Page 30 of Tacos & Toboggans
“Thank you, and with that, I’ll take my leave.” I turned back to my patient. “Jaelyn, once the anesthesiologist is in and you sign the consent forms, we’ll give you some medication to help lessen your anxiety as you wait for the procedure. We find that patients who enter the operating room without anxiety do better after the procedure in terms of pain and recovery.”
“Thank you,” she said weakly. “Normally, I’m not anxiety-ridden, but my life right now isn’t exactly going smoothly. This is just another setback.”
“But one that won’t last for long, I promise. Let me do my job, and we’ll get you back to yours. Okay?”
She nodded, so I took my leave, my curiosity about Jaelyn Riba piqued higher than the Bells Pass toboggan hill. Maybewhen the surgery was over, I’d have to find Ivy Lund and have a conversation about why Jaelyn always carries a look of sadness in her eyes. Something told me that look was just the tip of the iceberg, but for now, I had a job to do.
The clock read nearly nine p.m. when I finished Jaelyn’s extended surgery. I was prepared for a second fracture, but I wasn’t expecting it to be a second fixation, and a tricky one at that.
“Major,” Ivy called as I walked toward her, pulling my surgical cap off. “How did it go?”
I had already checked Jaelyn’s consent form, and Ivy was listed as someone I could talk to about her medical care, so I was comfortable answering the question. “She did great,” I said, motioning for her to sit in one of the empty surgical waiting room chairs.
Once we were seated, I continued. “I expected to have to fix the scaphoid bone here,” I showed her on my wrist below the thumb. “I wasn’t expecting the second fixation she required. The lunate bone wasn’t fractured. It was the distal radius, which is the largest bone in your arm. It could have been the positioning or the swelling on the X-ray that made it look like the lunate bone was the problem, but I was surprised when I got in there and realized the actual issue. The swelling was much greater on the inside than on visual inspection, but it wouldn’t have mattered if it had been visible. The surgery needed to happen tonight, as I was worried that she’d have permanent nerve damage if we waited. She now has a plate and several screws in her radius as well, but it will heal faster and better for her that way. She’ll be in a lot more pain when she wakes up, but there isn’t anything I can do about that now. We’ll keep her comfortable overnight and re-evaluate whether she can go home when I see her in the morning. I know she’s worried about the expense, but if I think she needs to stay for pain control, I will insist on it.”
“She was worried about the expense, but didn’t know I have a special emergency policy for my employees. It covers all unexpected expenses and deductibles if they’re hurt in an accident outside of work. It’s a rider to the insurance policy we offer. They call it an umbrella rider. I call it peace of mind.”
“I bet she was relieved to hear that,” I agreed, not surprised that Ivy had her employees covered that way. When you run as many businesses as she does, something like thiswas bound to happen, and she needed to protect herself as a business owner.
“Like you don’t know. She has just sold her grandmother’s house, but all the proceeds went to pay her grandmother’s extensive medical bills, and Jaelyn still has a few smaller bills left to settle. She’s sleeping on my couch because she has nowhere to go since she sold the house. She has no other family now that her Yaya Riba passed, so she doesn’t even have that option.”
“Wait, she’s couch surfing?” I asked, my head tipped to the side. “She mentioned something to me about not moving here if I wanted to rent, but I didn’t think housing was that difficult to come by.”
“It is if you want to rent,” Ivy explained. “It’s been a longstanding problem in the community that we’ve been working hard to fix. Bells Pass built two new low-income housing buildings, and there's another one planned, but that all takes time.”
“A couple of my patients told me they’re living in one of those places. Called it New Beginnings?”
“Yep,” Ivy agreed with a wide grin. “It used to be the old nursing home. When it closed, it was empty for years, but the council finally renovated it into small studio and one-bedroom apartments. With the help of several social workers offering programs, it has helped keep people off the streets, allowing them to find work and eventually move into other properties. After the old motel burned down, the city purchased the lot and built a new building that houses families. Unfortunately, Jaelyn cannot rent there since she’s single. As winter approaches, New Beginnings is also filled.”
“What is she going to do? It will be hard to heal if she’s stressed about finding a place to stay every night.”
“Hazel, one of the social workers at New Beginnings, hopes to have an apartment open for her after the new year, but she can stay with me until we find her something. I wish I had a bedroom to give her, but with two kids now, they’re filled. Considering the situation and it being my fault, I think I’ll put the kids together for the holiday season so Jaelyn can have a room and a real bed. I’ll tell the kids it's an extendedsleepover. They’re young enough yet that they’ll think it’s cool. I hope.”
“Don’t do that just yet,” I said, leaning over my thighs and clasping my hands. “I may have a solution, but I need to talk to some people first. Can I let you know in the morning?”
“Sure!” Ivy said, her mood lifting with my words. “Any idea you have is one I’ll support and help accomplish. I can’t lose Jaelyn, but I’m afraid that if she can’t find housing, she’ll leave Bells Pass. She won’t have a choice. I have big plans for her in my business, and the school-to-work kids also count on her for help every week. Not to mention, I’d miss her face.”
I smiled and patted her hand. “Give me twelve hours, and I’ll get back to you. Deal?”
“Deal. Thanks, Major.” We both stood, and she pointed at the elevator. “Can I see her? I promised to be there when she woke up.”
“Absolutely,” I assured her. “She’ll be in room 204. You can head up there now. It might be another half hour before they transfer her from recovery.”
With a wave, she headed for the stairwell, leaving me to consider Jaelyn’s situation. As I rode the elevator to my office to make a few calls, I prayed that I had the solution to her problem. There was nothing I wanted more than to be the one to wipe away that sad look in her eyes for good.
Chapter Eleven
What’s that old saying? If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all. That was how I felt this morning after a long night of pain, not to mention vomiting. Thankfully, the vomiting cleared quickly with a few doses of medication. If only the pain had done the same. When Ivy told me the truth about what Major had done to my arm, I literally threw up. The implications were that I wouldn’t be able to work for at least two weeks. That was how long they’d leave the partial plaster and elastic bandage monstrosity on my arm before giving me a smaller cast. I had to use a sling just to lug it around. Kidding. Sort of. I was using the sling because one of the nurses showed me a trick. If I kept it in the sling with a rolled towel between my chest and the sling, the throbbing eased. She promised I wouldn’t have to do it forever, but if it helped with the pain, I was down with it for however long it took. Now, I just had to get out of this place before they charged me for another day. Sure, Ivy said she had it covered by the other insurance policy, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
Earlier, a doctor I didn’t know came in to check on me. I was surprised it wasn’t Major, but Dr. Russel assured me he was taking over my care now, rather than Major, and would take good care of me. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe him. The care in Bells Pass was second to none, but that didn’t keepme from wondering why Major had passed me off to someone else. It was probably because I wasn’t supposed to be his patient, and he’d simply done me a favor by fixing my arm last night rather than making me wait. That was fine. It wasn’t as if I was set on having him as my doctor. I didn’t need to see his handsome face at every appointment. I’d see him when he came into the diner. At least after I returned to work.
“Knock, knock,” said a muffled voice, and I called for them to come in. The very man I’d just been thinking about strolled through the door. “Good morning,” he said, setting a container on my bedside tray before shrugging off his coat.
This morning, he wore jeans with a casual sweater, showcasing his well-defined physique, including a strong chest and ripped abs. He had broad shoulders that stretched the sweater to its max, but made it look effortless. With his back to me, I had a moment to appreciate his buns in a pair of jeans, and dare I say, he did a lot of work on that at the gym as well. Can you work out your gluteus maximus? Something to Google later when I'm done ogling him and get a life. There was a ridge that jutted out on his left leg around his thigh that made me think about that occasional hitch in the way he walked. Suddenly, I suspected he was hiding a brace under those pants, but out of respect for him, I didn’t say anything. If he wanted to tell me, he would.
“Good morning. I just saw Dr. Russel. He said he was taking over my care now.”
“He is,” Major answered, pushing the bedside tray over.
