by Tom Heaven
“How much time?”
“It varies, anywhere from a few days, when the swelling has gone down, up to two years, if the nerves have to regenerate. I am very sorry to say, you may never heal completely. The good news is, when operated on immediately after the injury, the prognosis is generally more favorable.”
“How long will I have to stay in here?”
“If all goes well, no longer than a week, but probably less. It depends on the swelling around your vertebrae. You should be experiencing some discomfort while the surgical wound to your spine heals. The button attached to the bed railing by your right-hand controls the morphine drip to help you manage the pain. You can press it up to eight times in four hours. Obviously, you don’t want to use it any more than you need to, but this way, you are in charge of your pain management.
Do you have any more questions?”
“No, but please ask the woman who was just in here to leave. I don’t want any visitors.”
“Okay, a nurse will be right in to make sure you are as comfortable as possible and see if there is anything you need.”
When Dr. Morgan told Karen Dan didn’t want any visitors right now, she couldn’t believe it.
“Just let me go in and ask him why? I was just in there with him, and he was completely awake.”
“I’m sorry dear, I just had to give him some very serious information and I think he needs to digest that before he will be ready to talk to anyone.”
“Alright, thank you, doctor.”
All the way back to work, Karen ruminated about Dan’s refusal to let her return to the room to offer comfort and support. She had barely slept since he had been shot and wanted him to know that she was there for him. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she drove back to the station.
When she got there, she told Chief Gates, Frank, and Jerry that Dan did not want any visitors right now and that they would probably have to wait for the next day. The three men tried to console her with, “Give him some time to adjust.”
“He probably just needs some rest for a couple days, be patient.”
“You know he will come around and realize he wants your emotional support.”
***
At three A.M. Dan’s hospital ward was silent. Two nurses sat at their station monitoring the patient’s vital signs and entering notes into their charts. The hallway lights were dimmed and the lights off in all the rooms. The doors were closed to afford the patients as much peace and quiet as possible.
Dan woke up with a hand over his mouth. The man above him had a forefinger across his lips signaling him to be quiet. he was not wearing hospital attire. He leaned down close to Dan’s ear and whispered, “If you make a sound or reach for your call button you will die right now. If you keep quiet and listen to me, you will live a little longer. I must leave town for now, but I will be back. When I do come back, you, and everyone you care about, is going to pay the price for what you did. Your paralysis is just a down payment on what I owe you. I advise you to enjoy what time you have left. Goodbye Dan Carter. Get better quick now.”
The intruder slipped quietly from the room. Dan barely got a glimpse of the hallway light as the door opened a bit, then closed. He didn’t bother telling the nursing staff what had just happened. He knew The Assassin would not have been so bold if he did not have his escape well planned.
He also knew he was going to need to be ready for the day when he would have to face the killer again.
Dan was unable to get back to sleep after his encounter with The Assassin.
His bedside phone rang shortly after he had finished his tasteless breakfast at seven. It was Karen.
“Hello.”
“Hi, handsome. How are you this morning?”
“I’m doing fine.”
“I was just calling to see what time I should come by today.”
“No. Don’t do that. I don’t want any visitors.”
“But Dan, if you’re feeling okay, why won’t you let me see you. Maybe I can cheer you up a little.”
“I don’t need any cheering up, and I don’t want to see anyone. Especially anyone from the office.”
“…(silence)… Alright Dan, I will give you some more time, but please let me in, let me help you.”
“Karen, I just told you, I don’t need any help! Please just don’t call me anymore.”
Dan hung up the phone, pressed his morphine button four times, closed his eyes and went to sleep. After the phone rang the second time, he called a nurse and had her unplug the phone. He slept all day except for meals, and nurse’s intrusions for medications, or water refills.
He woke up at three A.M. for the second night in a row. Although there was no one in his room this time, he couldn’t get back to sleep again. After staring at the ceiling for four hours, a lab technician came in and took some blood. She was followed shortly by the dietician’s helper who dropped off his breakfast tray
An hour later, he had the phone plugged back in and called Chief Gates office.
“Chief Gates speaking.”
“Hi chief, this is Dan Carter. I’m calling to tender my resignation. I won’t be in, but as soon as I am able, I will send you a formal letter to that effect.”
“What! Wait a minute Dan, you aren’t serious. It is much too soon after your injury to make a decision like that. There are some jobs here in the office that you can do. You could at least be a consultant. Your past record would justify that position. Christ! You are the best closer this department has ever had. You can’t quit!”
“I just did chief. I have thought about this decision all night and know I don’t want to have to deal with any more killers, ever. Please give my regards to the team and ask them to not call or try to visit. I don’t want any more reminders of that life. I just want some peace.”
What I don’t want is to put anyone else at risk from that maniac.
“Well, you are still on medical leave for now, so why don’t we wait until that time is up and we can talk about your plans then.”
“You can do whatever you want, chief, but I won’t be back. Goodbye.”
Chapter 11
Dan pushed his morphine drip button. Nothing happened. He pushed it again. Nothing. He pushed it until his thumb got white. Nothing.
He pushed the nurse call button.
Her grating voice came over the intercom. “May I help you?”
“Yes, you can fix this goddamn morphine drip. It is not working.”
“I am sorry detective Carter, but you have used the maximum allowable four-hour dose for now. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait two more hours before it will recycle.”
“I’m supposed to be able to get more whenever I have pain, and I am having pain!”
“Yes, I am sorry, but any more morphine, before your four hours is up, would be too risky. The best I can do for you is some Darvocet for now.”
“Yeah if someone cut your legs off, I bet you could do better than Darvocet!”
“Would you like me to bring you a Darvocet now Detective Carter?”
“YES DAMMIT!”
“Very well, I will be right there.”
Apparently, the nurse’s idea of “right there” and Dan’s differed significantly. When she brought the pill ten minutes later, his face was bright red, and his hands were clenching his sheets so tightly that his knuckles were white, but he said nothing. She handed him the pill and his water glass and waited for him to calm down enough take the medication. Neither of them said a word during this transaction.
When Dr. Morgan came in during rounds, Dan was unable to convince him to increase the amount of morphine available for a four-hour cycle. The doctor refused but increased the dose of Darvocet to two pills every four hours.
Dan’s next question was “When can I get the hell out of here?”
“Actually Dan, If I can get
Social Services up here today, I can discharge you tomorrow.”
“Social Services? What do I need Social Services for?”
“I can’t discharge you until they have arranged for a live-in, health care nurse, and a physical therapist to visit three times weekly. Remember, I told you that your best chance for recovering the functions you have lost were to receive proper care as soon after your injury as possible.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll just wait here, in this bed sore production crate, until they can see me.”
What seemed to be an hour, but was just 10 minutes later, a cheerful, young social service worker, bounced into the room. She couldn’t be more than twenty-four or twenty-five but tried hard to look older. Her blond hair was pulled back in a tight bun, she was wearing a sweater with a scalloped collar, and had a chain attached to her glasses. She looked like she was trying to appear as if she had “been around the block, once or twice,” rather than just out of high school.
“Good morning Detective Carter, I am Ms. Appleton from Social Services, how are you doing today?”
“I’ll be just fine if you skip the small talk and do whatever you have to do to get me out of here as soon as possible.”
“Well aren’t we a Mr. Crabby Pants this morning.”
“You might be too if someone cut off your legs.”
She lifted the bottom of his sheets and said, “Well lookee here! You have both your legs, and your doctor told me that you have a good chance of getting full function back if you get the best possible care. And, guess what, that attitude is going to get in the way of good care so you might want to change the way you talk to people who are trying to help you. In fact, you should probably change your tone with me, or I will turn around and walk right out of here. It is my lunch hour, and I am a big eater. So, what do you say, can you put on your happy face, and get on with it, or do you want to wait until after dessert, and we can try again?”
Dan managed the best smile he could, in spite of what he was feeling, and said, “I apologize. I guess I haven’t been in the best mood this morning. They won’t give me enough medicine to keep the pain at bay, and I just want to get out of here.”
“Well the pain issue is between you and Dr. Morgan, but I can help you get a speedy discharge. The first thing we need to deal with is your live-in health nurse. I have three candidates who have been thoroughly vetted, lined up for you to interview here this afternoon. The one you select will be sent home with you to help you get settled in, and he or she will then be your constant companion at first. As you adapt to your new situation, they will be in your way less and less, until you become completely self-reliant. We will also have to find a physical therapist who can do in-home treatments three times weekly.”
“You don’t have to worry about that, I already have a personal trainer at my gym. He will do that for me.”
“I don’t know about that, detective, this must be a state certified physical therapist to make sure you receive the treatments Dr. Morgan has outlined for you.”
“That’s alright, I have seen his certificate posted on a wall in his office, but you can call him to verify if you need to.”
“I can do even better. The state has a database for all positions that require a license or certification. I can let you know when I bring your candidates by this afternoon. I need you to read through these handouts, for other social service issues during lunch, and we can answer any questions you may have when I come back. Alright?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“See, I knew you were a quick learner.”
After lunch, Mrs. Appleton brought the first health care nurse candidate by his room. Dan rejected her immediately and said, “If the other two are both women, you can tell them goodbye for me right now. I need the nurse to be male.”
“Well, you are in luck. One of our candidates is male. He’s right outside. Shall I send him in?”
“Sure, I’ve got nothing better to do.”
“Detective Carter, this is Benjamin Li.”
The man she brought in was tall, looked to be just over six feet and weighed about one hundred eighty to one hundred ninety. He was handsome with close-cut black hair and a big smile on his face.
“Hello Detective Carter, I go by Benji, glad to meet you.”
“And you can call me Dan. I hope you’ll pardon me if I don’t get up.”
“I guess I wouldn’t be here if you could.”
Mrs. Appleton said, “I’ll leave you two alone to get acquainted,” and walked out.
“So Benji, what’s your story?”
“Right… I am a retired Air Force medic. When I got out, I went back to school and got my nursing degree and here we are.”
“Well, that sounds like you are qualified. I take it you are not married; do you have any romantic attachments at present?”
“No, but I need to be upfront with you. I am gay. Is that going to be a problem?”
“Nope, not with me.”
Dan finished the interview with, “That’s settled then. If you are ready to start, the head nurse at the station outside has my house keys. If you would go to my house, you can do whatever you think necessary to prepare for my return home tomorrow. They will supply me with a regular wheelchair when I am discharged, but I will want a motorized one as soon as possible. I don’t want you to have to push me everywhere I go.”
“Sound’s good, is there anything else?”
“No, I will see you in the morning, but don’t over pack. You are just going to be with me long enough to teach me how to take care of myself.”
Chapter 12
When Dan arrived home the next morning, he found that Benji had made a few changes. First and most importantly, he had procured a motorized wheelchair as requested. He had also; fitted out Dan’s bed with an overhead bar to allow him to adjust his position by himself, added a seat, and handles, in strategic places such as the shower, so he could perform that function without Benji’s help, and the furniture throughout the house had been rearranged to allow passage of the wheelchair without causing damage.
“Say boss, I noticed you have really beautiful furniture everywhere except for that ratty old Easy Boy recliner in your den. How about I get some help and take that to the dump?”
“First, I told you to call me Dan, and second, you so much as move that recliner and I’ll be writing a letter of recommendation for you to find another job.”
“I guess that’s a no,” said Benji, as he left the room.
Eddy, his personal trainer, showed up that same day. He explained the need to keep Dan’s leg muscles in good condition especially since he might eventually recover their use. He showed him how they would provide passive exercise for the lower half of his body and active exercise for the upper half.
“You are going to have to work on your arms and shoulders because you will need to use those muscles to pull yourself up in bed and to get in and out of the shower and your wheelchair.”
“I don’t know how you expect me to exercise when I have so much pain.”
“Well, you can take your afternoon dose about forty-five minutes before we start. Your doctor has told me how important this physical therapy is going to be, and it has to be done soon. So, get used to the idea.”
“Just show me how to do the exercises, Eddy.”
Dan attacked his rehabilitation program like he pursued killers…relentlessly. If Eddy wanted him to do five repetitions of an exercise, he did ten or fifteen. When instructed to work out twice a day, he did it four times.
Two weeks later, when he was almost out of pain medication, Dan called Dr. Morgan. He had been given a prescription for enough to last a month when he was discharged from the hospital.
“Hello, this is Dr. Morgan.”
“Hi doc, Dan Carter here, I’m calling t
o see if I can get a refill on my OxyContin.”
“Just a second Dan, let me check your record… No, it’s too early. You should have another two weeks’ worth left.”
“Oh yeah, sorry about that doc, I accidentally spilled the rest of my pills down the drain this morning while I was shaving.”
“You know Dan, I have found out in my years of practice, that patients who accidentally spill their addictive medications in the sink are always the same patients who become addicted. I will give Benji your prescription for another two weeks and instructions on how to give it to you. We will use these final two weeks to wean you off the OxyContin. Your pain should have subsided enough by then, that you can get by with an OTC medication. Another thing you want to keep in mind, is that depression can often be manifested by chronic pain. If you are unable to manage it with aspirin or Ibuprofen, I want you to make an appointment to see me, and we can talk about treatment for depression, or I can refer you to a psychiatrist.”
“C’mon doc, I am not crazy. I don’t need a shrink. Just forget it, I will find another doctor.”
“Sorry Dan, modern technology, and legal system advancements will prevent any other physician from writing a prescription for you once I enter your information in the controlled substances database. I really feel for you, but you need help to keep from becoming addicted.”
At this point, Dan pressed the red icon on his cell phone and threw it across the room. When he calmed down enough, he called Benji in and told him to go to Dr. Morgan’s office and pick up a prescription that should be waiting for him.
When Benji returned, he said, “Doc says I should taper your dose each day until it is gone, then get you some Ibuprofen, if you still need something for pain.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know, just give me the first dose now would ya’?”
When he was alone, Dan picked up the phone and called one of his confidential informants.
“Hey Jason, this is Dan Carter, how’re you doing?”