Chapter 5

As promised one of the nurses had checked on Danny a few times. She had brought him a bottle of water, a mug with coffee and a sandwich.
Danny had thanked her absent mindedly. He had drunk the coffee and had taken a bite or two from the sandwich, but he had tasted nothing.
The nurse had asked him if he wanted something else or if he needed anything if they should call someone for him now but he had answered all questions with a "no".
Yes, of course he wanted something but that wasn't what the nurse had meant for sure and even if it was something she couldn't do anyway.
He was just hoping it wouldn't come to the point he where he had to make the decision. He knew if it would come to it, he would give the go because he believed what the doc had said about "not amputating for fun" and because it was the only way to save Steve's life.
Fact was though, that he did not want to be the one who had to take the responsibility. Yes, he knew it wasn't his fault, it was the fucking guy's whoever put that damn trap there. But this person wasn't here – lucky for him – but Danny still felt guilty. He wasn't sure if he could look Steve in the eye when his best friend and partner would wake up with a foot short. Especially after Steve had begged him to not let that happen. But he just couldn't let Steve die, could he?
Although he already had the decision, he was still debating with himself when the door opened once more.

"Danny, hey, any news? How are you holding up?" the cousins asked entering.
"Maybe you should talk one after another and leave detective Williams some time to answer," Max added.
"Yeah, sorry," they both said again in unison.
Kono came over and hugged their still sitting friend.
"How are you doing?" she asked softy.
"Me?! I am good. You should worry about Steve. He is the one who stuck his foot in a fucking animal trap."
"I don't think he had really stuck it in there," Max stated but got interrupted by Danny yelling "I don't care what you think!" Then in a low voice "I am sorry, Max. I am really sorry. It is just a bit too much at the moment."
He put his head in his hands, closed his eyes and sighed, tried to compose himself.
Then he said again "I am sorry."
"It's okay, detective. You are under a lot of stress at the moment. Can you give us an update?"
Danny did, told them everything that had happened from during the flight – minus the begging – until now.
When Danny was done nobody said a word. Everybody was thinking what this would mean for their friend and leader.
Steve would adjust to losing a foot but losing his status as a SEAL – that would be a real problem. It was like losing half of himself.
"Let's not lose hope," Max stated. "Dr. Konani is a great surgeon. He will do everything to save the foot."
"I know," Danny replied. "But what if this is…beyond his means?"
"We cross that bridge when we come to it," Max said.
"Yeah. Just have faith," Chin added but his words which were meant to comfort them all didn't sound convincing to any of them not even to himself. Too much worry was in them.
"You said the doctor said "a few hours". How long was that ago?" Kono wanted to know.
"I don't know. I really don't know," Danny answered. "Everything is just a blur ever since I heard Steve scream."

Meanwhile in OR:
"Okay, let's close him up," Dr. Konain said after his anesthetist had told him the patient was showing signs of distress. "We do the rest tomorrow or in the next few days. That was enough stress for him today. Get him into recovery. ICU has a bed for us in 30 minutes. I want him monitored 24/7 – any sign of change has to be reported to the doctor on duty ASAP. This is no funny business."

"Back" in the waiting room:
"Dr. Bergman," Dr. Konani said surprised seeing him in the so-called private office.
"Dr. Konani," Max answered. "Nice to see you again. Just wish we had better circumstances."
"Indeed," the surgeon answered. "You being here, I guess you were the doctor at scene"."
"Yes, I was. Wish I could have left the trap on to minimize the blood loss. However, though it was moving and about to chop off commander McGarrett's foot, so we had to remove it."
"Thankfully, you had done that." Dr. Konani turned to face the rest of the team. "That might have saved the commander's foot – for now. Infection had set in on tissue and bone but it wasn't that severe yet. We were able to remove it. With those steel jaws even deeper into the bone it could have been much worse.
I am sure detective Williams has filled you in what might happen…"
After a nod and/or a silent "yes" from everyone the doctor continued. "Thankfully, we could avoid that for now. The commander is not out of the woods yet but the prognosis is much better now. Like I said, we were able to clean or remove the infected areas and hope the antibiotics will take effect.
We were also able to eliminate the pressure in his leg. Both bones are in place again and stabilized. The same goes for his ankle bones. That didn't go without a lot of metal though. Hopefully, some of it can be removed again later on.
As expected the surgery had put a lot of stress on commander McGarrett's body – on top of the shock of the injury itself. We decided to finish up tomorrow or the day after, depending on the commander's state.
We will transfer him to ICU for observation in a few minutes. He…"
"Finish up? You are not done yet?" Danny asked upset.
"No. I've told you we have to do some more. There are still injuries that need to be treated. They are not as bad as the ones we fixed today but unfortunately, they all need to be treated surgically – except for the bruises on his hip, ribs and arms."
"Yeah, I am sorry. I…I remember you've said something like that. You've also said something like from foot to hip. What…what else is there?"
"A twisted knee – what we have already fixed too – torn ligaments including the cruciate and unfortunately, even a torn hamstring where the muscle had been completely ripped of the bone.
"That means his right leg is completely damaged." Chin stated what Danny was thinking.
"Yes, it is. But we can repair it. And it is possible that he will regain full function. It…"
"Possible?!" Danny blurted out "Possible?! What is that supposed to mean?"
He looked from the surgeon to Max and back.
"It means," the ER doctor started to explain "that nothing is damaged beyond repair. But getting bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons etc. going like before will cost a lot of pain, effort, time and support.
Since commander McGarrett is a Navy SEAL, I am sure he knows how to handle the first two parts. I am also sure a few of you can help with the fourth. Part three is the critical one. He needs time – a lot more than if he had only of the injuries. I suppose at least twice the time you need to let the injuries heal completely one by one combined.
And he needs to let that happen. Overdoing or rushing would be counterproductive and will most likely lead to re-injury. If he sticks to the plan, I am very confident he is going to achieve the goal.
But at the moment we are far away from talking about PT. He has some very unpleasant days ahead of him.
We will try to keep him comfortable but that definitely involves strong pain medication. That will lead to confusion and grogginess. So, don't expect too much from him over the next let's say five days.
The ward physician will keep you updated and discuss the next steps with you."

Meanwhile in the recovery room:

Steve let out a groan and scrunched his eyes.
"He's waking up Charles," Melody said.
Both caretakers approached the bed.
"Commander McGarrett, can you open your eyes for us?"
He groaned again and tried to do what he had been asked. But his lids felt so heavy he just blinked a few times and then stopped his attempts.
He couldn't remember what had happened, he just knew it was something important.
'Why can't I think straight?' he thought. 'What happened. What…who?' "Danny?" he asked in confusion. Then a shiver ran through his body.
"Commander McGarrett," Melody said in a low and soothing voice. You just had surgery. You feel better soon…can you try to open your eyes?"
"No. Heavy."
"I know. You don't have to do it for long. Just a few seconds."
"N…"
Steve was asleep again.
"That was a good first try," Charles said. "Seemed to understand your questions. His vitals are looking good too. Just the blood pressure is still way too low."
To prove that statement another shiver went through the sleeping SEAL.
"Hope it is coming up soon. Or do you think we should cover him with a second blanket?"
No. Not yet. Let's wait a few minutes and see how he's doing then."

The second time Steve woke up with a groan as well. This time though Melody was only half way to his bed when Steve started to retch.
"He is vomiting," Melody shouted.
She and Charles went to the SEAL'S bed and upped his bedrest.
Unfortunately, Steve had already thrown up. Since he had not been sitting upright, he choked on his vomit and began to cough violently.
When he was done, he leaned back breathing heavily.
Charles and Melody were talking to him but he was still way too confused and groggy to even recognize who they were and where he was.
After a few minutes his breathing got better but when he tried to take a deep breath, he started to cough again and then another gush of vomit broke out.
The pain the vomiting had brought and the effort it had cost, had exhausted Steve and he passed out once more.
His caretakers had cleaned everything up and tucked him back in. They decided to use a second blanket as well now because every time their patient had been close to the surface of waking up, he was shivering so bad that it almost looked like shaking.
When he finally got transferred to ICU, he had opened his eyes just one more time, only to close them again and go back to blackness.

The next time Steve was on the way to come around, he was already in ICU.
The attending nurse was in the process of hooking him up to some equipment to monitor his vital signs when he moved a little and groaned.
His lids fluttered a few times but he didn't open them.
'What happened?' he thought. But even thinking about that was exhausting. He groaned once more.
"Commander McGarrett," he heard a soft voice say. "I know everything hurts at the moment, so don't try to move too much. The doctor will he here any second and then I can give you something."
He felt a touch - as soft as the voice – on his arm.
"Can you try and open your eyes? Then we have already done this. One thing less."
It cost Steve a lot of effort but managed to fulfill the request.
"Hello commander McGarrett. You had an accident. You hurt your leg. You are in a hospital right now. I am nurse Tessa."
Before she had finished her introduction, her patient had already closed his eyes again. In that short moment she had seen nothing but pain and confusion. The eyes were glazed over and unfocussed. Before she could do anything more though Dr. Wahale came in. He had a look at the chart and his new patient and informed Tessa which and how much medication she should give.
The nurse was working ICU for almost 10 years now and it was no problem for her to follow the instructions to the detail. Without hesitating or asking any questions she administered one drug after the other.
It didn't take long for Steve to feel the effect – the pain was almost gone. It didn't help making him think better though. He still didn't know what had happened.
'Nurse said accident. But why? Where? Who? Me? All of us?'
"Danny?" he croaked.
"Is that someone we should call for you?" Tessa wanted to know.
"Danny," Steve repeated. This time it wasn't a question. "Hurt?"
"Did he say Danny?" Dr. Wahale asked.
"Yes. Maybe a friend. I'll have a look in his file."
"I don't think that is necessary. His next of kin is a Danny Williams. He is already here. Let's finish settling him in and then we'll see if it is the right Danny or if this one knows about another."

By the time they were finished and Danny could finally come in, Steve was out once more.