A light gasp emitted from Ellie as she finally understood the implication of what was being side. Her eyes grew huge. "You mean . . . I'm really confused. I can't move my legs. I don't feel anything. It's something that I just came to terms with that was done. I don't have legs anymore. If I'm not really paralyzed, what did the doctor's do to me? What's my medical problem? Why can't I move? If there was a mistake, why didn't anyone tell me?"
"I'm telling you right now. Science isn't perfect. We don't know for sure a lot of things. Remember they just added a new organ. We don't know what the appendix does. It's ok. It happens sometimes. My initial guess is that you are probably currently suffering from a buildup of a couple of phenomenon. The metal pieces is definitely significant but it is a secondary issue. Your primary symptoms are probably resulting from having too much morphine in your system." Dr. Wu's eyes flashed to the I.V. bag that was hanging next to her. "This wasn't the fault of the doctors necessarily as you were given as much morphine that would make you stop screaming. But due to your spinal injuries and subsequent emergency surgeries you were just overloaded with that drug. And it is a marvelous drug. You needed anesthesia to undergo those surgeries as I don't think you would want to be awake during that procedure or want to be aware of anything going on during that time. But the problem is that every medicine has side effects. It is very possible that you are suffering from the effects of extreme morphine addiction. You have extreme muscular atrophy, a lack of appetite, and you're fatigued."
Ellie's mouth dropped. She had been living on jello and water for weeks just to reduce her pain levels. The nurses had been nonchalant when she had refused to eat. Only Nolan with his infinite patience to make very soft rice had prevailed in coaxing her to take the pain. No one paid attention to her because they knew they had thought she was going to die anyways.
Tears began to fall from the edges of Ellie's eyes like a river bursting out of a dam. "I was in so much pain for no reason. The worst of it is the less I ate, the more morphine I was given basically making it worse. It was an anorexia of the mind." A faraway look came into Ellie's face as rage distorted her face before subsiding to helplessness.
Nolan hated watching every minute of it. He thread his fingers through Ellie's intending to comfort her. But she pulled away her hand as she leaned toward Dr Wu.
Wu continued and turned around to demonstrate using her own spine, "In the timeline of your injury when the foreign body's presence stabilized. This means there was no more swelling so theoretically it would have been possible for you to move. You were already so weakened by your addiction and by the numbing properties of the aforementioned medication that you lost your whole sense of lower body."
I know today is a smaller upload, but you did hit the 400 rank milestone so we have another mass upload coming up. I have been swamped with work lately and haven't been able to maintain larger uploads. I even wrote on the bus to work. Anyways please stay tuned. The mass will drop soon.
Nolan gasped as the realization hit him of what his sister had been suffering from, "Every time she would feel angry and not eat, she would inadvertently be making her own health worse even though she was there sleeping in a hospital ward with all of those doctors around here.."
Ellie brushed him off, "Nolan, I don't care about those doctors. I don't care about what happened at that hospital. I care about right now. So based on what you've been saying . . . I have very little understanding of medicine as I spent most of my school years on a racing track . . . but if I stop taking the drug they've been giving me to numb my pain I should recover? I just have to quit morphine."
Wu looked at her with a wary expression. "I wish it was simple. Then I wouldn't have to deal with so many addicts. If you stop your drip, the drug will still take a while to clear from your system. You should have your will to eat restored which will help you eat normally. But, you haven't eaten normally in a while so I'm afraid you will inadvertently cause stomach issues. The body can't deal with rapid changes. If you go off the drugs that you're on, you might be in so much pain that you'll just go back. Further down the line, we have to worry about you walking, the metal in your back could shift and cause nerve damage. I think for the time being since the secondary concern is still present, you could try not walking while dealing with the withdrawal symptoms."
Wu's tone was oddly light. Ellie picked up on the strange quality in it, she had heard from Nolan about this doctor's status in the medical community. "They don't call you a witch for nothing do they? What alternative ideas do you have? You're given me the answers I have sought for months. I'll do anything you say. I'm down."
"I'm glad the stubborn of the Chens run deep. The road I see for you is my expertise--surgery. It is in my opinion a better option. It is coming with it's own risks, but keeping the metal piece inside your body is also a danger. With or without the surgery it could move. The complication that could result includes septicemia which could kill you with your current weakened immune system."
Ellie rolled her eyes. "I was going to die anyways. I'm more interested in the other possibility. What if I recover completely?"
"If you do recover completely -- which there is a chance, if we are careful in monitoring your condition. Nolan told me you were a race car driver. You could probably be driving--not at full speed or competing professional, of course--but if it was a small car, maybe at the end of the month."
Nolan gasped, he blindly reached around to find his sister to see fresh tears in her eyes as she sighed with the first ghost of a smile he had seen on her face since the accident. Ellie couldn't believe it. She hadn't even thought about living in a long time. To have that possibility was like a cool drink of water on a hot day. It quenched her. She had been odd to suddenly have this refreshing thought.
She squared her shoulders and looked at Dr. Wu with a dark look, "How soon is an operation possible?"
Little story research today on morphine and it's effects. Medicine is fascinating. I am setting a mass release for monday and tuesday please stay tuned.
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