The Focus Effect

Twelve

I don't really see what he's trying to show me. "It looks fine to me," I scoff.

"Well it isn't," he assures me. "Generally I'd wait a few days to work on your nose. However, in light of how fast your body heals, I'm going to straighten it up now."

He tells me that I'll feel a slight pinch from the localized anesthetic shot but I don't feel a thing when he gives it to me. Several minutes later, the doctor inserts a strange looking device into my nose that he calls a Boies elevator (Going up! I think, grinning stupidly). It feels and sounds like there's gravel inside my head when he moves my nose into place, but it doesn't hurt. There's just a lot of pressure and when he finishes with the tool, he works with his hands a little to straighten my nose further. When he's satisfied with the condition of my nose, he reclines my chair, but only slightly beyond the sitting position. "Can you grab me an ice-pack, David?" he asks his assistant.

The doctor places his hand on my arm and gives me another smile. "You're a real trooper, kid."

I realize for the first time that my doctor is very handsome. It would be a shame not to tell him. "You're a handsome fellow," I reply, my speech slightly slurred.

He laughs kindly. "Now I definitely know the pain meds are working."

His assistant, David, is much younger and just as easy on the eyes. He hands the doctor an ice-pack. The thought crosses my mind to tell this young man that he rivals Doctor Fish in his attractiveness but I decide to try to retain the little dignity I have. The goofy smile I give him, though, probably stripes me of it anyway.

Doctor Fish bends the ice-pack and I hear a pop. Then he gently places it on my forehead and nose. "I'll be back in the morning to check the swelling and to possibly take more x rays. No more football, Hannah," he jokes. "David here will be at your beck and call should you need anything."

I lift up the ice pack and give a curt nod to David. "Thank you for being my beck and call guy." I think David blushes, but I can't tell because he's suddenly busy tidying up.

I really don't remember much about the rest of that day. I was in and out of sleep for most it. I think Kingshire visited once for a few minutes and there wasn't much for David to do except monitor my vitals. At one point during the night when I finally began to feel clear-headed, I went out to check to see if the disc was still up against the ceiling. All I found was David asleep on the couch. The disc was gone.

When Doctor Fish shows up the next day he stands looking at me in disbelief.

"How do you feel?" he asks, gently touching around the edges of my nose and eyes.

I feel great and I tell him so.

"The swelling is completely gone. David, let's take another picture of her nose and see what we can see."

David taps a few keys on his laptop and a minute later an x ray is displayed on the screen.

The doctor shakes his head. "I just can't get over how fast your body heals. If I hadn't been the one to fix you up yesterday, I wouldn't believe what I'm seeing right now." Doctor Fish uses a pen to trace an area on the x ray of my nose. "Everything is pretty much where it should be. There may be some shifting of the cartilage over the next few days but I don't think so. It seems the bones have completely mended." He turns to face me. "You won't need to wear a brace. You still have some bruising but I think that should go away fairly quickly."

"The same thing that happened with my head after the lightning strike," I tell him.

He nods. "I was part of the initial team that worked on you when they first brought you here. So I'm not entirely surprised by what we're seeing with your nose. I am surprised, however, at the rate at which it has healed. I'd say that whatever metamorphosis your body is undergoing is complete and functioning at an optimum level."

"Yeah," I say softly. His words somehow make me feel less than human. I know he doesn't mean anything bad by them but I still feel like a freak. He seems to pick up on this.

"Hannah," he says gently. "We've all got our idiosyncrasies and flaws. Some of us have genetic disorders, syndromes, diseases," he says. "Challenges," he adds. "For better or worse, you are who you are. Just like the man who wakes up paralyzed after a skiing accident. Sooner or later that man accepts his condition and gets on with his life...or he doesn't. Do you understand me?"

I think I do. Slowly I nod my head.

"One of my favorite quotes is from an old movie about a man who was wrongfully sent to prison for the murder of his wife," Doctor Fish continues. "Towards the end, the main character says something to his best friend that is one of the truest things I've ever heard spoken. 'Get busy living or get busy dying.' Think about that."

I do think about it and it takes me a moment to completely understand it. "I'm not much for dying. Not yet, anyway."

Doctor Fish gives me a knowing look.

I guess it's time to get busy.