eternity// 5SOS

17

Michael

Poppy being Poppy did not really take advantage of the fact Dr George was genuinely at her beck and call all day.

We learnt he was a fairly new surgeon to this hospital, but he had performed many successful surgeries elsewhere and had a good reputation- I could see why. He was really patient but extremely efficient, and got to know a lot about us.

Again, it made me a little sad because I knew he suspected bad news, but he had my full trust.

Poppy had had her scans, so now laid watching tv on the ipad while Crystal and I sat together in silence, cuddling.

It was mid afternoon by now, and we had all eaten some lunch. Even though the scans had taken a while, Dr George did speak to us a lot in between, and only popped off for a couple of consultations.

"I'm back, again,"

Poppy moved her gaze towards him, then looked back at the ipad, ignoring us.

"Sorry, she's tired,"

"It's all good. By her records I am guessing this is the place she'd least like to be,"

"Yeah... thank you for being so good to her," Crystal said, "It means a lot,"

"I reckon she will warm up to me,"

"So we've gotta come back?" I sighed.

"Unfortunately so. Her knee hasn't healed properly at all,"

"So what now?"

"I can fix it, and it will be a long journey, but I can fix it,"

He took out her scans and put them on the wall, showing us.

"A rough idea is that I will need to repair the ligaments in her knee, and then recorrect her other leg. It's not going to be the greatest experience , and it is up to you guys whether you have it, but her pain will not get any better without,"

"Recorrect her leg?"

"Yeah... she broke it look and it didn't heal,"

"She didn't break her leg, she hurt her ankle,"

"She has at some point,"

"I did it ages ago," she said casually, "Before home,"

"Oh, okay sweetpea. We're gonna get that fixed up then, okay?"

"I did it to the other leg too, but now only my knee hurts,"

He put up her other scans and gave us a weak smile.

"Her other leg is okay. I don't know if you can tell the difference but... that one healed. It's just the knee on that one,"

"Yes. I was a baby I think,"

Crystal grabbed my hand tightly and I rubbed my thumb on it, taking a deep breath.

"What time frame are we looking at?" I asked, "From now until she can walk,"

"Well, that depends. How soon can you do surgery?"

"Well, it's summer for her,"

"I can do pre-op as early as next week, I just got a spot free. Then surgery the week after, that's all before Christmas. She will have to stay in hospital for a few days but she will be out in time,"

"And there is no other way to fix this?" Crystal asked, "This seems unfair,"

"If there was another way then I would've suggested it in a heartbeat,"