Page 30 of Saving Veronica
She looked at Dr. Atwal intently and asked, “Does that help?”
“It does. Now, let me tell you about your injuries.” Dr. Atwal walked to the right side of her bed and looked at the other doctors. “Correct me if I’m wrong.” At their nods, he continued, “Based on the condition of your injuries and your tale, we can assume you received the lacerations on your right thigh first.” He looked at her as she looked down at her leg and he discreetly moved the sheet and blanket so she could see it wrapped in gauze. “Then you have lacerations on your left forearm.” He reached over and showed the gauze there. “The marks, your account of what happened, and evidence at the scene tell us that they were from a cougar.”
“Evidence?” Ronnie frowned. “I didn’t see any cat.”
“Twenty feet from where you were found, a large cat lay dead with a knife sticking out of its eye.”
“Oh, well, better it than me.” She tried to shrug, but frowned. She grinned at Dr. Atwal’s smirk.
“You were indeed kicked by a horse. You have a horseshoe bruise here.” He tapped her upper right pec. “That caused your broken collar bone, and shattered shoulder. You also have a broken right forearm.” He lowered the sheet and blanket and she looked down and saw that her whole chest and right arm was encased in plaster.
“Pink?” She looked up and wrinkled her nose at him and he laughed. “I’m not a pink kind of girl.”
Patch laughed harder. “This is your second cast. After your initial surgery we kept you in a medical-induced coma for three days. Two days after we stopped the meds, you developed an infection and had a high fever. We removed the first cast to help control your fever. That one was blue.” He grinned.
Ronnie laughed, then groaned. “What else is wrong with me?”
“All your ribs on your right side are broken, and your lower leg is broken.” He moved the blanket again and she saw the bar and pins sticking out of her leg.
“Cool, can I see the x-rays? Before and after surgery?” When everyone frowned at her, she sighed. “I’m one year away from getting my DVM to become a vet. I know how to read x-rays. I worked with most of you last year for my human rotation.” She stared directly at Dr. Atwal and he looked down at an iPad and after pushing some buttons, he handed it to her.
“Before I look at these, how was I found? Who found me? How long was I unconscious? Were there any brain bleeds? Any neck or spinal injuries?”
“I’m happy with her cognitive responses,” one doctor said. “I’ll leave you to answer Ms. Parker’s questions.” In a matter of minutes everyone was gone, except for Ronnie and Dr. Atwal.
“Medically, what you see.” He waved his hand up and down her body, “Is what’s wrong with you. Nothing with your brain, spine, neck, or back. Except for the lacerations on your left side, all damage is on your right. Again I’m assuming here, but I think when that horse kicked you, you flew down the ravine and landed on your right side. The casts won’t come off for at least eight more weeks. You were found on Saturday, August 3rd. You arrived here in the early morning hours of the fourth and you’ve been unconscious for the last ten days.”
“So it’s the fourteenth?”
“Yes.”
“Thank god.”
“Why do you say that?” Patch frowned as he walked around and settled his hip next to hers. Since it was his day off, he had time to spend with her.
“I start classes on the twenty-second. How long am I going to be kept here?”
“If you continue to improve, I think we can release you on Friday.” Patch watched as she began looking at the x-rays. The more she looked, the more her brow furrowed.
“You didn’t tell me I had a head laceration.”
“Oh sorry. You did, you received thirty-two stitches, but they were removed yesterday.” He reached over and found a mirror to hold it up for her.
“They didn’t have to cut my hair?” She looked at him.
“No. I have to tell you, we couldn’t sew the lacerations on your arm and thigh closed, they’re too wide and deep. However, the plastic surgeon was able to graft donor skin over them.
“When can I see the damage?”
Patch took the iPad back from her and began swiping at it. He looked up and grinned. “You’re dressings are due to be changed in three hours.”
“I’m still confused on one thing.” Ronnie frowned.
“What’s that?”
“Who found me? How did I get from the bottom of that ravine that is over three hours from here, to this hospital?”
“Your hostage,” came a voice from the doorway. Patch whipped around and smiled at the woman standing there, and Ronnie laughed.
