Damaged Goods

[intriguess]

She hated mirrors and today was no different, she hated the looks and those pathetic lines. Mackenzie was far too smart too lie to herself, she hadn't been pretty before and she certainly wasn't pretty now. The term reconstructive surgery made her quesy, her family and friends, trying to be supportive said she could "look better than before" and other such back handed insults. It was almost as good as "you look good for your age/weight/etc" comments she had gotten before the accident. Her favorite comment was, "Everyone looks the same in the dark," which had made her dislike of mirrors seem petty.

She never thought one event could change how people reacted to her so drastically. The other driven had been drunk and she was now eternally a designated driver, then again it wasn't like her friends were dying to go out partying with her now. Mac was home alone again.....and enjoying a drink. She almost swore off alcohol but quickly realized it was the person who was the problem not the drink.

She was meeting her plastic surgeon today as she had finally healed enough to start thinking about more surgery. She had become a huge fan of the show Nip/Tuck and was unsure if she was ready to consider a new face, much less getting rid of scars and other such crap.

She recalled the last words her exboyfriend had said to her, "You're damaged goods honey. See me when you're fixed."

He was lucky she'd been in a hospital bed or she would have walloped him for such a comment. She had never thought him so image conscious, but right now it was the damaged goods comment that got her out of her car and into the consultation room.

 

[SlickQuiver]

As Dr. Sam Brown finished up some paperwork, he buried his face in his palms, exhausted from his latest workload. He felt the plastic in his face, remembering the plastic surgery he had recieved when he was very young. He had been born with a genetic defect, with the skin on his face and nose permanently damaged. He was ridiculed in school, until he finally got plastic surgery. He had finally not been ridiculed, and was even considered good-looking by some, with his smooth brown hair and blue eyes. The happinesss caused in his life is what persuaded him to become a plastic surgeon.

The secretary rang in over the intercom. "Mackenzie is here to see you," she told me. Despite the incredible change in his life plastic surgery had caused, he had never met a client in his life other than Mackenzie who understood or appreciated plastic surgery as well as he did. They were all attractive people, who thought their nose was too big, or had a small scar under their eye. They were all people striving to reach the futile image of "perfection" the media had shown them. When he'd heard that his new client had been in an accident, he was happy that perhaps he could make the same change in someone's life as had been made for him. He thanked his secretary, filed away the work, and headed out of his office to the consultation room. He saw her seated in a chair across the table, and sat across from her. "Hello Mackenzie, what can I do for you today?"

 

[intriguess]

Mackenzie

For some reason his name made her think of Dr. Sam Beckett on Quantam Leap....."I watch too much television," she whispered out loud as she walked down the hall. The too perfect nurse had told her that the Doctor was ready to see her. She had met Dr. Brown briefly in her tour of the facilities and talked to him a couple times on the phone. Her psychiatrist had recommended him, saying his work was exemplary and he was beyond reproach. It was nice to know that the doctor was not some sleezball who went into surgery to play with breasts.

It was their first formal meeting, if someone had told her five years ago she'd have plastic surgery she would have laughed so had as to bring tears to her eyes. Now though the reflection in the mirror almost made her cry. Luckily her insurance company covered reconstructive surgery and she didn't need to worry about the expenses.

"I'm ready to discuss what you can do with what's left of my face," she knew there was damage beyond the scarring and swelling. She pulled back her long brownish red hair from concealing her face and softly said, "Hopefully you've had time to look at my hospital records." She tried not to think of how the glass had shattered and slashed her face, the bigger chunks cutting through the soft tissues of her face. Her teeth were perfect, somehow dealing with that had been easier, perhaps because she needed her teeth to function. She did not need a pretty package to survive, "I also have some other scars from accident that it would be nice to get rid of if possible." She moved her hands leaving her hair to spill down her back, "I brought some photos, but I'm not very photogenic..." she apologized for the few photos and poor quality. The best one was easily ten years old, a professionally taken photo when she graduated from high school.

 

[SlickQuiver]

"I disagree, you look beautiful in these pictures," I told her, smiling. He looked at the old, aging photo in hid hand. He held it tightly, examining her old face. She was clearly very beautiful before the accident. He looked back up at her torn and mangled face. "Well, Miss Mackenzie, I think I can help you. Admittedly, I've never dealt with an accident as sever as yours, but I'll do my best." He flipped through her photos again, before standing up and approaching her. He reached towards her face, before pulling his hand away. "May I?" he asked. She gave a small nod, and he brushed her hair out of the way and held her head in his hands. She seemed timid to have hands on her face. He traced the scars on her face gently. "I can perform laser surgery on the skin here," I said, gently brushing my fingers aganist her scars. "And I can place silicon implants where the glass tore the flesh," he said, holding her face gently.

He pulled his hands away from her face. "That should take care of most of the damage," he said. "The final effect won't be perfect, there will still be minor visibilty of the scars, but for the most part it should be covered up," he said as he crossed the table. He sat down and pulled out the medical forms. "I see your insurance covers the procedure, so there should be no financial problems..." I said, drumming the end of my pen on the table. "Do you have any questions?"

 

[intriguess]

Mackenzie

She pulled away a little from his touch but his interest was genuining rather then the dry clinical touch she was used to, "I've lost a most of the sensations where the scars are." She paused, "It'd be nice to know I have hot spaghetti running down my chin," she almost smiled but it seemed almost too easy. "How long do you think the surgery will take?" She had heard it could be anything from several operations to a few hours and now that she was going to do it, wanted to get it over and down with as quickly as possible, "The standard time for things to heal about two weeks right? I really want to look as close as possible to who I was before, but I guess restoring freckles is impossible."

 

[SlickQuiver]

I flipped through the records some more. "Well, we could complete this in two operations. One for the laser surgery, and another for the implants. Each operation should take a few hours, and the standard healing time is two weeks, and you can't get an operation while healing from a previous one without risking permanent damage to the fragile skin. So the whole ordeal will probably take just over a month." He smiled to her, letting a slight chuckle escape his lips. "And if you want your freckles back, just take a good long trip to the beach with your boyfriend."

 

[intriguess]

Mackenzie

Beach, boyfriend, she bit her lower lip hard, hard enough to draw blood. She'd been fair skinned before and always used a SPF 30, and she just shook her head, letting her hair fall back over her face. "He didn't stick around after the accident," she whispered softly and then turned her mind to other things, "At least it will be almost summer by the time you're done."

 

[SlickQuiver]

He looked back up at her. "He sounds like a great guy. Well, to hell with him. You don't need a guy that vain." He stared back down at the records. "So, you'll need to take about a month off work for the procedure, so we can start the procedure any day you can get enough time off." He pulled out his scheduler from the desk, and thumbed it open to the current date. "I'm free any time for the next few months, business has been slow lately. So when are you free?" He couldn't shake the feeling that he was asking her out on a date.

 

[intriguess]

Mackenzie

"I've been working from home since," she paused it was pretty obvious. Her employer had been nice enough to be flexible with the scheduling. People reacted differently to her now, old friends stopped calling, even her family seemed distant. "Just me, my computer, and a very flabby tabby," she joked, she had learned it was good way to break tension and get people to talk.

Pinning down a time right away somehow made her nervous, then again the sooner she started the better. "My therapist says never put off til tomorrow what you can start today, but I'd like a day to mentally prepare." The idea of being under anastetia and pain killers even if it was for the last time seemed intimidating.

 

[SlickQuiver]

He laughed. "Well, okay. You can come back to the office tomorrow at about..." he said, flipping through his planner. "Two o'clock? I should be free for the rest of the afternoon, and have plenty of time for the operation. We'll do the implants first." he marked her down in the planner. I marked a note down on a piece of paper and handed it to her. "This is my personal cell number. It's perfectly normal for people to have second thoughts about major operations like these, so feel free to call me at any time if you have any concerns." He closed his planner and handed her the carbon copies of the important forms. "So I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?"

 

[intriguess]

Mackenzie

She took a deep breath and stood up, "Should I fast before the surgery?" she asked feeling ready to continue on with her final recovery. "I'll probably be too nervous to eat anyway." One hand gripped the chair tightly the other held his card. He did seem very different from the other doctors she had seen. She couldn't quite put her finger on it.

 

[SlickQuiver]

"No, actually. On the contrary. You should eat as much as you can. The operation could be quite draining, and you'll need your energy. We're not doing any operations around or near the stomach, so you should be fine for food." I stood up from the chair. I shook her hand politely. "So unless you have anymore questions, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then," I said, pushing my chair in.

 

[intriguess]

Mackenzie

She paused and turned towards him, "Do you like Chinese?" There was a great Chinese buffet not too far away and she figured that would be the easiest way to fill up, she loved sweet and sour chicken. She also hated eating alone.....even more so now that it was near impossible to find someone to go out with, there was just something about him that seemed, as if he knew what she was going through.