Chapter 44: The Check-up, Part 3
"There's a fool born every minute – and every one of them lives!" – Irish Proverb
"Time was – Time shall be – drain the glass – But where in Time is now?" – John Quincy Adams
A few minutes later, she finally had composed herself and walked back in, wiping the tears that were running down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"Uh, that's ok," Tom replied. "I think that Sydney is keeping your spirits up, and that's good…um…should we go over procedure now?"
"Yeah, sure," Sydney said returning to her serious self.
"Ok, you're doing really well…both of you…I can tell this was a good move, ok? I think you belong here, Mike…So, now where do we go from here, right? K, ribs need to be wrapped yet, but I want you to start taking the wrap off more than twice a day."
"Hang on, Tom; let me get some paper, " Sydney said. She left for a second and came back with pen and paper in hand.
She started making another list as Tom talked:
Administer pain medication as needed.
· Ribs – remove wrap at least five times a day / do deep breathing
· Surgical incisions – change bandages once a day until no longer needed
· Burns/lacerations – daily but at discretion, taper as needed
· Ankle – remove at discretion
· Fingers – splints should stay undisturbed
· Shoulder – immobilized
Then Tom added, "Then, starting tomorrow, I want you to start exercising. Now, I don't mean like lift weights tomorrow, this is a different kind of exercising. I want you to go slow…did you both hear me? S-L-O-W. Do NOT overdo it…it will just set you back. Pace yourself, and give yourself a break. You're probably going to be more tired as you start doing this, because you're used to bed rest now. Any physical activity is going to get you very fatigued. Don't get discouraged, it's going to happen that way. It will get better, I promise. K, here's what I want you to start doing…"
Sydney began making anther list:
· Week Two (this week) – sitting up at least six times (crunches – set of 6) a day and standing three times all with help. Begin exercising ankle
· Week Three – sitting up twelve times a day eight with help (crunches – set of 6 / four unaided – just sitting up and standing six times with help. Begin walking with aide. Should be able to take off ankle wrap
· Week Four – sitting up as much as tolerable (as much unaided) and standing unaided as tolerable. Should be able to take shoulder out of sling Continue walking with aide and without as tolerable.
· Week Five – Oxygen should be off / Begin shoulder exercises – rotating and stretching Should be able to remove finger splints – Tom will remove Walking unaided.
· Weeks Ten – Twelve – Begin limited rib mobility (twisting, bending, etc.)
· Weeks Twelve – Fourteen – Ribs should be healed and walking should be totally unaided. Regular mobility will increase.
Tom concluded, "Now, this is just a guide…you can use some liberty when deciding when you want to start something new, but really, don't push yourself too much. You'll only wind up hurting yourself more. And obviously, don't start like Week 12 steps in Week 2, ok?" He stopped a minute and talked to himself, "K, we did check-up, meds, bandages, exercise…yeah…that should do it…" then resumed talking directly to the couple. "Ok, so I think we've got everything…We'll continue this check-up stuff for a while…I'll be back a week from now. I've brought more supplies, so I think you should be good with those…" There was a momentary silence while Tom rechecked mentally that he had done everything he needed to.
Tom was just about to start talking once again when the three were startled by a commotion that sounded like it was coming from the front door. There seem to be muffled shouts and then the door opened almost violently and Francie could be heard yelling at Will. "I told you not to take that road! If you just would have listened to me, we would have been here an hour ago! You never listen…you are such a GUY!" Francie finished, with a shout of exasperation.
Will was starting to protest and said, "Sydney! I need your help! Francie is be–" he cut himself off when he saw Tom in the room and his eyes went wide in fear and embarrassment. "Francie is being wonderful as usual, aren't you honey…" Will said to her from the door.
Francie marched to the doorframe and replied, "Don't you 'honey' me, Will…Yeah, Syd, stupid Will here, pretty much got us–" she stopped dead in her tracks as well when she too saw Tom in the room. "Will got us…some…thing…nice…he's such a wonderful boyfriend," she said as she put her arms around his waist.
Will added, "Yeah, there's a lot of love in this house…lots of love…oh, and support…we're great supporters, aren't we honey."
"Great supporters," Francie affirmed with a really fake smile.
Will moved into the room, "You must be the doctor, I'm Will Tippin, Francie's boyfriend and Sydney and Michael's really, really good friend."
"And I'm Francie Calfo. Sydney and I have known each other for years. We just love the two of them!"
Tom had all to do not to laugh, but decided to really scare the shit out of them. "I'm sorry, you live here?"
Francie piped up, "I live here, and Will practically does."
"I see…and do you normally make this much noise in the house when a direly injured man is resting? I don't think that's very supportive…"
Will paled and Francie frantically searched for something to say.
Will finally offered, "I assure you doctor, we aren't normally this loud. We meant to be here earlier, we…just…had a slight delay…we weren't thinking…I'm very sorry." He looked over at Vaughn and Sydney who were about to lose it and said, "Really guys, we're sorry…they'll tell you, we're really very calm and usually very quiet."
"I'm not sure this is the best environment for Mr. Vaughn…" Tom added just to really scare them.
Francie looked desperately at Tom, "No, doctor, please, we'll stay at Will's place if that's what you want, we don't want to make this any more difficult for Michael or Sydney. Really though, this was an isolated incident." She looked at him imploringly.
He cracked a smile and Sydney and Vaughn burst out laughing. Vaughn grabbed his side because he was laughing so hard. Sydney looked down at him in concern, but he waved her off. "I'm ok…just dying here…but ok…that was classic Tom…man, the look on your faces…"
Will and Francie stood there dumbfounded; mouths open, looking at the three in front of them.
Will finally gained enough self-control to close his mouth and say, "I can't believe you just did that…it was so mean! You totally had us going. So, you're not going to make Vaughn go back to the hospital or make us leave?"
"Of course not," Tom said laughing.
"Thank God," Francie said and then whacked Will.
"OW! What the hell?"
"If you hadn't wasted time on the WRONG road, we wouldn't have been subjected to this! It's all your fault!"
"All my fault? If you had gotten out of the restaurant at a reasonable time, I wouldn't have used the other road!"
Sydney was smiling, but said, "GUYS? Please? We're almost done here…then you can bicker…"
They stopped and both said, "Sorry."
Tom looked between Vaughn and Sydney, "Well, I see your support group has widened…that's good." He smiled. "Well, I'll leave you to Sydney and your support group now. I think you're making excellent progress, just remember not to overdo it too much and don't get upset when you get tired, alright Michael?"
"Yeah, ok Tom…"
"I want you to repeat after me…I will not get mad at myself when I get tired…"
Vaughn looked at him.
"Repeat!"
Vaughn acquiesced, "I will not get mad at myself when I get tired…"
"And I will not push myself too hard…"
"And I will not push myself too hard…"
"Good…there, I feel better, how about all of you?"
Sydney smiled and Will and Francie said "Yeah" wearily, they were still recovering from their scare.
"Ok, well, I'll be in touch, I'll see you in a week, take care of yourself – both of you…and call if you need anything."
"Ok Tom, thanks a lot…" Sydney said.
Vaughn added, "Really Tom, thanks…for the presents too…"
"You got it buddy…see ya!" Tom smiled and let himself out.
Once he was gone Francie was standing with her arms crossed looking menacingly at the couple.
"What?" Sydney said. "You totally fell for it!" She and Vaughn broke out into giggles.
"That was so not funny! I totally thought we like screwed up the whole thing."
"Well, that'll teach you guys!" Sydney added.
Will started laughing, and Francie couldn't hold out either. She started laughing as the whole room joked about the incident.
