Lelei Vivecca ~ SHSL Pharmacist
She nodded and smiled softly, glad he decided to let her numb the area, it would have been much more fiddly to try to line up the stitches with him squirming in pain. "
Sure.. I can do that. I'm gonna use Lidocaine and Epinephrine, it'll mean less bleeding so less mess for me to worry about...nothing worse than trying to line up a stitch while you have blood seeping everywhere." She sighed before disappearing into the medical room to grab the correct bottles of medicine. She came back through holding two little bottles and a large thick needle and walked over to the bed. "
Sealed..fresh bottles. You can read the labels if you want to.." she said before taking one and flipping it upside down then sliding the big needle into it. She pushed some air from the syringe into it then pulled a couple of cc's from the first bottle, then the second, making sure it all mixed together nicely.
Lelei gritted her teeth, practically slamming the bottle back down onto the tray.
"I'm not a surgeon.... my talent involves chemicals and pills and figuring out what medication goes with what and how much to give who..." she grumbles.
"You tell me your symptoms and I'll know exactly how to treat it to cure you... I don't stitch people up." She opened up packet of bandages, using the inside of it to lay out her equipment on as a sterile area. A pair of medical scissors, the suture kit which consisted of the hooked needle and the needle holder, the blue nylon thread. Seeing the bird she frowned a little but nodded.
"Alright, just keep her away from your face. She won't try and go for me while I'm stitching right? Last thing I need is a bird in the way when I'm trying to tie up this tiny dang thread." She said, her tone clearly a little more irritated after his remark about her using her talent.
It seemed she had everything ready so she proceeded to put her gloves on.
"Wait...an explosive.....what!?" She looked at Ken with a worried expression.
"Are you saying I just....provided her with materials for a bomb?!" she asked in disbelief. She couldn't believe how he could be so calm about this.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier!?" Lelei huffed, shaking her head.
"Great... let me now add 'being blown up' to the already long list of possible ways I'll die here." she said rolling her eyes. Well, that was something to deal with later, first she had to tend to this wound.
"Right... So I'm gonna inject this around the edges of your wound and inject a little bit each time, using a small quantity means it will only affect and numb the area that I'll be piercing through. It'll hurt since the cut is already looking a little off but after that the pain will be bearable for the stitching." She started to explain, exchanging the large needle on the syringe to a smaller on that she could manoeuvre easier.
"Then I'll flush it out with saline water, the saline should help kill any bacteria already growing there. And then I'll use interrupted sutures to close it up. Since it's on the face you'll need a lot of them to make sure it heals nice but it will leave a bit of a scar. Also then if it does end up getting infected which is unlikely...because...well... It's ME who's doing it, then I can just take out the stitches that I need to and drain it." Lelei gently pinged the syringe with her finger to make sure any bubbles move to the top and pushes on it lightly, some of the liquid seeping out the top along with any left over bubbles.
"These are nylon so I will need to take them out in a couple of days, they won't dissolve themselves." She took in a deep breath and looked to Ken with a slightly unsure smile. She hated this so damn much. It felt like it's been months since she last stitched something up, and even then it was just her own arm thanks to slicing herself up on some glass during work. It's not like some scars bothered her so she wasn't exactly neat with it, but this....ughhhh. This was going to be hell. She gulped, just the idea of the supple flesh being pierced with the needle she now held in her hand made her feel a little sick.
"Well, let's get started huh?" she frowned, and looked to Ken for the go ahead.
Without delaying it further she places some paper towels at the base of his jawline to catch the excess liquid that will flow out of the wound then began at the bottom most corner, injecting the needle into it carefully and pushing some of the liquid into it. She held her breath while she did, trying to hold her self back from gagging as liquid washed out some of the blood from the wound and dripped down Ken's face. She had forgotten how much she hates blood, the copper smell, the bright colour. It made her nauseous, but nonetheless she continued, working her way all around the wound.
It took some time since it was a rather large cut and she liked to be precise. As she was finishing up the numbing she noticed it began to swell a little as the anaesthetic began to work. That was a good sign. It meant she could now, using a fresh syringe and needle draw up some saline solution and start to flush the wound. The paper towels caught a lot of the water that squirted from them but some of it ran down his neck and into his hair. Lelei made sure to get deep into the wound and the corners, using the needle to dislodge some of the debris that was stuck in it, drowning it till she was satisfied that it was clean.
She patted it dry then grabbed the needle holder, noticing her hand was a little shaky. With a long slow breath she closed her eyes and steadied herself, grabbing the hooked needle and threading it. She eyed up the wound, trying to visualise it, pressing each finger at each side of ti and pushing it together lightly at one corner. She had to make sure it was lined up correctly otherwise she would be left with a skin tag and it'd have to be redone. On top of that the skin had to be just barely touching at the edges so that it healed over smoothly. Sure she hated this, she hated that she even knew how to do all this but that didn't matter right now. All that mattered was the needle and the flesh. She had to make it move to her will, completely zoning out everything else that was happening around them.
She breathed in deeply and holding her breathe she placed the needle at the base of the wound, a little bit away from the edge. Pushing on it she pierced the skin, and watching as the sharp end of the hook disappeared into the soft flesh and poked out the meaty side, right by the muscles. It was good she hadn't eaten yet. She pushed it in further, hooking it up to catch onto the other side of the wound and bring them together, the needle easily making its way through the skin again. Lelei drew it up, dragging the thread through it then snipping it with the scissors she had prepared earlier. Placing the needle and thread down she began to fiddle with the thread sticking out of Ken's face. She had to tie it now, this tiny stupid thread. Narrowing her eyes she grabbed both ends and looped them, making sure the knot was nice and close to the skin but not too tight. With that she was able to snip the excess thread and lean back to take a deep shaky breath. The first stitch was done.
This was going to take a bit longer than she thought...however it was to be expected. She had never stitched up a person after all. She had only ever practised on fruit and the occasional chicken that she later prepped for dinner, and well herself. But it's one thing stitching up your self and doing it on another living, breathing person. It was strangely exhilarating.
She picked up the needle using the holder again and began to put in the second stitch, repeating the process again. From her studies she knew facial wounds were most effective at 3 mm apart so that's what she tried to stick it. Half an hour and 20 stitches later she was finally done, her hand cramping badly and her back aching from leaning over Ken for so long. She looked at her work, for a little too long if anything, admiring it. Sure it wasn't perfect, the stitches didn't line up perfectly, a couple were a little wobbly but with the swelling and well...it being her first time working on someone else's flesh she figured she didn't do a terrible job at it.
"Ahh.. all done. Finally." She said with a soft sigh, getting a alcohol free wet wipe and running it over the wound gently to clean up any blood off of the surface.
"It'll feel weird for now but as it starts to heal over it should get better. Be careful eating or speaking..or just moving your mouth. You don't want to open it wide as that could cause the stitches the break off or cut through your skin." she instructed as she took her gloves off, gathering all the supplies there and walking over to the trash, throwing away some of it and placing the rest on top of the counter so she could sterilise it later.
"You need to check in with me everyday so I can make sure it's not getting infected....clean it twice a day or any time you get it dirty with cool water and pat dry." With that she was finally done, shoving her trembling hands into her lab coat.
The adrenaline was wearing off, the stress of the situation catching up to her as she softly smiled at Ken.
"Wow.... that went better than expected, I've never done that before." she said with a big sigh, walking over to the counter and taking out a box of pills. She cut off a couple from the packet and handed the sealed contents to Ken.
"Take one in the morning with food until I remove your stitches."
@SolemnOath
