After the Storm (manxman)

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

(Doctor's sleep room)

Stephen...

After checking Kara's vital signs once more, I made sure that she was sedated properly and positioned correctly on her uninjured side so that her first rounds of skin and deep wound debridement were touched by nothing but the sterile dressings I placed over them. Poor Kara was in for a painful recovery and several surgeries in her future. I quietly informed the recovery room nurse taking care of Kara exactly how I wanted my patient's dressing changes to be dealt with and the goal body temperature where I want her to be. I double checked the infusion of her intravenous antibiotics, and made sure her breathing machine and paralytic meds were doing their job.

I was exhausted, completely and utterly drained after spending the last seven hours meticulously removing the waxen, leathered skin from the left side of Kara's body. All the way from her left shoulder, down her left arm, her side, and from her hip to mid thigh. The poor girl was cornered in the blazing kitchen before a firefighter had smashed the breakfast nook windows in order to get to her. Her hair on her left side of her head was singed and will need to eventually be be cut, but not anytime soon. I refused for my patient to get an infection due to a hair fragment embedding itself in the raw flesh.

Eyeballing everything one last time before I gave the nurse a polite smile and made my way out of the sterile area. I stripped the mask away from my face and pulled the protective gown off. My gloves followed as I peeled them off and tossed everything in the waste basket. I made my way of to the stainless steel sink and washed my hands. I had one more task to see to, and that was talking to the family.

Fortunately for the teenager, her burns were nowhere near her gorgeous face, but still, for a sixteen year old girl, the scars that were going to form on her body were going to be real enough for her, hopefully her father will give me the chance to continue to be involved in her future surgeries to see if I can restore her skin to it's former elegance, or at least try my best to make her as normal as possible.

I went to my locker and pulled out my lab coat, I shrugged the starched jacket over my tired shoulders and I slipped my cell phone and my pager in the pocket. My wallet can remain in the back pocket of my slacks, I was the only one with the combination to my locker. I was too tired to drive to my condo, so after speaking with the family, I was just going to crash in one of the sleep rooms. That way I can be close if Kara needed me through the remainder of the night. Patients who received such a shock to the system from burns can crash in the blink of an eye.

I scrubbed a tired hand over my face and made my way down the frigid hallway towards the family lounge. The walls went from the sterile baby blue to a cheerful peach with huge floral murals that were all the rage in professional buildings at the moment. It wasn't exactly rocket science to immediately locate out Kara's family members out of the several people huddled in the surgical wing waiting room as they desperately awaited news about their loved ones enclosed behind the Operating Room doors.

A slender beautiful blonde man with long flowing locks that could rival any womans instantly jumped to his feet when he saw me. He quickly covered the space across the tiled floor to meet me halfway into the room. He was immediately followed by one huge dark haired man who looked like he was about to fall over at any minute, and another less stocky but equally impressive looking gentleman. I recognized the Carrington couple, so the big man had to be Kara's father.

"Kara Milano's Family, correct?" I asked just to make sure although I already knew these people where my patient's family, but seeing how I was going to share her medical information with them, I was legally responsible to make sure I was speaking to the correct people.