From: ephemeral@ephemeralfic.org Date: 31 Jul 2007 06:40:52 -0000 Subject: Gut Wrenched by Pattie Source: direct Reply To: patfiler@hotmail.com Title: Gut Wrenched Author: Pattie Rated: PG-13 for pain and suffering. Category: MT, ST, SC, Story, MSR Spoilers: None, but choose Season 6 or 7 for the MSR Factor. Summary: Do you know what numerous injuries and heavy lifting can do to a guy? Mulder does now! Archive: Gossamer, MIJ. I do the rest of my posting and there's always Pattie's Pocketful Of X-Fics. Feedback: Always warmly welcomed and appreciated: patfiler@hotmail.com. Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully belong to Chris Carter, Ten Thirteen productions and Fox Studios. Dr. Greaves and the nurse were my idea. This is a non-profit homage to our fine friends on The X-Files with no intention to violate copyright laws. Author's Note: This story is dedicated to my father, who had a hernia in his sixties, and to a friend of our family who is currently awaiting a second hernia repair surgery. Also, to a woman I met 16 years ago who suffered a hernia by bearing a beautiful baby girl who is now about 17-years-old. The Camden case had been a horrible series of murders, alley chases and finally the hostage situation with Scully at the hands of a cocaine mad lunatic, and as Mulder sat at his desk still reeling from the sight of Scully lying of the warehouse floor gagged and bound, he was remembering all too well how he carried her to the outside of the building after noticing the smell of natural gas. He had gotten to her just in time. Good thing he hadn't shot the SOB or the place would have blown. Agent Jones had the guy handcuffed and out of the place before that could happen. Why was his right side so sore? He had no fever, no nausea or other symptoms, but felt terrible in the past few mornings. It had been three weeks since they had apprehended Paul Camden. At least Scully had fully recovered, although she was still somewhat bruised. Scully walked into the office noticing Mulder staring at his desk blotter. "You okay, Mulder?" "Huh? Oh, yeah. Just still a little sore from all that fun and games we had with Camden." Scully sighed and sat down. "Well, I can't say I'm totally flesh tone in some places, but I'm getting there." "See? We're both getting old." "No, Mulder. We're just not invincible. Now, can we just get to work on this maintenance request, which I must admit is rather lengthy so we can go home at a decent hour?" FOUR DAYS LATER Mulder personally went to pick up office supplies and carried a large box of printer paper down the hallway. There was a sudden, sharp, nasty pull on that side of his that had been bothering him for some time. He felt breathless, dropped the box, and keeled over in pain in the basement hallway. Within a few minutes a cleaner noticed his discomfort, recognized the agent, and had Scully there very quickly. GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTRE EMERGENCY ROOM TWO HOURS LATER Mulder sat perched atop an exam table, gowned and under the influence of a painkiller as he and Scully awaited the results of an internist's assessment. Scully stood and greeted the physician. "Dr. Greaves? What's my partner's condition?" She already had her suspicions, but wasn't about to say anything. "Well, it looks like we have quite a ventral or epigastric hernia." Mulder moaned. "Lie down," Scully advised him. "A what!?" "You have an outcropping of your intestine through a rupture in the muscle wall. We're going to need to operate to put the intestine back where it belongs and seal up the rupture." Mulder put his hand over his eyes. "So you're going to stitch me up, and I won't be able to do much anymore because I had an old neighbour whose hernia stitches, and I know this, they had to be repaired every so often whenever they became undone or the muscles were overly contracted." Dr. Greaves and Scully smiled. Scully whispered, "Uh, no, Mulder. These days there are better methods of hernia repair. You could be out of here in two days, if you eat what you're told to and rest up." "Dr. Scully's right. What we want to do is insert a mesh around the muscle wall after we put the intestine back in place using staples. It's the newer technique for hernia repair. How do you feel right now?" "Kinda nauseous, cramps, the attention's kind of nice, though." "That's to be expected due to the pressure inside there. Just be thankful it isn't an inguinal hernia." "The groin, Mulder." "I know," he groaned. "Scully, I have heard what that type if thing is. More painful than probably giving childbirth to your average ten-pounder." "That's right!" Greaves laughed. "With your insurance, we'll have you prepped, knocked out and fixed up within a few hours. Now, I'd advise you to stay on your back until the gurney arrives." "On, he will," Scully stated, eyeing Mulder sternly. "Even if I have to force the issue." After a minute or so passed as Scully sat watching over her partner, he quipped, "You women sure are lucky. You don't get hernias.' Scully managed a small smile. "This time I can prove you wrong, Mulder." "Don't tell me you've had a hernia," he said with that patented yet adorable deadpan tone. "Well, no. However, women DO suffer hernias. Perhaps not the ones men often manage to strain themselves to create in their groins, but there are certain areas of the abdomen and thorax that these things can develop even in females. Heavy lifting, the stress of childbirth, straining to have a bowel..." The nausea was increasing, it seemed. "Okay, I get the message. You're right. It's just one thing I hadn't heard of before." Scully patted Mulder on the shoulder. "That's okay. Just one thing you hadn't heard of before. Sheesh, Mulder! You CAN'T know everything. None of us can. Just hurry up and get better so we can get that desk cleared off. Your desk." "You're enjoying this, aren't you, Scully?" Now the painkiller was wearing off and he flinched. "Fun's over, Mulder. Here comes the pre-op. squad." *** VIEWING AREA OPERATING ROOM Scully look on from above as she watched the operation on camera. For a moment, she actually had that yearning of long ago to be the surgeon and practice her craft. Her art. Then her thoughts turned back her Mulder's conditions, and she watched as Dr. Greaves and his colleagues set went over her partner's vital signs and made their first incision. Meticulously they reinserted the intestine where it should be inside the muscles of the peritoneum, and gently placed an inert and sterile mesh over the muscle wall. This was a new method, and designed to cause less muscle tension and possible recurrence of hernia than previous methods of methodically stitching layers of muscle, only to possible need to replace them in ten percent of patients months or years later. Scully marvelled at the most recent literature she had read and thought of all the injuries Mulder had sustained in the line of duty as well as his search for 'The Truth.' The search for his sister as well. The fact that this type of surgery nowadays only took minutes fascinated her. However, she did wonder if there would be any future concerns about the hernia site. Within minutes the small incision was closed and Mulder was wheeled into recover with his intravenous pole, to which he had referred to as friend "old buddy" just before surgery. Scully waited patiently as he slept and a happy tear ran down her cheek. Fox Mulder, 'Spooky', was going to come out of this all right. The heart monitor read within normal range, his breathing was steady with the oxygen tube still inserted, and it would be just a matter of time before he would awaken. As soon as he awoke, Scully summoned the nurse and the breathing tube was removed. "Hey, Mulder." "Hey yourself." "Don't try to talk. Just rest. You're going to need it for a while." Scully looked through the window as the night sky began it's appearance. "It's a nice, clear, warm night, and you're stuck here. I just can't help but sense someone's watching over you." A little smile crept over Mulder's face. "I can't imagine who." Dr. Greaves had heard that Mulder had regained consciousness and entered Recovery with his file. "Well, it looks like everything's right where it should be, Agent Mulder." "So that means he'll be going home in a couple of days?" Scully asked hopefully. Greaves smiled. "With this procedure, he can go home in a matter of hours. All he needs is some bed rest and I'd keep him from doing any heavy lifting or crime solving for about three weeks. No need to even book a bed here." That surprised Scully. She hadn't even read that far before the operation had been completed. "Oh! Well, that's great! I didn't realize Mulder's stay would be so short." Mulder's grin widened. "See, Scully, even you don't know EVERYTHING." "No," she sheepishly replied. "But I'm warning you: If I catch you not following doctor's orders, I may have to sit on you." "That can be arranged," her partner chuckled. "Or shoot you." "Again?" "Okay, people. I'll just leave you two to your, uh, FBI 'business' and it's been a long day." The doctor left the room quickly as the stars finally shone brightly in the sky. Three weeks later, Mulder was his same old self, and the friendly chiding and banter has never stopped. Nor will it. After all, no one can know everything. END