Chapter 84

I whisper softly near his car as I statt gently swaying side to side. Slowly I feel his body rx in my arms as Ang makes her way back to us with sydager in her hand. I watch her closely as she grabs the syringe sitting on the table before sitting on the bed.

“Cole,” she waits for him to look her way before continuing. “I’m going to give you some

Valium and vicoprofen.”

I still my movements as she reaches over to his hand, taking it in hers she pauses to gently rub the top with her thumb. It’s only when he rxes that the moves his arm and attaches the first syringe, giving him the first medication slowly before giving him the second. He whines softly and tries subtly to pull away as the second is given but overall handles both quite well.

“Cole, I’m going to switch sides so I can look at this burn of yours. Demetri, do you think you can get the two of you closer to the middle of the bed?”

I start moving slowly to the right encouraging Cole to do the same. By the time she gets around to the left side of the bed there’s enough room for her to sit.

“All right Cole, let’s see what you have going on.”

I can feel the fear and tension growing again as she lifts his gown on the one side and moves it to between his legs revealing a nasty looking burn. She draws her breath in sharply as she runs a single finger lightly across the angry red band that sits on both sides on the burn causing him to yelp and draw his leg away from the pain.

“I’m sorry Cole. I’m done touching for now. Can you rx so I can look a little closer ? ”

His body is tense and shaking again as she draws his leg back towards her. I slip my hands into his as heys his head back against my shoulder whimpering softly. I watch as Ang runs her finger along the actual bubble for several seconds .

“Cole, I need to withdraw some fluid from this blister. I’m not certain how much you’re going to feel based on the fact that you’re not feeling my touch on the blister itself. What I need from you is to staypletely still . Stay just as you are with your eyes closed.”

I feel him nod as she pulls out an alcohol wipe and empty syringe. She moves his leg around looking at the entire wound before selecting a spot on his inner thigh. She cleans it gently before slowly advancing the needle through the dead skin. She quickly takes the sample she’s after and pulls the needle out with only a slight yelp when she presses the gauze to his skin. The look on her face as she looks at the contents of the syringe tells me it’s not good. She sighs lightly as she speaks.

“It’s already severely infected. I will need to do a minor surgery in order to get this to heal correctly.”

Cole sits up fast at the sound of surgery, fearcing his voice .

“Am I going….. to feel it?”

She reaches over and touches his face.

“No, you won’t feel it.”

He rxes slightly but is still breathing hard with nervousness as she continues to exin.

“You will be put into a twilight sleep which is heavy sedation mixed with anesthesia for the pain. Once you’re asleep I’ll put lidocaine shots around both sides of the blister before using a scalpel to cut the dead skin away, freeing the liquid inside. We will need to change the bandage three times a day and pot a cream on it that fights the infection and pulls any silver that’s still in it out. The cream also contains lidocaine which will help reduce the pain while it heals. You will also start getting a silver binder and antibiotics in your IV three times a day as long as you’re in the hospital and you’ll be switched to the oral type of both when you get out of here.”

“How are you so certain that this burn is from silver? I’ve never seen a blister like that created from silver”

“It’s an unusual burn considering it’s a band that goes around his entire thigh but only silver will get infected this badly without it being an open wound, That’s why it’s so important to remove the skin and flush all the fluid out. The fluid in this blister is holding silver against an open wound which is causing it to not only be infected very quickly but it’s continuing to burn the healthy tissue underneath. Cole, when did this happen ? Are there any other injuries that we need to know about?”

“I,” his voice is trembling badly with uncertainty. “I’m sorry….. Dr. Pierce…… I ck out…… I don’t know.”