Sunday

Denise was up and doing exercise laps most of the morning and afternoon. She only stopped long enough for shots for pain and to rest. Carol accompanied her and continued the therapy, both physical and mental.

Dr. Davis came in late in the afternoon with two other doctors and checked her stump. When he finished he looked over at Carol. “We got your appliances and your medical records yesterday. I would like to put you on the schedule for surgery late next week if you are still interested.”

“Early next week would be better if that fit the schedule.”

He laughed, “I understand the desire to do this now. Let’s settle for late in the week, let’s say Friday. Fritz will have someone here to be with you and Denise on Thursday night. I need you to get ready. You know the drill, fasting blood work tomorrow morning, x-rays of your pelvis and stump today or tomorrow, a full medical exam by one of the interns and an EKG sometime in the next two days. I have you officially listed as the patient in the other bed here. The nurses will work with you on scheduling this when they aren’t busy since you are here all the time.”

“Good. Let’s get on with it. I can pretty well do it any time.”

“The first step is an examination of your stump. Want to do that now?”

“Really?”

“Yes. I need you on the bed there without your trousers and appliance.” I have one more patient to see in the next room. That will give you time to get ready. I’ll be back.”

She nodded and pulled the curtain. In less than a minute she opened it, slid on the bed and pulled up the sheet. Her appliance was on the bottom of the bed. She looked over at Denise. “This is how you do it. You get ready, put your appliance where they can look at it, because they will, and be ready when they come in.”

The doctor came back in a few minutes and went over to her. He started to pull the curtain and she motioned to close the door. “If Denise wants to watch this she can. She needs to learn everything she can as fast as possible.”