Rustic forest staircase from Ricketts Glen State Park near Benton, Pennsylvania (USA). HDR composite from multiple exposures, and processed with lavender purple colors in the foliage for a more surreal atmosphere.
Summary: Peter makes a realisation about you when the two of you share a patient.
Companion piece to:
Plastics - Peter has never had a high opinion of plastics surgeons.
You are an artist.
The Michelangelo of Plastics.
Thatās what Peter thinks as he watches you work. Heās just preformed a double mastectomy on a twenty five year old woman and here you are reconstructing her chest so she can feel like a woman again. Itās beautiful, truly it is.
The procedure is a preventive measure because Kara Landry harbours the BRCA1gene. It means she has an 85% chance of developing breast cancer, usually one of the more aggressive ones. Her mom and other female relatives had all been diagnosed and passed away before the age of 40 which didnāt bode well for her chances in the future.
A double mastectomy cuts down her risk of breast cancer by 95% but making that choiceā¦
Peter couldnāt imagine being put in that position at such a young age.
When heād met with her to discuss the surgery, sheād been a bundle of nerves. Heād tried to explain the procedure, to reassure her but his bedside mannerās not the best. Heās too abrupt, too direct, too technical. You stepping into that room, it was like a breath of fresh air, he could feel the atmosphere shift as you sat down on the edge of the bed with that warm smile of yours, somehow both him and the patient, they just knew everything was going to be ok.
āItās not you.ā Youād informed him when the two of you were scrubbing up for the procedure. āWhen youāre having this type of operation they want to be reassured that you arenāt going to be losing a part of themselves along with the tissue. Itās tough to do if you havenāt been through it.ā
That gets his attention.
He tilts his head towards you, his gaze lowering to the place where the scrubs your wearing hug your curves.
āYou have?ā
āMy chest took the worst of the burn damage.ā You say finally as you focus on using the brush on each of your fingers. āIt is not a pretty picture underneath these scrubs.ā
āOh.ā He says his gaze lingering on the scar that peeks out from just underneath the neckline of your scrubs. āIām sure thatās not true.ā
āIām just repeating what Iāve been told.ā You say, holding your hands up waiting for the tap to shut off. Itās something heās noticed you do before a surgery, a ritual he comes to understand, like the two taps of Carterās shoe, or Hickās low single hum as they drape the surgical gown over her.
āThen you are certainly not dating the right guys.ā Peter informs you with a pointed look as he backs his way into the operating theatre. Ā
He canāt stop thinking about that conversation as he watches you undertake the reconstruction. He usually ducks out of this part of the operation because his work is done, but he stays this time, he wants to see something beautiful come out of the destruction heās sown.
āWhen this is all over, youāll feel as good as new again.ā You reassure the patient as you insert the implant. āYouāll be happy, healthy and youāll have your whole life ahead of you.ā
He wonders if someone said those words to you once upon a time when you were under the knife. He doesnāt finish out the surgery, heās interrupted by a trauma coming into the ER but youāre all he thinks about in the quiet moments after heās stabilised his patient, your compassion, your quiet sadness.
Youāre lonely he realises as he sits in the Doctorās Lounge filling out his charts. He gets that because heās lonely too. Surgery doesnāt make for a good bed fellow, it erodes relationships long before they start, leaving you with nothing but the job and only the job.
Itās in the locker room he catches up with you, youāre stripping out of your scrubs, putting on your street clothes when he walks in and finds you standing there in jeans and a black sports bra.
He sees everything in that moment, the rumpled discoloured flesh that winds down the left side of your ribcage disappearing underneath the waistband of your jeans. The off white streaks mixed with a dusty mauve that contrasts against your skin tone. He wonders how far down the scarring goes, if itās as sensitive as he imagines or if the nerve endings were damaged in the fire too.
āYou wanna go out tonight?ā He asks, leaning against Yuriās locker. āI know a place with good music and a great vegetarian menu.ā
Thatās another thing you have in common, you both canāt stand to eat meat after you spend the day dissecting someone else.
āYou want to go out with me?ā You say, your voice wrought with disbelief as you snatch up your white Ramones t-shirt, tugging it down over your body. āAfter everything youāve just seen?ā
āLike I said.ā Peter says, his eyes fixed firmly on yours so that you understand the sincerity behind his words. āYou were dating the wrong people before, maybe itās time you tried the right one.ā
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