Candy soaked the dressing in saline and then covered Macey with a blanket and checked her obs, before heading out to Steele. He was sitting at the nurses’ station, going through all Macey’s medications. He had a pill counter and was tipping one of the bottles out when Candy came over.
‘She’s got a nasty leg wound,’ Candy said.
‘How bad?’
‘I haven’t seen it,’ Candy said. ‘I’m just soaking the dressing but her shin is all red and I think it’s very painful.’
‘Okay.’ He started to tip the tablets back into the jar. ‘I don’t want her left on her own,’ Steele said.
‘Sorry?’
‘I don’t like what I’m seeing with these tablets,’ Steele said. ‘I don’t trust her not to do something stupid.’
‘Oh!’
‘I’ll come in and see her now.’
They both returned to the cubicle and Steele examined Macey. He listened for a long time to her chest and felt her stomach, keeping her as covered as he could while he did so, and then they got to her leg.
Steele put on some gloves and took off the dressing and Macey winced in pain. ‘Sorry, Miss Anderson,’ Steele said. ‘How long have you had this?’
‘A couple of weeks.’
Steele looked up at Macey. ‘That’s very concerning. This has developed over two weeks?’
Candy could hear the note of sarcasm in Steele’s voice and watched as Macey stared back at him and then backed down.
‘I knocked my leg when I came out of hospital. It’s just not healed and it’s been getting worse.’
‘That sounds far more plausible.’ Steele smiled at her. ‘Well, that accounts for your temperature!’ He took a swab and though he was very gentle the cotton tip must have felt like a red-hot poker because Macey let out a yelp of pain. ‘Very sorry, Macey,’ Steele said. He put a light dressing over it. ‘We’ll give you something decent for pain before we dress it properly.’ He spoke then to Candy. ‘Can you take Macey round for a chest X-ray?’
Just as Candy had finished drawing some blood the porter arrived and Candy went to X-Ray with Macey and Catherine. They were seen relatively quickly but Macey was clearly less than impressed at what she considered a long wait.
Having looked at her X-ray, Steele came into the cubicle and then turned to Catherine. ‘Why don’t you go and get a drink?’ he suggested. ‘I’m going to be with your aunt for the next twenty minutes or so—you might as well take the chance for a break now.’
‘Thank you,’ Catherine said in relief.
‘I just wanted to check a couple of things,’ Steele said once Catherine had left the cubicle.
‘And then I can go home?’
‘You’re not well enough,’ Steele said. ‘Now, while Catherine isn’t here, I want you to tell me how many you smoke a day?’
‘I don’t smoke.’
‘Miss Anderson, do you want me to bring in your chest X-ray and we can go over it together?’
‘Two.’ She gave a tight shrug. ‘Maybe three a day.’
‘We’ll say ten, then, shall we?’ Steele said, and Candy blinked when Macey didn’t correct him. ‘I’ll write you up for a nicotine patch. How much do you drink a day?’
‘I’ve told you already, I don’t.’
‘Six broken ribs of varying ages.’ Steele smiled at the old girl. ‘Come on, Macey. So am I to worry that you’re falling down for no reason?’
‘I slipped on some ice,’ Macey said, ‘and I’ve got a cat that gets under my feet.’
‘Fair enough.’ Steele nodded. ‘So you don’t want me to write you down for a couple of shots of sherry at night?’ he checked. ‘You can have either your own stuff, or the hospital’s cheap disgusting stuff. We just need the bottle if you want to drink your own.’
Macey took in a deep breath before saying anything. ‘It’s in my bag.’
‘Good, we’ll make sure it’s handed over to nursing staff out of sight of your niece.’
Candy stood there feeling a bit stunned but she hadn’t seen anything yet. Steele had brought back in the two ice-cream containers that Macey had brought in with her and he started to go through them.