LONG TERM INJURY
In the spring of 2007 Ponderosa ranch owner Ben Cartwright had hired 2 hands who were not really willing to follow up orders. Especially the eldest of the 2, Frank, went to do what he wanted. His younger brother Miles liked to pester especially younger people.
Already on their 1st day of work Miles saw the eldest grandson of Ben, Mitch, on the porch. The lazy hand walked to him and gave him a push.
“What is the matter?”, asked Mitch.
“You must help us with something”, lied Miles.
“With what then?”, Mitch asked distrusted.
“Just come along”, Miles said who began to become very impatient.
Finally the young Cartwright went along. Though he gave a sign of distrust to his little brother Benji. Fortunately Miles didn’t see this.
Frank already stood waiting with a tame horse.
“Mitch, we don’t know how to break a horse. You live here all your life. Just show us how it must be done”, said Miles.
“You are cowboys, aren’t you? Then you also know how you must break a horse”, reacted Mitch.
“We are older and so more fragile than you are. That’s why you must do it”, said Frank.
He threw Mitch on the back of the horse and Miles gave the animal a hard push. Mitch fell off of the horse right away and ended up very unfortunate on his left thumb. The brothers laughed but the young Cartwright vowed for revenge. Mitch got up and walked back to the yard where his big uncle Hoss just came outside.
“Mitchy, what has happened?”, he asked right away.
His nephew answered, ”Those 2 new hands, 2 brothers, said that I had to break their already broken horse. I fell off that horse and injured my thumb. Can’t grandpa fire them?”
Hoss checked the thumb and said, ”That doesn’t look too well. First we go to tell this all to grandpa, after that to the doctor’s and if you are really good you get a milkshake on me in the end.”
“Uncle Hoss, you probably have forgotten that I’m always sweet and good”, reacted his nephew.
“That was you. How can I forget that now?”, Hoss asked amazed and teasing.
“Probably the age”, was the dry remark of Mitch.
They went inside the ranch house. Ben saw at once what the matter was and walked to his eldest grandchild. Mitch told what had happened. The rancher also saw the injured thumb. His eldest son Adam also heard everything.
He said, ”Mitch, we go to the doctor now.”
Father and son Cartwright went straight to Virginia City.
“Pa, must I handle them or do you do that?”, asked Hoss.
“You do that and tell them right away that this is their last day of work at this ranch”, answered Ben.
“They are working here since today”, reacted Hoss.
Ben said, “That’s what I mean.”
Hoss shrugged his shoulders and went to fire the 2 new ones. On the yard he saw his younger brother Little Joe. He told him what he had to do of Ben and what he was up to.
“I help you”, Joe said spontaneous.
Frank and Miles were lying on the ground laughing when Hoss and Joe came to stand behind them with 2 buckets with ice cold water.
“What is that Mitch Cartwright such a loser”, laughed Frank.
Miles said, ”He lives at a big ranch, is even the heir and can’t even break a horse.”
They laughed even harder until they both got an ice cold shower.
“Why did you do that?”, Frank asked angry.
“Then you shouldn’t have been pestering our nephew. By the way hereby you are fired”, said Hoss.
“Glad too. Are you coming Frank?”, asked Miles.
His brother nodded. They got up and went away at once. Hoss and Joe walked back home satisfied.
Meanwhile Adam and Mitch drove to Virginia City. The young Cartwright was in a lot of pain and moaned softly.
At the first Aid Adam told what had happened. Nurse Wilson gave him an inform paper to let Mitch be treated.
When Adam gave back the in filled paper the nurse said, ”There is the waiting room. Doctor Parker will call you.”
The Cartwrights took a seat and waited for their turn.
Doctor Parker received the Cartwrights in his surgery and asked, ”What can I do for you?”
“I fell off a horse and ended up very unfortunately on my thumb”, told Mitch.
The doctor looked at the thumb and hand very long and said after that, ”It’s only bruised. There must be bandages around it and then it’s healed after a month.”
A moment later Mitch left the 1st Aid with a wrist and hand in bandages and Adam without.
After the Cartwrights had left Doc Steve Parker disappeared too. His plan was a success and seeing the injury of Mitch that of his sons too.
At the ranch Mitch said Mitch in the kitchen, “Mom, can you also cut my meat? My thumb is bruised.”
“Of course son”, said Sally.
Mitch showed his hand and wrist.
“Prepare yourself for a lot of teasing of your father and uncles”, warned Betsy.
“I’m afraid of that too. And then Candy will join them too probably”, reacted her nephew.
Sally said, “Mitch, I know you and your family for almost 7 years and know how you are with teasing. If the gentlemen make it too bad let me and aunty Betsy know.”
“Alright mom”, said Mitch.
The teasing of course didn’t stay away. But only after Mitch had told how he had bruised his thumb. Yet before anything had been said by his sons Ben stepped in right away.
Ben said, “Mitch, first you make sure that your thumb is recovered. Until then your father and uncles must help you with your chores. The more they tease you the more chores they must take over from you.”
The 3 brothers looked at each other amazed.
The boy said smiling, “That’s a good and funny agreement. And that goes for my homework too of course.”
“We help you with your homework. Not that we do it”, said Hoss.
“Then I better can do it alone”, Mitch remarked.
“We keep our fingers crossed”, said Joe.
“With the left hand or the right hand?”, asked Hoss.
They screamed with laughter until Hoss got a hard kick from Betsy under the table.
“Why did you do that now?”, he asked his wife indignant.
“Because you keep on teasing your poor and injured nephew”, answered Betsy.
Mitch reacted with, “That will be sleeping on the settee for 1 person tonight.”
Everybody laughed.
That evening the grownups sat together in the living room when Mitch came in with a very painful face.
“Daddy, may I have a painkiller? My thumb hurts so much”, said the boy.
“of course”, said Adam.
He got up and walked with his eldest to the kitchen where all medications and painkillers were being kept. Adam grabbed a painkiller and a glass of water. Mitch took it in and went back to bed. Adam was visibly worried. Somewhere he knew that this was no ordinary injury. He had seen a bruised thumb before and that of his son wasn’t surely one. Just like Steve Parker was a doctor. The eldest Cartwright boy was certain of that. Only the evidence for it had to be delivered.
A month later.
When Mitch was allowed without bandages the boy still had as much as trouble with his thumb. He was playing on the yard with his brother, sister and cousins. The boy couldn’t hold the ball with his left hand which Adam and Hoss saw.
“Adam, Mitchy is still being bothered by this left thumb”, said Hoss.
“This morning I have phoned the doctor for an appointment. Then Doc Martin can take a look at it”, answered his brother.
Doc Paul Martin examined the painful thumb and heard the story from Mitch.
“Your thumb is not bruised anyway but very damaged. Wear a splint which protects your thumb and return in 4 weeks. In case you still have pain I send you to a specialist. There is an excellent specialist at the San Francisco Memorial Hospital”, said the house doctor.
“Must I wear that splint day and night?”, asked Mitch.
“Yes. It may only be off during washing and showering”, answered Doc Martin.
The splint was made on size and put on by Mitch
“So. Now your thumb will be better soon”, Sylvia Parker said who made the splint.
She said that on a tone like Mitch was 4 instead of 14.
On the way home Mitch said, “If I run into those Parker brothers I kill them. It’s their fault that I walk around with that sore thumb.”
“If you kill them you go to prison for life”, answered Adam.
Mitch knew that too.
To everyone’s amazement the splint helped and after checkup by Sylvia Mitch was allowed without a splint.
Sylvia said, “I am glad that your thumb has recovered so quickly.”
“Me too”, Mitch said quickly.
Though the day after his baseball audition Mitch noticed that the pain in his thumb had returned again.
“Mitch, is it wrong again with your thumb, isn’t it?”, Adam asked carefully during breakfast
He had seen that his eldest son ate his oatmeal with his right hand instead of with his left hand.
Mitch answered, “Yes, the pain has returned again. Yesterday afternoon it didn’t bother me. Perhaps I have just laid wrongly on it last night.”
“Just go to see the doctor later on. Ask for a referral for a specialist”, advised Ben.
“Can you pay that grandpa? I mean my thumb injury already cost a lot of money”
“Can you pay that grandpa? I mean my thumb injury already has cost a lot of money”, Mitch said with hesitation.
“Mitch, don’t you worry about the cost. Your only worry is that you can use your thumb well and normal again”, answered the rancher.
The boy was relieved.
When Doc Martin had examined the thumb again he said, “Mitch, you go to a specialist with your sore thumb. I give you a referral along and the address of that doctor.”
Doc Martin made everything in order and gave it to Adam.
Yet that same day Adam sent a letter to the San Francisco Memorial Hospital.
In his office doctor ‘Trapper’ John McIntyre looked at the medical file of a certain Mitch Cartwright. The boy had been bothered by a painful thumb for several months. Because the doctors in Virginia City couldn’t help him Mitch had been referred to a specialist in San Francisco. The surgeon decided to help the boy. Of course this had big consequences for Mitch and the rest of his family.
On the day of July 12 came the letter of Trapper for Adam which said that the surgeon would operate Mitch.
“Well, that will be travelling up and down between Virginia City and San Francisco. Mitch can be treated in San Francisco”, Adam said after he had read the letter of Trapper.
Ben looked up and suggested, “You know that we have a company there too, Cartwright & Co. There’s also a house of ours on Scott Street at Alamo Square. So you just can go and live there because there is a school for the twins and Mitch too.”
“Pa, Can you miss us then?”, Sally asked carefully.
The rancher answered, “You and Adam yes but not the children.”
Everybody laughed.
“We do want that you come to stay with us late December, early January”, said Adam.
“Why exactly that period?”, Ben wanted to know.
“Well, 1st), due to the birthday of Mitch and 2nd), during that period I must bring our 4th into this world”, answered his pregnant daughter-in-law.
“Of course I come to stay then”, said Ben.
“I come then too”, Joe said quickly.
“Then we come around Christmas with the twins”, said Betsy.
Adam and Sally told their eldest first that they were moving.
“Mitch, we are going to move to San Francisco because it’s better for your recovery. There’s a school for you and I can get work as a baseball coach. Sally just stays at home for the housekeeping”, said Adam.
“Why are you telling me it first?”, asked Mitch.
“Because in fact you are the reason that we go to San Francisco. That’s why we find that you had to know it before Lisa and Benji”, answered Sally.
“Where do we live then?”, was the following question of their son.
“We have a house at Alamo Square”, said Adam.
He noticed that Mitch felt like it and Sally saw that too.
“May I go to san Francisco by train? The 2 smurfs obviously go with you with the car”, said Mitch.
“You are old enough to travel alone so you may go of us”, said Adam.
“When are we going?”, Mitch wanted to know.
“As soon as possible. The twins have to go to school as soon as the new school year starts and you too. Plus your recovery”, said Sally.
Mitch asked amazed, “Do they also have schools over there?”
“Of course they also have schools over there”, answered Adam.
He looked at his son with a look of ‘Are you really so stupid or are you pretending?’
Sally saw through Mitch and said, “Don’t wound up your father so.”
“I hope not that our 4th also becomes like you”, said Adam.
“Which 4th?”, Mitch asked amazed.
“You get a little brother or a little sister in January”, answered Sally.
“That’s a smurfette for sure”, reacted Mitch.
“We only know that in a few weeks time. It can also be a boy”, said Adam.
When Mitch once knew that he would be treated in San Francisco he looked up everything about the town on the Internet. To get the twins involved Mitch helped them to get used to it.
So also that certain afternoon.
“Did you know that in San Francisco is a road which is zigzag?”, asked Mitch.
The 2 looked at their brother unbelievable.
“That road is called Lombard Road. I saw it myself when I was with grandpa and uncle Hoss in San Francisco”, said Mitch.
Still he didn’t get believed. The boy decided to try it on a different way. He showed an own made drawing of Lombard Road.
“What funny. Are we going to live there?”, asked Lisa.
“You must ask daddy and mom”, was the answer of their brother.
The twins ran to Adam and Sally.
“Daddy, momma, are we going to live on that zigzag road in San Francisco?”, asked Benji.
His parents looked questionable at him and Lisa.
“Which zigzag road?”, Adam asked amazed.
“Mitch says that there is a zigzag road in San Francisco. He saw it himself and also made a drawing of it”, Lisa explained.
“You mean Lombard Road. We have a house at Alamo Square there”, was the answer of Sally.
“Are we moving?”, Benji asked worried.
“We only take along which is ours. The rest remains here. The house is ours because we also have a company there in San Francisco. I go to work there, you to school and momma stays at home for the house keeping”, answered Adam.
“We can play there baseball too, can’t we?”, Lisa wanted to know.
“Of course you can. You can go to the home games of the San Francisco Giants”, said Sally.
The twins looked at each other glad.
“Then we certainly will go along”, said Benji.
“We hope that you are glad too with the news that you are getting a little brother of a little sister in January”, told Adam.
Now the twins were silent.
“How do we get a little brother or little sister?”, Lisa asked after a long silence.
“Well, momma keeps on getting bigger, isn’t she? That’s because she is carrying a baby with her”, was the answer of Adam.
“Will the baby be born there?”, asked Benji.
“Yes. We stay there the whole school year. So the baby will be born there”, said Adam.
The moving of the Cartwrights went very well. Adam and Sally took Lisa and Benji by car while Mitch took the train to San Francisco. Because the train trip was shorter Mitch was earlier at the their new house than the others. The boy also had a key so that he could get inside. Mitch inspected the house and saw that the bedrooms were sorted all along. He had gotten the room with sight on the street which he didn’t mind.
When the others came Mitch had already installed himself. He sat on the stone steps in front of the front door. The twins flew to their brother like they haven’t seen each other for years. There was a light romp at the lawn.
“Easy boys. First unload the luggage”, Adam called after a while.
They did that and everything was brought inside.
Two weeks after the move Mitch had to call in for the very first time at the Memorial Hospital for an examination by his surgeon. The boy didn’t know yet what this meeting would be meaning for him and his father. Surgeon Trapper John McIntyre received the boy in his surgery. The doctor recognized something familiar in the boy but didn’t know what. Mitch noticed that somehow he had a connection with his surgeon.
“I am doctor John McIntyre”, said Trapper.
“Mitch Cartwright”, said the young Cartwright.
“Mitch, sit down and tell what the matter is with you”, said Trapper.
“Well, in April I got forced by 2 good-for-nothing lads to break a horse. But 1 of those I fell off the horse and I injured my thumb at a very unlucky way. At the 1st Aid post the doctor said that my thumb was slightly bruised. But that didn’t turned out to be so. Because the doctors back home in Virginia City couldn’t help me they just sent me to here”, told Mitch.
He showed his thumb and Trapper examined the body part.
“Your thumb really isn’t bruised but broken and in the worst case shattered perhaps. I want that you let make x-rays of it and then I discuss with you and your parents how we go on”, said the doctor.
“Alright”, said Mitch.
He kept silent for a moment and said then smiling, “You look like my father a bit. Only you are older and more bald.”
“Thanks for the compliments. Do you still want that I make you better?”, Trapper asked teasing.
“Are there better surgeons than you here at the hospital?”, was the counter-question of Mitch.
“I’m the best here so don’t you worry. Just first make those x-rays. Then we make a new
appointment”, said Trapper.
Mitch got up and went away after he had given Trapper a hand. He got an appointment card for the follow-up consult. The young Cartwright let make x-rays of his hand and thumb.
Home again Mitch said, “Mom, I have had a talk with my doctor. I have told what had happened and had to make a picture of my thumb too. He wants that you are there too with the next appointment. But I’m very scared that daddy won’t come along when he knows what I know about my doctor.”
Now Sally became very curious at all and she asked, “And what may your father not know?”
“My doctor is called John McIntyre and looks exactly like daddy. Only he is a bit older and more bald”, he stepson said laughing.
Sally found that also laughable and said, “I go with you and your father too.”
Mitch went to do his homework because he had to go to school anyway.
That evening Mitch said suddenly, “Daddy, today I met an older person who looks a lot like you. He is my surgeon.”
Adam asked worried about the answer “Does he happen to look like me?”
“He is just an older version of you”, was the answer of his son.
“I was already afraid of something like that”, sighed Adam.
Though he said a moment later, “I will go with you to your next appointment.”
This settled Mitch although he was already 14 and very tough for his age.
At the hospital Trapper looked at the x-rays together with his assistant Gonzo Gates.
“It looks like something in his thumb is worn out”, said Gonzo.
“That is not so. It is so. Probably it has come due to a smack with a bat or another hard object. The boy gets an artificial limb on the spot where it’s worn out. He will have to sleep here then”, answered Trapper.
Gonzo asked, “When are you seeing him again?”
The surgeon looked at him and said a bit indignant, “You ask that as if I have a date with the boy. He is only 14.”
For a moment there was a silence where after Trapper said, “I see him and his parents tomorrow at 9 o’clock.”
Mitch didn’t know who was more nervous for the appointment: him because there would be discussed how he got treated further or Adam: because he would meet someone who looked like him but was a bit older and more bald than he was.
When Trapper and Adam met each other for a moment there was a strange sphere in the surgery of the surgeon. Trapper explained what Mitch exactly had and what the matter was with him.
“Has he ever been hit hard by a bat or something else hard?”, asked the doctor.
“When he was 7 an angry father hit with his aluminum bat on is hand. Mitch had then a broken hand”, answered Adam.
“Then it can be possible that the tendon is damaged and worn out throughout the years. I will set an artificial limb in that place and it will heal on its own”, said Trapper.
“Early this year I shattered my hand and wrist during an ice hockey training. Has it become worse by that accident?”, asked Mitch.
“That’s very possible. Do you also play baseball, don’t you?”, the surgeon wanted to know.
Mitch answered very modest, “I can play at every position except at the 2nd. That is the spot of the catcher.”
“He tried to throw a ball before the pain returned but was not done with the left hand”, Adam added.
“I let you admit in as soon as possible and then I operate you at my hand. You will have to stay here 2 nights for that”, said Trapper.
“Lovely; 2 nights and 3 days without a teenager in the house”, Adam said dry.
“Adam, you forget our 5 year old twins”, reacted Sally.
Mitch remarked, “then I have some peace and quiet too.”
“I have it soon arranged and then you get the news at home. When you may go home again after the operation you may not go to school for 2 weeks. And certainly not ride a bike”, said the doctor.
“So I may drive a car?”, the young Cartwright asked carefully.
Trapper looked at Adam and asked with frowned eyebrows, “Has he always been like that?”
“Yes, unfortunately. And I’m afraid that he will stay that way too”, was Adam’s answer.
“Good luck with him”, said the doctor.
They said goodbye and went away.
There was speed up because on September 17 Mitch didn’t have to go to school. That day he got admitted at the Memorial Hospital. Adam and Sally were with him during the admitting.
“Mitch, I know that you are very well in the market with girls but you are not going to chase after the nurses”, said Adam.
“They will chase me”, reacted his son.
“Sometimes it looks like if uncle Joe is your father”, sighed Adam.
Mitch looked at him and said insulted, “Be glad that it isn’t so.”
“I’m very glad for that indeed. The most important thing is that you get well again and that you can play baseball and hockey normally again”, answered Adam.
Mitch wanted nothing more than too. By his injury he already had to stop with attending the baseball school in Carson City.
Mitch laid watching a night baseball game when Trapper came into his room.
“Mustn’t you sleep? Tomorrow you have a heavy operation”, said the surgeon.
“It are the Braves against the Giants. I’m a supporter of the Braves and they are ahead with 6-2”,
answered the boy.
“In which inning are they?”, asked Trapper.
“Top 8. Braves are at bat”, said Mitch.
The surgeon said, “Move over a bit. Then we watch the game out together. After that you sleep and I go home.”
“Not the other way around? I mean: you sleep and I go home”, Mitch tried to talk himself out of it.
“I must operate you at your hand tomorrow. That’s why you are going to sleep here and I go home”, answered Trapper.
Mitch moved up a bit and watched together with his surgeon the last 2 innings. Sometimes the young Cartwright gave some extra explanation. Trapper noticed that Mitch knew a lot about baseball.
“Mitch, how come that you know a lot about baseball?”, asked Trapper.
“My father is baseball coach and he coaches my team and that of my little brother and sister. With our births we got infected with the baseball virus”, the young Cartwright explained.
When the game was over Trapper got up.
He switched off the TV and said, “Mr Cartwright, it’s time to sleep. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight”, Mitch said smiling where after he almost fell asleep right away.
Trapper looked at him for a second, switched off the light then and went away.
Meanwhile Adam and Sally enjoyed the seldom peace and quiet in their house. The twins were
sleeping and Mitch was at the hospital.
“What a peace and quiet in the house”, sighed Adam.
Sally answered, “If the little one was asleep as well it was totally perfect. She is busy again.”
“She? It can also be a he”, reacted Adam.
His wife said, “I know for sure that we get a daughter again.”
Adam knew that if Sally knew something for sure that it was so.
“As long as the little one is healthy. Then I’m satisfied”, said Adam.
In the morning Mitch got woken up at 6.30 by the night nurse.
“Morning Mitch. You get brought to the recovery room in a moment and then you get prepared for the operation. Doctor McIntyre has promised you a full anesthesia. And you will get that too. May I have your date of birth for a second?”, asked the nurse.
“I was born on December 25, 1992”, answered the boy.
“So a Christmas child”, said the nurse.
“I always get more presents at Christmas. We always eat pancakes for Christmas dinner because I may choose what we eat”, told Mitch.
“Hm, pancakes for Christmas dinner. Very original”, the nurse said laughing.
She went away again.
A moment later Mitch got fetched to be brought to the recovery room. The young Cartwright let
everything come over him because he knew that Trapper was an excellent surgeon and would treat him right.
At Adam’s place Benji asked, “Does Mitch get treated today?”
“Yes, I think that he’s now under treatment”, his father answered looking at the clock.
“The hospital will phone when we can see Mitch. So you just go to school and your father to his work”, said Sally.
That was a disappointment for the twins.
Adam noticed that and said, “Doc McIntyre said that Mitch had to stay for 2 days. So with a bit of luck your brother is here tomorrow again.”
While the twins were at school and Adam working Mitch was already again at the recovery room of the Memorial Hospital. The operation had been quickly and now the boy had a synthetic art artificial limb near his left thumb. Mitch could leave the recovery room quite soon so that he could get by
further in his hospital room.
After a while Trapper came to see him with his assistant Gonzo.
“How is it with this young man?”, asked Trapper.
“Alright. I’m still a bit sleepy”, answered Mitch.
“That’s due to the anesthesia. Try to sleep some more. I come by this afternoon for a moment. If you are well enough to receive visitors I phone your parents”, said the surgeon.
Mitch nodded and tried to sleep some more. Trapper and Gonzo walked on.
“That lad knows more about baseball than you and I together”, said Trapper.
Gonzo asked amazed, “How do you know that?”
“Well, the evening before his operation I caught Mitch red handed with watching a baseball game
between the San Francisco Giants and the Atlanta Braves. I watched with him the last 2 innings and I have learned a whole lot from him concerning baseball. His father is baseball coach”, was the answer of Trapper.
When the twins came home from school Sally suggested, “Why don’t you make a beautiful card for your brother? Then daddy can take them along to the hospital tonight?”
“We do that”, Lisa said on behalf of her brother.
A moment later the twins were busy making cards.
That evening Adam got 2 cards pushed into his hands.
“Daddy, will you give these cards to Mitch? We have made them ourselves”, said Benji.
Adam looked at the cards and said smiling, “Of course I will give them.”
Adam came into the hospital room of his eldest son and saw that Mitch looked reasonably well despite that his left hand and wrist were in the cast.
“Hello son. How are you?”, Adam asked while he kissed his son.
“Alright. Doc McIntyre said that the operation went well. And I even have eaten and drank something too”, answered Mitch.
“He said that to me too. I just ran into him. The twins have made these cards for you after school”, Adam said while he gave the cards of Lisa and Benji.
Mitch looked at them and asked smiling, “They do miss me, don’t they?”
Adam nodded and answered, “But Sally and I do that too.”
“Hopefully I may go home tomorrow”, said Mitch.
Adam said, “I come to pick you up.”
He noticed that his son was tired and didn’t stay very long for that reason.
A day after his operation Mitch was allowed to go home. Adam came to get him.
Trapper said to Adam, “The hand of Mitch is for a part in plaster and for a part in bandages. In 2 weeks time there must an x-ray being taken and there comes plaster around the whole hand and wrist. That plaster must stay around it for 4 weeks.”
He gave also some painkillers to Adam.
“Let Mitch take one every 8 hours for the pain”, said the surgeon.
“That will happen. Thanks everything for now”, said Adam.
“Thanks Doc”, said Mitch.
“Get well soon and keep your pecker up”, said Trapper.
Once at home Adam said, “Mitch, you take it easy now. If necessary you go to bed to rest.”
“Alright”, said the boy.
He went to his room and fell asleep quite quickly. Sally put an extra pillow under his wrist and hand. She tucked him in loving full.
By suppertime Mitch came to the dining room. The twins saw their brother and also how he looked like.
“Are you in much pain Mitch?”, Lisa asked careful.
“If I move my arm yes. But the rest is fine”, answered her other brother.
The twins looked at the wrapped hand and wrist of Mitch with interest.
“Boys, be careful because Mitch has to take it easy”, warned Adam.
Lisa and Benji understood that too.
“I cut your meat”, Benji offered.
His sister said, “And I your potatoes.”
The reaction of Mitch was, “But you won’t get my dessert!”
The twins looked at him amazed. Lisa and Benji hadn’t counted on this reaction. They understood it though.
During supper all the children had a healthy appetite. Even Mitch has a 2nd portion.
“Wasn’t the food at the hospital good enough, was it?”, asked Sally.
“Yes, but it wasn’t as delicious as at home”, answered Mitch.
“Momma always cooks delicious”, said Benji.
“Hop Sing too”, was the answer of Lisa.
Hereby Adam and Sally knew for sure that their children were real Cartwrights.
After supper Sally had Mitch for a moment for herself. The twins helped Adam with the dishes.
“Mom, I can’t help now with the nursery”, said Mitch.
“We have decided that you may design it. Even though you can’t draw with the left hand. But you can try it with your right hand”, answered Sally.
Mitch nodded and said, “I will give it a try. I have to do homework too.”
Suddenly Sally took the hand of her stepson and put it on her belly.
“Is that my little sister?”, asked Mitch.
Sally nodded.
On the evening of the homecoming of Mitch from the hospital suddenly the telephone rang. The boy was alone with his parents because Lisa and Benji were already sleeping. At the number the
Cartwrights saw that it was Ben.
“Mitch, I suspect that it’s for you”, said Adam.
Mitch took the phone and got from his grandpa the optimistic question, “How badly have they treated you at the hospital?”
“Well grandpa, so badly that my left thumb and hand are in the plaster bandage. I will take a picture of and mail it to you tomorrow”, Mitch answered laughing.
The boy told a moment later, “My surgeon looks like very much your eldest son. Only he is still older and more bald.”
Now there was laughter at the Ponderosa. Mitch told all what would happen later on.
“A whole lot of strength and we call later in the week again”, said Ben.
“Thanks for the phone call grandpa”, Mitch said where after he put down the phone.
The boy told the whole conversation.
“It’s just as good that your uncles are far away from your surgeon”, Adam said laughing.
Sally also found it amusing.
Two weeks after the operation Mitch got a full plaster around his hand and wrist. The boy chose for very light yellow as plaster color. Adam was with him.
“The plaster must remain around it for 4 weeks. Then you must return here and then you get
physiotherapy for your hand”, said the plaster master.
An x-ray was also made of the thumb.
Outside Adam asked, “Why did you have to choose such a notable color plaster?”
“Then I get noticed anyway when I go to school again”, was the sober answer of Mitch.
“I bring you to school and come to get you also. That also goes for the twins”, said Adam.
“Fine”, Mitch just said.
Before they went home Adam and Mitch went to drink somewhere.
“It’s now Thursday so what would you say if you went to school again on Monday?”, Adam asked after a while.
“Alright. I phone Johnny tomorrow about the homework that I have missed”, answered Mitch.
Johnny was Johnny Smith, a good friend of school of Mitch. Although Mitch didn’t really like school he had missed the school life. Even though the boy hadn’t been for 2½ weeks.
Arrived at home Sally saw the plaster and she asked the same thing as what Adam had asked the boy outside the hospital. But of course Benji and Lisa thought it was a nice color.
On Saturday morning Johnny came by to help Mitch with his homework. He thought it was a nice
color plaster too.
“I go to school again on Monday. But I won’t be there at the sport”, said Mitch.
“Why?”, Johnny asked amazed.
Mitch looked at him and asked on his turn, “Must you still ask that now that you have seen my yellow wrist and hand?”
They laughed. The boys worked hard and by the end of the afternoon Mitch had been caught up again.
“Johnny, thanks and I see you on Monday morning”, said the young Cartwright.
“Till Monday”, said Johnny.
Monday morning it was very busy. Not only the twins were getting ready to go to school but their brother too. Mitch was already so far that without help he could get dressed.
At school Mitch attracted a lot of attention and mainly due to his plastered hand and wrist.
Jack Carlton, his form tutor, said, “Mitch, you can’t join in the sport lessons. Instead of that you follow extra lessons in drawing. Hand on your homework printed.”
“Fine. I want to go o the art academy later to become a prof drawer”, said Mitch.
“Your parents said that to me when they came to talk about your operation. I have seen some of your drawings and you have a lot of chance to get there”, said the teacher.
Four weeks later.
Mitch went again to the hospital but now to have the plaster removed. Of course Adam was with him.
“Do you want to have the plaster?”, the plaster master asked after he had removed it.
“Yes, as a souvenir”, answered Mitch.
The boy got a support brace around his hand and wrist and had to go then to an office in hand
specializing.
In the surgery Adam and Mitch came across Sylvia Parker.
“You really are not going to treat my son! Certainly not before you have answered my questions. Is Steve Parker your husband by accident?”, asked Adam.
Sylvia said, “Yes, he is my loving husband. And before you ask the next question: yes, Frank and Miles are our sons. We have made up this whole plan to make you Cartwright cost a lot.”
“Mitch, come on. We will find another physiotherapist for you. If necessary I hire one for you”, Adam said determined and at a fierce tone.
They left the surgery and went home. Now suddenly Adam understood everything. But Mitch did that too.
“I will mail everything to grandpa so we can undertake action”, Adam said now a bit calmer.
“Next week I must see your older double again”, said Mitch.
“Then we certainly will tell this”, said Adam.
Mitch didn’t mind.
That evening just when Lisa and Benji were off to bed Mitch told Sally what had happened that afternoon. Adam was busy mailing the whole story to his father.
“There is a big chance that we don’t have to pay for your medical expenses but they do. By them you are being bothered for months with this injury”, said Sally.
Mitch said, “Despite my injury I like it here though.”
“We still stay here the whole school year. The baby comes in about 2 months so then we can’t move easily either”, answered Sally.
She saw that the boy was tired and said for that reason, “I make for you anise milk and then you go to bed.”
After Mitch had gone to bed as well Adam let Sally read the mail to Ben.
“Adam, I can’t have much more now. Soon the baby comes too early”, she said.
Adam noticed that the whole injury soap had demanded a lot of his family.
That’s why he said, “I have hired a cousin of Hop Sing for the housekeeping so that you can rest. He is called Cousin nr. 2 and comes tomorrow already. The children will be thrilled with him and the other way around.”
“Thanks”, Sally said where after she kissed her husband loving full.
“From tomorrow on you may sleep very long. And if Mitch is also so very tired he stays at home too. Especially the meeting with Sylvia Parker was a smack in the face for him. I will make a warm
relaxing bath for you so that you can sleep nicely”, said Adam.
He got up and prepared the bath. Not much later everything was in deep rest in the Cartwright home.
Cousin nr. 2 came very early the next morning. Adam was already up, just like the twins.
“Who are you? I am Lisa Cartwright”, Lisa said to the Chinese cook.
“I am Cousin nr. 2. Family of Hop Sing”, said Cousin nr. 2.
“And I’m her twin brother Benji”, said Benji.
The children gave him nicely a hand.
“After breakfast I bring them to school and also call in at the school that Mitch is ill for today”, told Adam.
“Cousin nr. 2 let Mrs Cartwright and Mitch sleep as long as possible”, said the cook.
“Is Mitch ill?”, Benji asked while he ate.
“He is just very tired. Just leave him alone”, answered his father.
His son and daughter promised that.
Adam discussed the whole situation with the form tutor (Jake Carlton) of his eldest son.
“I bring the homework round on Monday after school and then Mitch has the time till Friday to do it”, said Jake.
“Deal. It can also be that Mitch has started too early and too fast. He can already do more with his thumb than before. But I fear that the road to full recovery is very long”, answered Adam.
“Say it in any case to his doctor”, advised Jake.
Adam nodded.
When Mitch had to come for a check-up first he had made an x-ray of his thumb.
“Welcome Mitch, Mr Cartwright. How is it?”, asked Trapper.
“Reasonably well. I can do a lot more than before. Only I don’t have a physiotherapist yet. The one who had arranged at the hospital had made an appointment for me with Sylvia Parker. She confessed that it were her sons who had delivered me this injury”, answered Mitch.
Trapper looked up from this. He looked into the file and saw who had arranged it.
“I will arrange it. First let me look at your thumb”, said the surgeon.
On the computer they saw the x-ray and Trapper looked at the thumb.
“It looks good. I see you in 4 months time again”, said the surgeon.
“Alright. I will just say this: Merry Christmas and a happy New Year”, said Mitch.
Trapper could appreciate it and his reaction was then too, “The same too to you and happy birthday to you in advance.”
Via Trapper the young Cartwright got an excellent physiotherapist who let him quickly let do
everything as before the injury.
Steve and Sylvia Parker realized that they were getting the worst of it. They not only paid all the
medical expenses but also 1½ million damage money to Mitch. Adam let that amount pay to the study fund of Mitch which Ben had started at the birth of the boy. The rancher had arranged this with each birth of a new grandchild by the way.
It was on the Wednesday afternoon of December 19 when Mitch got injured during a friendly ice hockey game. A player of the opponent, Brian Johnson, hit the puck to a team player. The thing had too much speed because it came precisely to the left hand of the young Cartwright. Mitch fell on the ice and grabbed straightaway at his painful hand. Brian and another friend of Mitch, Johnny Smith, were straight away with him, just like the coaches Bruce Davis and Mark Wood.
“Mitch, are you alright?”, asked Mark, the coach of the team of Mitch and Johnny.
Mitch took off his glove with a lot of trouble and felt that his thumb was damaged again.
“My thumb hurts”, said the boy.
Bruce examined the thumb and said, “You must go with it to the hospital.”
Mitch got helped up and skated to the locker rooms. Mark warned Adam who had come to watch the game. Adam went along at once.
In the locker room Mitch said, “Dr. McIntyre already sees me coming again.”
“I think that he will be pleased to see you again. Then he has something to do again”, was the answer of Adam who helped his son with getting changed.
In the hallway of the San Francisco Memorial Hospital Trapper saw the Cartwrights already coming. He knew right away who the patient was.
“If that isn’t my young friend Mitch Cartwright! What have you done now again?”, asked the surgeon.
“I got a puck against my thumb during an ice hockey game at school. Can you look at it, Dr.
McIntyre?”, was the counter-question of Mitch.
“Just come along. For you it isn’t Dr. McIntyre anymore but Trapper”, said the doctor.
“Trapper? What is that for a name?”, Mitch asked curious.
“I was so called during my army time in the Korean war. My friends call me so”, the doctor explained.
In his office trapper checked the sore thumb.
“That will be operating again but then at the other side. I think that your tendon is damaged”, said Trapper.
“And when shall or can it take place?”, asked Adam.
Trapper looked for a second in his agenda and said, “I have a time open this coming Friday morning at 10 ’o’clock.”
“Actually I have to go to school then but if I must be treated I don’t mind”, Mitch said quickly.
Adam and Trapper looked at each other and the men thought the same thing.
“Mitch, do you actually feel like going to school a lot?”, Trapper asked teasing.
“Very much. Why?”, was the counter-question of the boy.
The answer of the surgeon was, “That you gave an answer so quickly.”
“I will arrange it with his school”, Adam said smiling.
“For the security I will set your hand and wrist into a support brace”, said Trapper.
The sore thumb was put in a support brace.
“Mitch, I see you on Friday morning”, said Trapper.
The Cartwrights said goodbye and went home.
At the Cartwrights at home it was busy but cozy. Ben and Joe had come that morning from the ranch to celebrate the Christmas holidays with Adam, Sally and the children. They did games with the twins while Sally was resting. In the kitchen were Hop Sing and his cousin busy with supper.
“Hello pa and Joe. Have the children been good yet?”, Adam asked when coming home.
“They always are that. Mitch, what is the matter now again with your hand?”, Ben asked worried.
The boy told what had happened and what was about to be happening. Adam went to their bedroom. In brief he told what had happened to Mitch.
“So our eldest son is needy again?”, asked Sally.
Adam nodded and asked on his turn, “How is with you?”
“Fine. I only have some troubles by the baby but that’s not bad”, answered Sally.
“Cousin nr 2 is already preparing supper”, Adam said determined.
The next day Mitch just went to school where he got a lot of attention due to his hand.
Friday December 21, 2007.
Ben went along with his grandson for the operation. He noticed that Mitch was nervous but couldn’t unfortunately do nothing to take that feeling away. Mitch knew that he could trust Trapper but still.
When it was the boy’s turn Ben said, “I wait here for you.”
Mitch went nervous into the treatment room. Trapper did the operation himself which didn’t last for half an hour. He wrapped up the painful hand of Mitch in bandages and let it rest in a sling.
“So, now you can’t play ice hockey and/or baseball for a while anymore”, Trapper said to Mitch.
“Not now but in a while I can, can’t I?”, asked Mitch.
“I think so. Let it rest well and I see you if you have any complaints. In a week’s time the bandage may be removed. The stitches will go away by itself”, said the surgeon.
“Thanks”, the young Cartwright said.
They said goodbye and now Ben saw for himself how his grandson had been treated. Mitch told what had happened.
“Shall we have lunch somewhere before we go home?”, asked the rancher.
Of course Mitch didn’t refuse this.
While Mitch underwent his 2nd hand operation his stepmother also need medical support. Joe was with the twins to their Christmas play at school so that Adam and Sally were alone at home. Sally had slept badly that previous night and now she knew why. The baby was on its way.
Suddenly Sally said, “Adam, just call the midwife and maternity nurse. I feel our 4th coming.”
She held her belly tight and noticed that the waters had been broken. Adam called the midwife and maternity nurse at once.
Sally looked at her husband and said, “I need to push.”
“You go to bed now!”, Adam said calm.
With Adam’s help Sally came into bed.
“Just let it come now. Even though she comes 2 weeks too early”, Sally answered just before she got a heavy push contraction.
She took a deep breath and gave in to the urge to push. Adam supported his wife as good as possible which had effect. After the next push contraction Adam put his 2nd daughter on the belly of his wife.
“Darling, congratulations with the birth of your daughter”, he said smiling.
Sally received the baby and began to cry of happiness.
“We call her Rose”, said the deliriously happy mother.
Then midwife Grace Taylor and maternity nurse Paula Cooper came in.
“Let’s see how far you are”, said Grace.
“The baby has just been born. She didn’t want to wait any longer”, said Adam.
“Then I will examine mother and child”, said Grace.
She helped Sally with the afterbirth and declared after that mother and child healthy.
When Joe and the twins came home they saw the baby right away.
“You have gotten a baby sister Rose”, Sally said to Lisa and Benji.
The twins were crazy about their little sister.
“Are pa and Mitch not there yet?”, asked Joe.
“No, we haven’t heard from them yet either ”, answered his brother.
Paula stayed to look after Sally and Rose but when she saw Joe she was immediately sold and he too.
“When are you going away?”, Joe asked that same afternoon.
“After the holidays. Why?”, asked Paula.
“We won’t see each other anymore of course”, Joe said a bit disappointed.
“Unless you are going to look after me”, answered Paula.
“I live at a big ranch so if you aren’t too much bothered to do ranch work I take you along”, said Joe.
A sweet kiss from Paula was the answer.
Of course Mitch attracted for a moment all the attention when he and Ben came home. The boy told again what had been done.
Then Sally said, “Pa and Mitch, Rose wants to greet you.”
“Who is Rose?”, Ben asked amazed.
“Your new granddaughter”, answered Adam.
He gave his 2nd daughter to his father.
“Congratulations both of you. Now this is really becoming a Christmas to never forget”, said the rancher.
Mitch too was thrilled with his little sister.
On December 23 Hoss and Betsy came over with their twins for the Christmas days. Hereby Especially Mitch could leave the long term injury period behind him.