CJ scanned the chart of her next patient. Follow-up. She’d had a series of STD tests on Friday. The same day as Shelley.
Pushing open the door to the lobby, CJ called the patient’s name. “Celeste Martin.” Eight patients still waited, and she’d seen twenty already. No wonder Juanita was overwhelmed.
A young white woman, twenty according to her chart, pushed out of the molded plastic chair and slinked toward CJ. Fiery red hair, a color nature hadn’t intended. Puffy blue eyes accentuated with far too much eyeliner and mascara. Judging by her acute thinness and her too-pale skin, her diet was less than adequate and she rarely stepped out in the daylight.
“Good morning, Ms. Martin.”
Celeste gave CJ a long, cautious look. “Where’s Juanita?”
“She’ll be back on Friday. I’m Dr. CJ Patterson.” CJ held the door open for her patient. “Room two.”
The woman walked with a bit of a hitch in her stride. CJ wasn’t sure if that was her usual gait or if she was reacting to pain. Judging by thestilettos she wore, she could have twisted her ankle. If so, she’d climbed right back into the saddle again, so to speak.
Celeste slouched against the exam table. “How’d my tests come out?”
“They were all negative.” CJ flashed a smile. “Nothing to worry about there.”
Celeste grimaced as she straightened away from the table. “I’ll just come back Friday to see Juanita ’bout the rest.”
“Come on.” CJ patted the table. “Scoot up here and let me have a quick look and listen.” When the woman didn’t oblige her, CJ added, “You’re here. Might as well.”
Celeste hesitated, doubt lingering in her eyes. “Juanita knows me. I like talking to her.”
Chalk one up for Juanita. She’d built quite a patient-physician relationship. This wasn’t the first patient today who wanted to come back on Friday.
“I understand.” CJ closed the chart. “But I couldn’t help noticing you’re in pain. I can help you now; why suffer until Friday?”
The woman’s hand went to her right side. “It hurts bad.” Her face scrunched with the pain she’d obviously been trying to hide. “I got real scared last night. I couldn’t sleep, it hurt so bad.”
“Why don’t you take off your blouse and let me have that look?” The spaghetti-strap camisole and mini miniskirt didn’t cover that much, anyway.
Celeste hesitated another moment but then grabbed the hem of her cami and peeled it over her head. CJ clamped her mouth shut to prevent the gasp.
Angry red marks, recent, and purple and yellow bruising, several days old, colored her torso. Her bare breasts were covered in the same.
“Come on.” CJ patted the exam table. “Ease up here and lie back, please.”
Celeste grunted with the effort. She tugged her short skirt, which had slid upward, back over her hips. No panties. Not surprising. The bruising extended to her hips as well.
Not wanting to put her off until she’d completed her exam, CJ kept the questions related to any symptoms the patient had experienced. Grimaces and soft groans came whenever she touched the fresher injuries.
“Let’s get an X-ray. Make sure this is all soft tissue damage. Then maybe an ultrasound.”
“I could use some Vicodin.”
“We’ll talk about that after we see what’s going on.”
Since there was no nurse or medical assistant, CJ searched for a gown, got the patient into it, and escorted her to the last exam room on the right. It was the largest, and that was where the X-ray machine was. She’d volunteered in enough free clinics to know her way around an X-ray machine.
As CJ prepared the patient for the images, she did what she’d been doing all morning. “You grow up around here?”
“Nah, I’m from Mobile. I came up here last year. Got a place over on Beacon a couple months ago.”
“Okay, I’m going to step behind the screen.” CJ headed that way. “Don’t move.”
CJ selected the appropriate settings. “Here we go.” A couple of clicks and she moved back to the patient’s side to position her for a second view. A third view and CJ was ready to have a look. “Just stay put while I process these.”
As she went through the steps, she continued her questioning through the open door between the exam room and cramped developing room that had surely once been a closet. “You like it here?”
