Slippery Rocks,Clumsy Healer... Bad Combination

Writers: Bree, Eimi
Date Posted: 2nd November 2005

Characters: M'galec, Abrei
Description: M'galec looks at the scars from Abrei's knee injury and decides that one last surgery might be necessary.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 9, day 1 of Turn 3

Abrei

Abrei felt highly self-conscious when M'galec finally managed to corner her in one of the private exam rooms to look at her knee. The more she saw the man at work, the more she respected his abilities as a healer... and she knew exactly what he would say to a patient who had abused themselves as badly as Abrei had. Still, there was no good for it... she _needed_ to have the knee looked at, so she obediently pulled her skirt aside and let him see just how poor a job at taking care of herself she'd managed. M'galec glanced up at the Weyrhealer with a mild reproach in his eyes.
"Either you let an apprentice operate on your knee, or you didn't take care of it properly afterwards."

"It was operated on three times total, but most of the fault is my own. I was a rotten patient, but I'm trying to behave now." Abrei gave him a wry smile. "I wouldn't be where I am right now if I weren't obsessive. I don't know why anyone was surprised that I had a hard time leaving the infirmary."

"Well, _I_ certainly don't intend to operate on it three times, and I won't tolerate a rotten patient," his tone was stern, but his eyes were soft and understanding. What healer _wasn't_ a rotten patient. "Now I assume from the looks of things that you don't have all your maneuverability back."

"No real pain, but stiffness that takes a while to work out. I got almost my full range of motion back, but even now I've got very little in the way of stamina, and my improvement has reached a plateau. For a while I assumed that eventually it would all be back in working order... but I'm starting to doubt it." Well, lie back and let me get a better look at it," the bronzerider said gently. "Now, I never pulled your chart. What _exactly_ was it diagnosed as?"

"Dislocated kneecap, torn ligament, minor fracture." Abrei relaxed back onto the cot, though it was impossible not to prop herself back up on her elbows to watch him. "The entire situation complicated by the fact that I only took four days off after surgery." She refused to look at him, knowing what his expression would be at that admission. He did not disappoint. "All right, I'm going to test the knee cap's stability, and then the knees flexibility." M'galec knew he didn't have to explain exactly what he was doing to a _healer_, but it was habit. He gently felt the knee cap, applying slight pressure from all sides and felling it glide over the top of the joint as he moved her leg. "The knee cap is sound."

Abrei nodded shortly. "I thought so. Which leg do you want to test first? I can tell you roughly the difference between my normal flexibility and what my injured knee has now, but you probably should see it yourself." He moved around to the other side of the cot. "I'll check the uninjured leg. Though I don't put _too_ much stock in an uninjured leg as the only measure. Who knows how much you have had to over compensate with it.
Still, I suppose its as good a place to begin as any. Stand procedures and all."

"Always a good idea to follow standard procedures in front of your superiors," Abrei replied dryly, settling back so he could lift her leg.
"But off the record, I agree with you. Though in this case I can tell you that I had the opposite problem--I've lost a bit of flexibility in my good leg due to inactivity. I've learned first hand that legs don't work so well independently of one another. I think I'd like to have two functioning at all times in the future." "Well, that is my goal," he smiled as he worked. "So just how did this injury happen?"

"Slippery rocks," Abrei replied, wrinkling her nose at how silly the explanation was. "Clumsy healer. Bad combination." "What were you doing on the rocks?" he asked as he moved to the injured leg.

Abrei's cheeks turned pink. "Taking a walk," she admitted in an embarrassed voice. He shook his head, but not condescendingly. "Isn't it amazing how some of the worst injuries happen when doing the most mundane things?"

"It seems that even walking can be dangerous when you're lost in thought."
Abrei couldn't stop herself from propping herself up on her elbows again, incapable of not watching his every move. Her watching him didn't bother him in the slightest. He knew what he was doing, and the thought that he might not be doing it right never crossed his mind. "All right, where does it feel stiff?"

"The knee joint," she replied, bending the leg slowly. "It's not _quite_
painful, but it's very uncomfortable and not getting any less so as time goes on." "Hmm," he frowned. "If it's on the actual joint than that means it's not the ligaments. Is it under the knee cap?"

Abrei closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment, trying to pinpoint the exact location of the stiffness. "It's... just to the right... almost directly underneath the worst of the scars." She opened her eyes and pointed at the spot. "It's harder to diagnose yourself than I'd imagined," she said dryly. "I suppose that's why I'm not supposed to do it, but the temptation is hard to resist." "The ligaments seems to be working. The kneecap if being held in place."
M'galec flexed her knee a couple more times experimentally. "I wonder if you didn't damage your meniscus."

"Hmmm... I hadn't thought of that." Abrei closed her eyes again, wishing she could see inside her own knee. Visualizing it was hard enough. "I think you might be right, though..."

"If it was a bone chip you would feel it more sharply. It could be that your cartilage was damaged, but where you indicated I would think is too low, unless it was rubbing against the bone." M'galec nodded, satisfied that the list of possibilities had been narrowed to only a couple choices.
"I think I can help."

"It has to be after the next Fall," Abrei said firmly. "As near after it as you can manage, because I have to be able to sta--sit in my office by the next Fall." She blushed again when she realized he'd noticed her slip. There would be no standing after _this_ surgery until M'galec decided she was ready to stand, that was obvious enough. "The next day, then," M'galec replied firmly. His eyes told her that he would broche no excuses, and confirmed her suspicions that _this_ time, _he_
would be personally over seeing her recovery.

Abrei smiled at him. "You're going to hate me as a patient. Just ask Jynrek.
But I'm glad that you're here. I'll take another few months of physical therapy over never regaining full use of my leg."

"Unfortunately, you will hate me just as much as your healer as I will hate you as my patient, and you have _my_ word on that." He smiled reassuringly as he pulled her skirt back into place. "But I also give you my word that you will have full use of it as long as you do what I say."

"Excellent." Abrei sat up and swung her legs over the side of the cot, smoothing her skirt down. "I'll let the Weyrwoman know... she'll need to know that I'll be off my feet for a bit. Jynrek will step up to take over the infirmary while I'm gone. Have you gotten a chance to meet him?" "No, not yet."

"Well, he's a good man." And she could say that while she was in charge of the infirmary. Whether she'd still think he was a good man when she was stuck in her quarters...

Well, this time she could just direct all of her wrath at M'galec. He looked sturdy enough to handle it.

Last updated on the November 2nd 2005

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Slippery Rocks,Clumsy Healer... Bad Combination