“She went home to change, but she’ll be back later. Anyway, as I was saying, you had a clean break which Doctor Marks fixed. You have a titanium rod inserted through your femur, which she screwed into place. The impact also caused a slight fracture in your knee, which we pinned, and a minute tear in your ACL. We’ll need to go back in to fix it, but it’s okay to rest for now.”
My head started throbbing with all the information, my brain smoking like a computer about to short circuit.
“What does this mean? Am I going to play again?”
“Yes, you will. With extensive rehab, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be back on the ice next season.”
Fuck! That was nearly a year away.
I groaned.
“How’re the pain levels?”
“Fucking sky high, Doc.”
“I’ll up the morphine dose for you, and if you need it, just click on this button.” He passed me a tube with a little control lever on the end.
I pressed it in quick succession, wanting the drugs as soon as possible.
“You only need to press it once.”
I blinked, frowning. I think I knew that. How did I already know that?
I was having the weirdest sense of Deja-vu.
Warmth ran through my veins and a heaviness descended over me as the pain diminished. I dropped my head back further into the pillow and closed my eyes.
“Hey, he’s awake again.”
Again?
I blinked until I could focus. Drew and Emerson were sitting on a chair by my bed, Cooper and Freddie were on the couch the other side of my room, along with a giant stuffed bear on the floor by the door. An overwhelming tightness squeezed my chest and pushed up my throat until I had to swallow it down.
“Hey, how long have you guys been here?”
Cooper snorted.
“What?”
He grinned. “You’ve asked that every time you’ve woken up today.”
“I have?”
“Yeah. They’ve got you on some pretty strong drugs.”
Freddie shuffled around on the couch. “Yeah, and whatever you’re on, I want it for when I have this baby.”
I watched as Cooper rubbed her belly. She did look pretty enormous today, or maybe it was because she was just shorter than most people. Emerson got up and poured me some water, handing me the cup.
“How are you feeling? Can we get you anything else? Are you hungry? We brought some snacks for you if you want them.”
I didn’t think I was hungry, but I never turned down snacks.
I shrugged. “Sure, what’ve you got?”
Drew brought over an enormous bag, sitting on the bed as he sorted through it and pulled out a handful of cereal bars, protein bars, candy and chips. Yeah, I could always snack.
“Thanks, man.” I took one of the cereal bars from him and opened it up, at the same time noticing a weird set of tap things sticking out of my hand. I clenched my fist, the tap was stuck pretty hard.
