“Came to bring my brother here an RV so he didn’t have to sleep on the ground. He’s getting too old to do that shit,” Eddie states.
I watch Ella move so Eli can sit by me and take my unoccupied hand in his, being careful of the IVs. Leaning in, he whispers, “Not too old, but a bed will be a welcome addition. How are you holding up, sweetheart?”
“Good so far now that they’ve put in the nerve block to numb my arm and administered some pain meds,” I admit. “But before that, it was an exercise in survival because I was hurting so bad I wanted to puke.”
“But you took the time to take a shower?” he asks incredulously.
“Eli, I smelled like sewage,” I chide. “I figured it would be more difficult to get one after all of this is done.”
“I understand, sweetheart,” he says. Keeping his voice low, he asks, “How do the two of them know each other?”
“I don’t know,” I reply. “I’m definitely in the dark right now.”
Thankfully, the doctor keeps working. The funny thing is, the four of us are pretty much silent right now as we all watch what he’s doing, even Eli and his friend, Eddie. I’m sure he’s got a road name, but I don’t know it off the top of my head.
“What happens once you’re done cleaning it?” Eli suddenly asks the doctor.
He glances at me and at my nod, he replies, “We can’t close it because the skin was torn away and the edges are too jagged, so she’ll have a wound vac put on which will help heal the area while keeping it open so it can be checked regularly for infection and healing, plus additional debridement as needed.”
Eli’s head snaps to me and I see the horrified look on his face. “You’re going to have to have that done again?” he asks, pointing to the doctor.
“Probably won’t have a nerve block each time,” I admit, “but the meds will be good because it’s one of the most painful procedures that can be done since nerves and all that jazz are exposed. They’ll also likely use topical lidocaine to help numb the area. It’ll be okay, Eli, I’m made of pretty tough stock, I promise.”
I see the doctor smirk, even though he’s wearing a mask, his eyes crinkle slightly, so I know he’s listening to Eli. “The first few times, she actually might have a nerve block because of how deep it is,” the doctor finally says. “It’ll depend on who she sees for follow up appointments.”
“I’m here for two more weeks,” I reply. I see Eli is about to protest, so I squeeze his fingers. “Eli, I’ll help triage and won’t be out in the field. I made a commitment and I’ll honor it, okay?”
“I don’t have to like it,” he grumbles, which has me giggling a little bit. I’ll blame it on the morphine because I hate that he’s upset.
“I’m not particularly crazy about it myself,” I tell him. “But I’m glad it wasn’t our patient who had this happen since he’s a seniorcitizen. I’m young, relatively healthy, and will have Thelma and Ella right there in case anything happens.”
It’s not too much longer before the doctor is finished. He places a specialty bandage across the whole wound and says, “I’m putting an order in for the wound vac now, then will check the bloodwork to see if we need to change your antibiotics. A radiologist will be down shortly to put in the PICC line because I definitely want you on a round of IV antibiotics and there’s no reason for you to be admitted to the hospital for those given where you’re currently working. I also want to say that I appreciate you and your employer coming up here to help those who have been stuck. The patients we’ve seen that came in that y’all found so far were well taken care of before they arrived.”
“I’m glad to hear that since we didn’t really have a way to check on them,” I say. “I’ve been a bit worried, to be honest.”
“Tell your boss that we especially like the form y’all filled out for each person. It made it easier to know at a glance what y’all’s observations were while in the field,” he adds.
“I’ll let her know, Doctor. Her goal in developing those was to make sure that further care wouldn’t be delayed for the patient since sometimes, they’re in rough shape,” I reply.
“Alright, young lady, you just sit tight while I put those orders in,” he advises. “You’ve got a few more hours here.”
I flop back, suddenly tired. “Oh, joy, I can hardly wait.”
Ella giggles then tells the doctor, “She’s a crappy patient.”
He doesn’t throw me under the bus, thankfully. Instead, he says, “Most people in healthcare are, from what I’ve seen over the years. Myself included.”
CHAPTER
SEVEN
Prophet
While we waitfor whatever else Phoebe has to get done to be accomplished, I look at Data and ask the question that’s been bugging me. “How do you know Ella?”
He looks at her then says, “We met during one of her other assignments, before I joined the club.”
Phoebe perks up and whisper-yells, “Ella? This is?—”
