literature

the doctor's prognosis

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Previously | fav.me/d81rjsr

“Aren’t you excited?” Keri whispered, looking over at her brother who sat in the chair next to her while they waited for the doctor to return with the x-rays.

He did not reply, but simply continued distantly staring at the ground with his head bowed down, as if totally lost to the world around him. She wasn’t surprised, it was the norm for Tide now.

“Alright.. good talk.” She didn’t know what else she had expected. He hadn’t spoken to her once since he had woken up from the coma. Given, he was still in very poor health for a majority of that time due to infection in the wounds, and his body was too worn out each day for him to even try to stay awake and talk.

She looked up when the doctor finally came into the room, relieved she wouldn’t be left alone in this awkward silence any longer.

“Alright, let’s take a look here now, starting with the chest wound.” The doctor put the x-rays up and turned off the rest of the lights in the room. “Overall, I’m very happy with this. The biggest damage we can tell is the excessive amount of sensitive scar tissue and damaged muscle from the left side of his chest, to his right shoulder blade, with a lot of scarring inside of the body as well. As expected, however, since those are the places the bullet entered and exited. Resulting from this, basic stretches can prove to be a lot more difficult. Tide, lift your arms as high as you can until it starts hurting.”

Tide obeyed, beginning to lift his arms. He hadn’t even gotten them to be perpendicular with his body when he let out a grunt and quickly dropped his arms.

“We’re hoping this can improve with physical training. You just have to be careful, because that scar tissue is very tender especially right now.  Now, along with this you have an issue with your lungs. The bullet punctured your left lung. You’re very lucky though, as the bullet passed only millimeters from your heart. When medics got to you, they reported that lung was completely collapsed. Any longer, you wouldn’t have been able to breathe... We’ve patched up that lung but it was a complex wound, so breathing could be sore for now. We’re not sure if this is a lifetime effect or if your lungs will eventually grow stronger and grow out of it.” The doctor paused for a moment, waiting for them to ask questions.

Keri glanced over, not being able to help but notice the grim expression on her brother’s face. She reached over, gently taking his hand and holding it with hers. She was pleased when he didn’t protest or pull away from her. Much to her surprise, he actually gave her hand a soft squeeze, but the look on his face did not waver.

“Okay, wonderful, now the leg. This is much more complicated.” The doctor sighed. “Truthfully, it would have been more ideal for you if we amputated, and I'm sure any other hospital would have. It was horribly infected and a bloody mess when we opened it up. But the limb was survivable, and it would have meant more loss of blood that we worried you may not have had at the time, so we opted out. If you could still bear some weight on it, we were going to keep it. Unfortunately, this means you’re left with a half bum leg. The bullet completely shattered your kneecap and fibula, severed A LOT of nerves and muscles and tendons, sliced right through one of your hamstrings, and left you with a lot of scar tissue. That leaves your leg… for lack of a better word, almost useless. Standing is fine, but walking could get trickier.”

“Sounds like he would have been better off with a prosthetic.” Keri commented.

“Potentially yes. But-“ The doctor grabbed something from a nearby counter, “that’s where the Exo-skeleton can come into play! We’ve used it on many patients before and it’s not a miracle worker, but it’s done wonders for them. And the technology for it only gets better everyday. Basically, you attach this around your leg nice and tight and snug, and it’ll probably feel very uncomfortable at first before you adjust. The way it works is that it helps to free up the natural motion of your knee more and your ankle, and acts as the support for your entire lower leg. It doesn’t completely fix the motion, but allows for more bend so that you won’t have to drag your leg. But the limp in your step will still be just as heavy regardless, and you’ll be a lot slower either way. But at least you can walk, right?” He looked at Tide for a moment, whom only nodded silently in response. "For a lot of soldiers who experience combat injuries, having an amputation only worsens the pains and leaves them feeling more damaged. The technology around these exo-skeletons is going to help a lot of people, and hopefully you too."

“Tide, it’s a miracle you’re still even here today, remember that. I’ve seen many people come to us in better condition than you and still pass away. “ He told him. “You must have an angel watching over you.”

Tide shifted his gaze from the ground, looking the doctor directly in the eyes and just shaking his head as if to say ‘there’s no such thing.’

“I certainly believe so.” Keri piped up with a small smile.

“Alright. You’re hospital free! And not to sound rude, but we hope to not see you back until your next appointment. “ The doctor chuckled. “Take care of yourself.” He patted Tide on the shoulder before leaving the room.

Keri and Tide soon followed, but while a nurse was helping Tide momentarily, the doctor pulled Keri aside.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“It felt wrong to say this in the presence of your brother. But you need to watch him carefully. Soldiers… in situations like this they can go home with so much more than physical wounds. They may not be as visible, but they’re very real, and just as serious. Your brother shows all the clear signs of PTSD right now, so just... watch him. The next few months are critical. I think it would be in your best interest to get him to a psychiatrist as soon as possible too and start him on some medication. ”

She was stunned and speechless, what does someone even say to something like that?!

“Ma’am your brother is waiting for you.” One of the nurses told her as she passed by.

“You take care of him, he’ll need you more than anything right now.” The doctor spoke before leaving.

What in the HELL just happened?!
Previously; you're not alone - story
Next; no way out, no one to come and save me | STORY

ignore any errors I got five hours of sleep

swiggity swescription this is a description

just a little pre-story before the next one I post tomorrow. This was in tomorrow's story, it was just a really lengthy part that I wanted to separate to keep everything nice and clean and short looking for you guys. 

This basically explains everything wrong with Tide and all his problems, and even more will begin to surface as the story continues. most will be more mental than physical though. 

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errything by me
do not use, you flaccid pencil
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decors's avatar
I only have two, but you got them! 2x:thumbsup: