Best just to avoid it.
"Okay," Skip said as he walked in and headed for the sink. Jean was right behind him with a tray of surgical tools. I had no idea what they all were, but they looked kind of like torture devices to me. "Let's see about getting you stitched up."
I was all for that.
I lifted my arm and pressed it to the back of my head when Skip walked over to me.
"Can you feel that?"
I shook my head.
"Good." Skip grabbed the rolling stool and sat down. Jean set the tray on a cart and pushed it over next to the doctor. "I think we can get away with three or four stitches. I'm using dissolving stitches so you won't have to come in and have them removed. They should just dissolve in a few days."
"Thanks, Doc." Not coming back would be fantastic.
"You'll need to keep this clean and no strenuous activity for a few days."
Wait.
I shot the doc a look of pure panic. "Does that mean I'm off the roster?"
"Just for the next twenty-four hours. I know better than to try and get one of you to take any serious time off, but I'd like you to take twenty-four hours to give this a good head start on healing."
"Just twenty-four hours?"
Skip chuckled. "Just twenty-four measly little hours."
I didn't like it, but I figured it was as best as I was going to get. "Okay, Doc. I can do twenty-four hours."
I could probably use the downtime. Things had been kind of crazy lately. I knew people were under a lot of strain, but lately it seemed as if the crazies were coming out of the woodwork. We'd been on more missions in the last month than we'd been on in the last year.
It was kind of insane.
Maybe I could go to one of the bars I hung out at and find someone to spend a little downtime with, someone who wouldn't want to know more than my first name.
I smiled. Yeah, that sounded like a plan.
"Okay, that should do it." Skip placed a surprisingly small bandage over my stitches. "Jean is going to give you a shot of antibiotics and something for the pain. I assume you're up on your tetanus?"
I nodded. "Had one a month ago at my quarterly physical."
It was kind of required.
"That should do it." Skip stood, pulled off his rubber gloves and tossed them in a bin, and then walked over to wash his hands. "Keep it clean, like I said. Change the bandages at least once a day for the next few days. If there's any redness around the stitches, get your ass back here."
"I can do that," I said as I reached for my shirt and started dressing.
I was so ready to get out of there.
"Thanks, Doc." I knew I had to wait for the nurse to give me my antibiotics and something for the pain, but my skin was beginning to itch.
"You okay, David?" Skip asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just ready to get out of here. I'm not a big fan of hospitals."
"Most of you strong silent types aren't."
Strong silent type?
