My Soldier (Brittana fan fiction)* Discontinued*

chapter 3

Medical Treatment Facility in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan

The first thing I'm aware of is the pain. My body aches but this feeling in left shoulder is something new. There's this intense throbbing, it's deep and warm and not in a good way. It feels like someone's stomping on my shoulder wearing a metal soled boot. my eyes slowly flutter open to a dim light above me, but even turned down low, its blinding, I squint for a second, cringing. I shut my eyes and then open them again to. The walls are painted a sterile white but the paint is chipped and some of the wall is crumbling. Where the hell am I? I try to sit up but I groan and shut my eyes when a surge of pain ripples through my shoulder. Inhaling deeply I slowly slide my back up against the headboard of the bed so I'm in a sitting position. My heart is beating rapidly in my chest and my chest keeps tightening into a knot like a cramp. Trying to make sense of everything, I look down at myself to see that I'm wearing a gown that resembles the ones that patients wear in hospitals. I have a wire attached to my index finger that is attached to a machine with a monitor. Wait, am I in a hospital? All of a sudden a man walks in wearing a tanned shirt with a logo on the right armed sleeve which I automatically recognize as the RAMC (royal army medical corps).

"Sergeant Pierce, Finally you're awake" He says picking up a board from the bottom of my bed. He scans through it and then looks at me with a smile. "How are you feeling?" he asks. I look at him and shrug but then hiss. He chuckles a little and hums like I've already given him an answer. "Not too good then"

"What am I doing here? How long have I been in here for?" I ask groggily and my god it sounds like I've just woke up after a hard night smoking a 10 pack and drinking a whole bottle of hard bourbon. The doctor, well I think that's what he is, runs a hand through his thick grey main of hair and itches his stubbly chin.

"Do you not remember? You were shot Sergeant. You've been in here for 5 days." He states and I raise my eyebrows, do I remember? I try to rack my brain for anything but it's just fuzzy. He walks around to the monitor that reads my heartbeat and heart rate. "You were hit in the shoulder, you were very lucky Sergeant" He says as he looks at me.

"A bullet to the shoulder is very dangerous as is a bullet to anywhere on your body. The shoulder is one of the largest and most complex joints in the body. The shoulder joint is formed where the humerus fits into the scapula like a ball and socket. You were shot four inches down from the top surface of the shoulder and a few inches in from the armpit. The bullet scraped your brachial plexus which is a bundle of nerves running from the spine, formed by the anterior rami of the lower four cervical nerves and first thoracic nerve. You were very lucky that it didn't pierce the artery, ramifications to the artery being damaged result in loss of feeling in the arm, damage to your spinal cord." He articulates and I nod trying to take in all the doctor language. During the free time I had when my group took their leave I attended a basic medical course, but nothing as detailed as what this doctor is saying.

"However…" He begins. Oh shit, this is where he gives me like the really bad news isn't it? "The bullet got lodged in your scapula which is your shoulder blade. We got the bullet out but it done slight damage to the bone."

"Right so what does that mean?" I ask getting a little impatient, I'm not being rude I just want to know what's going on with my shoulder and when I can get out of this place.

"Depends on the placement but normally after being shot the recovery time is about 1-2 months. Since the shoulder in your bone is damaged that also needs to heal, the extent of the damage isn't that bad but there is a large recovery time." He states and I sigh.

"How long?"

"All together? I'd say about 4 months recovery time" I shake my head with a laugh and he looks at me with a frown.