Medical Perspectives
Treating the Symptom. Remembering the Problem
Yomi had been summoned back to the hospital. It was not an odd occurrence, given the staffing situation at the hospital. What was odd about it was that the message said urgent with no other details. A message like that had never come her way and it intrigued her.
As she got to the hospital, she was approached by a nurse who handed her the chart of the patient that she was to attend to. Yomi eyed it, noting that the vitals were taken but nothing else. A note was scribble on the top of the page in big bold letters, indicating what the attending nurse assumed happened. Yomi looked at the nurse who was frowning.
“Where is she?” Yomi asked in an even tone. The nurse stated that she put the patient on the general floor, with less traffic, closest to her office. It was a good call.
“Did she say anything?” The nurse said no, and stepped out of Yomi’s way, indicating that she had nothing left to tell her.
Yomi had not come across this kind of patient before and immediately cursed Yuri for taking an extended leave of absence. Would she have known what to do in this situation?
Yomi took the long way to the general floor, devising a strategy that would best suit her style and the needs of the patient. It was useless though, seeing as she wouldn’t know what to do without more information. She knocked on the closed door before entering, a nurse was in the room, who exited at the sight of the Medical Chief. Yomi thought she saw a hint of relief on the woman’s face as she entered, leaving the weight of the situation only in the Chief’s hands. Perks of the job it seemed.
A raven-haired girl with bright blue eyes laid still in the hospital bed, staring at Yomi. The doctor closed the door behind her and stood in the uncomfortable silence. One of her eyes were bruised shut, her lip swollen and busted open. From what Yomi could tell, she was very young, at most twelve years old. The Doctor looked back at the chart, and all her information was left blank. The nurse did mention that the patient had not spoken. She would have to be the one to introduce herself.
“Hello Miss… I’m Yomi and I’ll be your attending physician.” Yomi gave a small smile, unsure if it was appropriate to do so in this situation. The little girl blinked at Yomi, a tear streamed down her face.
“You’re so beautiful…” The little girl said, her voice raspy, like a sound a voice made when someone had been choked. The Doctor furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but, decided to go on with her questions.
“I’d like to ask you some questions so we can get a better understanding of what happened to you. It seems that you are capable of speaking, just not to my nurses.” The little girl was still crying which seemed to have intensified after Yomi had spoken. She could stand to work on her bedside manner a bit. The Doctor moved closer to the bed, and sat at the edge, careful not to sit on her patient.
“What’s your name?” She asked. The little girl, who never took her eyes off Yomi, replied through the tears.
“Emi.” Yomi jotted that down.
“Why are you crying, Emi?” It may have seemed a stupid question but the nurse only could go off assumptions about what happened to the girl since she hadn’t spoken.
The girl reached and grabbed Yomi’s hand and clutched it and sobbed harder. Yomi, uneasy around overt displays of emotion wanted to pull away, but she didn’t. It was apparent that the girl was traumatized by something and if she pulled away now, she might not get any answers to the questions she sought. She waited for a while, allowing the girl to gather herself, before she would continue on with her questions. As she opened her mouth to speak, Emi responded to her.
“I failed…” Emi stated.
“At what?”
“Following your great example.” Yomi was completely dumbstruck. She didn’t know what this little girl was on about and would note that the girl would have to had her head examined.
“What do you mean?” Yomi would go along with this.
“My mother and my sisters…we pray to you every night. I came here to find you…we all read the 1st Disciples’ books. I knew where to look, but, I was not fast enough. They caught me before I could reach the gate and left me to die. I passed out, and when I woke up I was here. And now, here you are…It’s true that you don’t change. There are many depictions of you in our home.” Emi smiled weakly at Yomi who was still holding the little girls hand. Yomi had not come across a follower of hers in quite some time. With all that had been going on in her village life, she hadn’t done any spreading of the word. It disturbed her to meet someone who followed her, under these circumstances.
“I see.” Yomi placed Emi’s chart down and turned to face her more.
“Do not think that you have failed me, you live, as I have done, when they had meant to kill me. That is my example and hope for all the lost Daughters. To seek me out, is what you have done and my presence is your reward for surviving. Remember the tenets of Rei state that your life belongs to me that is Rei. I say when you shall rest and you are still needed here.”
Emi smiled and nodded her head in understanding, appeased that her Goddess acknowledged her.
“But, I have to give you an examination. Would you allow that?” Goddess or not, she still had to follow the protocols since the child was admitted while she was not there. Had this been a private admission or something like what happened with the Hokage, Yomi would have treated the girl secretly and let her be on her way.
Emi nodded in agreement and allowed Yomi to perform a thorough examination. Yomi, quite upset over the whole ordeal, would move quickly through this part. She walked over to the sink and washed her hands before snapping on some gloves. She helped Emi scoot her bottom to the edge of the bed and began her exam.
“Have you ever had this kind of exam before?” Yomi asked in an even tone.
“No,” Emi replied, “I’m 10.”
“I see. Well, I’m going to talk you through everything I am going to do. If anything hurts, let me know and I’ll stop. Anything you are uncomfortable with, let me know and I’ll stop. Ok?” Yomi waited until Emi answered before she would continue.
Secretly, she had hoped that Emi would say no, but she knew that she wouldn’t. She had talked to Yomi when she hadn’t spoken to anyone else. She had revealed to Yomi that she was a follower of hers, so why wouldn’t she let her God examine her? Pressing on Emi’s lower abdomen, the little girl winced, her body reflexively jerked away from her.
“I need you to be still, Emi, ok?” It was easy for the Doctor to say, she wasn’t the one being poked and prodded.
Yomi told Emi she was going to peek under sheet. Emi was taking this far better than Yomi was. A soft spot for little girls indeed. Looking under the sheet, she was disgusted by what she saw. The little girl was bruised and torn to such a degree that Yomi couldn’t hope to continue the physical part of the examination without tormenting her further. The Doctor came from under the sheet and smiled at Emi, who was covering her face.
“Emi…” Yomi said. “I’m finished with this part but I have to take an X-Ray.”
“X-Ray?”
“Yes, it’s like a picture, but, of your insides.” Emi nodded in apparent understanding and removed her hands from her face. The mobile X-Ray machine was set up in the room already, so Yomi set up the room and the machine to get what she needed. Once she was finished, she called a nurse to have them submitted.
As she waited for the nurse to return, Emi and Yomi discussed her family and how Emi hoped that her mom didn’t think she ran away. She was sent to gather some medicinal herbs and was kidnapped by some people who wanted to sell her. When she had heard the kidnappers say they were close to Konohagakure, she knew she had to escape to find Yomi for help and protection. Emi managed to escape but was apprehended a few days later. She was then told that she would be an example to the others who were thinking about escaping. They did unmentionable things to her and left her for dead.
Because of the gravity of the situation the X-Rays came back rather quickly. To Yomi’s dismay, it seemed that Emi’s insides had been displaced do to the trauma. She would need surgical intervention.
“Emi, I can heal you up, but, I need to do a surgery first. It doesn’t take long, but, I need your permission to do it. You can leave for home tomorrow, with an escort, if you choose.”
“Yes please.” Yomi nodded and went to send a nurse to prepare a room for surgery. Yomi walked the short distance to her office to gather her thoughts. Had it been anyone else, she was sure she would be approaching this as normally as ever, but, it was a little girl. What was worse, the people who did this did not have the decency to make sure they killed her. Yomi that was Rei, was not a placating Goddess. She was a veritable storm exacting judgment on those she wanted to judge, providing no rhyme or reason to what she did. But the virtuous feeling of saving Emi was strong within her, clashing with what she knew Rei to be.
Before she could completely mull over the situation, the Nurse came back to let her know that the room was prepped and that they were in the process of moving the young girl. Yomi nodded and followed the nurse out of the room. She scrubbed up was helped into gloves and some scrubs with an appropriate mask. Her task was simple, she would have to move the girl’s uterus back into place. Although surgery was a word that she shouldn’t have used, it was as invasive as surgery, as she had to do it manually.
“Count a loud to me to 100 and don’t be afraid.” Yomi worked out some hand seals and conjured up a single Medical Assistant. She then cast her blessing upon Emi. A pure white light enveloped Yomi and the little girl. Emi, who had started counted, became awed by it. It took concentration, so the accompanying Nurse, talked Emi through the instructions of what she needed to do, while the Medical Assistant performed the manual adjustment of her insides. Emi was so distracted by the light and the instructions that she didn’t react in any discomfort, which was good, because there was no way to sedate her.
The Goddess waited until she saw no more injuries before she stopped. Emi blinked and sat up in amazement. She felt her eye that had been closed shut back to normal. Her busted lip, back down to a normal size. Hoping out of the bed, she rushed to wrap her arms around her waist, giving Yomi a huge hug. Unsure of how to appropriately respond to a hug from a child, she just pat Emi’s head. Her role in adult situations was clear and appropriate etiquette with dealing with them. Not so much with children.
Emi released Yomi and dropped to her knees in prayer.
Earthly Goddess, bound here by marrow and blood, I beseech you
Bring forth your word to the blind, to the deaf, and to the ignorant so that they too may heed the divine call
Earthly Goddess, built by perfection and protected in blood, we offer you our daughters, so they may too be shielded by your divine wisdom
Bring forth you word in pools of crimson by force and fire
Earthly Goddess, heard by Rei, that is you, may you hear us too
By your blessing
The nurse looked at Yomi and then to the little girl and walked out of the room in confusion. Yomi smiled, and asked Emi to rise.
“It’s alright, my child. As I’ve said, you have been shielded already. Take comfort in that. Sons of the Beguiled did this to you, remember, they too have been led astray...”The Goddess paused.
“I have a mission for you.”
Emi’s eyes lit up in anticipation. It was not every day that one met their true God and was set on a mission by them.
“Return home. See to your family and let them know you are safe. Then when you gather them and you tell them what happened. You tell them your prayers had been answered. Then you gather your sisters and you train. In four year’s time, you’ll be able to go out and hunt those who’ve hurt you and so many other Daughters. You will sacrifice them to Rei, in my name. Do you understand?” Emi nodded. Four was a very important number in the faith, as Emi would know it lent itself to the four acts of contrition that Yomi had completed.
“For now, you rest here. The nurses will see to you for the remainder of your stay. When it’s time to leave, you will be escorted home with a personal guard of mine.” Yomi’s only personal guard was Besito, and Asuka by extent, but she wouldn’t send Asuka at all. Besito was fast enough and imposing enough to keep people at bay and get Emi away by way of back ride. Emi would have to lead him, but he could take direction well enough. His only issue was that he could only speak by bark.
Emi got up from the floor and hugged Yomi again. A far cry from the tearful little girl she meant when she got there. That was enough for Yomi to be satisfied with the outcome.
[Topic Entered/Left]
[WC: 2,399 Status: Complete]
