Royal Pains : Sick Rich (9781101559536) Read Online Free

He’s nineteen and moving to LA for school. Big into surfing, so this is what we came up with for him. The kid has no idea. I’m sure he’ll freak.”
    â€œWho wouldn’t?” Evan said.
    Well, I wouldn’t for one, I thought. But then I’m not a West Coast surfer dude.
    â€œCome on,” Rachel said.
    We followed her inside. She led us down a hallway to the break room, where we found Ralph Beacon sitting at a wooden table with his forearm resting palm up on the surface. He cupped a baggie filled with ice in his hand.
    I sat down across from him. “How did this happen?”
    â€œA guy we did a job for a couple of weeks ago came in saying his muffler was making some odd noises. He was in a hurry, so I got right on it. But”—he shrugged— “I got a little ahead of myself and didn’t think that the muffler might be hot.”
    I lifted the ice bag. Several large blisters surrounded by erythematous tissue covered his palm. So did a greasy coating.
    â€œWhat’s this?”
    â€œButter. My mother always said to put butter on a burn.”
    â€œThat’s not exactly the best thing,” I said. “It tends to hold the heat in and make the injury worse. The ice is good, but the butter not so much.”
    Divya opened the medical bag and pulled out a pack of sterilized instruments and gauze. She handed me a bottle of Betadine solution. I soaked a square of gauze with it and grasped his wrist firmly.
    â€œThis is going to be a little uncomfortable, but I have to clean it and get all this butter off.”
    â€œGo ahead. Couldn’t be any worse than grabbing that muffler.”
    I gently washed his hand, removing the butter and cleaning the damaged skin as best I could. Then we walked to the sink, where Divya rinsed his hand with a bottle of sterilized water. I patted it dry with a wad of sterile gauze and we returned to the table.
    I pulled on a pair of surgical gloves while Divya opened up the instrument kit. I removed the sterile tweezers and scissors inside.
    â€œThe burn has probably damaged the skin nerves in the area, so this shouldn’t hurt much. If any. I just need to empty out these blisters.”
    It took only a couple of minutes to open them and drain the yellowish fluid that had collected inside. I then smeared the area with Silvadene cream, layered on a nonadherent Telfa pad, and stuffed the palm of his hand with a wad of sterile gauze. Finally, I wrapped his entire hand with gauze strips and taped it. It looked as if he was wearing a white cotton boxing glove.
    â€œNot exactly a Band-Aid, is it?” Ralph said.
    â€œIt might look like overkill, but this is how an injured hand needs to be dressed. It’s called the position of function. Sort of a half fist. Makes the healing go better, with less chance of complications.” I smiled. “Of course, you’re going to have to keep this clean and dry. I’ll give you a prescription for some pain medications and antibiotics. I’ll also arrange for you to see a hand surgeon tomorrow.”
    â€œIs that necessary?”
    â€œYou don’t want to mess with this. If it heals well you’ll never have trouble with it. But if it gets infected, it can blossom into a really nasty third-degree injury and that changes the whole ball game. Surgery, skin grafting, loss of use of your hand, things like that.”
    He smiled. “You don’t sugarcoat it, do you, Doc?”
    â€œSometimes. But not with something like this.”
    He glanced up at Rachel and then back to me. “What about work? I’ll still be able to work, won’t I?”
    â€œOnly if you can do something that doesn’t require your hand. And something that will keep it clean and dry.”
    â€œI think a few days off might be best,” Rachel said.
    Ralph shrugged. “I have some vacation days built up. I can use them.”
    â€œYou also have sick days,” Rachel said.