The Doctor's Engagement

Fortunately it had.

‘This is Mrs Hunter.’ He smiled warmly at the old lady sitting in the chair by his desk and nodded towards Holly. ‘This is Sister Foster. She’s the best nurse I’ve ever worked with and she’s going to work wonders with your leg.’

Holly blinked. She was?

‘Mrs Hunter has a leg ulcer.’ Mark leaned across his desk and tapped the keys of his computer. ‘There’s a report here from the vascular surgeon which you ought to read. He did a full raft of investigations, including arteriography, and concluded that she has venous disease but no significant arterial disease.’

‘So she needs compression bandaging?’ Holly read the notes over his shoulder and then smiled at Mrs Hunter. ‘We’ll bandage your leg and that should help the ulcer heal.’

‘You also need to keep your leg elevated and do some simple exercise to keep your calf muscle working,’ Mark said, standing up and moving round his desk so that he was next to the old lady. ‘How much are you walking now?’

The old lady pulled a face. ‘Not a lot. But I can potter to the end of the garden.’

Mark nodded. ‘Pottering is fine. The more you can walk the better. Holly will s

uggest a few other exercises as well when she’s sorting out your bandage. What do you want me to prescribe, Holly?’

‘One of the multi-layer compression bandages?’ Holly picked up the report from the vascular surgeon and scanned it quickly. ‘The pharmacists usually dispense them as a pack. If you write it up I’ll nip next door to the chemist and pick it up while Mrs Hunter has a cup of tea or something.’

‘Thanks, Holly.’ He lifted an eyebrow. ‘How busy are you? Can you do that right away for her?’

Holly nodded. ‘Providing the leg isn’t too swollen.’ She dropped to her knees and smiled at Mrs Hunter. ‘Can I take a peep? If necessary I could pop round to your house and do it tomorrow instead.’

Mrs Hunter frowned. ‘Can’t you do it when it’s swollen?’

‘No. If the ankle is swollen then bandaging it can damage the skin.’ Holly examined the ankle and calf and gave a brief nod. ‘It’s fine, Mrs Hunter. I’ll just quickly measure your ankle and that will help me work out which combination of bandages to use.’

‘I’ve been keeping it up all morning.’

‘That must be why it isn’t swollen, then.’ She stood up and told Mark exactly what she wanted and waited while he entered the details into the computer, printed out the prescription and signed it. ‘Thanks, Dr Logan. I’ll go next door to the chemist.’

She helped Mrs Hunter back to the waiting room and walked over to Caroline who was sorting through a pile of results.

‘Caroline, I’ve got to nip to the pharmacy to get a compression bandage for Mrs Hunter. Is there any chance that you could make her a cup of tea while she’s waiting, please?’

Caroline put down the pile of results and smiled suddenly.

‘Of course. Unless you’d rather I went to the pharmacy for you?’

Holly stared in disbelief and then quickly caught herself. Caroline certainly seemed to be a changed person.

‘No.’ She cleared her throat and hid her surprise. ‘I’ll see the pharmacist because I’m not quite sure which dressings he stocks. But if you could make her a cup of tea, that would be great.’

‘No problem.’ Caroline picked up the results again and then glanced at Holly. ‘Oh, by the way, I gather we’re meeting for a drink tonight.’

Holly swallowed. Was that why she was so cheerful? Because she was going to spend an evening with Mark?

‘Yes—Greg was keen for us all to go out together,’ she murmured and Caroline gave another smile. A special, private one that hinted at secrets.

‘He’s a nice man.’

Holly’s eyes widened. Caroline thought Greg was a nice man! Maybe he was responsible for bringing about this change in her now that Mark was out of the picture. ‘He is indeed,’ she said softly, thinking that the evening at the yacht club was going to be very interesting indeed.

The pharmacist quickly dispensed the correct bandage system and Holly settled Mrs Hunter in a comfortable position.

‘It’s important that you keep your foot at right angles to your leg while I’m putting this on,’ Holly told her, picking up the wool padding which was to be the first layer. She applied it carefully, covering the Achilles tendon and bony prominences and the tendons of the forefoot and then spiralling the wool from the ankle to below the knee.

‘Oh, that does feel comfortable,’ Mrs Hunter said, and Holly smiled.