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“Here’s your patient. Get him ready.”
While he donned his sterile gown and scrubbed, Lillian removed her patient’s shirt and had him slip on a gown.
“Lie down here.” She covered his head with a cap and brought over a razor and shaving soap.
“I already shaved.”
“Not enough for surgery. It won’t hurt. I’m rubbing anesthetic cream before I touch you. Now close your eyes, Royce. Did you enjoy your dinner last night?”
She distracted him with a light chat as she shaved the injured area. “I’m all done. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Steve admired her patience with his twenty-seven-year-old baby.
“Not at all. You have amazingly soft hands.”
Sharing his son’s opinion about the softness of her hands, Steve suppressed a chuckle.
“Step one.” He indicated the cream that should put the patient to sleep and waited for Royce’s eyes to close. “Hold his head steady.” He injected the anesthetic at the center on both sides of the cut.
After adjusting the magnifying glasses on his reading glasses, he opened his palm for a scalpel.
“It’s gaping, and the edges are ragged. It must’ve bled a long time.”
Steve worked for an hour, cleaning, removing hair and dead skin, cutting and draining the multiple pockets of pus and added packing to completely drain the pus.
“I’ll leave the packing while I suture the cut.”
“Will it leave a scar?”
“Probably.” He studied the cleaned area. “It’s close enough to the hair line. I’ll do my best.” He would use the smallest stitches possible. “Tweezers.” At the top point of the wound, he pinched the sides of the wound together. “Hold the tweezers tight.” He started stitching, painstakingly, proceeding step by step with his favorite nurse assisting all the way. “Remove the packing.”
“Almost no drain,” she said after examining it.
“I’ll close now. I gave him a nice facelift on this side.”
“Will it make a difference?”
“No, he’s young. It’ll fix itself with time. With his hair cut the right way, no one will notice. But he’ll be in pain for a few days.”
“Poor Royce, he’s paying a heavy price for his mistakes. I hope you haven’t been too hard on him.”
Her scolding reminded him of Heather. A true loving mother.
“I almost punched him when he mentioned inviting a new girl. Into my house, can you imagine?”
“He told me about Susan. But I didn’t mention anything about the house being rented.”
“Good. I’ll announce it when his brother and sister arrive in a few days.” He examined his suture points and covered the area with gauze and taped it. “I don’t want him touching an open wound and contaminating it. We’re done for now. Thank you, Lillian, great job. I’m going to bunk in one of the exam rooms and check on him every couple of hours. You can go home now.”
“No, I’ll use the other room. We can alternate the checking time.”
“Okay, I’ll take midnight and four. You set your alarm for two and six. If he’s in pain, rub the area withlidocaineand give himoxycodone.”
“All right.”
“Royce won’t want anyone to know the truth about his injury. We operated because...” He looked at her, hoping for an answer.
“He had a septic abscess under his beard?”
“Perfect.” He chuckled, amazed at how well she understood him.
“Great minds think alike. Don’t hesitate to wake me if there’s a problem.”
