fourth ☕✨ text (AMA! un: mercy)

[cadeuces]

Hello, Lunatia! I hope this finds you all well. I'm Dr. Angela Ziegler, if we've yet to have the pleasure. The doctor who owns the Second Nature (Free) Clinic on the beach in level 2.

I have seen a lot of new faces of late and quite the number of questioning entries, as well as some other Q&As, so I thought that I would offer one a little more... medically professional? And from someone who has been here for a year, now.

I'm sure it is quite disorienting here at times and I would like to offer some peace of mind and an open venue to ask anything you'd like, whether it's about this place or its changes, pre-existing medical concerns, how to administer a massage for a partner, what goes into cybernetics, creating a swedish torch as the weather warms up for hiking, or even simply just coffee shop recommendations. Everyone is welcome to try me.

If even posting anonymously is a bit too much, you are free to contact me privately as well.


( ooc: "trauma surgeon, combat medic, former CMO of a peacekeeping organization, prosthetics/cybernetics specialist, and coffee aficionado, AMA!" time! why is blizzard like this she's so much... please feel free to private lock replies to assume messaging her on the side, remember your content warnings in subject titles for Risky Business topics, ask others' permission before threadjacking, and go wild! )

Comments

[cadeuces]

( His leg was made well; very likely in the hopes he'd still be growing, already adjustable, but certainly not to the extent he may need. A few inches, sure, but not much more. Not entire feet of length. He is quiet but she can see he's taking every word in with care, but she worries about an excess of weight on the wooden base if he's going to grow so big. She's seen some truly large changes in people here, so her tone stays kind as he asks for clarification and what she's looking for, tense as he is. She can feel it in him from the slightest drag against her hands holding that leg over her thigh and the line of his limbs going taut, glancing up to meet his eyes. )

While the metal is just fine, the wooden base here gives me some pause— it can only bear so much weight before it would split, if you end up changing too significantly, and it would depend on the structure inside for whether or not you would injure yourself further. With weight on top of a prosthetic like this, or even superficial ones, skin is an organ that needs to breathe. Sores could form, callouses, it could strain on scar tissue and cause complications— if you've had this for a while, it's good to be sure you're all right. And I'm curious to see if the prosthetic itself is removable or if it was fused in place.

( So she'll look for his permission to have a look around, scarring from the rend of claws or some similar sort of force mended well but still like to show in bits of halted fur growth— if he gives her the go ahead, that's all she's going to look at, nails gentle where they sift the fur around and she gets to peer at the skin beneath. She isn't going to ask after what had happened, by who— she's just concerned with the typical complications and care that she's spent the last decade studying, herself.

If he isn't comfortable, she won't nudge him any further. But he commends her experience instead, saying how easily he'd trust her, and she offers him just an easy of a smile when she looks back up. )

So long as you know I'll always do my best by you, if you ever need the help. I'll be here. Did you have any questions?

[disasdeer]

[ Oh - that makes sense. He does his best to relax, but it's not super successful. He'll blame his instinct on it, of course. It's nothing she's done to make him think he should be tense around her. Any touch there brings him back to the night, and he has to steel himself to focus on her. It keeps him from thinking about it. He nods. ]

It's removable. I usually take it off when I sleep. You can take a look.

[ Permission given easily and freely. It's strange, really, that he takes it off as he sleeps. That herbivore instinct runs deep in him, and taking off the leg as he sleeps means he can't act on it suddenly. He watches her, nodding. ]

I don't.

[cadeuces]

( It's fair enough' traumatic injuries are exactly that. Trauma is a difficult thing to get over and she can see by the color of the scar tissue that it really hasn't been all that long for him. Less than a year, if she were to guess. More than a few months back. Even those who expect grievous injury and the likely chance of ending up with prosthetics due to the nature of their jobs or missions have difficulty accepting them and growing used to others handling them.

So she's gentle, once given permission, and she eases the base free and has a look at the remainder of his leg just barely reaching her knee to rest on before studying the inside of the prosthetic.

Hmm... One quick improvement, perhaps. She gives his leg a little pat and eases it from her knee so she can stand, flitting into one drawer— no, the next down— there we go, and producing a length of silicone, speaking all the while to him. )

It looks like you healed very well; still, I always worry about scar tissue strain, and sometimes it knots up on people well after its healed. I have something else to use as an insert for comfort that will help mitigate that.

( She removes the felted padding from his prosthetic base and copies it to length with the silicone, and takes a few minutes to meld it into a cup to insert right back in. She'll wander back over and resume her seat while fussing with the fit, but she'll gesture for his leg again to replace it, and hand him the old pad. )

Let's give this a go; it's silicone. It will hold up far longer and be gentler on you. And it should feel more comfortable. This material is often used in assisting healing since it regulates well, perforated like this— it can wick away moisture or keep it closer, depending, and helps scar tissue remain supple. But if you don't have any questions, I have what I need, so you're free to go, Louis. I'll contact you again here in a couple of days when I finish the rod adjustment so we can get that installed for you.

( He's offered a hand to get back on his feet, and she'll look to him expectantly for how the new insert feels, curious. )

[disasdeer]

[ He's quiet, mostly, observant. He takes in what she is doing. She's right to understand why he hesitates. His spontaneous decisions that led this path meant that he never meant to have to need a prosthetic. It has been a major adjustment, a big shift in his life. But, he trusts her well enough, at least as a professional. And she hasn't given him a reason to go back on this trust. He takes the insert and pockets it.

When he stands, he shifts his weight between his right - prosthetic - and left foot. He seems to be checking for feel. It's amazing such a simple thing did all of the things she's describing. It is a small bit more comfortable, even.

He bends at the knee, shifting a little. ]

I don't have any questions. The functionality is the most important part to me.

[ He takes a couple steps and seems to have no issues. ]

Thank you.

[ He'll be on his way, then. ]