Belle (enchanted_rose) wrote in musingslogs, @ 2011-01-31 02:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | belle, michelangelo |
Who: Athena and Mika
What: Fixing
When: After [this] around 3am
Where: Rooftop of Hamartia
Warnings: None!
Climbing back through the window to her bedroom had proved to be much more troublesome than getting out, what with her bleeding arm and everything. Mika kept one hand over the cut at all times, but found that she was leaving a small trail of blood anyways. Stripping off the hoodie once she was in the bathroom, she winced as she turned on the tap just enough for a small trickle of water. Enough to wash out the cut but not enough to make a loud noise. Hissing, she frowned as she examined the cut. This was definitely going to need stitches.
That was going to be a problem, she couldn’t very well wake her brothers up, there would be no end to the questioning, but she’d never stitched herself up either. In a flash of memory, she remembered someone posting about being a doctor on the forums, earlier in the week. Quickly scanning through the posts, she pulled up the number and dialled as she made her way up to the room. Properly this time, using the stairs.
Athena’s cell phone blared through the silence, loud enough to wake her from the deepest of sleeps. She was awake and alert by the second ring, and picked up on the third. “Dr. Athena Henderson, how can I help you?” she asked, voice crisp and businesslike. One quick glance at the clock on her nightstand let her know that it was 3am. Whoever was calling probably needed emergency medical attention.
“Hi,” Her voice was unmistakeably young, but she sounded uncharacteristically tired as well, “You do house calls right? And this is all confidential, you won’t need to contact anyone about this?” Mika needed to know that this wasn’t going to get back to her father or brothers, she would tell them when she was ready but now was definitely not the time for that. There would be no rational discussion when she was bleeding out of a deep mysterious cut on her arm, and she didn’t want to have to deal with that in addition to everything else.
She listened intently, identifying the voice on the other end as female, late teens or early twenties. “Yes, I do house calls, and no I won’t need to contact anyone. Describe the injury,” Athena ordered, slipping out of bed silently. She held the phone between her ear and shoulder as she shimmied on jeans. Sneakers slipped on next, and a sweater was thrown on around her cami as she listened.
Mika appreciated the calm, crisp tone that the doctor was using. She could follow orders, she was good at that. “Upper arm, it’s a cut,” She paused wondering if she should mention how she got it but it seemed obvious enough, “I think it needs stitches, I’m not sure how many. I’m on the roof of The Hamartia.” She wondered how fast it would take Dr. Henderson to get there, hopefully not long considering the fact the the cut hadn’t stopped bleeding since she got it.
Athena quickly checked her medical bag to ensure that the proper tools were in there. “Very well. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Keep pressure on it as much as you can,” she instructed, waiting for an affirmative answer before hanging up. She grabbed her keys and made her way down to the lobby of Bathos, already dialing a cab to meet her at her office. By the time that was arranged, Athena was already three quarters of the way to her office and five minutes in to the twenty minutes of travel time. She unlocked her office and grabbed an IV kit and a blood bag just in case the girl had lost too much blood. Putting them in her medical bag, she exited and locked up her office, just as the cab pulled up.
She directed the cabbie to take her to Hamartia, and she was at the front steps with seconds to spare. She walked in and found the staircase, making her way up to the roof quickly. “Hello?” she called relatively quietly, so as not to disturb any of the residents of Hamartia. “I’m here to fix your arm,” Athena added, voice calm and collected as always.
Mika waved at the surprisingly young woman who had just appeared on the roof, with her good arm. Her palm was stained with blood, but she was sure that the doctor had probably seen worse in her career. Although, that was questionable considering how young she looked. She really couldn’t have been much older that she was. “Hi,” She managed a polite smile, “Are you Doctor Henderson?” It seemed redundant to ask, but the woman looked so young.
Athena spotted the young woman just as she waved and hurried over to the edge of the roof, where the girl was sitting up against. She knelt down and dropped the medical bag with a soft thud, gently taking the girl’s arm in hand and angling it so that the small light from the stairwell illuminated the wound. “I am, but you can call me Athena, if you’d like. You’re right, this is definitely going to need stitches. Do you know if you’ve had a tetanus shot within the last ten years?” she asked, her hands moving to the other wrist to check the pulse. A little slow, but nothing a little fluids wouldn’t fix. “I’m going to set you up with an IV drip to get some fluids in you, while I stitch you up. Do you want something for the pain?” she asked.
She forgot why she didn’t like going to the doctor’s, but all these questions were exactly why. Shot records, health insurance, she wasn’t usually the one who dealt with that stuff, so when questions were asked, she struggled to remember. “Um-” She wracked her brain, which one was a tetanus? “Yeah, I think I’ve probably had one.” If it pertained to cuts, she was sure that her father would have made them all take one at some point.
An IV? This woman was prepared. “Thanks,” Mika smiled appreciatively, “Um, well it’s nothing I haven’t handled before but I guess painkillers would be nice.” She knew from experience that the wound would be sore in a few hours. She watched intently as Athena began her work on the cut, thankful that things like this had never made her queasy like they did to other people.
Athena nodded as she worked, pulling out the compact stand for the IV and placing the bag on it. She quickly cleaned the inside of the girl’s elbow with an antiseptic pad before sliding the IV needle in effortlessly on the first try, which would have felt like the barest of pinches to the girl. A skill picked up after years of practicing medicine. “I’m giving you a low dose of hydrocodone along with the IV drip, so it’ll only be the most effective while I stitch you up. It should be out of your system in a few hours, which will coincide nicely with some sleep,” Athena explained, giving the girl a pointed look as she injected the correct dosage into the IV tube. “You should start to feel the effects in a few moments,” she added, going back into her bag to get her stitching supplies. “Ready?” she asked.
Mika nodded though the name of the drug held little meaning to her. True to her word, she did start to feel velvety with a few moments of being attached to the IV tube. It was a nice luxury that she did not have when she was stitched up by her family members. “Mmmhmm,” She nodded in answer to the question. As the drugs started to set in, Mika felt more comfortable to ask questions. “Athena?” She tried the first name, deciding that it was fitting, “You’re really young.” Okay not so much a question as the first thing that popped into her mind, but she didn’t just want to sit there in silences watching the needle go in and out of her skin.
Athena offered the girl a kind smile and set to work, sterilizing the wound carefully before taking the needle and thread to it. She worked with ease, the curved needle making tight loops through the girl’s skin, suturing the wound nicely. When the girl said her name, Athena glanced up at her before turning her attention back to her work. She chuckled lightly at the observation. “I may look young, but I’m much older than you child,” she replied warmly, a smile lingering on her lips. The suture took about ten minutes, as she had taken her time to carefully align the wound to make sure it wouldn’t be too noticable. Athena then applied a thin coating of ointment meant to ward off infection, though she didn’t bandage it. She glanced over at the IV drip, which was about half-way empty by now as she had brought only a small bag.
“How’s that feel?” Athena questioned, leaning back to allow the girl to test her arm carefully. “The stitches shouldn’t feel too tight, but they also shouldn’t feel very loose either,” she explained, watching carefully.
“You’re a creation?” The velvety feeling was making it hard for her to think clearly, but the pain from before that hadn’t been much help either. She paused, of course she was a creation, she had found her on the forums, “How old are you?” She asked, genuinely curious. She knew that people could live forever back in Musings, but she hadn’t had the chance experience that.
Mika tried to move her arm slightly, testing the doctor’s handiwork. It felt nice, a lot cleaner than any of the other times that she had gotten stitched up. She decided then that she would probably call Athena the next time something like this happened, not that she anticipated it. “Thanks,” She smiled, “It feels good. When can I get them taken out?”
Athena chuckled. “Over a thousand years, if you’ll believe it,” she replied, unconcerned about sharing that particular bit of information. The poor girl was feeling the effects of the drugs and would likely have a sketchy memory of their conversation. She smiled as the girl confirmed her handiwork. “It’s not a problem. I’d like to check on you in a week, if that’s alright. Call me tomorrow morning, and we’ll set up a time, okay?” she asked, cleaning up her belongings. Athena then moved to take the IV out, holding a wad of gauze over the elbow joint as she carefully slid the needle out. She easily taped the gauze in place and cleaned up the IV kit. “All set,” she added with a smile, reaching into her medical bag to pull out her business card. She handed it to the girl. “Call me sometime tomorrow, don’t forget,” Athena reminded her firmly.
“No way,” Mika’s eyes widened comically, this is the most her she’d been in two weeks, “Dude, that’s awesome.” And of course, the skater speak slipped out when she started healing, and she wasn’t talking about her arm. Mika nodded, she could do that. “I won’t,” She promised, but frowned when she realized she might not remember, “But if I forget, my name is Mikaela Jones, so you can look me up on the forums.” She smiled, finally starting to feel better. It was a good feeling and she hoped that it would stay.