DAY 11

Jason left Kathy’s hospital room at just before six AM to go home and pick up some things.  When the Nurse Nancy Williams came in for the temperature check at six thirty Kathy was awake complaining of a headache, pain in her leg and a vicious appetite.  Her temperature that had hit 103.5 just before surgery was now 98.8, just barely above normal and certainly low enough to make the doctor happy when one considered she had a potentially fatal infection just forty eight hours before.  They were initially unsure that the surgery would be extensive enough to remove the infection source and damaged tissue.  The culture identified the bacteria late the day before and although nothing was totally effective against it the experts suggested an anti-biotic mixture that had been known to better target it.  What had been one very sick young woman yesterday was now a hurting but much recovered patient who was getting bored.  Kathy started assessing her condition.  The pain in her leg was nasty but the button with painkillers cut that when she hit it.  She tried to remember what they were going to do to her leg, she remembered the cast, the break, but there was something else and no matter what she was not able to focus on it.  She was in the ER, she remembered the recovery room, she was awake briefly there, but that seemed to be all that came through the fog. 

The nurse was checking her pulse “normal” she noted and started to leave.  “What happened?  I broke my leg and then I got sick and came back here.” 

“Do you remember you were to have surgery?”

“I’m not sure, my head feels fuzzy and my leg hurts.”

“I’ll have the doctor come in to talk to you.”

She left the room and started down the hall to find the resident.

Kathy’s leg was hurting, if she could massage it maybe it would stop.  She reached down under the sheet to rub her leg.  She encountered some kind of bandage, it felt like a cast on her upper leg.  Curious, she tried to pull the sheet back to see her leg.   It was caught and she couldn’t move it, she found the buttons to adjust the bed, brought herself to a sitting position and stuffed the pillows behind her as best she could.  With this vantage point she lifted the sheet as high as possible.  She could not see past the upper part of her leg.  She pulled the sheet back to the side, uncovering both of her legs.  One look and yesterday started to come back, the flesh of her right leg ended about two inches below her groin where it was covered by a cast that ended about eight inches lower, turning into a pylon.  She started to cry.  When the nurse came back a few minutes later with the Resident she was sitting there with tears in her eyes, looking at what remained of her leg.