CHAPTER 79 - THE PROGNOSIS

Two minutes later, the doctor had only mildly calmed down Elizabeth by promising that her son was not stoned. The small boy had simply been given a medication that was not suitable due to an infant's metabolism. He was not poisoned, had not had his stomach pumped, and was not high on drugs.

"It's a little more . . . serious than that," the doctor explained after first struggling to come up with the right word to describe the severity.

"More serious than poisoned or high on drugs?" Elizabeth gasped. "He's seven-months old. What's more serious than that?"

She glanced at her son one more time to reassure herself that he had all his body parts. They were all there. She could see every limb.

Suddenly, she caught her breath in frightful dread.

Like a good mother, she had ensured that he had two arms, two legs, ten toes, ten fingers, two ears, and two eyes. But she had forgotten one very important part. A part that Jack would never have forgotten to check.

Pushing the doctor out of the way, Elizabeth lay little Aaron on the examination table and hurriedly opened his diaper.

She said a silent prayer of gratitude when she saw what she was looking for.

"What are you doing?" the confused doctor asked.

"Making sure he's all there." Elizabeth closed Aaron's diaper and gathered the boy back into her arms.

"Mrs. Thornton. Your son is not missing any important parts. He's not missing ANY parts. We are an infirmary, not a medieval chop-shop. As I said before, your son is pain-free."

"Thank goodness for that", Elizabeth declared. "But if he's not high, not poisoned, not feverish, and not missing any parts, what's wrong with him? He looks perfectly fine."

"He's pain-free."

"But what's wrong with him."

"I just told you."

"Noooo." Elizabeth objected. "You didn't."

"I told you that he's pain-free."

"But what's WRONG with him?!" Elizabeth pestered.

"As I was trying to explain earlier, your son – who is normally a happy baby anyway– is not bothered by his erupting tooth because, temporarily – based on the medication Lt Greenview administered to him – he cannot feel pain. He is not stoned or high or whatever term you used. He simply cannot feel pain."

"He can't feel his sore gums," Elizabeth repeated more to herself than to the doctor as she tried to gather what had happened to her precious son.

"He cannot feel ANY pain," the doctor said deliberately.

"Any pain?" she asked in confusion.

"No pain. None. Nada. He cannot feel any pain in his entire body until the medicine wears off."

"He's totally pain-free?"

"Exactly."

"That's it? That's all that's wrong with him?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you just say that? Why did you get me all worried?" Elizabeth shook her head in frustration. "Now I feel stupid for getting so upset," she said in mild embarrassment. "So, he's hungry and can't feel pain, it's not a big deal."

"And he's not tired. That's another side effect. Lots of energy," Cassiopeia piped up, and then lowered her head in shame.

The doctor gave his assistant an irritated look and let out a deep breath before speaking. "Pain is there for a reason. It lets a body know something is wrong. Doctors appreciate when a patient has pain because it lets us know that something in the body needs to be fixed."

"You want my son to be in pain?" a bewildered Elizabeth questioned.

"No. I would, however, like your son to be able to FEEL pain. Until your son can feel pain again, he's a bit of a danger. To himself."

"How can he be a danger to himself?" Elizabeth questioned.

"If he can't feel pain, he can't know that something is bad for him."

"But I'LL know. I'll take care of him. Nothing bad will happen to him. There's no reason he'd be feeling pain."

"Do not let him out of your sight until he can feel pain again," the doctor instructed and then nodded to the boy's arm. "For instance, the scratches on his arms. He didn't feel any pain when he scratched himself the first time. And the blood fascinated him. To him, it was like painting or coloring with magic fingers. He draws a line with his fingernail and a red line appears. His skin is an incredible canvas with its own built-in paint."

"That's why you covered his hands?"

"Exactly. He would have just kept scratching himself in amazement that he could make long red lines appear. He showed no symptoms of pain. That's how I first knew that something was amiss, and I questioned Lt. Greenview as to what she had given him."

"So, I'll clip his nails," Elizabeth remarked. "Problem solved." She again breathed a sigh of relief and moved to leave the infirmary. She had had enough of over-cautious medical professionals.

"Mrs. Thornton, if he falls and injures himself. He could have a hairline fracture of a bone and we wouldn't know because he wouldn't show any indication of pain. He'd keep moving the limb causing further damage."

"He could break a limb and not feel it?" Elizabeth's forehead wrinkled as she looked in disbelief at the doctor, who nodded and then continued speaking.

"Exactly. Or he can scratch an eye and not realize it's causing serious damage because it's not painful. I've already put stain in them to see if he scratched the corneas without our noticing but they're fine. Nevertheless, it's still a danger if he picks up an item and pokes his eye. You wouldn't even know because he wouldn't cry out in pain."

"But –"

"He can bang his head over and over again on a wall because he likes the vibration and never know he's giving himself a concussion," the doctor continued over Elizabeth's interjection.

"He's not an idiot. He's not going to bang his –"

"He could put something in his ear and rupture his ear drum", the doctor said, cutting off Elizabeth before she could complete her sentence. "He cannot be left unwatched."

"I watch him all the time. Except for a brief time every now and again when I have someone else watch him," she said dismissively as she tried to comprehend the situation. "It's not a problem."

"If you're having a cup of hot coffee and you leave it unattended even for a second, he could put his hand in it, get a second degree burn and not even remove his hand because he doesn't feel the pain."

"Fine! I won't drink hot coffee. Or hot tea. Or even hot soup, how's that? Stop being such a doomsayer!"

"You must watch everything he does until the medication wears off."

"I'll keep an eye on him," Elizabeth assured the doctor.

"He cannot be left out of your sight. Is that clear?"

"Yes. It's fine," she irritably reassured him again. She had lost her patience with the pessimistic man. Geez, who knew that doctors could be such hypochondriacs! He's neurotic about keeping Aaron in perfect condition as if he's a specimen instead of a boy!

She tried to hide the rolling of her eyes at the doctor's abundance of worrying. Aaron was almost always with her and Jack, and their quarters were small enough that she could easily keep an eye on the small boy. Readjusting her bag on one arm and a babbling happy Aaron in the other, she headed towards the door.

So much worry over nothing. These medical professionals need more patients to think about.

Elizabeth paused in the doorway when she realized she may not be able to take a nap right when they got back to their quarters if Aaron was still awake and a 'danger to himself.'

"This medicine you gave him, how long until it wears off? An hour? Two hours?"

"Sixteen", Cassiopeia gulped. "Maybe."

"SIXTEEN?! HOURS?! MAYBE?!"

Cassiopeia cringed and she turned her head away before speaking meekly into the floor. "Or up to three days."

"The automatic door made a thudding sound as it banged into a stunned Elizabeth who stood immobile in the doorway.

"THREE DAYS?! HE'S GOING TO BE EXTRA HUNGRY, NOT TIRED, AND I CAN'T STOP TAKE MY EYES OFF OF HIM EVEN FOR A SECOND FOR THREE DAYS?!

Up NEXT: Chapter 80 😊 Poor Elizabeth.