Tom woke again, the light wasn't so bright, the room was a lot clearer. He looked around, taking some details in that he hadn't seen before. People in beds, odd smells, movement, quiet but rapid movement, a hospital, for sure, so he wasn't dreaming then. The pain in his right side was a dull ache, as was his headache. He was still feeling dopey, but he seemed to be a bit more aware. He reached over for the alarm handset, and was immediately hit by pain in his right arm, shoulder and side. He gasped and cried out, a passing nurse was immediately at his side.
"Don't move," she said, "Relax, you're hurting, I'll get you some pain relief." A few moments later, she reappeared and placed a pill on Tom's lips. "Open wide," she said, Tom did, "And a second one." He did again, "Now sip and swallow."
Tom sucked the straw and swallowed, his thought was he should make some smart assed comment like, "No, I don't swallow," but he didn't.
"Stay with me for a little bit," she said again, "How's your head?"
Tom thought for a moment, "Sore, but I can see better, and the headache is not as bad. My face feels really tight."
"That's the swelling, that'll go in a week or so, otherwise that's good news," she replied, "You have been scheduled for a scan of your head, just to make sure there is no problems. If you feel really light headed, or get a sharp pain in the head, of if your head feel like it's exploding, or about to fall off, don't hide it, let us know immediately."
"Okay," Tom replied, "My Mom? Where is she? She okay?"
"She was in the chair but had to go home, for some food, and to clean up a little," the nurse said, "She wouldn't leave you last night, demanded to be allowed to stay but that can't happen here. I'm sure she'll be back in full battle mode if she can't have access to you."
Tom's memory flashed several images, "Car crash, right?"
"Yes. How much do you remember?"
Tom recalled the images, "Not much, a flash of lights a huge bang then pain, smacked in the face and that's about it." Tom tried to look to his left, but couldn't see much at all.
"Don't move, you're wearing a neck brace," the nurse told him, "I'll get you a doctor."
A short time later, Tom spoke to a doctor who told him that his right side was seriously bruised, two black eyes, a swollen face, but his wrists were both broken. He was being monitored in the ICU, but would likely be moved to a ward either later today or tomorrow depending on the results of the head scan. Depending on his progress he would be here for a few days, maybe a week, but was his Mom able to look after him when he got home?
"For sure," he told the doctor, "Mom would be able to, even if she was at work, she would have the neighbor come in to check on him. Mrs. Switch. She's a bit older but really lovely lady."
"Okay, now, your wrists," the doctor went on, "I've already told your Mom about this, so she is aware of what happened and what we've done. Your wrists were seriously broken, so badly that if we were to put a cast on them now, they would likely not heal properly and you would lose too much movement in them. Last night I put a pin into the hand and the arm and placed a bar between them. It's called an external arm fixture. It uses bandages to hold the wrist in the right place, give them a chance to heal to a point. At that point, we will extract the pins, and put your wrists in plaster, holding them to finish healing properly."
Tom and the doctor had a discussion about healing times and what measures to take to make sure he didn't do any more damage. Eight to ten weeks. Four weeks with the fixtures then up to six in plaster. This is going to drive me crazy, he thought.
He asked if they had his cell phone. Mom has everything and she will be back soon, he was told. Mom came in and was just so relieved he was up and awake. To Tom, she looked like she had been up all night and her normal beautiful appearance was dimmed by worry and no sleep. He assured her he was fine as she gently hugged him. They didn't talk about what had happened, but about how he was feeling. He reassured her a dozen times he was fine, but that didn't lift the worry from her brow. Later that day, Tom had his scan and it showed nothing out of the ordinary, it was all clear. Tom thought they weren't looking for concussion, they were looking for cracks in the skull, which was confirmed by the radiologist. He told Mom everything he had discussed with the doctor and was exhausted. Medicated again, he slept for a short time and woke up while on the move.
He was being transferred to a ward. Mom was right there, with a bag of clothes, still looking worried. He told Mom again he was fine, to not worry about him. Go home and get a good night's sleep and be beautiful for him tomorrow. In his room, Mom did her usual fuss, then kissed him goodnight and he had to shoo her out of the room. He slept the night medicated to the eyeballs, then asked the nurse in the morning if he could get out of bed to use the bathroom.
She brought him a urinal bottle, telling him not to try to get out of bed for another day. The nurse pulled the blanket off him and placed the bottle between his thighs. She told him to let her know when his penis was inside the bottle as she maneuvered it up, underneath his gown. Tom felt the rim of the bottle on his ball sack, as she jiggled it about a little, his cock was pushed aside. He told the nurse this was ridiculous and she agreed. She lifted his gown and took hold of his dick, placing it into the bottle. She lowered the gown and told him to just let go as she turned and left the room.
Tom was shocked, but he couldn't hold it any longer, he let go a flood of pee. The bottle grew warm on the inside of his thighs, and he tried to empty his bladder as best he could. When he was done, he tried to lift the bottle, but the pain was so great he couldn't. He called the nurse and she came in, "Feel bet-" She took one look at him and said, in a semi scolding tone, "You were told not to try and lift things were you not?" Tom nodded. "Well don't. I can't give you any more pain relief for a couple of hours. Relax and tell yourself to calm down."
He looked at the nurse and saw she was terribly old, had to be in her late forties, age lines on her face, and not that good looking, didn't look after herself, he thought unkindly. Well, she had grabbed his tool. She reached under his gown and pulled the bottle away, lifting it, spout upward, "Mm, that was building for a while. You're going to have trouble trying to hold the call button, so don't bother, one of us will check on you every hour if you need anything."
In the morning, Mom appeared and the nurse and Mom had a talk, which Tom found embarrassing but he couldn't stop it.
Mom looked a little better, he thought but compared to the nurse, she looked really fabulous. She always did, even when he was a kid he thought her beautiful, then as he grew into his teens, he was proud that his Mom was the MILF of the neighborhood.
The next two days were a blur, rapid switches between boredom and movement exercises, initially using a wheel chair but then walking. The first time he went to the bathroom for a shower, assisted by a male nurse, he looked in the mirror and saw the ugly bruises on his neck and down the left side of his body, the swelling of his face. He looked like the big bald guy in "The Goonies", only with more teeth. At least, he thought, it didn't break his nose. The nurses were all kind, the physiotherapists helpful, and once he was confident enough in his movements, he would be discharged.
Mom told him she'd rang his school to let them know he would likely not be in for a while, but they had heard already. He was granted extensions on work that would be due for the next couple of weeks, everything else would need to be settled when he was up and about, and returned to school. Mom informed them it would be a while, so could he be able to work from home? Again, the school was most cooperative, as long as he could do his assignments, and get them in, that should be all good.
Mom spent as much time as she could with Tom while in the hospital. Talking to her cheered them both up. While shaving him with a brand new electric shaver, Mom told him that her boss had put her on leave for a couple of weeks, then she would be working from home until Tom was able to fend for himself. He asked about the car. It was totaled, Mom told him, but the guy in the sports car didn't make it. The cops had impounded both cars and were examining the dash cams,
"So what about a car then? How are you getting around?"
"Mr Brown has given me one of the company cars, so I may have to leave you for a couple of hours to do something, like pick up someone from the airport. But outside of that, as long as I don't crash it, no problems."
