SWNOVELS Chapter 51: Changing Bandages
After sitting for a half hour, Harry got up and began rummaging through the artifacts Hannibal brought out of boredom. He came to the old map and opened it up as he sat down in the chair again. He handled it gingerly while looking at the strange artifact of the very culture he found himself. After looking at it for a few minutes, he began noticing and identifying places that he now knew of from experience. Harry saw Arionath, Khitia, Kasa Bek, and many of the other lands, including the Cimmerian highlands. He suddenly found Acheron and wondered. Then there were places he knew not about, but surmised they were real as well. Just then, he heard a noise at the door and it opened. Harry leapt to his feet, throwing the map aside, ready to deal with any intruder. Arabella, Drew, Ned, Rebecca, and Jacob came through the door, carrying fresh first-aid supplies: bandages, latex gloves, etc.... A stethoscope hung around Arabella’s neck as she walked in. When Arabella saw Harry’s combative stance, it surprised her and she let out a squeal. “Harry!” she scolded. “You scared the be-Jesus out of me!”
Harry immediately backed down. “Sorry, Arabella; I didn’t know you were coming to change the bandages,” he said apologetically, making room for the rest of the crew as they entered.
“That’s okay,” Arabella replied, smiling. “We should’ve warned you ahead of time.”
“That would’ve helped,” Harry agreed.
Drew’s eyes grew wide as he saw Hanna unconscious on the bed covered up to her chin with a blanket. Having treated Hannibal before, Drew immediately noticed Hannibal’s bone structure in Hanna’s face. “By the gods,” he breathed. “I didn’t want to believe it, even after you, Nicodemus, and Joshua insisted that this woman is Hannibal. But how can I reject this? I can see his bone structure in this woman’s face. This really is Hannibal, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is,” Arabella admitted as she and Drew pulled the blankets back, uncovering Hanna to her feet. “At first, I didn’t want to believe it either, but I couldn’t argue with my own eyes and Amelia’s telepathic report about Hanna. This woman is Hannibal mutated. According to Amelia and Magnus, Hannibal is calling himself Hanna now because of this mutation.” She immediately donned her latex gloves and handed a pair to Drew, who immediately put them on as he noticed the splints on both of Hanna’s legs and on her right arm.
“Then Hanna she shall be,” Drew said softly as he and Arabella crawled on the bed and started to check Hanna’s vitals. “I’m sorry I could be present when she first arrived. I had an infirmary full of wounded from the sacking of Kaal Bek I was tending to.”
“It’s okay, Drew,” Arabella replied, settling on Hanna’s right while Drew moved to her left. “We knew you had others to take care of. Besides, as you can see, we were able to take care of her okay with Amelia and Magnus’ help. Now, let’s get to work. Harry....”
“Yes?” Harry replied while everyone else gathered around the bed.
“Open the lid on the first-aid kit you brought from the Temple,” Arabella ordered, “Nathanael says that’s how we can interrupt the cycle so we can remove the disks and change her bandages.” Harry immediately stepped forward and picked up the kit, opening the box. The crystal went dark, as did the crystals in the little disks. Arabella and Drew proceeded to remove the disks and hand them to Harry, who promptly stored them in the kit’s box.
“Before we start, could you inform me on what her condition was when brought in here?” Drew asked. “I’m noticing these splints and don’t want to do anything that will complicate anything.”
“Fair enough,” Arabella replied, sitting down on her knees after handing the last disk to Harry. “I can understand that, so here’s what we discovered with Magnus’ help when we brought Hanna in here.” She then educated Drew about Hanna’s condition. After a couple of minutes, she finished, saying, “As far as we know, those are the extent of Hanna’s injuries. We do need to be very careful when moving her because of those broken vertebrae, but fortunately, she has a back brace on right now. We need to be sure to put it back on her when we finish cleaning her chest.”
“Great Ancient of Days,” Drew exclaimed softly. “It’s a wonder she is even breathing.”
“That’s so true,” Harry called out. “Why she didn’t die of these wounds I’ll never know. I guess the Lord still has work for her to do.”
“That may be,” Drew agreed. “I’m just glad she did survive.”
“We all are,” Arabella agreed. “Now that you have some knowledge of her condition, shall we get started?”
“Yes, doctor; just let me know what you want done,” Drew stated while checking Hanna’s pulse on her left wrist. “She’s your patient. I’m just here to help.”
“Okay,” Arabella stated while checking Hanna’s pulse on her neck with her stethoscope. “Just follow my lead.”
“Yes, doctor,” Drew answered, checking Hanna’s pulse on her wrist. “Her pulse is a bit on the high side and somewhat erratic.”
“That’s what I’m reading too,” Arabella agreed, moving her stethoscope to Hanna’s lungs and listening intently for a few moments. “Her breathing is sporadic and labored with a rattle that sounds like a touch of pneumonia.”
Drew touched Hanna’s forehead. “I think she’s still got a bit of a fever too,” he reported. “Her forehead feels hot.”
Arabella felt Hanna’s brow and said, “You’re right, but she’s not nearly as hot as she was when we first treated her. I think the fever is breaking now. Do you see her sweating, Drew? That’s a good sign.”
“Yes, it is,” Drew agreed. “But we still need to keep watch on her.”
“Agreed,” Arabella replied as she opened Hanna’s eyes, looking into them. The pupils were severely dilated. “Oh, dear; this isn’t good. Harry; did something happen while we were gone?” she queried bluntly and professionally.
“As a matter of fact, something did happen,” Harry replied. “Nathanael, Amelia, and I were just coming up here to check on Hanna when we heard her cry out. We rushed in and found her crying like a baby. Apparently, she had one hell of a nightmare. It took over ten minutes to calm her down. She told us some of the dream, but before she could finish, she passed out again. It was totally bizarre, the dream, and the way she went out again.”
“Well, that would account for the heightened pulse rate,” Drew stated.
“But it doesn’t account for her trouble breathing, dilated pupils, and fever,” Arabella countered. “Something is going on inside her that’s causing these symptoms apart from a nightmare.”
“I agree,” Drew murmured with a sigh. “Maybe it’s being caused by these soiled bandages. We should go ahead and start changing them.”
“Good call,” Arabella replied. “Let’s get to it. Jacob, Rebecca...we’re going to need your help now.”
“Just tell us what to do,” Jacob stated as he and Rebecca stood at the edge of the bed, waiting for instruction.
“Ned, get me a scalpel while we take these splints off first,” Arabella ordered, carefully removing Hanna’s arm splint first.
“Yes, ma’am,” Ned answered, quickly going through the supplies and finding the scalpels. Upon finding the blades, he stood at the edge of the bed, carefully holding them by the handles.
Seeing Ned standing there with the scalpels, Arabella stated while setting the arm splint aside, “Just a minute, Ned, while we finish getting these splints off.”
“No rush,” Ned answered pleasantly.
“Take the splint off her left leg while I do the right one, Drew,” Arabella ordered.
“Yes, doctor,” Drew replied, going to work. In less than a minute, they removed both leg splints and set them aside with the arm splint. “Okay, what’s next?” he asked.
“We start on the chest,” Arabella stated. “We’ll first remove this elastic wrap and then we’ll cut the bandages off her.” Turning to Jacob, Rebecca, and Harry, she ordered, “Jacob, Rebecca...put on the rubber gloves and then I want you, Jacob, to get around behind her with Harry. When I tell you, sit Hanna up gently. Be sure to support her back too. Rebecca, you help me and Drew with the bandages.” In seconds, Jacob, Rebecca, and Harry donned their gloves and everyone was in position. “All right, here we go,” Arabella said evenly. “Okay Drew, let’s get this wrap off Hanna. Jacob, Harry, lift Hanna up slightly so we can get this wrap off her.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jacob and Harry replied simultaneously. They lifted Hanna up about six inches, making sure to keep her back straight as they did.
Arabella and Drew then made short work of the elastic wrap, removing it and the back brace in the process. “Okay, set her down gently,” Arabella ordered. Jacob and Harry immediately laid Hanna down gently and waited for further orders.
With the elastic chest wrap off, Arabella noticed the soiled nature of it and declared, “We can’t use it again. It’s been contaminated with bleed-through from the bandages. Makes me glad I decided to bring another chest wrap.”
“Indeed,” Drew agreed as Arabella tossed the wrap aside.
Turning to Ned, Arabella said, “Thanks for being patient, Ned. I’ll take those scalpels now.”
Ned smiled, handing the scalpel to Arabella. “No problem,” he chimed. “I’m here to help.” He stood back at the edge of the bed awaiting further instructions.
Arabella took the scalpel and carefully sliced the bandages loose, and then handed the scalpel back to Ned, who stood right behind her. Slowly, Arabella, Drew, and Rebecca carefully peeled the bloody bandage back, revealing Hanna’s cauterized and gashed chest. Mercifully, the bandages didn’t stick to the wounds.
Drew, Rebecca, Ned, and Jacob recoiled in horror at the terrible wound. “By the gods; how did she survive that?” Jacob gasped. Furthermore, Drew, Ned, Jacob, and Rebecca now truly understood that Hannibal really was a woman. Hanna’s charred breasts were all the evidence they needed.
“God is how,” Harry declared. “If you think this is bad, you should’ve seen her when she first got here.”
“Harry’s right,” Arabella stated. “As bad as this looks, it’s seventy percent better than it looked when we first treated her. I’m very pleased the stinking yellow puss is gone, too. God is the only answer as to why she’s still alive. By all normal reasoning, she should have died hours after she got here, yet she still lives. It’s like something in her refuses to let her die. I’m forced to give God all the credit for her survival. Nothing we did kept her alive. Only God has kept her breathing.”
Impressed with what he saw, Drew said, “You and your friends did an excellent job cleaning the burns and lacerations, Arabella. It made the difference. Still, I’m amazed she survived at all with a wound like this.”
“Thanks,” Arabella replied gratefully as she and Drew closely examined the burns and deep gashes, which were beginning to knit together from the bottom. The burns were still weeping, but the terrible yellow puss had been replaced with a clear liquid that seemed to be helping the healing process.
“As for her surviving these wounds, I’m equally surprised, Drew,” Arabella replied with some satisfaction that the wound was healing better than she hoped. “Now, let’s get her cleaned up and wrapped back up. Hand me a bandage so we can clean the wound, Ned.”
At that point, they went to work cleaning the wounds and reapplying the healing herbs and ointments, including a special bottle of ointment that Magnus had given them earlier. They also applied some of the ointments in the special first-aid/healing kit in addition. Jacob and Harry held Hanna up gently whenever needed as Arabella, Drew, and Rebecca worked feverishly to get the wounds cleaned and covered as quickly as possible. After forty-five minutes, they had her wounds covered with fresh bandages, the back brace in place, elastic chest wrap on, and the splints put back on her healing limbs. They then put the healing disks back on Hanna in the exact same places that Nathanael had placed them. Harry restarted the kit once the disks were in place. Jacob laid Hanna back down and they covered her with the blanket. They all looked down at her with a sense of awe and respect, especially Arabella, who said, “Good work, people, good work. As hard as it is to believe, I think she may pull through. Now, let’s give her some space to rest.” Everyone removed their gloves and disposed of them with the old bandages in a sack that they’d brought just for that purpose.
“Indeed,” Drew agreed. “I’ll go and report to Nicodemus on her condition.”
“Okay,” Arabella replied, picking up the sack with the old bandages and gloves. Jacob, Ned, and Drew picked up the rest of the first-aid supplies, preparing to leave.
“I’ll stay for a while, just in case,” Harry said as everyone went to the door.
Arabella nodded, saying as everyone left, “All right, Harry. Let me know if anything happens, and I mean anything, no matter how small.”
Harry nodded and Arabella left, closing the door behind her, leaving Harry in the room with Hanna. He went back to his chair and picked up the map that was lying on the floor beside it, going back to his study of the map.