“Never leave a man to choose your clothes. I’ll bet he chose lacy underwear, too, didn’t he? They always leave the comfy ones and ugly sports bras behind.”
Sasha raised her eyebrow at me, but I didn’t see what I’d done wrong. I thought women preferred the pretty stuff over the uglier ones.
“I don’t own sports bras, so he couldn’t have gotten one of those for me,” she told her, pulling on her bra strap. “I own ones that aren’t lacy and pretty, but the sports ones are a hell no for me. But, yes, he went with the lacy ones.”
“I feel you there, honey. I swear, it feels like your boobs are being squashed into your ribs with them on.”
The description made me wince, but being the odd one out, I kept quiet. Personally, I didn’t see why women would wear ones like that when they weren’t working out, but I had zero purpose in the conversation, seeing as how I didn’t wear them anyway.
“Okay, so the doctor came round and told you what to watch out for,” the nurse said, then turned to me.
“If she gets a prolonged headache, feels dizzy, feels sick, or just starts to act abnormally—sleep talking aside—you need to bring her back in.”
Sasha’s cheeks turned red at the mention of her sleep talking, so I winked to let her know I knew all about it. I’m a kind guy like that.
“You also need to keep an eye out for deep vein thrombosis in her leg. It can happen with a cast on, but we’ve got a printout of symptoms, et cetera. Everything you need to know is included in her papers. We’ve given Sasha some painkillers to take home—”
“Is she still on the morphine stuff?” I interrupted, feeling worried at the prospect of having to give her something like that.
“No, that was just yesterday. We don’t like to give it to patients for long periods unless they have a long term health problem, but she’s got some good painkillers to use at home. If she doesn’t need them, though, don’t take them. Ibuprofen’s a good one for her because it’s an anti-inflammatory, so make sure she takes that.”
This was all so confusing. Do take it, don’t take it… I wasn’t a doctor, and I only dealt with regular over-the-counter painkillers.
Seeing the worry on my face, the nurse smiled kindly at me. “It’s also written on her papers, and we’ve talked Sasha through it.”
Breathing out a sigh of relief, I walked closer to them and picked up Sasha’s bag. “Have you got everything you need?”
Glancing around the room, she nodded. “Yup. I didn’t have much with me, so that’s all of it there.”
Almost like it was a magic show, another nurse appeared in the doorway with a wheelchair just as the nurse who was with us scribbled something into Sasha’s file.
“We’re going to take her down in a wheelchair because it’s hospital policy, and the physical therapist who saw Sasha earlier is going to meet us at the door with some things to help her be more mobile.
“Unfortunately, you’re getting a wheelchair until they decide it’s safe for you to put more weight on your leg. And you’re also getting crutches, with an adapted one for your broken arm.”
Sasha made a grumbling noise and then began to scoot off the bed and into the chair.
Hating that it might do something to her broken bones or cause her pain, I pushed my hand under her legs and lifted her, and gently lowered her into the chair.
“For the time being, don’t do things like that. I’m here to help you out with anything you need, so just say. I’d rather you didn’t cause yourself more pain or risk falling because you didn’t ask, okay?”
I swear I heard two happy sighs from the nurses, but Sasha just looked surprised by it.
“You can lift me any time,” the new nurse said as I stood up.
“I’ll bear that in mind.”
The first nurse began pushing Sasha to the door, meaning that I was walking behind them with the other nurse next to me.
When we reached the elevator, I overtook them to press the button to call it, then stood back and took note of how to push a wheelchair. I might be one of six boys, but touch wood, we’d never hurt ourselves to the point of needing one.
“Don’t forget to call that number to book an appointment with a physical therapist,” nurse number one said as we waited. “You don’t want to lose muscle tone and movement, so it’s important that you do it.”
“Are there exercises she can do online, too? I think I was given some to do that were on YouTube when I pulled a muscle in my back.”
Blinking at me, the nurse nodded. “That’s not a bad idea. Make sure you don’t push her too far, but I don’t see the harm in it, so long as she’s not in pain.”