Chapter 13: Wounds and Wraps
"They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea." – Francis Bacon
"Your soul is often times a battlefield, upon which your reason and judgment wage war against your passion and your appetite. Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody." – Kahlil Gibran (The Prophet)
She woke a few hours later and watched him sleep for a while. He actually seemed to be much better after their lovemaking. His breathing had leveled and he was resting peacefully. She reluctantly moved off of him, and he woke at the loss of contact. He looked over worriedly, but was relieved to see her still next to him.
"Hey, sorry I woke you, but I figured I should probably move pretty soon before Dr. Kerns comes in and figures out that I've just participated in sexual healing with one of his patients…it would be very awkward."
He laughed lightly and winced, and Sydney realized that sexual healing wasn't going to solve all of their problems, but it would help with some others.
"Do you feel better?" she asked.
He moved the mask, "Yeah, I do…thanks to you…you know it doesn't hurt as much when you're with me…"
"That's sweet of you to say Vaughn…" she ran a hand through his hair. "Listen, I'm going to go out in the hall for a minute and order something to eat. After our little sexual episode, I'm a little hungry…will you be ok for a few minutes by yourself?"
"Sure, as long as no nurses come in to terrorize me."
"I'll make sure they don't. I'll be right back. Just relax while I'm gone. Can I get you anything?"
"No, just come back, you're all I need right now…"
She smiled and kissed him and went out the door. Her father was sitting in a chair right next to it, sleeping. She didn't want to wake him since she knew he hadn't slept much the last few days. She went to the nurses' station and ordered something to eat to be brought up to Vaughn's room. The nurse was exceptionally pleasant and she knew Dr. Kerns must have had a little staff meeting where the man in room 418 and his friends were concerned. She walked around the corridors for a few more minutes stretching her legs and then made her way back to Vaughn's room. Dr. Kerns was on his way to the room as well and she met him in the hall.
"Hello Sydney, how's everything going?"
"Pretty well…he had some rather severe pain before, but he managed to get a few hours of sleep now…"
"Did you tell a nurse about the pain?"
"No, I didn't think he'd want any more nurses coming in today. We worked through it…" she let her sentence trail off, not really wanted to elaborate on exactly how she had gone about "working through it." Thankfully, Dr. Kerns didn't ask.
"Do you think he'd be ready for another exam? I hate to ask, but we really need to get his ribs wrapped. In fact, it'd help with the pain as well."
"Why don't you wait here, I'll go talk to him and then I'll let you know, ok?"
"I'll be here waiting."
Sydney entered Vaughn's room and he smiled as he saw her enter. She approached the bed.
"Hey, how are you?"
He moved the mask, "Not too bad…but it hurts more when you're not around."
"I know you really don't want to hear this right now, but Dr. Kerns is out in the hall. He wants to do another exam. And he wants to wrap your ribs too; he says it should help with the pain. What do you think? Can he come in and try it?"
Vaughn looked at her for a few seconds, "If you stay…"
She smiled, "I'll be right here…always…"
She kissed him and went out into the hall. "Ok, Dr. Kerns." He smiled and entered the room.
"Well Mr. Vaughn, how are we feeling?"
Vaughn moved the mask and said, "Not too bad, Sydney helps a lot."
"I'm glad to hear that. Do you mind if I check you over?"
Sydney smiled at Dr. Kerns; she knew that he was really trying to be non-threatening here.
"Yeah, go ahead," Vaughn replied.
Sydney held onto Vaughn's hand as Dr. Kerns made his inquiries. He checked his head again, making Vaughn follow the flashlight, and also checked his shoulder and ankle. It seemed that he was deliberately avoiding Vaughn's ribs for the moment.
"It'd be better if we could get you off of the 100 oxygen that you're on now. I want to wrap your ribs to alleviate some of the pain and pressure and then we're going to try the tube oxygen, alright?"
Vaughn nodded.
"Ok, now, we're going to have to do rather a lot of work here to get these ribs wrapped. We don't want your other injuries to be wrapped too tightly, so on some areas on your back, we'll have to go a bit lighter. We're going to have to change your bandages too. Is that ok?"
Vaughn nodded again.
"I could really use some help with this, Sydney will you be able to help me?"
Vaughn looked up at Sydney. "Of course," she smiled, looking down at Vaughn.
"Ok, first we need to sit him up." Dr. Kerns tried to move very slowly so he wouldn't make Vaughn uneasy, but his very presence was making Vaughn nervous. It wasn't as bad as the last time, but he was still wary of him. Once they had him in a sitting position, Dr. Kerns took Vaughn's gown off and tossed it aside as Sydney helped support Vaughn. He saw the other one lying on the chair, "Did you change his gown already?"
Sydney answered rather sheepishly, "Yeah, he had a nightmare and it got really soaked, so we changed it."
Dr. Kerns looked down at Vaughn thoughtfully, "Hmm…well then it's probably a good idea we're changing the bandages too." He started to slowly peel away at the layers of bandages that covered Vaughn's chest and abdomen. There were other bandages underneath those, ones that covered burns and surgery incisions. He stopped momentarily and said, "Sydney, we're going to need to change all of the bandages. I should warn you that they…well…they aren't easy to look at, especially for someone not in the medical field."
"I'll be fine," she assured Dr. Kerns while smiling at Vaughn.
"Ok, let's begin. I think it would be best to do the ones on his back first. That way we can give him some time to rest before we do the rib wrap again. Why don't you hold him up while I change the bandages, ok?"
"Sure, that's fine," Sydney said as she moved to support Vaughn more fully. She placed a gentle hand on the back of his neck and another on his chest. "Just let me hold you up ok? If you get tired or it starts to hurt, you let us know."
Vaughn nodded as he looked at her sideways. She smiled.
Dr. Kerns started at the top of Vaughn's back and peeled off the small bandages that covered the burns. Sydney couldn't see the wounds but she could see Vaughn's face, and she could tell that taking off the bandages was going to be a rather painful process. Dr. Kerns finished with one and was about to go on to another, but Sydney stopped him. "Um…Dr. Kerns?"
"Yes Sydney?"
"Maybe you should hold Vaughn and I should do the bandages…he seems to be in a lot of pain here when you're doing it…perhaps a woman's touch would be better?" she looked to Dr. Kerns imploringly.
"Uh, sure, we can give it a try." He moved over to where Sydney had been standing and took a similar posture to the one she had, supporting Vaughn so he wasn't really sitting up holding himself up.
"Ok, now what you need to do is take off the old bandage and apply a small amount of the burn cream to the wound, and then place a new bandage over it. I've just done the one, so you'll have quite a few to do."
Sydney looked at the while dots all over Vaughn's back and realized that he had many more burns than she had imagined. She also saw some other sized bandages and lots of bruises. She really couldn't find an area that was normal. His whole back was an ocean of injuries.
Dr. Kerns noticed her hesitation, "Sydney? Are you alright?"
Vaughn attempted to turn around, but his mobility was very limited, and it only made him groan. Sydney noticed Vaughn's reaction and it snapped herself out of her thoughts. "It's ok Vaughn, I was just…never mind…are the smaller bandages all burns?"
"Yes."
"And the larger ones are other cuts and stuff?"
"Yes, but let's take care of the burns first."
Sydney nodded and began to take off the first bandage. She was quite successful in not causing Vaughn further pain, but she wondered if a lot of it wasn't just his comfort level with her. She had the first bandage off and stopped dead in her tracks again. The burn was about the size of a coin, and it was an angry crimson color. She let out a small gasp and Vaughn attempted to turn again.
Dr. Kerns said, "Perhaps this wasn't the best idea Sydney, maybe I should continue…"
Sydney looked at Dr. Kerns and then looked at Vaughn as he struggled to turn towards her. She bent down and gave Vaughn a light hug from behind and he immediately calmed considerably.
She then stood up and placed a feather light kiss on the burn. Then she took the cream and gently rubbed it over the wound, took a new bandage and covered it. Then she continued onto the next one. At each wound she would place a light kiss and then continue. Dr. Kerns waited patiently and realized that he couldn't have done a better job himself. When they had finished with the burns, Vaughn was calm and collected and his breathing was at a steady level.
"Most fascinating Sydney," mused Dr. Kerns. "Although your methods may not work for other patients, it seems to be the perfect remedy for this one…" He smiled and then added, "Shall we continue with the other wounds?"
"Sure, Vaughn are you still ok for the other ones?" He shook his head yes. "Are you sure you don't need to rest?" He shook his head no. "Ok then. What do we do with these?"
Dr. Kerns set about telling her about open wounds, and they redressed all the other remaining wounds on Vaughn's back. Sydney struggled a few times when she saw the marks of what could only have been some sort of whip, but she managed to keep her composure so Vaughn wouldn't be suspicious. Once they were done with his back they laid him gently on his back again, and Dr. Kerns redressed the surgical incisions. Sydney went over to Vaughn while he was doing that and smoothed his hair back.
"Are you doing ok?" He nodded his affirmation.
After Dr. Kerns was done with the incisions, he also redressed the bandages on Vaughn's face and then said, "Alright, we're ready for the rib wrap. This may be a little more difficult…I'll explain what we need to do first and then we'll do it…ok, first we need to sit you up again, and then we apply the wrap, but now here's the tricky part. You need to be sitting up as straight as possible for it to be effective, and this may be rather difficult for you at the moment. And we also need to be very careful of his chest tube. So, we'll see how it goes…ready?"
Vaughn nodded. Both Sydney and Dr. Kerns eased Vaughn into a sitting position.
"Ok, now Sydney why don't you sit behind Mr. Vaughn and hold him up while I try to wrap the ribs."
Sydney sat on the bed and began to hold him up, but half way through, he moaned and Sydney stopped.
"It's going to be a little uncomfortable, but we have to get them wrapped properly. I'm sorry Mr. Vaughn…Sydney you're going to have to hold him up even if he protests, ok?"
Sydney kissed Vaughn on the back to the neck and said hesitantly, "Ok…"
She moved again and held him up, and when he moaned this time she didn't let go. Dr. Kerns moved efficiently and quickly and had Vaughn's ribs wrapped in what Sydney thought was record time. He got another gown and put it back on Vaughn.
"There, all done…let's lay him back." After they did, he asked, "How does that feel? Is it any better?"
Vaughn smiled and nodded. "Ok then let's try the tube oxygen instead, and we'll see how that goes. I'm sure you'll be glad to get this off…" He moved the oxygen mask and replaced it with an oxygen tube that went under Vaughn's nose. "For right now, it's still set on 100, but we'll try to wean you off of that regularly. And we can probably take the chest tube out tomorrow as well, if all goes well…you rest now."
Dr. Kerns smiled and looked at Sydney, "Can I see you for a minute?"
"Yeah, I'll be right back," she said to Vaughn.
