My eyes opened painfully. They felt as though they had rusted shut, but they struggled open for a moment before the bright yellowish light made me shut them again. Another few attempts and I had them open and with some more blinks my surroundings came into focus. The smell triggered recognition before sight.
I am in the hospital.
A faint memory came back of giving consent for treatment, of being triaged, rushed here in an ambulance and... the crash before that.
I noticed some motion out of the side of my eye. A man in pale blue scrubs stuck his lanky torso into my room.
"Hi Mr. Simms are you waking up?"
I squinted my eyes, "I guess so?"
He stepped all the way into my room, pulling a clipboard off the wall.
"Can you tell me what day it is?"
My eyes widened in alarm. "Is it still Thursday?"
He laughed. "Yeah don't worry it's still Tuesday, your surgery went smoothly it's only been a few hours. Do you remember what happened?"
I nodded slowly. "I was mountain biking? Yeah I took the day off to mountain bike and I remember losing control on a hill..."
"That sounds right. Yes you crashed, this says you had a minor concussion on arrival so your memory might be a little spotty," he turned over a page, "but your CT scans look fine... oh, I should probably let the doctor tell you that. Anyway you're fine. Other than your leg."
My leg? I just realized I could barely feel my body. Of course I was on some painkillers, I was unworried and floating on a cloud. I looked down at my cast-bound limb.
"I broke my leg?"
"Mmhmm. Oh," he looked around the room, "oh... speaking of doctors...?"
A blur of gray and white strode swiftly into the room. With a precise twirl she dismissed the nurse with a glare and he slipped away into the corridor, dropping the clipboard in the plastic tray on the door.
She spun back to look at me. She wore the traditional white doctor's lab coat above black slacks and a gray sweater. She had a beautiful but severe face frames by her straight silver-black hair. She was probably in her fifties but had a timeless beauty about her.
"Good evening Mr. Simms, I'm Dr. Cooper, I'm Director of Research here at the hospital. How are you feeling?"
"Umm. Okay I guess."
"Good I hope our team has been helpful. Your care team can give you more specifics and another member of our staff will be by when you're more lucid to review your insurance benefits in detail as well as what we've already heard from your emergency contacts."
She spoke matter-of-factly, never pausing to search for a word, nor leaving room to ask a question until she was ready. She stopped here though, I think not waiting for a question but a look of recognition on my face. Oh yeah. Health insurance. My face dropped and she was cued to move on.
"I'm glad you have some basic coverage but for dangerous hobbies like mountain biking you really should try to get a better plan."
Okay right like that was an option.
"However, I wanted to give you a way to stave off any worry. We are a major research facility and you're an excellent candidate for a study we're running on bone regeneration. If you were willing to participate we'd happily write-off all of your bills."
She stopped her monologue again. This was a lot to take in all at once. Maybe that was her strategy.
"What would the study involve?"
"Simple supplementation with a new formula we're attempting. It's entirely oral delivery, no IV infusion or injections. You'll receive a few doses a day according to our regimen while your leg heals--hopefully at a much accelerated rate--and we'll keep you under observation.
"An experimental drug? What are the risks?"
"We haven't found any risks in trials so far, but of course with a new medicine anything could crop up, but we believe risks are quite low. If you're interested our administration staff will bring over some detailed paperwork. I can assure you study participants have been very satisfied with the treatment."
"Okay," l said, maybe my thinking still eased by the painkillers, although it was hard to resist getting away without hospital bills, "sure?"
"Thank you Mr. Simms, I'll notify your care team and our staff will bring all the paperwork around. Your participation will help us make breakthroughs to the next generation of care."
She turned around and disappeared as swiftly as she came.
The next few hours were a blur. A doctor and another nurse reviewed my treatment so far. Another employee rolled in a laptop on a cart and went over some of the study paperwork. I finally got my phone and called me worried family across the country. Yes, I was fine. Yes, the hospital seemed very nice. Um, give me a few days and I'll see if I need you to visit. Okay, bye.
I got my next dose of painkillers and then a team of orderlies arrived. A few adjustments were made to my bed and IV drip and they rolled me out the door and across the hall.