Sam Winchester (gradeafreak) wrote in papillonthreads, |
Time had a funny way of moving when you were hanging on by a thread and fighting for your life. Sam was wholly unaware of the medical staff working to stabilize him. He didn't know about Dean's conversation with Amy, or how hard his brother was taking what had happened to him. He was simply floating, lost in a sea of intangibility, flickers of memories over the years popping up here and there only to fade as soon as they'd taken any significant form. He remained unconscious and unaware as the surgery came to an end, the nurses prepared to move him to his own room, and the doctor who had done everything he could finally stepped into the waiting room in search of Dean.
"You came in with Sam Campbell, yes. Dean, wasn't it?" the doctor confirmed, first and foremost, as he approached Dean with a weary-eyed expression. The surgery hadn't taken too terribly long, in the grand scheme of things, but it had been a bit more personal than he would have liked. "I wanted you to know that we've stabilized him, for the time being," he pressed on, not wanting to dwell on the fact that he knew his patient, and his patient's wife. Considered them friends of sorts, even.
"The bullet went directly through him, which is both a good thing and a bad one. We didn't have to risk further damage by attempting to remove it but..." He sighed softly then squared his shoulders. "There's no easy way to say this. The bullet did manage to knick his spinal cord when exiting. Unfortunately, with injuries like this, we have to wait for the swelling in the area to go down before we know exactly how much harm has been done and what, if anything, can be done to help him. But for the time being-" Another pause and, finally, the doctor forced the words out. "I'm afraid it's entirely possible that Sam is going to be paralyzed from the waist down. For how long, as I said, won't be known until later."
He paused again, giving Dean a second or two for the news to sink in, before offering, "He's been moved to a private room, if you'd like to see him. He may not wake but, if he does, I think he'd like it if you were there. He was certainly asking for you enough even under the effects of heavy sedation."