Although the work was far from done on the complex were Station 51 was called out, as soon as Roy heard back from Doctor Bracket after Johnny had been in surgery for almost six hours, it wasn't hard to convince Captain Stanley to allow him to head back to the hospital. Despite the fact that the crew would be pulling at least some overtime, everyone on site was ordered to take a break every three hours in hopes that no one was overlooked in the devastation.
Upon arriving in the ICU, Roy gazed at his partner and shook his head. The left leg was encased in a metal brace, seemingly to hold together the leg. From the wrist on up to the shoulder area on the right side, a hard cast enclosed the entire area that he could see. A hard, removable brace covered the shoulder and chest area on that side as well. Besides that, there was evidence that Doctor Bracket was forced to stabilize Johnny's ribs as evidence by the gauze pads covering the middle to lower area of his stomach.
Shaking his head, Roy looked up at the heart monitored and was relieved to see the rhythm much more stable. Grabbing the chart at the end of the bed, he read the latest vital signs as well and although a bit high, they too were a lot better than they were than when he had brought Johnny in.
"Hey, Roy," Kelly said, coming into the room to check up on everything.
"Hey, doc," Roy nodded. "Seems he is doing better."
"Despite having to shift a couple ribs and make sure they wouldn't move, he was a lot luckier than I first thought," he admitted.
"Good, that's good," breathed Roy. "Why isn't he on a continuous pain IV though? Seems he's been waking up from pain."
Shifting awkwardly, Brackett glanced around to ensure no one was around, "With his past self-injury issues not resolved quite yet, I don't know what is best for him. I am hoping this is the best course of action, as I am hoping that this will help me understand if he is willing to ask for help. I did make sure the nurses would give the medication via IV within ten minutes of it wearing off and him waking up, however, just in case," he added hastily.
Closing his eyes and breathing out slowly, Roy shook his head, "Is that really a good idea now? I mean, surgery was just an hour ago."
"I know, but honestly, right now I have the ability to monitor him and to be able to see if he is in pain without having people question it or wonder about it."
"True, I guess I just hate thinking of him being in pain."
"I do as well," Kelly admitted. "That's why I made sure he will get pain medication even if he doesn't ask for it in a reasonable amount of time. The nurses that are assigned to him are very trustworthy and don't have any other patients, so they can focus on Johnny."
"How is he doing otherwise?"
"For what you think may have happened, quite well. Doctor Early and Doctor Hastens, the orthopedic specialist on-call tonight, are frankly shocked things weren't worse. As am I. The stitches will be able to come out in a couple weeks. The rest in just waiting for the bones to heal, which as you know takes about six to eight weeks," seeing Roy was about to speak, Doctor Brackett held up his hand.
"This time, after about a month, as long as things are healing well, Johnny will need surgery again to remove the pins and such. He will then be put back in the hard brace for his shoulder, a brace for his wrist and arm, then a walking cast for his leg. Johnny will be able to start on some therapy then, although it will be probably another three to four months before things start getting back on track."
Looking at his partner, Roy wondered just how long of a road he'd have before coming back. Swallowing down the fear, he asked his friend and colleague.
"Hopefully, if everything goes well, about six months, maybe a month or two more depending on how fast the bones regenerate. Plus, I do admit that I worry this will affect his state of mind and Johnny may have more issues with self-injuring."
"But I thought it was related to this whole father/son rampage?" Roy asked, rather confused.
"That did trigger it," Kelly told Roy, gesturing him for him to take one of the seats near Johnny's bed. "However, the self-injury was because Johnny was unable to cope with the memories, the feelings of helplessness, the anger at the situation, wanting to do more but unable to, feeling out of control. It's like there was a lot of static and noise in his mind and hurting himself helped control that static and noise."
Taken aback, Roy tried to process this new information. Sure, Johnny had tried to explain this before, as had Doctor Brackett, but…
I just don't get it!
Seeing the confusion on Roy's face, Doctor Brackett smiled wearily, "It's hard to understand unless you've been there or have studied it I believe. I mean, I am a doctor and should understand more about this, especially with a patient of mine going through it, but I honestly have a hard time. Not many people do I believe and I also think a lot believe that a person can control these behaviors. I think that it takes a lot of self-control to stop and continue to not resort back to this type of behavior. It's why I'm helping Johnny and why I didn't want to refer him to someone else unless I had to; too many people see it as attention seeking or a suicide attempt."
"If they knew Johnny, they'd change their minds," Roy stated with a huff, glancing at his plain, sliver wrist watch. "I have to head back to the site. I'll be able to check on him again in a few hours, but radio me if you need to please."
Nodding, Brackett walked Roy out to where his personal car was, not envying the man his task ahead.