Nikki looked down at the red fluffy sitting on the big steel table in the middle of the med bay.
“Right, Jaime. Let me explain how this is going to work. Your leggies are messed up. They didn’t heal correctly. So, to fix them, we have to break them again, put you in casts, and let them heal straight.”
“Wan’ gib Jaime huwties fow fix weggies?!”, Jaime replied. His eyes were as big as saucers.
“Ah, no, I don’t want to actually hurt you. Let me show you.”
Nikki pulled out a tablet and loaded up the X-rays of Jaime’s legs.
“OK, this is inside your good leggie. That white stick is your femur; your leggie bone. These are your other leggies. You see how the bone is bent instead of straight?”
“Jaime see cwooked weggies.”
“OK, so what we’re going to do is make it so you can’t feel any hurties. Then I’m going to break the bone at the bent part. Then we put special… uh… boots on your legs to keep them straight and let you walk. You will have to walk funny, and you’ll be sore. But I promise no worstest hurties.”
“Wiww Jaime be abew tu wun 'gain?”
“Yes, I think so. Probably not like you did before, but definitely better than now.”
“Jaime unna’stand. An’ Jaime twust doctuh Nikki. Am nice wady. Hewp aww da fwuffies, nu mattah what.”
“I do my best, homey.”
“Jaime am weady for… opewashun?”
“You got it. And good news! Florence will be here the whole time. And we have a special guest today!”
Reaching down the the floor, Nikki lifts Cloudberry on to the table.
“Hewwo Jaime! Cwoudy am hewping!”
“Hewwo Cwoudy! Cwoudy wan’ be nuwse fwuffy?”
“Cwoudy dunno. Wan’ twy wots. Hab gud mummah, an’ wan babbehs when am big fwuffy, but nu wan’ aww da babbehs wike Cwoudy mummah!”
“She’s not sure she wants to be a breeing mare like Paprika. Understandable. That takes a lot of energy and dedication that not every fluffy has.”
“Cwoudy wan’ twy be teachah wiff Jaime aftew twy be nuwsie fwuffy?”
Cloudy hopped in place with excitement.
“Cwoudy wub tu! Wan’ hewp fwuffies wike Jaime! Cwoudbewwy wub hewp fwuffies, bu’ nu am suwe wha’ Cwoudbewwy am bestest at!”, the adolecent filly replied.
“Cwoudbewwy am smawt fwuffy. Cwoudy wiww fin’ bestest… uh… speciawty!”
“That’s very kind of you to say, Jaime. OK, let’s get you prepped. I’m sorry but I’ll need to shave your leggies. We don’t want fluff getting inside while I operate. But don’t worry, it’ll grow back under your casts.”
“Jaime nu wowwy abou’ fwuff. Jaime hab wots ob fwuff. Onwy hab fouw weggies!”
Working with Florence, Nikkie made sure Jaime was comfortable. She affixed a facemask to his muzzle while Flornce chatted with him to keep him relaxed. Cloudberry sat by her side, quietly observing how Florence remained calm and professional, while keeping her caring side front and center.
After a few seconds, Jaime was out cold.
Joanna, Jaime’s mate, and their foals had their own safe room. They were waiting for his return after his leg repair was completed. Scott was keeping them company along with Treasure. Joanna didn’t like being away from her special friend, but she understood that this was important to Jaime. He’d sacrificed so much for the herd, and getting the ability to run, much less walk without pain was important to him.
“Right. Let’s get started.”
Nikki splayed Jaime’s legs around his body, and strapped each in place to keep it from moving while she worked.
The procedure itself was straight forward. Jaime was fully grown, so she didn’t need to worry about any sort of breakaway cast to account for growth. And she could pin his femurs safely as well.
She shaved the first leg with an electric trimmer, followed by a close shave with a disposable razor. With the surface free of fluff, she scrubbed it clean with alcohol.
The disinfected flesh was ready for her to get to work.
As Florence and Cloudberry watched, Nikki used a scalpel to open up Jaime’s leg flesh. Carefully parting the muscle, she was able to quickly expose the crooked bone. Using a rotary tool with a saw blade, she deftly worked her way through the bone. Completing the separation, she then switched to a drill tip and bored in to either end of the split femur.
“Right, Florence, you’ve seen worse than this. Cloudy, you’re looking a little green, but good on you for sticking with us.”
Florence smiled, used to seeing the insides of fluffies as a nurse. Cloudy’s eyes showed her concern and horror, but also fascination. She was wrapping her head around the idea of “helpy-hurties”.
Grabbing a pair of titanium pins, Nikki slid them in to the end of the bone, and then attached the ends. Double checking things were nice and straight, Nikki moved the muscle tissue back in to place, and stitched the leg closed.
Repeating the same procedure on the remaining two deformed legs, Jaime’s surgery was complete without any complications.
“OK Florence, please slide that tub over here.” Florence did as she was asked, and Nikki removed the gauze, splints, and fiberglass wrapping from the tub. Working each leg, Jaime was secured in three leg casts.
Unstrapping his hooves, Nikki carefully lifted Jaime from the table. “Right ladies, let’s get our brave boy home.”
Florence and Cloudberry carefully made their way down the stepladder at the edge of the table and followed Nikki as she carried Jaime to his safe room, and more importantly, his awaiting family.
An hour later, Jaime was awake.
“Weggies hab huwties. Bu’ not wowstest huwties.” he said, still groggy.
“Yup, you’ll definitely be sore. But that’ll go away. You guys heal fast, and we have some painki… Uh, not using those words. We have some no-hurties medicine that’s safe for you. Here you go, chew on these.” Nikki held out her hand, containing some brightly colored candy-looking things.
“Am medicine? Smeww nice.”
“Yup, fluffy-safe chewable aspirin.”
Jaime gobbled down the pills, pulling a face as the medicine smelled much better than it tasted.
“That should work fast, too. I’m staggered by how fast you guys metabolize drugs, especially with how weak your gut is normally.”
Jaime and Joanna gave Nikki a confused look. “Nothing to worry about, fluffs. The important thing is in a few weeks you’ll be able to run again. And more importantly, just walk without hurting.”
“Fank 'ou doctuh Nikki. Am bestest fwuffy doctuh!”, Jaime told her.
“And you were a very good patient.”, she replied.
Jaime got used to walking in his casts quickly, but his stumping around caused more than one outbreak of laughter around Little Miracles as he thumped his way through the halls.
hope he recovers fast.