Beth awoke to Jim’s lips on her cheek as he hurried out the door, already slightly late for his first morning meeting.
"Bye baby, sorry I don’t have time to chat this morning but I’m running way late, how are you feeling this morning?
"Pretty good I guess, but it’s too early in the morning to tell, what time is it?" Beth asked wiping the sleepers out of her eyes.
"7:45 am" replied Jim as he put the finishing touch on his Nicole Miller Tie
"How is your neck feeling? I’m glad to see you wore your collar all night, now just make sure your a good girl today and keep it on, and no cheating ---- OK?" asked Jim with a stern look on his face.
"OK, OK I promise, now you better get going before it gets any later.
After Jim left Beth laid back in bed and fell back to sleep for awhile. She was very tired from staying out late the night before and having to try to sleep in the neck collar, which only amounted to about 4 hours or so.
By 8:00 Beth was on her second cup of coffee and her second pain killer. The ache in her neck seemed even worse that it had the day before as she counted the painkillers left in the small prescription bottle. Only 6 more left, at that rate Beth knew she would need to get more tomorrow. She looked at the clock, it was now 8:15am, Beth knew that Doctor Leemore's office usually opened at 9:00, so she could call then to get her prescription refilled
As Beth watched the last half-hour of Joan London and "Good Morning America", the phone rang, it was 8:45 am.
"Hello"
"Good morning, is this Mrs. O’Connel"
"Yes, this is Beth O’Connel"
"Mrs. O’Connel, this is Dana calling from Dr. Leemore's office" replied Dana in her soft, comforting voice.
"Oh, good morning Dana, you’re starting a little earlier than normal this morning," asked Beth in a slightly concerned voice
"Well, Dr. Leemoore sometimes has me start at 8:00. So how are you feeling?"
"Pretty good, however, I was going to call you this morning, I need to get my prescription refilled, the pain is a bit worse than it was on Friday"
"I can imagine, especially after reviewing your x-rays this morning" replied Dana
"What do you mean?" asked Beth,
"Well, the reason I am calling so early this morning is that Dr. Leemore found something on your x-ray this morning that may be a little more serious than we originally thought"
"You mean I may have more than a bad case of whiplash"
"It’s hard to say Mrs. O’Connel, that’s why the Dr. would like to see you as soon as possible, do you think you can be here by 10:00"
"Well, sure, I’ll do my best, ----- is this something I need to worry about" asked Beth in a serious voice
"Oh no Mrs. O’Connel, I don't mean to frighten you, it’s probably nothing, but we won’t know for sure until Dr. Leemore checks you out further." replied Dana, knowing all along that Beth’s injury was in fact a serious one
"Ok then, well I’ll see you around 10:00, thank you for calling"
Hanging up the phone, Beth could feel her heart pound. Her mind drifted to Jim, what would she tell Jim if in fact she has seriously hurt her neck, should she stick to her roller-blading story or should she fess up and tell Jim the truth.
As Beth got into the shower, she tried to put the whole thing out of her mind, it was probably nothing, just like Dana said, but better safe than sorry. Besides, she need to get a refill on her prescription anyway, this way she would kill two birds with one stone.
The clock read 9:30am as Beth put the finishing touches on her makeup. With her dark brown hair pulled tightly back in a pony tail, a fresh coat of burgundy colored lipstick and a light mist of Donna Karen Cologne, she was nearly ready for the short 10 minute drive to Dr. Leemoore's office. Beth, always wanting to look her best, was wearing her navy blue skirt with her floral silk blouse, her 1" red heels nicely accenting her cream color pantyhose. As Beth walked out the door, she suddenly realized she had forgotten to put her Philadelphia Collar on, which she quickly placed on her neck and fastened with the Velcro straps.
It was 10:15 by the time Beth pulled her 733 CSI BMW into the lot at Dr. Leemore’s office. Walking across the parking lot, Beth could feel her heart began to pound and her palms sweet as she entered the medical arts building. As she got into the elevator a voice behind her asked
"Could you push 8 please"
"Of course, that’s where I am going as well" replied Beth; carefully turning to see whom she was talking too. It was a woman, probably in her mid twenties with auburn colored hair, cut short and big brown eyes. She too was wearing a neck brace; however, hers was metal and went from her chin down into her the collar of her gray "Stanford" sweatshirt. As they made eye contact they both grinned.
"Looks like you might be going to the same place I’m going" Replied the woman in the gray sweatshirt.
"Dr. Leemoore’s office?" asked Beth
"I’m afraid so, you too?"
"Yes. So what happened to you" asked Beth in a soft voice, almost as to not have anyone else hear there conversation, even though they were the only two on the elevator.
" I was rear-ended by a 16 year old kid three weeks ago, broke two vertebra in my neck and fractured my wrist"
Beth looked down and saw a cast on the woman’s right arm that went from her hand up over her forearm, to her elbow.
"You poor thing, that’s awful, how long do you need to be in the cast?" Asked Beth, looking down at the woman’s right arm.
"Well, that’s not too bad, the doctor says about 6 weeks or so if all goes well. Its the neck that’s the hard part, probably about 3 months in this darn brace, and then about 4 to 6 weeks in a brace like yours. Consider yourself lucky you only have to wear that collar, what I would give to trade you braces, even for just a day. How about you, what did you do to yourself?"
"Well, I was thrown off my horse last week, Dr. Leemoore said it looked like I suffered a mild case of whiplash but his office called this morning and said they needed to see me after reviewing the x-rays, so needless to say, I’m a little nervous this morning". As the elevator doors slid open both women got out and begin the short walk down the hall towards Dr. Leemore's office.
"I’m sure everything will be alright, they usually want to see you after they get x rays back just to double check you. By the way, my name is Heather, Heather Thompson." Heather extended her hand towards Beth.
"I’m Beth, Beth O’Connell, it very nice to meet you and thanks for trying to ease my nerves" standing in front of the door to Dr. Leemore’s office.
"You’ll be fine, well, we better go in" Heather opened the heavy oak door leading into office and Beth followed her in. Dana was in the waiting room arranging latest issues of "Time" and "People" as the two women entered.
"Good morning Mrs. Thompson, good morning Mrs. O’Connell, do you ladies know each other?" asked Dana with a surprised look on her face.
"We just meet in the elevator on our way up"
"Yes, we were comparing braces" Beth said, laughing softly
"That’s right, we were, however, I think I win the Frankenstein Award" replied Heather, putting her hand to her SOMI Brace.
"Oh, It’s not that bad Mrs. Thompson, you can barely see it under your sweatshirt" responded Dana
"That’s right, it’s hardly noticeable, I think my collar is more visible than your brace"
"Thanks, you two are sweet but your not very good liars – but thanks for trying to cheer me up" Heather said, smiling.
"OK, well why don’t you both have a seat and Ill let Dr. Leemore know your both here"
Dana went back through another door, which lead to the exam rooms while Beth and Dana both sat down in dark gray leather chairs adjacent to each other.
"I hope this doesn’t take too long, my husband is picking me up downstairs at 11:30" replied Heather, glancing down at her small gold watch.
"Are you here for a check up or...." asked Beth in a non-prying manner.
"Yes, I come in once a week for a quick exam on my wrist and my neck to make sure everything is mending properly. Dr. Leemore said he may need to make an adjustment on my brace this week." replied Heather as she gently put her hand to her chest.
"Mrs. Thompson, the Dr. will see you now" Dana was standing by the door leading to the exam rooms.
Heather looked over and smiled at Beth.
"Well, hopefully this wont take long" replied Heather as she carefully got up.
"It was nice meeting you" Beth smiled and held out her hand."
"Oh thanks, it was nice meeting you too, and don’t worry, I’m sure everything will be fine " replied Heather as she disappeared through the door into the exam room.
Beth sat patiently reading the latest People magazine, trying not to think about the pain she was in and trying not to think about why the doctor wanted to see her on such short notice. It was 11:15 by the time Heather emerge from the exam room, almost an hour after she had gone in. Beth watched as she came around to the glass window where Dana sat, everything looked the same but something was different, almost as though her movement was even more restricted than it was before. Beth could hear the two women talking about the next appointment.
"The doctor would like to see you again on Friday morning, to check the new adjustments on the brace and make sure there is no skin breakdown anywhere, especially around the chin area"
"What time" Beth heard Heather ask
"How about 10:00?" Asked Dana
"That should be fine, I’ll see you Friday"
"Great, and remember, if you have any problems at all, don’t hesitate to call"
"Promise"
Heather turned her head and body slowly, together, almost as though she had been fused from her head down to her hips.
"How did it go?" asked Beth with deep concern in her eyes
"Well, it went ok, Dr. Leemore says my wrist and neck are beginning to heal nicely, unfortunately, he had to make a little adjustment on my brace, which included raising the head and chin piece up one notch." Heather put her delicate hand to the aluminum bar that held the chin piece on her brace.
"Oh, you poor thing. Try to look on the bright side, you’ll be out of that thing before you know it" Beth smiled and looked at Heather with heartfelt concern in her eyes and in her voice.
"Oh, I’ll be fine, just bitching a bit, it makes me feel better. Say, maybe we can have coffee together sometime and commiserate together, misery loves company you know, let me give you my phone number" Heather reached in her purse and handed Beth a Nordstrom’s business card which read, Heather Thompson, Lingerie Consultant.
"That’s what I did before this happened, but hopefully I’ll be back soon. I talked to my boss yesterday and she says I can come back as soon as I am ready, on a part time or full time basis. So its just a matter of when the good Doctor gives me clearance to go back. This moaping around is not for me, I would rather try and get back into the swing of things, even if I may scare off some of the customers in this ugly neck brace! Let me write my home phone number on the back as well" Beth read the card and smiled
"You are a brave young lady with a good attitude, that is inspiring to me, thanks very much and good luck to you, I’ll will give you a call soon" replied Beth
| New Stuff | Stories | CD's DVD's | Videos | Message Board | Home | Monthly Specials | Links | Members Only | Ads | Bulletin Board |
NBAK |