrote down some notes, Callie shared, "Here's what we'll do. Continue with Cipro, 500 mg, twice a day; Ambien if needed. I'll have the hospital deliver two new meds. We'll try the Fentanyl patch around the clock and Celebrex twice a day. Start with 100 mg twice a day. If that doesn't do the trick, increase to 200 mg twice a day. The arnica and Vitamin C aren't going to hurt anything. I want you to take 2 Percocet and 2 Motrin now to deal with that 7-8 pain. Hopefully, it will also help that high BP until you have the new meds. Then discontinue Motrin, Percocet and Flexeril. I can take the remaining pain meds with me and have them destroyed if you like."

"Please," Owen requested.

"Now that we have meds sorted out, let's take a look at your wounds. Want me to check out the abdominal spot too since I'm here?" Callie asked as she slipped on a pair of gloves and set wound dressing supplies beside her. Owen shrugged and nodded.

"Let's see what we've got here…" Callie studiously commented as she pulled back the dressing on the abdominal wound. "Any tenderness here?" she asked as she palpated the area. "Or here?"

Owen squeezed his eyes closed but responded, "Not really."

"Umm…ok, Chief, if you want me to help you, you can't make a pain-filled face and then tell me it doesn't hurt. Fess up," she insisted.

"Very tender near the top. Lower area, not so much," Owen admitted.

"Let's get you in to see Gen Surg. Nothing looks amiss, but there might be something going on deep beneath the surface. You shouldn't be that tender," Callie ordered. "Now the fun stuff…let's look at that leg and knee," she smiled. With complete professionalism, she kept him draped with the bed sheet while exposing his right leg.

Callie began by wrapping her hands around Owen's upper leg and squeezing around it, advising, "Let me know when I hit a tender or painful spot." Working her way down, she was pleased to discover that the pain was localized to the area around the bone bruise. "You have too much swelling. Was your leg elevated last night while you slept?"

"No," Owen admitted.

"You need to change that," she ordered firmly but politely. "What do you know about the stitching on your knee?" The method intrigued her.

"Nothing. Why?" he inquired.

"Just an unfamiliar and captivating technique. It seems like the interior stitches are at two different depths and aren't right under the exterior ones. I'm going to call them up and find out their reasoning," Callie planned as she examined the area.

Amelia came in, fully dressed for work, with Oliver trailing behind her. "Callie, hi."

"Hey, Amelia. Your man is doing well. Have you seen the stitching on his knee?" Callie asked just barely looking up as she subtly covered Owen's wounds with a towel. "And remind me of your name, buddy."

Oliver extended his hand, but Callie motioned to her gloves with a smile and a shrug, "I'm Oliver. I'm second oldest." Owen was touched by Oliver's manners but curious to see him clinging to his baby blanket.

"Ok, Oliver Second Oldest, how old are you? And do cuts and blood gross you out?" Callie asked.

"Almost 9 and nope. Both my parents are doctors," Oliver shrugged as if Callie didn't know. Owen smiled and caught Callie's eye.

"Oliver, Dr. Torres needs to finish her exam and I need to get going. Can you go back upstairs?" Amelia urged.

"Where are you going?" Owen asked with sadness.

Pursing her lips, looking out the window, and sighing, Amelia stated, "I need to go in for a few hours. I won't be long." Amelia began to walk out of the room and called back, "I'll see you there, Callie."

"Yeah, ok," Callie answered as she prepared Owen's fresh dressings. Oliver was still standing beside his father and was now holding Owen's hand. Callie chuckled and looked at Oliver, "You wanna see? Sure, you can handle it?" Oliver nodded and smiled.

Callie removed the towel and explained the stitches and what was under them. She concluded with, "and see up here? Where it swells and kind of bulges out? That's where your dad's femur is bruised. The femur is the big bone at the top part of your leg. Did you know a bone can get bruised like your skin does?"

"Nuh-uh," Oliver answered with fascination as Callie began redressing Owen's wounds.

"Your dad is going to try a new medication that should help make that bulge go away, but here's one other way we can help it. Can you be my assistant and take care of him once I leave?" Callie asked. Oliver nodded with enthusiasm. She continued, "Great. We're going to put a bunch of pillows under Dad's leg before I leave, and your job is to make sure he keeps his leg there all day."

"I can do that," Oliver promised.

"Great. Maybe you can become a doctor like your dad someday, huh?" Callie prompted.

"No," Oliver proclaimed confidently. "I'm going to join the Navy and be a Blue Angels pilot. But maybe I could be a doctor if that doesn't work out."

Callie smiled broadly and responded, "Sounds like a great plan, Oliver." She turned to Owen as she took off her exam gloves and stated, "I'd like to see you at the hospital later today. Did anyone mention we've already scheduled you for PT at 3?"

"Yeah, it's on this list here with all my appointments," Owen confirmed as he held out a pad of paper.

"Good. I'll join you at PT to examine your gait and range of motion. Maybe I could even get you down to the cafeteria for a coffee afterward," Callie suggested.

"I can't," Owen grimaced, "I've got an appointment at 4:15 with Dr. Wyatt. But another time for sure."

Callie grinned, thinking about the many facets involved in Owen's healing. "Oliver, let's get those pillows arranged." Owen directed Oliver which pillows to fetch. Momentarily, Oliver returned with an overflowing armful of various sized pillows. After setting them up and elevating Owen's leg, Callie excused herself so she could get to work.

Oliver told Owen about the airplane book he had just checked out and asked if he could bring it down so they could read it together. Owen enthusiastically agreed and encouraged Oliver to go fetch it. As Oliver ran upstairs, Owen grabbed his cell phone and attempted to call Amelia. His call, because she saw it and pressed the 'ignore' button, went directly to voicemail. "Mia?" his message began with a hint of sadness, "Uh…call me. Just a little surprised you have to go in on Ella's birthday and my first day back. Love you…call me."