Recovery

Recovery -Ch 1

Lesley, Brian, and Claudia were at the clinic and getting ready to close for lunch when the bells over the door jingled, signaling another patient. All three turned to look and Lesley smiled, "Travis! Hi." Then turning to Brian and Claudia, Lesley said "why don't you two go on ahead and I'll lock up."

Claudia looked from Travis to Lesley, "are you sure? We can stay and wait for you."

"It's fine," Lesley assured them and then to settle the matter she took a step towards Travis where he stood at the door, "what can I do for you today?"

Travis moved into the room and looked at her, "it's my knee Dr. Webber. It's really been hurting the last couple of days."

Lesley reached out and laid a hand on his arm to gently draw him into the room more, "why don't we get you into an exam room then."

Turning to Claudia and Brian, she reassured them again, "it'll be okay really. I'll see you in a little bit." Claudia grabbed her purse and coat, and Brian closed the door with another jingle of the bells as they left to go to Kelly's.

"Okay then," Lesley smiled at Travis, "we'll put you in Exam 2. I want you to walk ahead of me so that I can see if you're limping."

Once they got into the exam room, Lesley motioned for him to hop up onto the table. "It looks like you might be favoring the left knee a bit, is that the one that's bothering you?" When Travis nodded, Lesley said, "okay, let me palpate it some and I want you to tell me when or if it hurts."

Now Lesley stepped back and looked at him, "can you stand up for me please?"

Travis obligingly got down off the table and stood in front of her, "okay...I want you to walk around the table, I'm going to walk behind you and have my hands on your hips to see if you have any noticeable hip dysplasia."

They did a couple of circuits around the table before Lesley called a halt. She moved around and looked up at him, "Travis I'm going to need X-rays and I'm also going to need to examine the knee more closely. Why don't you let me send you to the hospital."

"Can't you do it here Doc?" Travis protested, "I don't want to go to the hospital. My Dad would kill me if I went there."

"Travis, that means that I'll need you to remove your jeans for me. If you don't want to go to GH, why don't you come back later this afternoon when Doc Rick is here, and he can do the exam."

"I really want you to do it Doc," Travis insisted.

Lesley paused and looked up at him, "are you sure Travis? You're eighteen so I don't need your parents' permission but are you sure you're comfortable with me examining you?"

"I'm sure," Travis insisted again, and Lesley finally agreed, "okay well you can change into a gown if you want to, but you don't really need to as you can keep your T-shirt on. But I will need you to remove your jeans and get back up on the table."

Lesley turned her back to give him privacy and made some notes in his chart; "are you ready?" she asked and waited for his reply before she turned around.

"Okay,' she smiled reassuringly, "let me examine you again and then I'm going to take a couple of X-rays. I'm going to be pressing pretty hard and it's going to hurt but I need you to tell me how bad and where the pain is the worst."

Lesley worked quickly and had Travis raising and lowering his leg while she pressed on either side of his knee. She was completely focused on what she was doing and missed Travis' intense gaze and how he stared at her hands as they were touching his leg. She had pretty much made her diagnosis but wanted to get a couple of X-rays to be sure, so they moved into the other room and then back as she waited for the pictures to develop.