Unknown by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page A

she scrubbed her hands and applied the skin antiseptic. Choosing an area well clear of any important organs, she inserted her anaesthetic under the surface of the skin. She felt the old heightening of the senses which always came with intense concentration and the facing of a new challenge. Silently she handed the syringe back to the nurse and straightened her back.
    "We'll just give that a moment or two to work." She grinned down at her patient. "This is where the dentist talks about the weather and where did you go for your summer holidays ?"
    "You've no idea how glad I am that it's a lady doctor," said Mrs. Brent. "It was one of the things I was real scared about. My Tom says it's silly - and me with four kids. But somehow it's different when you're in to have a baby. You don't mind the doctor seeing you then - well, everything else goes out of your head realty; You're too busy for a start. Me, I was always too tired to be bothered looking at them even. Used to think me funny, they did. 'I'll see him later', I'd always say." She squinted down at the bleb on her tummy wall. "Coming into hospital like this is different." Lesley let her ramble on. It helped to take her mind off the matter in hand. "Mind you, Sir Charles has been very kind. Always very understanding. Never uncovers you more than he needs to - and then never without using screens. Some of the others - like that Dr. Dayborough - whip off the bedclothes as if you had no feelings. You might just as well be a lump of wood lying there. 'They never think about it at all', my Tom says. 'All in the day's work for them', he says. Still, I'll thank God tonight it was you."
    "You've no idea how pleased it makes me to hear you say so." Lesley pricked the surface of the skin with' her needle. "You've quite made my day saying that. Feel anything there?"
    "Not a thing, Doctor."
    "Or that?" Lesley grew bolder and tried it with forceps.
    "No. Can't feel a thing."
    "Right, Nurse. You stand by with the jug and the rubber tubing."
    Nurse Obanyke helped her turn the patient on to her side. "You won't feel anything more now, except relief."
    Slowly and steadily she inserted her wide-bore needle through the bleb of anaesthetised skin. It was almost as though someone else guided her hand. A jet of bright straw-coloured fluid rewarded her. The two nurses exchanged jubilant glances.
    Controlling the flow so as not to release the pressure too quickly, Lesley filled and emptied the large jug twice.
    "Well, that wasn't too bad now, was it?" She dismantled the tube and withdrew the needle.
    "All over, Doctor?" Mrs. Brent was surprised. "More like my old self now." She gently explored her now lax abdominal wall. "Tom will get a surprise when he comes in tonight. Touch of the old warpaint - a dash of lipstick and powder. Soon be my old self again, eh, Doctor?"
    "Sure thing." It was taking Lesley all her time to conceal her own glee.
    "Doctor…"
    Lesley turned in the doorway.
    "Thank you for being so nice to me. I was more worried about that than I pretended to be."
    "I know," said Lesley gently. ("That makes two of us," she thought.) "Snuggle down and have a wee snooze. Perhaps Nurse will rustle up a cup of tea for both of us now."
    ("I was more worried than I pretended to be too.") There might be the devil himself to pay when Sister found out she'd done it without warning her. Sufficient unto the day. She'd been right to tackle it alone. For the patient's sake as well as her own it was essential today to avoid anything that undermined her own confidence. For the moment she was completely happy. She walked into the duty room on the crest of a wave.
    Already it had been a roller-coaster of a day. It was to be hoped they wouldn't all be like this one. She sank into the chair and let out a deep breath. So far so good. She had met her first hurdle and taken it in her stride.
    Twenty minutes later she had begun the round with her blood tray, pleased at her returning dexterity with the syringe. She