(Day 2, LE, Storage) It's Time to Heal

[Karlotta Roth]

"How your blood flows. Basically, it flows because of your heartbeats. When your heart beats, it is actually throwing out the blood that came from your body and sending it to your lungs, or from your lungs and sending it to the remaining of your body. The blood doesn't enter your lungs, it is because around the lungs there are veins too. Anyway, for your blood to go through your entire body and come back, it needs to be traveling very fast. Do you know what pressure is?"

She took out her lantern. "By the way, look at me." She checked the size of his pupils, compared them to each other. "I will see how they react to light by turning on the lantern. This may blind you for some seconds."

[Comstar]

"Uh, ok, interesting."

Then she flicked on the light. "Woah!"

His body seemed to be in pretty good shape, all things considered. He shouldn't get up and run around, or do anything remotely strenuous, but so long as he was very careful, he seemed liable to make a mostly recovery.

"I mean, I know what pressure is - I'm not dumb. It's when you squeeze something."

[Karlotta Roth]

"When you squish something you are making pressure, it isn't pressure by itself. Pressure is when..." She stops to type down the data. "Anyway, pressure is when force is applied to an area. The greater the force is the greater the pressure. The smaller the area is, the greater is the pressure. This is why if press a needle against your skin it makes a hole easily, but it is much harder to make a hole on your skin by pressing a brick."

[Comstar]

"Brick still hurts though."

It was very insightful.

"I guess I get it. What about it though?"

[Karlotta Roth]

She chuckled. "So I will now take your blood pressure. It is the pressure of your blood against the walls of the most important veins on your body, so it is named pressure because it is a force against an area. When your heart beats, it throws a lot of blood on high velocity, and your arteries take the impact. It's why they pulse as well."

She wraps the inflatable cuff against his arm. "This won't hurt. It's also the last thing I need to do." She says, holding the stethoscope disc with one hand and pumping the cuff with another.

[Comstar]

He nodded, and was relatively still - perhaps because moving was painful.

It was hard to say.

His pulse was a bit weak, but it was steady, so that was a positive sign.

[Karlotta Roth]

"You are weak, but you can recover well with rest and proper care. Don't try to do anything harsh like running or lifting heavy things."

[Comstar]

"I'm not weak!"

He coughed, winced, and then said, "Ok... maybe I am. I don't want to be - will it be like this forever?"

[Karlotta Roth]

"To be honest, your muscles where you took one of the shots — she points to the stitches — may never be the same again."

[Comstar]

"Dang."

He stared at the floor, trying to compose himself.

"Damn."