Wow you guys are awesome! I hope your still sticking with the story. Exams are done and I am officially on holiday! Unfortunately I'll be working most of the time, but updating should be more regular anyway, because I don't have to worry about school work.
Thanks again to all the reviewers, like I said, YOUR AWESOME.
To my two guest reviewers Antivol and Isabel, even thought I can't reply please know that your reviews mean so much!
Feel free to point out any mistakes.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything you recognise probably doesn't belong to me. I make no money out of the writing of this story.
Hawaii Five O.
Ikaika
Mark Anders looked up as Dr Alex Wright entered his tiny office. A reprimand about the procedures of knocking was on the tip of his tongue, when he decided it was just a waste of breath. He sighed and continued with his paperwork.
Alex plonked herself down in a chair and studied the small office. The metal desk and filing cabinets were painted a horrible red colour that did nothing to compliment the one yellow and one green curtain.
"You really need to redecorate." Alex finally said.
"Are you here for a reason Alex? Or do you just want to insult my office?" Mark didn't even bother making eye contact with the slightly hyperactive doctor.
"Uhm yeah. Ursula messed up with another patient. I was wondering if you have time to take over his case?" Alex said sitting forward.
"What she do this time? Never mind, forget I asked. Who is he? Bring me his file and I'll take a look." Mark said finally paying attention.
"Here's his file." Alex handed Mark the folder. "His name is Steve McGarrett, Navy Seal, reserves at the moment. Traumatic amputation of the lower right leg. He was injured on a training exercise 2 days ago. I think Ursula scarred him for life."
"Yeah well I don't blame him. I'll take his case. I just lost two patients to private care so I've got some time." Mark said looking up from his file. "Is he cleared for exercise?"
"Yeah he is, just give him the rest of the day off. He's had it a bit rough day."
"Ok no problem. I'll go see him first thing in the morning. If it's been two days already it means tomorrow is number four. We need to get him out of bed as soon as possible."
"I agree, which is why I came to see you. Good luck, he's a tough one." Alex said and stood to leave.
"Aren't they all." Mark rolled his eyes and continued reading his file. Yip this was going to be interesting.
*********H50*********H50*********H50*********
The next morning Steve is telling Danny about his therapy session with Ursula.
"Ursula! Seriously? Could she be more of a stereotype?" Danny asks laughing.
"I wouldn't laugh Detective Williams. Ursula has the ability to haunt dreams, or at least that's what I think." The boys are interrupted by a male voice. "Commander, my name is Mark Anders I'm your new physical and occupational therapist. Feel free to call me Mark if you want."
"Please to meet you, you can call me Steve, and this is Danny." Steve sits up straighter to shake Mark's hand.
"Pleased to meet you Danny. Can I ask you to wait outside for me? I just need to have a chat with Steve." Mark asks moving towards the bed.
"Danny has my medical power of attorney; he can hear whatever it is you have to say." Steve is slightly scared that this session was going to go the same as yesterday.
"I realise that Steve, but I was hoping to help you get into something more flattering than the hospital gown. I'm sure that's not something you want your friend to see. However I'm sure the nurses won't mind if you choose object."Mark laughs at the mortified expression on Steve's face. "And since I asked the nurse to remove the catheter this morning, I'm sure your need is rather big."
"Danny get out. I'll see you later." Steve doesn't hesitate to chase his friend out of the room.
"I'll come and get you in a while, maybe you can go and get your friend a Gatorade. He might need one later."
Once Danny leaves, Mark turns back to Steve.
"You ready for this? We're going to take it slow, you let me know if you feel dizzy or queasy. We'll stop and give you a chance to rest." Mark grabs a pair of pajama pants from where he left them on the chair. "Do you have a t-shirt or something loose that you can wear?"
"Yeah there's one in the closet. Danny bought it over yesterday."
"We don't have to wait for Dr Wright since she's already cleared you, so if you're ready we can get going." Mark looks at Steve for confirmation, who nods his consent,
"Ok, the object of this all is to get you as independent as possible without being reckless. You're healthy and in-shape so it shouldn't be too difficult once you get your bearings. Sit up all the way and swing your legs off the bed." Mark stands near enough to catch Steve, but far enough away to make sure Steve knew he was on his own.
Once up Steve leaned forward with his hands on either side of his legs. He concentrated on breathing through the nausea and dizziness. He nodded to Mark once the room stopped spinning.
"Ok I'm going to slip on a SST belt that will help me keep you from falling should you slip or something." Mark fits the black belt around Steve's waist and fastens the buckle. "Next thing I'll slip the pants around you ankles and as far as they will go and then we can get you standing."
Mark once again waits to make sure Steve understands what he is saying before he goes on. Once he receives Steve's nod he pulls the pants up until they are over Steve's knees.
Steve notices for the first time that the right pant leg is snipped off at the knee so that it can't get in the way. He's suddenly very glad he didn't offer the pair of sweats also hidden away in the closet.
"You still good?" Mark asks Steve.
"Yeah let's keep going." Steve nods to his therapist.
"Ok I'm going to grab you under your arms and support most of your weight. Keep a hold of the elastic in the pants. Once you've got your bearings pull them up the rest of the way. Then I'm going to sit you back down so we can talk."
Steve again nods his understanding and takes a few deep breaths before taking a hold of the pants.
Mark doesn't hesitate and grabs Steve under the arms and hauls him upright. Steve is momentarily dizzy, but recovers surprisingly quickly and pulls the pants up all the way. Mark grabs the chance to cinch the SST belt a bit tighter. He then gently lowers Steve back to the bed.
"You ok?" Mark makes sure Steve is comfortable on the edge of the bed before he sits down in the chair next to the bed.
"Yeah I'm good."
"Do you want me to go get Danny or can I go on?"
"It's fine, I can do without staring into his face for a while."
"So Steve, I assume you want to get started on physical therapy and work on getting back to normal? You don't strike me as the type of person who lets this get him under."
"Yes of course! I want to get started as soon as possible! I'm not letting this get me under."
"Good then let me introduce me to your new best friend." Mark said holding up a piece of blue material. "This is a prosthetic sock, or compression sock as some people call it. It will help with swelling and protection for now, and will later protect your residual limb from chafing. Keep it on, and I'll give you a few so that they can be swapped regularly. It's very important to keep your stump as dry as possible."
Steve reached for the sock, inspecting it closely as Mark came and stood in front of him.
"Allow me?" Mark said holding his hand out.
Steve sighed and gave the sock back to Mark, who quickly unwrapped the bulky bandages around Steve's knee and pulled the sock over his knee.
"Not too tight?" Mark asked looking up at Steve who shook his head in a negative.
"I'm going to go get Danny. This will be much easier if there are two of us. I'll be back in a sec. DO NOT MOVE." Mark says walking towards the door.
"Gee, now you sound like Danny." Steve mutters, but it goes unnoticed as the door closes.
*********H50*********H50*********H50*********H50*********
Five minutes later Mark enters followed by Danny.
"Is it too much to ask that you keep your shirt on for one day?" Danny asks walking towards Steve.
Steve chuckles at his friends antics realising that he had forgotten about the T-shirt lying next to him.
"Danny if you would mind stepping back so I can get in front of Steve." Mark steps in front of Steve measuring a pair of crutches to his length. "Normally I don't allow my patients to use crutches, simply because I don't like what they do to your arms, but since I have a pair of extra fore-arm crutches and I think you would do better on crutches I will allow this one exception. However, if you need to go somewhere and you'll be on your feet more than 15 minutes, you'll have to use a wheelchair. While these crutches are better, they are far from perfect, and since your arms are your most valuable asset right now, we need to look after them. You understand everything?" Mark looks at Steve who again nods. "Ok, then let's go. Same us last time except this time I'm going to take a hold of the handles on the side of the belt, and only help you upright. Grab onto my shoulders and arms to haul yourself upright. You need to do as much as possible by yourself. Danny is going to stand close by in case I need his help. Once you're up and balanced I'll hand you the crutches one by one. Don't move until I tell you to. Got it?"
Steve nods and edges forward on the bed. Making sure his patient is ready Mark holds onto the handles on the side while Steve puts his left foot on the ground and pulls himself upright by holding onto Mark's upper arms. Steve immediately loses his balance and starts listing to the right. Mark who anticipated this compensates and pulls up on the right handle. Once he can see Steve is stable he motions for Danny to hand Steve one of the crutches. A shaky hand reaches out and takes first one and then the other crutch form Danny. When Mark finally eases up on the pressure and Steve is standing on his own, the sweat is dotting his brow and he's obviously exhausted. The victorious smile on his face makes everything worth it.
"Ok, now slowly move your crutches forward by a bit and then swing all your weight forward. Keep your left foot close to the ground so you can quickly put it down if you think you're going to lose your balance. Try and walk to the bathroom and then back to bed."
Steve does just that and once in the bed exhaustion takes over and he's out like a light before he's even lying down.
Mark motions to Danny to follow him outside.
Mark smiles at Danny as he gently closes the door.
"Steve is doing very well. I'm going to leave him to rest until this afternoon and then show him a couple of exercises he can do while he's laid up. I'll help with the walking again this afternoon, but he should be fine without me. Try not to hover, but don't let him get out of the bed unless he needs the bathroom or I have given him permission to walk somewhere. I'll see you later Detective." Mark starts walking down the hall, but then pauses and turns around to look at Danny. "Oh, and tell him to eat more. Bring him some proper food, he's never going to get all his nutrition out of the gunk they serve here."
Danny just laughs at Mark's retreating back and walks toward the exit to get his friend a sub from Steve's favourite place, and a Strawberry smoothie from that place he likes so much.
*********H50*********H50*********H50*********H50*********
Governor's Office, 12:00
"Governor, I'm so glad you could spare the time to see me."
"You said this was in connection to my Five-O taskforce?" Governor Denning looks up at the man in front of him.
"Yes Governor. I heard about the debilitating injury suffered by their leader. I believe that I will be a suitable replacement for the esteemed Commander McGarrett."
"I wasn't looking to replace him, how did you even hear about that? It was kept out of the press." Denning eyes the man sitting across the desk.
"I have my sources. Think about it Governor, finally you'll have someone that will run the task force as you see fit."
"I'll think about it, but for now things will remain as they are."
"Yes of course Governor. There's no rushing an important decision like this."
"I'll let you know as soon as I've made my decision." Denning looked down again, indicating that the conversation was ended.
The man stood and walked out the door while dialling his cellphone.
"I talked to the Governor. The seed was planted, but if he doesn't bite we still have his pretty little niece as Plan B."
"Good, soon we will see the threat that is Five-O disappear. Oh and the accident on a training exercise. That was brilliant. Let me know as soon as Denning makes his choice."
The connection ended as Vic Sanders walked out of the Governors offices.