It wasn't that far to the TARDIS now. She was in sight. Donna hooked her arms under his and dragged him. The dry sand made it easier to move him as she dragged him. She got her key out and opened the door and then dragged him into the ship. Letting him down on the ground, then she did all she could assume was the best thing she could do. She took the handbrake off the TARDIS. Then she got the mobile phone off the console. "Come on old, girl. I know you can do it. Please, get us to Martha?"
As soon as Donna heard the phone was ringing and the time rotor started to move she went back to the Doctor. He was out cold. She had left him lying on his back and his head had lolled to the side. His breathing was ragged but his chest was still going up and down. The TARDIS touched down with the tiniest of jolts so not to hurt her passengers any more. Donna went out of the TARDIS. The TARDIS had landed in Martha's bedroom.
"It's night time," Donna commented quietly.
"Again," Martha confirmed. "Three ten." She turned the lamp on at her bedside and took the state that Donna was in. She was covered in sand and had left a trail of sand across her bedroom carpet. She was gingerly holding her arm across her chest and she had dried blood on her shoulder which looked very red and swollen as if she had an acute infection set in already. "You're hurt," Martha didn't ask the question. She didn't need to ask she could see it.
"Don't worry about me, the Doctor is in a bad way," Donna commented and led Martha into the TARDIS. The Doctor was just inside the doorway. He was covered in sand and was only breathing very shallowly. It was clear he was unconscious.
"What happened?"
"He's been poisoned," Donna commented. She got the bag of spines that she had bagged. "These got shot into his back. Thirty seven of them released a poisonous sac into his skin. He said that he'd be able to metabolise it all, but he got really sick on the way back. He has been throwing up and getting cramps and then he lost consciousness just before we got back here."
"Okay, stay with him, I'm going to go and get a stretcher to get him through to the infirmary," Martha told her.
Martha went through to the infirmary. She got the stretcher that was in there and she wheeled it through to the flight deck. The TARDIS had been kind and positioned the infirmary close so she didn't have to go far. She put the stretcher on its lowest setting. The wheels went up into a recess so it was only three inches above the level of the floor. It meant Martha could more or less roll the Doctor onto it without doing him or her any damage and without having to ask Donna for assistance.
"Come on then," Martha clicked the stretcher back up to height again and then wheeled the Doctor on it through to the sickbay. Donna followed. "How about you sit down on there and rest for a moment while I just check him out."
"Is he going to be alright?" Donna asked.
"I'm not sure yet," Martha commented. "But, I'm inclined to believe him if he said that he will metabolise the toxin. What was it that got him?"
"He called it a spine weasel," Donna commented.
"A spine weasel?" Martha checked.
"It was my fault. I was the one that disturbed it and he pushed me out the way. I got one of the spines in my shoulder. It hurt like Hell, Martha. It's like the worst bee sting ever and he got it out of my shoulder before it released the secondary toxin. He had eighty four of them in his back altogether and thirty seven of them went off and released the secondary toxin."
"They all went into his back?"
"Yeah, it's a state. I had to pull them all out for him and the ones that the poison got delivered split so that they became barbed. He told me just to yank them out. They cut him and… his back is awful. I tried to keep it clean but he couldn't put his shirt back on because it rubbed and then he fell in the sand."
"Okay, I'll have a look at that once I've made sure he's stable," Martha commented. She got an oxygen mask and put it over his nose and mouth getting the TARDIS to automatically adjust the flow for him. She then cleaned and sterilised a spot on his forearm and slid a needle in to give him fluids. "So, what is with the shorts?" Martha asked indicating to the unusual attire for the Doctor.
"We have been at the beach. Today we went off into the jungle in order to look for some lost treasures," Donna advised. "Like proper explorers."
"That sounds like fun," Martha commented.
"It was, until it got to the spine weasel," Donna offered and then sighed.
Martha wrapped a ligature around the top of the Doctor's arm and pulled it tight. Then she slid a needle into the vein in the crook of his elbow and took a sample of blood. She inserted the phial into a slot on a machine in the TARDIS. "When I work at the hospital there is a lab to do these tests and they take a few hours. The TARDIS will tell us what toxins he has in his blood stream within seconds and will also tell us what we need to give him to make sure he recovers."
"He was in a lot of pain," Donna offered.
"Until I know what the toxin is then I don't want to give him any pain relief," Martha commented and Donna nodded her understanding. The machine that had received the Doctor's blood beeped and information came up on the screen that Martha scrutinised. "Well, he wasn't lying when he said that he'd metabolise it. He will. I don't think he was expecting to get such a high dose of it though," Martha commented.
"The TARDIS has given me a list of things to give him which will speed the process along a bit. She confirms he will metabolise it and then excrete it naturally. We don't treat the toxin just the symptoms, so I can give him some pain relief, some fluid, a muscle relaxant to reduce the cramps, something to stop him being sick, and then something to keep him asleep for a few hours. Then when he wakes up he should be feeling pretty much recovered if a little tired and sore for a few days. The TARDIS says there is an ointment we can put on his back and on your shoulder to reduce the heat and inflammation of the spine stings."
"So, he's going to be alright?"
"Yes, he's going to be fine," Martha confirmed. "Are you still okay sitting there while I finish sorting him out?"
"Yeah."
"Give me a shout if you need some painkillers," Martha suggested. "I'd kick my boots off if I was you and put your legs up properly." She went over to Donna when she saw her struggling to undo the laces on her hiking boots with one hand. She flicked her gloves off and unfastened the boots for her and then got a pillow off an adjacent bed. She got Donna to spin round so she was sitting on the bed properly with her feet up and then put the pillow in her lap to rest her arm on it.
"I'm okay," Donna commented.
"You may find that as the adrenaline starts to wear off that the pain gets worse. If it does then shout okay? He's not in such a critical condition that I can't spend a few minutes assisting you, but I do want to check his back and make sure that the wounds are clean," Martha offered. She went back to the Doctor. He was lying on his back on the stretcher, so she got him up to the right height as the bed. She pushed the stretcher so the mattresses were touching and then she rolled him over. He was fairly light so she didn't struggle more than to be able to reach right across the bed to the stretched on the other side. She rolled him onto his front, made sure that his head was tipped to the side and that his airway was still clear and that the oxygen mask remained in place. He had left blood and dirt on the paper sheet covering the stretcher and Martha winced when she saw the state of his back. It was going to take a lot of cleaning.
Martha went and got all the drugs that the TARDIS suggested that he needed and she gave him the required doses. It would mean that he had decent pain relief and that he'd remain asleep as she tended to him. She used a small brush to clean as much of the sand away from his back as she could. She swept it straight down onto the floor, apologising to the TARDIS as she did. Once the only sand on his back was that crusted into the blood Martha started with a bowl of water and sponges. She had to change the water regularly as it very quickly fouled with blood and strange coloured sand.
When she had gone right over his back with the sponge water she then went to gauzes and had to clean out each of the wounds on his back where the spines had been ripped out. She started a lot of them bleeding again and she just pressed sterile gauzes to them initially to keep the blood from running too far. The whole of his back was solid and bright red as result of the stings that individually looked like a bee sting or a mosquito bite to which there had been a strong reaction. They had all joined together, but around each of the holes in his back where the flesh had been ripped there was a circular deep purple bruise as the result of the toxin.
Martha checked each of the small wounds individually. She dabbed antiseptic over his whole back. Eleven of the rips in his back were such that she thought it best just to put a small stitch in them to hold them closed. The other twenty six were not as severe and would heal without. She coated his entire back in the salve that the TARDIS had given her and then took lengths of bandage that she soaked in the same cooling ointment and she draped them over his back so that it would stay cool and covered. She noticed that there was a spot of blood on his left ear and the lobe had swollen so it was four times the size as his right ear. She winced on his behalf. It was red hot with the inflammation. She dabbed it with antiseptic and the cooling salve but there was little else that she could do for him with that.
Martha took another sample of the Doctor's blood and got the TARDIS to analyse it. The ship confirmed that he was continuing to metabolise the toxin. With the drugs that she had given him he'd sleep for between two and four hours and then the worse effects of the toxins would be done for him.
"Right, it's your turn," Martha told Donna as she went over to her bed. "The TARDIS is monitoring the Doctor's breathing and his blood oxygen levels are good. He's comfortable and sleeping and will remain asleep for a few hours. When he wakes up the worst will be over for him. So, how about we have a look at you. How did you get injured?" Martha asked Donna.
"We both fell over some boulders. I had tucked some fingers through the belt loops on his shorts so that I could help to keep him up and it got wrenched when we fell," Donna commented.
"How is it feeling?"
"It's throbbing pretty badly," Donna admitted.
"Whereabouts?"
"From my fingers, through my hand, and my wrist."
"Okay." Martha left Donna's elbow resting on the pillow, but she took hold of her forearm just below her wrist and eased it up a little, supporting her hand the best she could. Donna gasped. "Where is the pain?"
"My wrist. I must have sprained it or something."
"I think you've done more than sprain it, Donna," Martha commented. "Can you cock your wrist at all?" she asked. She went to assist Donna in making the movement but the pain leapt through her wrist and she shook her head. "Okay, we're going to need to get the TARDIS to take some scans of your wrist," Martha suggested. "Can you wriggle your fingers?" Martha checked. The ring and middle fingers on her hand looked thick with swelling as well.
Martha got the TARDIS to do some scans of Donna's wrist, hand, and fingers. She examined the scans that came up. The TARDIS took a lot of the stress out of diagnosis because the anomalies were highlighted on the films when they showed on the screen. "So, what is the prognosis?" Donna asked Martha.
"Well, you've got a broken wrist and two broken fingers," Martha told Donna.
"No way?" Donna looked bemused. "Seriously. It doesn't even hurt that much."
"It will," Martha commented. "You're still running on adrenaline and probably in a bit of shock. I can guarantee you if we don't sort you out that in an hour or so you'd be in a lot more discomfort than you are now."
"Can you sort it out then?"
"Yeah," Martha assured her and smiled. "It's the scaphoid bone in your wrist that is broken and that is a fairly common break to have if you fall onto an outstretched hand. Your middle finger and your ring finger are broken. Are they the fingers that you had looped through the Doctor's shorts?"
"Yeah," Donna confirmed and Martha nodded.
"Now, the scaphoid bone is slightly displaced so I need to push that back into position. It's easy to do and your ring finger needs to be set properly. Your middle finger isn't too bad. So, what I'm going to do is give you some pain relief, and then I'm going to give you some local anaesthesia. Get you all in the right position and then I'll apply a temporary cast and splint your fingers. You've also got a sprained the structures on the outside of your wrist so it is going to swell up quite a lot. So, once the swelling has gone down we will be able to put a more secure cast on and you'll be able to start to use your arm as much as the cast and the pain allow, but until the swelling has gone down it's going to be bulky cast and sling I'm afraid." Martha warned her. "Have you had morphine before?"
"Morphine? I'm sure I don't need that." Donna commented.
"When I start to pull you around it's going to be much more painful. I'd strongly recommend that you have some morphine. I can just give you a small dose to start with and see how you go and then if it gets too much we can give you some more, but although I am going to give you some local anaesthetic as well, I will need to move your wrist around to actually put the anaesthetic into the right place and that is going to be sore, Donna."
"Okay," Donna agreed. Martha went over to the pharmacy in the TARDIS and got some morphine. She cleaned the crook of Donna's arm and then put a canola in. She taped it into place.
"That is just so we don't have to keep on fiddling round when you need a top up," Martha offered. "I'm just going to give you 5mg to start with then," she offered. "It may still make you feel a little bit woozy, but this TARDIS version has a drug in it to stop you feeling sick ready mixed, so you can just go with it, alright."
Martha pushed the drugs into the canola. She put them in slowly as she knew that it stung a bit if put in too quickly, though Donna seemed quite able to cope with discomfort. She had got some lignocaine out of the pharmacy cupboard as well and she drew plenty of that up into a syringe. She had to make sure that Donna's arm, wrist, and hand was clean first though. As soon as she'd got her into position she was going to be wanting to apply the temporary cast.
She went and got a deep bowl of warm water. "We need to get all the blood and gunk off your hand," Martha warned. "I take it that it is his blood and not yours?" Martha checked and Donna nodded. "Okay, I just want you to dip your hand in here," she offered and put the bowl on Donna's lap. Donna grimaced as she dipped her hand and wrist into the bowl and she had to push it against the water to get it to submerge.
"Do you want some more pain relief?" Martha checked, but Donna shook her head. "You don't have to be scared about having the drugs," Martha confirmed to her. "You can have more if you need it. In fact, I am going to top you up a little," Martha insisted. "I don't want to be hurting you if I don't have to be." She pushed another 5mg of the morphine in through the canola.
Martha left Donna's hand to soak in the water for a couple of minutes. While she was doing that she cleaned her shoulder, applied antiseptic to the sting, and then the ointment the TARDIS had given them. Once that was done her hand had been soaking so she carefully sponged her down. She put a towel on the pillow on and then got Donna to lift her hand back out and onto the towel. Martha used some gauze to clean some more stubborn bits of blood and dirt from between her fingers and around the creases in the palm of her hand. When she had to clean around the base of her middle and ring finger Donna bit her lip and rested her head back trying not to think about how much it was hurting.
"Okay, I can finish that off when you've got some local in," Martha commented. She swabbed some iodine over the base of her fingers. "Can you see if you can put your hand flat on the pillow for me? Turn your arm over, that is it," Martha instructed. "Just relax. Close your eyes if you don't want to watch," she suggested. "This is going to hurt, but I promise it won't be for too long. If you need to yell then feel free, only me, the TARDIS and him in here and he's out cold and yells often enough."
Martha gripped Donna's middle finger. She held it still and pulled very slightly. Donna didn't cry out but she bent her legs up in response to the pain. Martha pushed the needle of her syringe into the thick swollen part of her finger. She delivered a dose of the drug to one side of her finger and then another dose into the other side of her finger. She then put the needle in between her fingers. She let that work and then took hold of her ring finger which was the more badly fractured. She pulled slightly and Donna tensed with the pain. Martha slid the needle in and delivered the anaesthetic.
"Okay, well done, now just your wrist. I need you to turn your arm so that you're thumb up now please," Martha instructed. She swabbed the inside of her wrist just behind her thumb. The she pushed the needle in and delivered a small amount of the anaesthetic there. Then she put more into the back of her wrist and some into the front of it, all close to the base of her thumb.
"How is that feeling?" Martha asked and ran her fingers over the side of Donna's wrist.
"Numb."
"Okay, good, that is what we want. Now, because of the soft tissue injury this is still going to be quite sore, but the sooner we do it the better," Martha commented. "As soon as I've got your wrist in the right position then I'm going to put the cast on. Then I'm going to pull your fingers and splint those. Okay?"
"Alright," Donna nodded. She just wanted it to be over with. Martha got her to rest her elbow on the pillow but to cock her arm up so that her wrist was off the bed. Martha moved around to the other side of the bed so she was in the right position. She then gripped Donna's hand as if she was going to be shaking it. She took as good a grip of her hand as she could. It was a bit harder than she expected as Donna's hands were bigger than hers and she didn't have anyone else to anchor her elbow. The alternative was going to be to send Donna off to a hospital though because she couldn't leave the Doctor unattended and she couldn't call anyone else into the TARDIS without his permission to help. She'd manage.
She put her hand in the crook of Donna's elbow and then she rotated her wrist. Donna's resolve broke and she cried out as Martha twisted her battered wrist. It felt like she was trying to rip her hand off. She then kept her hand twisted as she cocked it right backward and then slid her other hand up and pushed her thumb right into the gap under her thumb. Martha pushed into the displaced bone to get it back into position. She then kept Donna's wrist slightly cocked. She started wrapping cotton padding material around it. She took it right up to her elbow and to her knuckles. She then used air hardening bandages only found on the TARDIS to put the cast on. She'd used them before on the Doctor and they worked incredibly well.
She cast her thumb so that it was held away from her hand. She took the time to make sure the cast was smooth and fitted well. She was going to split it to allow for additional swelling after a few hours so it needed to be in a good position to start with. It was solid and dry within a couple of minutes so she had to work quickly as there was little time to make any adjustments to the position. She got the TARDIS to take a scan and then while there remained some movement in the cast she increased the amount Donna's wrist was cocked to further close the fracture and rotated her wrist a little to achieve the best position. She then made sure that her fingers remained numb. The pulling of her finger was less delicate and Martha simple grabbed hold of it and pulled it straight again. She then used a foam lined metal splinting material that she moulded over her two broken fingers and then taped securely in place to the cast at the top and the bottom.
"How is that feeling?" Martha asked Donna once she had finished the casting.
"It looks like it is going to be very awkward."
"That's not what I asked," Martha commented wondering if she was going to have to be dealing with a patient as belligerent as the Doctor was when it came to behaving.
"It feels much better," Donna accepted.
"Okay, good," Martha offered. "Now, where is your room? Do you have pyjamas in there that I can get for you?" Martha asked her.
"It's the room with the red door," Donna commented. "It's normally near the galley."
"I'll go and get you them, then, I think you should have a shower and get cleaned up properly, and then get some rest," Martha offered. "You can either rest in here with him, or, there is no reason why you can't go and rest in your own room."
"Can I not just go to my room now?" Donna asked.
"No, for the next half hour I want to keep an eye on you," Martha offered. "You've had morphine and you've broken your wrist, and I've just pulled it, so we just need to make sure that you don't have a delayed reaction to the drug, some kind of shock reaction to the manipulation, and that the cast isn't too tight." Martha advised. "So, sit there and I'll go and get you some pyjamas. Then you can have a shower in here. The sickbay shower has a nice seat in it so you can sit and get washed. I'll get you some things to waterproof your wrist as you can't get the cast wet. Then, you need to get some rest. It sounds like you've had one Hell of a day."
"It's only been the morning really. I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep. I think I'd rather just wait until I know he is alright."
"We'll see how you feel," Martha offered. She went through to Donna's room and the TARDIS had laid out some clothing for her. It wasn't pyjamas but it was a soft pair of loose fitting leggings and a T-shirt that she'd be able to sleep comfortably in but also just be able to lounge around if she didn't want to go to bed. Martha thanked the ship and then returned to the sickbay.
She helped Donna waterproof her arm with a plastic bag and waterproof tape. Then she unfastened her bra for her as that was difficult to do. She then allowed Donna to go into the shower as long as she used the seat and she shouted the moment she felt unsteady or unsure of anything. Donna wasn't entirely sure what all the fuss was about. She couldn't believe she had actually broken her wrist and her fingers that just wasn't right. Hopefully it wouldn't take long to heal. She hoped that the Doctor was going to be able to take them to heal on the beach again. Maybe Martha would be able to come for a while as well? When she got into the shower she turned the spray on, the TARDIS made it the right temperature for her. Not quite scalding hot, but so that the spray was pleasantly warm and it steamed up the glass screen. She got herself clean and then did as Martha insisted and sat down on the seat and just let the water wash over her for a while.
Her wrist was starting to throb a bit by the time she got out of the shower. She wouldn't say that it hurt exactly, it wasn't really pain, it was discomfort and ache and she knew it was there. She dried herself off one handed and then went out wrapped in her towel. Martha assisted her in getting her T-shirt on over her arm and then removed the plastic bag taped to her arm. She pulled her leggings on and then Martha unpinned her plait from the top of her head but left it plaited. It was probably going to be the easiest way to manage it until she had a different cast on. Once Donna was dressed she put the sling on for her. It held her hand higher than her elbow and supported her arm completely.
"It's up to you what you want to do now," Martha told him. "As long as it involves resting of some kind. No running around. As the drugs wear off you're going to come to realise that you're injured. It's not going to be as bad as it was, but you're going to know about it for a few days. If you get any pins and needles, your fingers start to change colour beyond the bruising of the breaks, or they're feeling cold or numb then you need to let me know straight away, okay?" Martha insisted. Donna nodded.
"I think I'm going to go and make a cup of tea and then just come and sit back in here if that is okay?"
"Well, how about you sit there and I will go and make the drinks?"
"What if something happens with the Doctor?" Donna asked worried.
"He's sleeping peacefully now. You can shout for me if anything happens, the galley is a couple of doors down, I will hear you," Martha assured her.
"Okay." Donna nodded. She went and stood at the Doctor's bedside. He was lying on his front with the soaked bandages covering his back. In some places there were spots of blood making it look pink with the white ointment. His face was still very white but he seemed to be breathing more cleanly. Donna gently rubbed the back of his head. He still had sand in his hair and it made him look a bit dusty. He was going to have to get in the shower as well when he was feeling better. She hoped he was going to be feeling better when he woke up. She had been scared he was going to die when he started collapsing and throwing up and his breathing had been getting worse. "You're going to be okay, now, Time Boy," Donna assured him quietly. "Thank you for saving me."
Martha came back into the sickbay with a cup of tea for Donna and a coffee for herself. It was only when Martha sat in a chair and yawned that Donna remembered that they arrived in the early hours of the morning. "I'm sorry, we woke you," Donna apologised to Martha. "You must be knackered."
"Nah, I'm fine," Martha assured her. "And I've got a few days leave this week. I'm going out with Tish tomorrow evening but apart from that I've no plans so we can make sure he is alright and you can stick around until we change the cast on your wrist."
"How long is it going to take to heal?" Donna asked.
"Six to eight weeks I should think."
"How long?!"
"As long as there are no complications with non-union," Martha added. "I don't think you'll have a problem and you might be in luck. The Doctor may have something to accelerate the healing, but if not then you're going to have to be cast for six to eight weeks. The scaphoid is a common bone to break but it is also a common bone to have issues with and to break again and again, so we need to be careful. You don't want to be left with a weakened or sore wrist."
"What about my fingers?" Donna asked hoping there wasn't going to be any issues. "Chiswick's fastest typist here?"
"Not for a while, but they should heal fine," Martha assured her.