Beth followed closely behind Andrea as they walked down a short hallway and entered the last room on the left. The placard affixed to the door read "Casting Room/ Traction Table "
"OK, here we are, this should take about two hours, maybe a little more so if you need to use the ladies room, I suggest you use it now because once I start casting, you’ll be stuck on that table. "
"That’s a good Idea, I’d better go" replied Beth as she ducked into the restroom adjacent to the small casting room.
When Beth returned, Andrea smiled and shut the door behind Beth
"You can get undressed behind the vanity screen here while I get the casting material prepared." Replied Andrea as she began to get all the casting materials out of a large closet next to the sink.
"What do I need to change into?" asked Beth from behind the screen.
"I will need to have you undress completely, you can leave your panties on for now but everything else needs to be removed including your bra."
After Beth had finished undressing, she bashfully stepped out from behind the vanity screen and waited for Andrea’s instructions. Her naked body now fully exposed except for her small blue silk panties that partially covered her most private parts and the flesh colored Philadelphia Collar supporting her fractured neck. She now felt very uncomfortable as she waited for Andrea to finished getting the cast supplies together.
"Beth, I’m going to slip this body stocking over your head and pull it down over your body to just below your buttocks, after that I will need you to follow me through that door into the traction table room."
Beth stood still as the white cotton body sock was pulled down over her head and torso. Andrea took special care to make sure that the body sock completely covered Beth’s entire torso, from her mid thighs up, over her butt to the bottom of her Philadelphia Collar, where she scrunched it up in anticipation of the removal of the Philly Collar. Then Andrea smoothed out all the wrinkles on the body sock.
"OK, that looks great, not a wrinkle. I just need to pull it up over your neck after we get you into traction and out of the Philly Collar. Please follow me"
Andrea lead Beth through a set of double doors on the right which read "Traction Table"
As they entered the room, Beth noticed a device resembling something seen in a mid -evil castle or a modern day bondage dungeon positioned in the center of the room. It consisted of a padded table with handrails running parallel to it, slightly higher than the surface of the table. Mounted to the handrails were what appeared to be padded handcuffs. At the foot of the table, mounted on the surface about 8" from the end, were two more padded cuffs. The entire length of the table could also be removed, with the exception of a few key points where the body could rest. Mounted at the head of the table was a large wench looking mechanism with ropes and pulleys all attached to a head harness. Finally, encircling the whole table were two large round hoops, which allowed the whole table to rotate and spin.
After Beth caught her breath, Andrea helped her on to the table, laying Beth flat on her back.
"I am going to put you in cervical traction while I take some measurements and then I am going to apply the body cast. Please don’t be alarmed at this traction table we need to use. Some people say it looks like a mid-evil torture rack but it’s really not as bad as it looks." Beth just smiled at Andrea but said nothing, she was petrified!
Andrea then took Beth’s right arm, then her left and placed them in the padded cuff, tightening down the Velcro. Next she took her both her legs, and strapped them into the ankle cuffs at the foot of the table, and tighten the straps.
"Now I’m going to remove your Philadelphia Collar, so please keep your head as still as possible while I place you in cervical traction." Beth nodded slightly as Andrea undid the Velcro straps that fastened the collar together. Then she carefully removed the front portion of the collar and then slowly slid the back half out from underneath Beth’s neck. Next she placed a white padded head harness around the back of Beth’s head and then under her chin and tightened down the straps on each side of her jaw line. The sound of a wench clicking was all Beth could focus on now as she stared up at the ceiling above her, and with every click she could feel her body beginning to stretch, her movement more and more restricted.
"There, I think that should do it, how are you doing? Let me know if anything hurts -- OK?" asked Andrea as she looked down on to Beth’s immobile body
"I think I’m ok" replied Beth in a voice that sounded like someone trying to talk with their jaw wired shut.
"Nice Barbie Doll" replied Beth in a muffled tone, now unable to look anywhere but straight up at the ceiling and notice a blonde haired Barbie doll suspended above her head in her own little Milwaukee Brace.
Andrea looked very puzzled at first and then looked up and laughed.
"I almost forgot about that" she said, her hand against her chest.
"We put that up a few years ago to help put some of the kids at ease when they were being casted for their Milwaukee Braces. It really seemed to help, in fact I have done more than a dozen Milwaukee Braces for Barbie since we put that up, a lot of girls want a brace for their own Barbie"
"That’s great, poor kids, it must be so hard for them"
"Ya, consider yourself lucky, they have to spend three to five years in a Milwaukee Brace, you only have 3 months or so in your brace"
"I guess your right, I should really stop feeling sorry for myself and count my blessings, if a fourteen year old can do this for three years then three months should be a breeze, right?"
"That’s exactly right Beth, now that’s the attitude to have.
OK lets get busy and please try not to talk anymore, I know its difficult with the 20# of traction applied"
For the next 15 minutes, Andrea used her tape measure and her caliper’s, taking dozen’s of measurements, while Beth lay there in traction, unable to move from her head to her toes.
"Now we are going to need to get a few more measurements that cannot be taken with you in the supine position. First I am going to rotate the table into the vertical position, take a few more measurements then I am going to rotate you so that your back is facing up." Beth smiled slightly and blinked her eyes as Andrea released the safety latch and rotated the bed into a vertical position. She heard a clicking sound as the table rotated into a vertical position and then locked into place. Next Andrea removed the upper portion of the table, exposing Beth’s back and buttocks and took a number of measurements. Then Beth heard the safety latch click again as her body began to rotate toward the floor.
"Hold on, I just need to take about 12 more measurements of your backside and then well flip you back over so your looking up again. Are you OK down there?" asked Andrea
"I think so, but you need to paint something on the floor here" replied the muffled voice, now looking straight at the floor. The final AP and ML measurements were taken from the back of Beth’s head down to below her hips, across her shoulders and around her waist, across her hips and up to her underarms. Again she heard the release of the safety latch and felt her body rotate back to the original supine position she started in.
"OK Beth, I’m done with the all the measurements, now what I am going to do is begin to apply the plaster to you so that we can make a cast of your whole torso and neck from your hips to your chin. I will have my assistant help me with this procedure so it will go as fast and as smooth as possible. Just then Beth heard the door open and someone walk in.
"Hello Beth, my name is Kelly and I will be assisting Andrea" Beth tried to turn her head to see the face attached to the voice, but could only move her eyes. Kelly, seeing that Beth was unable to move walked directly over the traction table
"Its very nice to meet you, we will work as fast as possible so we can get you out of this thing quickly, I know your not very comfortable now but well be done in no time so hang in there." Kelly replied as she gently caressed Beth’s forearm in a caring tone.
"Beth, we will be using a fast drying plaster to speed things up, It should only take about an hour or so."
As the two women began wrapping Beth’s body in plaster soaked gauze; Beth could feel the weight of the plaster wraps around her body. Andrea and Kelly work at a ferrous pace for about forty-five minutes or so, in perfect harmony.
You could tell they had done this before and they made a perfect team.
"There, I think that’s the last plaster bandage" replied Kelly as she crisscrossed Beth’s chest one last time with a 6" wide gauze strip and then continued to wrap it up around Beth’s neck to here chin.
"And that’s what we call a wrap" giggled Andrea as she took Beth’s hand
"How are you doing?" Beth mumbled something about good teamwork and blinked her eyes in approval of a job well done.
"OK Beth, the plaster should set up in about 30 minutes and be completely dry in an hour or so, during that time you will feel the plaster becoming a little warm, don’t worry, that’s normal, especially with the fast drying type we are using"
Beth could tell Kelly really knew what she was talking about and that put her a little more at ease.
"After the body cast completely dries, we will release the tension on the traction table and remove the head harness" Andrea was now standing directly over Beth’s casted body wiping the excess plaster from Beth’s face and arms.
"Then we will get you off the table and into a standing position where we will have you walk, sit, lie down and stand again. We do this so we can tell where we need to trim the cast so that when we are finished, the plastic clamshell we will produce from this cast will fit your body like a glove, still allowing you to move and be fully ambulatory."
Beth just smiled at Kelly and tried to keep a positive attitude even though this one of the most uncomfortable and difficult ordeals she had ever been through.
"We’ll be right in the next room with another patient so if you need anything at all, just push this buzzer I am putting here in your right hand and someone will be right in" replied Andrea as the 2 women left the room, closing the door behind them.
Staring up at the ceiling, her body now complete encased in a plaster shell, unable to move an inch and all alone except for Barbie suspended from the ceiling, Beth began to feel the pain. Not physical pain, but the mental pain of what lies ahead for her. As her eyes welled up the only thing she could feel now, other than the plaster heating up as it set, were the tears running down her cheeks.
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