Hour Before Dawn

Chapter 7

Ye-jin gave a subtle nod and thanked the doctor.

"We need to get you moving in bed today so we'll have the physical therapist come in later for some bed exercises. We also need to get your lungs working more so Bin here is gonna make sure you do your breathing exercises frequently," the doctor said with a smile while looking at Bin. "We really don't want other complications like pneumonia to interfere with your recovery period."

"Yes, Doc," he replied with a smile.

"Okay, Doc," Ye-jin said, though a little overwhelmed with all that was going on.

"We also need to make sure you don't develop blood clots so we'll keep the compression device on your legs until you're able to walk around. I know it might be annoying having it inflate on and off but we need to keep the blood flow going while you're lying in bed."

"Okay," she said again while listening intently.

"Let's get you on your side so we can take a look at your surgical site," the doctor said, prompting the nurses to log roll her to her side to make sure her spine remains straight with movement.

Bin had to let go of her hand to make room for them so he took a step back. He watched as she bit her lip and winced at the extreme discomfort, trying so hard not to moan in pain while being rolled on her side. He felt the lump in his throat forming when her eyes began to water.

Her eyebrows met and she let out a quiet groan as they got her on her side.

"Don't hold your breath, Ye-jin," one of the nurses said while rubbing her shoulder gently. "The pain only gets worse when your body is tensed."

She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, her facial expression showing the discomfort she was in while the doctor checked on her incision. Bin looked at the monitor as her heart rate increased with the pain. She was the type to admit when she was in pain but never really shows just how much she was struggling inside. She braves through it and keeps it all to herself. The fact that he was able to have a good idea of how much pain she was really in through her increased heart rate on the monitor crushed him inside. He felt a bigger lump in his throat when a tear escaped from her closed eyes.

He took a deep breath himself and ran his palm down his face, feeling helpless.

"It looks good," they heard the doctor say while walking around to the side she was facing. "We'll get them to change the dressing now that you're on your side, okay? Usually, we'd want you to try walking the day after your surgery, which, in your case, is today. But in your situation, our goal for today is bed exercises, and tomorrow we need to get you walking. We're gonna leave your foley catheter in until then. How are you doing so far? How's the pain?"

"I'm okay," Ye-jin answered, though Bin could hear the struggle in her voice. "It's the moving that's really bad."

"Alright, let's work on managing that pain then, okay? Because we can't risk complications with you being in bed all the time. We need to get your lungs working too so we can get you off the oxygen."

"Okay, Doc," she politely replied.

The nurses changed the dressing on her back while the doctor gave an order for an extra dose of pain medication before rolling her back. Once they were finished, they carefully log rolled her onto her back again, the pain still making her grimace. She closed her eyes again and took a couple of deep breaths in to calm herself down.

After all the nurses left her room, Ye-jin immediately held her hand out to Bin, which he took and softly kissed.

"I'm okay," she reassured him with a smile when she read the expression on his face. "Nothing I can't handle."