transient.

chapter 1: break

transient
/ˈtranzɪənt/ • adjective
lasting only for a short time; impermanent.

Standing at the nursing counter with the night shift staff, Eddy listened to the night shift nurse drone on about the patients under his care. He'd taken care of most of them the day before, and was familiar with most of the cases.

Most. He perked up and listened to his only new case.

"Bed 26 - Brett Yang. New admission yesterday night. Claimed that he fell while walking down the street and boom! here he is with a right anterior shoulder dislocation with a Bankart lesion. Reduction was done in the ED, he's stable. IV cannula in-situ, on collar cuff. Doctors want to do arthroscopic repairs by the end of this week for it. He's handling the pain well, I've given your morning medicine for you since he was awake - actually, I don't think he has even slept."

Oh, shit. Sleepy patients are grumpy patients.

And Eddy was right. Waking Brett up was a daunting task and now he was faced with a grouchy disheveled mess of a creature before him. Brett had scared off the junior nurse who was in charge of ensuring all the patients had done all their basic care - showering, eating et. cetra, and now the task of getting him up fell onto Eddy. He made sure all his more important tasks - medicine, preliminary rounds, miscellaneous procedures were done first prior to managing Brett Yang.

"Morning - I'm the morning shift nurse, Eddy." He began slowly, trying to not agitate Brett.

"What do you want." came the curt reply.

"Just wanted to make sure you got your ADLs - no sorry um your showering and all done before your doctors come yknow." Eddy cringed at the technical term that he had let loose on reflex.

"I'm literally disabled right now and I probably can't even move. Just leave me alone." Brett awkwardly made a shooing motion.

"No c'mon mate. Let's go, I'll help you up and we'll do this together slowly." Eddy reassured Brett, "you just feel weak now because you've been lying down all night, and that's a pretty nasty shoulder injury, I won't lie."

Eddy felt pretty awkward because Brett looked his age, but it was still part of his job scope to ensure that Brett functioned like a normal human being - being hospitalised doesn't get you a fast pass out from doing life, yknow?

"Do I have a choice?" murmured Brett reluctantly.

"No, not really. Not in my house!" said Eddy dramatically - hoping it'll help with the mood, as he lowered the side rails of the bed and propped the head portion of the bed up. "Let's help you sit up slowly, alright?".

Soon after, Brett was sitting by the edge of the bed, legs dangling off the side. Eddy gave him some time to adjust to sitting down before asking, "You alright there? Shall we try to stand?" Brett reluctantly nodded. Supporting the uninjured left side and his hip, Eddy helped Brett up, and kept him standing as Brett struggled to find his balance. When Brett had stabilised himself, Eddy had guided him a few steps towards the toilet while holding him with one arm and his shower stuff in the other.

"This feels kinda gay man," remarked Brett.

Eddy blushed, slightly relieved that his face mask covered most of his face, and he countered cheekily, "says the drama queen who called themselves 'literally disabled' less than 15 minutes ago.". He saw a twinge of a smile on the side of Brett's face as they reached the shower cubicle. Transient. He reminded himself. He sat Brett down on the plastic shower bench and arranged all the items needed for his shower around the cubicle.

"So, I'm going to remove this shoulder cuff for you so that it won't get wet, just make sure you don't move your shoulder from this general position. I'll be outside the door so just call for me if you need help." Eddy instructed as he moved outside of the cubicle, shutting the door gently behind him to give Brett some privacy. He thought about the rest of the tasks he needed to do for his shift, as he listened intently to ensure Brett wasn't in trouble. If he could trip and end up with a shoulder dislocation while walking, god knows what he could manage while standing on a floor with soap.

Eddy heard the wooshing of the water from the shower head not long after. "I never realised that nurses needed to tend to these kinda stuff." Brett commented over the noise of the water. Eddy laughed, "Someone's gotta do it - basic human needs, yaknow?". "I don't do life very well, I guess." Brett answered in a monotonous voice. Noticing the conversation was taking a negative and probably awkward turn, Eddy changed the topic - "So.. What do you do? Are you still in school or working?". He heard choking sounds coming from within the cubicle and stopped his reflexes from immediately throwing the door open, opting for an "are you okay?" instead. He breathed a sigh of relief when Brett turned off the shower and answered, "Yeah I'm fine - I play for the orchestra.". Eddy heard the wince in Brett's voice and then the rustling of clothing - "... Uhhh I'm done, but I don't know how to put on the thing." Brett continued. Eddy opened the door and helped him put on the collar cuff. He almost burst out laughing when he saw Brett's wet hair sticking out in all directions, thankfully he was saved yet again by his trusty face mask.

Well, maybe not. "Something wrong?" Brett asked. Eddy mentally cursed, and pointed to the mirror. Brett immediately arranged his hair with his left hand. "Do all musicians have ears this sharp?" Eddy commented. "Only if it's something bad about them" Brett replied snarkily. Together, they walked back to Brett's bed, except now Brett was now walking by himself, more steady on his feet after some time. "Alright, it seems like my job is done here, just eat some breakfast okay? Your doctors will be here soon for rounding." Eddy sat him back down on the bed.

"Oh, one more thing!" Eddy picked the glasses off Brett and cleaned it before popping it back on his face. He'd seen the surprise on Brett's face and quickly supplied an explanation - "you were sleeping on them and I figured you'd like some clear vision.". Brett let out a small laugh and thanked Eddy and watched as Eddy rushed off to do other nursing things.

Brett can't help but feel a little guilty as he ate his breakfast while watching Eddy perform his tasks at sonic speed. He felt like he had kept Eddy back from doing his routine and tasks and made a mental note to be nicer to the nurses in the future. Eddy disappeared and reappeared behind curtains, each time looking a little more haphazard and tired, but still with a slight smile on his face. Eddy finally returned to him when his doctors came to check up on him.

"rounds," Eddy had called it.

"torture" was what Brett was calling it. The moment the doctors came, Eddy swooped in and drew the curtains for them. He stood silently as the doctors examined his wrecked shoulder, trying to gingerly move it around but all it did was to cause immense pain to Brett. His face twisted in pain as he tried to not scream.

Eddy's face contorted into one of worry as he saw Brett trying to contain his pain while the doctors were testing his range of motion. He snapped out of it when the resident instructed, "Alright let's start on some physiotherapy from this afternoon, you seem to be handling the pain well."

Well?? What the hell that was not well! Eddy screamed internally.

"Doctor, if I may suggest for you to order some PRN analgesia before the session to optimise the pain management further. He currently only has paracetamol." Eddy quickly said, before the medical team could rush away to their next patient.

The doctor laughed and said, "He'll be fine! He's young and healthy, shouldn't have a problem!". Eddy tried not to roll his eyes. "Doc, his face was literally the embodiment of pain just now when you were testing his ROM and you're telling me he doesn't need at least naproxen? Look at the swelling on his deltoids."

"It's fine, we do this-" the doctor continued but was only interrupted by Eddy. "Don't forget he has a Bankart lesion as well. I can't imagine the amount of pain he may be in. Also, he didn't sleep last night. Also, if the medication is PRN, I won't be giving it all the time, it's just to manage the pain during physio."

Brett didn't know what was happening and how the hell did he know he didn't sleep yesterday??? but he knew he'd appreciate some more pain relief if he were to be moving his shoulder, so he let out a "yeah it kinda hurts.". The doctor looked at him and back at Eddy, who shrugged as a response and said, "fine, let's order up a PRN naproxen" to his medical officers before taking his leave.

"I don't know what that was, but that was badass, man." Brett couldn't help but say to Eddy when they left. Eddy just laughed, "Can't leave my patient screaming in pain later, can I?". Brett laughed and thanked him. Eddy just smiled and left to do his documentation.

All patients were transient.