Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "wanna finish?"

thatdarncat (thatdarncat) wrote in silverage,
@ 2011-07-26 22:23:00

Entry tags:

!log, linda carter, selina kyle

Who: Selina Kyle and Linda Carter
What: Selina's in pretty bad shape
When: Tuesday night
Where: Metropolitan General
Rating: Low
Status: Completed

It had been three days, and she couldn't take it any longer.

Limping around with the holes in her calf was doable - painful, but doable. It was her ribs that were the problem. The first night was fine, she was able to ignore the pain, but night two was agony. She didn't often cry, but even a walk from her bedroom to the bathroom was enough to make her well up.

So by day three she decided that, despite her extreme distaste for hospitals, her inability to take deep breaths without a wave of nausea was a somewhat bad situation to be in. She didn't know what was wrong with her ribs. On the night she had injured them (for that damned statue - so not worth it), she figured they were simply bruised, but the pain was such that she was wondering if they weren't shattered into a thousand pieces. That's sure what it felt like.

Indeed it must've been providence seeing the billboard ad that morning about health care, so she invented a story ("fell down the stairs at my apartment" seemed plausible enough, if a little cliche) and went into the hospital.

She approached the receptionist, putting on her most sugary smile. "Excuse me. I'm searching for a Linda Carter?"

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roomontheright
2011-07-27 02:39 pm UTC (link)

Linda's shift had just ended. Her offical one anyway. She had been ready to head to her "private" area when a new nurse had passed by, arms filled with files. She had been helping her carry them to the reception area when she had heard her name.

Handing the nurse the reports and pointing her in the direction to follow, Linda approached the woman who had spoken.

"Hello," she said. "I'm Linda Carter. How can I help you?"

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thatdarncat
2011-07-27 07:56 pm UTC (link)

Selina turned towards the nurse a little gingerly, though she hoped it wasn't obvious. She smiled at Linda - she was pretty, but the kind of pretty other women didn't get jealous of. Genuinely pretty.

"Irena Dubrovna," she chirped, "We spoke on the...on the, um..."

Well damn, what was that thing called, anyhow?

"We spoke," she finally decided.

Selina held her side, hoping it looked casual rather than as if she felt her organs were about to come spilling out.

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roomontheright
2011-07-28 12:18 am UTC (link)

Linda had never seen the woman before, but the brief hesitation when she spoke, not to mention the posture, gave the Night Nurse a clue.

"Of course," she said with a gentle smile. "This way, Miss Dubrovna." She lead the way into the barely used rooms where she kept her practice. "Please make yourself comfortable and tell me how can I help you?" she added as she opened a door into an empty doctor's office.

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thatdarncat
2011-07-28 06:19 pm UTC (link)

Selina followed her just as gingerly, doing her best to maintain her smile and not grimace.

"Damndamndamndamndamn-"

She stood just inside the door, not wanting to take another step. She took a deep breath (ow) and explained.

"I suffered a rather nasty fall the other night and think I may have injured my ribs. I tried to, ah...grin and bear it, but it's making it rather difficult to do much of anything."

"Like walk. Or move. Or breathe."

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roomontheright
2011-08-01 12:40 am UTC (link)

"I see," Linda said. The whys and hows were not something she was concerned with. The Patient's health came first.

The part that worried her though was the way the woman moved - in constant pain. This was an injury they couldn't leave unnatended for long.

"Ordinarily, I would ask you to lie down while I examine your injuries. But I get the feeling me may need to skip the preliminaries and have a x-ray done."

She approached Miss Dubrovna. "I don't need to tell you that everything that is said and done in this place remains confidential. That said, if there are allergies, weakness and powers that could interfer with the treatments, now it would be a good time to mention it."

OOC: Sorry for the delay! Book Fair caught me

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thatdarncat
2011-08-01 02:10 am UTC (link)

Great. This was as bad as it felt.

Selina laughed a little at the mention of powers. Yeah, she supposed that was something this nurse would run into eventually, though Selina herself was still getting used to the idea that people were running around with magical powers.

"No, none of that. Though if it looks like my ribs have a bunch of weird symbols carved into them, that's ah..." her voice dropped a bit as she realized how ridiculous this sounded, "That's normal."

She was curious what the x-ray would look like, not just to see her injury, but to see exactly what it was that angel guy - what was it? Castiel? - had done to her ribs that morning from a few weeks ago.

OOC: No worries! Book fair is a good excuse.

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roomontheright
2011-08-01 04:34 pm UTC (link)

Linda nodded. She had to admit that of all the odd things she had seen lately, this was rather tame.

"Alright, I just need you to get in the gurney and we'll go ahead. Would you like some help?"

She moved the gurney closer to her patient, keeping her demeanor calm and comforting, although a part of her worried. External stabilisation was effective, but very painful. She hoped Miss Dubrovna only had a really bad case of bruised ribs.

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thatdarncat
2011-08-01 09:21 pm UTC (link)

Selina smiled - sincerely, now. That was the best possible reaction she could've gotten, beyond the nurse giving her some magical, insta-heal cream and directions to the nearest unlocked mansion.

"No, thanks. I can do it," Selina replied, grunting a little with effort as she climbed onto the gurney. If there was one thing she was determined to maintain, it was her independence, even if it meant holding back tears from the pain of it.

"So uh...is this the sort of thing folks are able to get over? I'm not going to be using a walker or something for the rest of my life, am I?" she added a chuckle, though her voice betrayed a thread of genuine worry.

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roomontheright
2011-08-02 07:30 pm UTC (link)

Linda kept the gurney in place as Miss Dubrovna climbed. Then she carefully started moving it out of the room and through a thankfully deserted hallway.

When the other woman voiced concer, Linda smiled reassuringly. "We'll know more in a moment, but with ribs sometimes it's not as bad as it seems. Thing is, when you breath your lungs move against the rib cage, hence the constant pain. At worst you may need some sort of stabilisation, but usually is not needed. Rest is the best cured in most cases."

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thatdarncat
2011-08-05 08:43 pm UTC (link)

Selina exhaled a bit with relief. She couldn't imagine immobility, not being able to leap around. Even giving up her primary means of income would be fine, but not being able to run? Or jump? Or twirl around in the night air? It would've been as much as torture.

She steeled herself for the news to come, her mind racing with terrible possibilities. "What if I have a collapsed lung? What if I punctured some organ? What if my organs have fallen out of place...wait, can they do that?"

Selina placed her hand on her belly in a futile attempt to calm herself. She glanced upwards at the nurse pushing her down the seemingly endless hallway. "Guess it's better to find out sooner rather than later," she said, her voice rather hollow.

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roomontheright
2011-08-07 04:44 am UTC (link)

"The sooner we know, the sooner we can start the treatment," Linda agreed as she pushed the gurney into a room. "And the sooner you can get better," she added with a smile.

The machine was large and imposing. It wasn't used often, but Linda couldn't resort to other methods when her job entailed unnoficial patients. If only she could open a place of her own...

"Now," she said as she lowered the handles of the gurney. "I'm going to need you to be as still as possible in order to do this."

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thatdarncat
2011-08-08 06:34 am UTC (link)

OOC: Sorry this is coming along so slowly! It's been a busy week.

Selina drew in a painful breath at the sight of the machine. She didn't like technology, though she managed to keep a distance from most of it. This was almost the scariest part to her (coming in at a distant second from the thought of never being able to bound around the city again), and she resisted the urge to grind her teeth at the thought of getting inside that whirring metal...thing.

"No problem," Selina sighed. It wasn't, really. Selina was perfectly suited to being absolutely still, as it was an integral part of being stealthy. Still, the clacks and hums and buzzing the machine made (was it really as loud as all that? Maybe she was blowing it out of proportion) made it hard to concentrate on anything but how nervous she was. She hoped she wasn't moving too much.

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roomontheright
2011-08-09 01:41 am UTC (link)

Linda moved carefully, trying to make things easier for her patient.

"Very well, I'll start it."

As she was not an x-ray technitian, Linda checked and doubled checked everything. She knew how to operate the machines, but lacked the core knowledge.

She couldn't help a sight of relief when the machine finished.

"Alright," she said, trying to sound casual and soothing. "Let's see what we got here."

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thatdarncat
2011-08-10 11:24 pm UTC (link)

Selina breathed the same sigh as the machine's terrible noises ceased. She sat up as soon as she was able, despite the white pain that went shooting through her as she did so. She didn't like the prone position even at her strongest moments.

She put on a weary smile, "So? What's the story? Will I ever play piano again?"

She didn't attempt to laugh this time. It was too much.

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roomontheright
2011-08-11 02:09 am UTC (link)

Linda had just started to look into the photos when Miss Dubrovna spoke. She remained silent for a few moments before turning, a little smile on the corner of her mouth.

"As long as you don't intend to to dance on top of it for the next weeks," she said, approaching her patient. "I detect a bit of a hairline fracture, but most of what we got here are some nasty bruises and the best part, no split ones that could lodge into any organs."

Linda showed her the x-rays and pointed at the troubled areas. "The bad news, you got about six weeks worth of recovery, maybe less or maybe more, depending on your lifestyle. The important thing is to get lots of rest, place cold compresses in the area and try not to make any sudden movements that will get in the way of recovery. And you'll probably need another x-ray in six weeks to see if everything has healed.

"If the pain is too much to bear, I can get you medication for it. You shouldn't have to suffer an uncomfortable recovery."

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thatdarncat
2011-08-11 02:31 am UTC (link)

Well, it wasn't as bad as it could've been, but still. Six weeks? Six weeks? Selina sighed, and rubbed her head.

"Be happy you've got all your organs intact,"

"I wouldn't say no to some meds," she finally replied as she weighed the news. Six damn weeks. "Is general office movement okay? I'm a secretary and..." she trailed off. The fact that she was now more concerned about her job at Sterling-Coop than the fact that she wouldn't be participating in her extracurricular activities seriously worried her.

"I need to be able to move a little," she finally clarified.

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roomontheright
2011-08-12 12:43 am UTC (link)

Linda had knelt before a cabinet and was opening it with a small silver key. "I'd rather you kept bed rest," she said truthfully. "But if you do have a desk job and can remain as still as possible that could work too. Recovery may take a little longer. And in any case, I'd like to see you in six weeks for a checkup, to make sure everything is healing nicely."

when she stood, she held a small bottle. Linda rarely got paid since this part of the job was off the books, but patients were generous with donations and even medicine from a doctor who owed her a few favors. Things would be easier once she could have her own clinic up and running.

Someday...

He offered the bottle to Miss Dubrovna. "Two a day with meals for at least two weeks. They take all the paon but they will help a lot."

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thatdarncat
2011-08-12 10:21 pm UTC (link)

Selina took the bottle with a resigned sigh. That was it, then. Six weeks of recovery. Six weeks without any adventures. God damn fire escapes.

"Fair enough," she replied, gingerly getting to her feet. "Thank you very much, Nurse Carter. You're really a godsend,"

Really, she was. Selina hated her current situation, but knowing what to do to get better was such a better option than the alternative - making this injury worse and worse until she punctured a lung or something. Selina made a mental note to send a thank you gift to the nurse.

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