The Gift

As she walks in, I put the clothes, towels, and Chux on my chair and drag it over next to the bathroom door. I grab the washcloths and wet them in the sink before following Marybeth into the bathroom.

She was just standing there, gown pulled tight around her now, one arm against her tummy.

“Alright,” I say. “You know the drill. I’m the nurse and you’re the patient. Clothes off, in a neat pile.”

She takes off the gown and sits it down and looks down at herself. “Um, don’t you want gloves?” she asks.

“You got anything I need to worry about?” I reply. She hesitates and I add, “Besides cancer silly. It’s not contagious.”

She quickly shakes her head no.

“Okay, so it washes off me as easy as you. No big deal. It’s only blood.” I shrug. We both put on the face of medical indifference as she begins taking off her clothes.

Clad only in her bra and panties, I tell her, “You’ve got two options.” I hold up two washcloths. “By hand, or shower,” I point behind her. “Only difference is whether the bra comes off or stays on,” I add and she only shrugs. “Okay, by hand I guess.”

The bathroom is all tile, open with a drain in the floor and the shower built into the wall. I push her over to the shower head.

“With both of us, this should be quick. Stand here, we’ll turn on the shower just a tad so we have running water to wet and rinse the washcloths. We’ll be done in a jiffy.”

My central line is on my right side, so I turn her so my right is away from the water and say, “Pretend I’m your boyfriend and drop your panties.”

I’m behind her so I can’t see her face but I hear her gasp.

She says, “What? I don’t have a boyfriend and I’m a vir- “

I use two fingers and push her shoulder to interrupt her. “It’s a joke, geez. I’m trying to get your mind off all of this.”

The tension drains from her shoulders. “Now, the front is your side, and the back is mine. Privates and uh, cracks are also yours… unless you really need help, in which case I don’t mind. You don’t have anything I don’t.”

She shucks her panties which are three quarters red now and pushes them slightly away with her foot.

Crap. “You start. I’ll just be a second,” I tell her. I kick off my slippers and toss them into the far corner. I don’t want them wet or bloody.

I come back and I put the washcloth under the water to warm it up some as it cooled since I wet it and I go to work wiping off the new and scrubbing off the drying blood. It only takes a few minutes to clean Marybeth up, considering the amount of blood she lost.

I was getting worried she would get woozy on me from the blood loss.

Once her legs were cleaned off, I had her clean the important parts while I got a few of the items I set out by the door on the chair. As I came back in, Marybeth had her bloody washcloth held in front of her shyly.

I shook my head and laughed. She looked hurt. “I’m not laughing at you per se.” I motion her over to me out of the bloody water on the floor. “It’s just funny, after all you’ve been through, and yes, I do know, especially with your form of cancer, that you have a shred of modesty left. And with a girl of nearly your own age no less. Sometimes I feel I get looked at naked more than a stripper.”

I hold up my hands. “Now, this is the uncomfortable, unsightly part. Just call me Hospital MacGyver!” I had a Chux pad, which is just an absorbent pad with a plastic barrier on one side. Like a giant two foot square maxi-pad.

“Currently we have no real tampons or pads, and this is bigger anyways. What I have in mind is kinda like a big Chux diaper with panties holding it in place. Then clothes over it. We’ll get you the real thing as soon as we can. Sound okay?”

She just shrugged.

I notice she had lowered the washcloth which made the next part easier. “Turn around,” I tell her and she does. I see red lines going down her legs already and I take the washcloth from her and wipe her off.

“Okay,” I say putting half of the Chux between her thighs. “You get the front and adjust the uh, center so it doesn’t feel too uncomfortable. Well, you get it. I’ll hold up the back. Once you’re good, you hold it all together and I’ll get the panties up and over it all.”