F is For Falling (and other complications)

Ch. 4

A/N – I will warn you, it does get a little graphic, if you will, in the middle of this chapter. It's a necessary evil I guess. Just don't say I didn't warn you. Also, I wasn't expecting such a long chapter, but it kinda wrote itself.

The idea for this story came from personal experience; however, I was not admitted to the hospital, although I really should have been considering how bad and long it took me to heal. But timeline wise, Karen is following in my steps with the challenges and emotions I felt. Just a side note, it took almost a full year to heal from just a simple scrape and toenail ripped off. Cellulitis is nothing to play around with. Hind sight is definitely 20/20. And now, on with our story...

Karen had been in the hospital for four days, the swelling starting to go down, but not enough for the likings of Dr.s Early and Brackett. They could not figure out why, despite IV antibiotics and her leg propped up higher than her heart, Karen's leg wasn't looking any better. It was on the fifth day they got their answer.

Nurse Susan Kilroy, the RN on duty, entered Karen's room quietly, as her patient was asleep from all the meds she had been receiving. She made her way to Karen's bedside, laying the new bag of IV antibiotics down. Susan was reaching for the bag that was empty when she noticed what looked like a growth on the outer side of Karen's affected leg.

She stopped what she was doing immediately and took a closer look. After a moment or two, she slipped out of the room and headed for the nurses station. She dialed a familiar number and waited until the party on the other end picked up. "Dixie? Its Susan. If you can, please send Dr. Early up to Karen Summer's room. I need him to take a look at her leg. Thanks," she said, hanging up the phone and making a note in the chart while she waited on Dr. Early's arrival.

Susan didn't have to wait long. She heard the elevator ding as the doors opened, revealing not only Dr. Early, but Dr. Brackett and Dixie as well. "Susan, what's going on with our star patient?" Joe asked as Susan met them at Karen's door.

"I had gone in to change her antibiotics when I noticed what looked like a growth on her leg. When I checked it, it feels more like an abscess. I held off on giving her the new bag of antibiotics until you got here," Susan replied, opening the door.

"Good Susan, thank you," Kel said as the four medical personnel made their way into the room. Karen was still asleep, but as soon as Dixie turned the lights on in the room, she stirred and woke up.

"Hi docs, Dixie, Susan. What's going on?" Karen asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she sat up a little. She noticed the worried looks on the four faces standing around her.

"Well Karen, it seems we need to take a closer look at your leg. Susan noticed something when she came in a few minutes ago and wanted us to check it out," Joe replied as he and Kel began to examine her leg.

Dixie noticed that Karen's face was sporting a freaked out look, while trying to get a peek at what the doctors were looking at. "What is it? Is it bad?"

Joe looked up and at the panicked paramedic. "It looks like an abscess is forming on your leg."

"Oh crap!"

Joe put a comforting hand on the paramedic's shoulder. "It'll be okay Karen. I promise."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure. Don't worry."

"So, if it is an abscess, doesn't that mean you'll have to drain it?"

"Yes, it looks like we'll need to do an I&D," Kel said, looking over at Joe. "We could do it downstairs, in one of the treatment rooms. Make sure its cleaned out completely."