Road Doc
Chapter 7
Kevin limped into Theresa’s office and sat down on a cold folding chair.
“Hi Kevin” she said, smiling. “How are you this evening?”
“I’m doing okay, I guess” he said, his voice quiet and deep.
Theresa pulled a chair up and sat beside him.
“Anything I can do for you?” she asked quietly, sensing that he was not there to socialize.
“It’s my knee” he said, looking down and patting his left knee.
“Giving you some problems?” Theresa asked, moving her chair to sit facing him.
“Yeah” he said, still looking down.
“Well let’s take a look” she said, prompting him to raise his pant leg up above his knee.
Theresa examined his knee for swelling, asked a few questions and checked his range of motion. Everything seemed to be fine, but Kevin insisted that he was in a great deal of pain.
“It’s making it difficult to get up there every night and dance” he said, a touch of irritation in his voice.
“Well, the best I can do is give Dr. Siweck a call and ask what he thinks it could be. I don’t find anything obviously wrong with it, but then again, I’m not an orthopedic specialist either. In the mean time, can you just take it easy up there? Maybe not do every dance routine?” Theresa asked.
“Can you at least give me something to take the edge off” Kevin asked, pleading.
Theresa studied his face and sighed to herself.
“I can write you a prescription for Tylenol 3, if that would help” she finally said.
Kevin shook his head. “Those things don’t do shit for me...pardon my language.” He looked down again. “I’ve always taken Vicodin before.”
“Is that what they gave you after the surgery?”
Kevin nodded.
“Kevin, I hate to give you something so strong. If you’re concerned about your knee pain affecting your performance, I’d think that taking such a strong pain medication that might make you lethargic might be something to worry about too.”
Kevin’s jaw visibly tensed.
“I’ve taken it every night of the tour so far. I don’t think anyone has noticed a change in my abilities on stage.”
“You’re still taking it?” Theresa asked, concerned.
“I was, until a few days ago. I ran out and now the knee is flaring up again.”
“How long ago was your surgery, Kevin?” she asked, thumbing through a large folder that contained his basic medical history.
“Back in September of last year”
“And you’re still having pain?” Theresa asked.
Kevin nodded. “Look, just write me out a prescription so I can get what I want. It’s not that big of a deal, okay?”
Kevin was visibly upset, and against her better judgment Theresa wrote out the
prescription and handed it to him. He looked at the paper, stood up and walked, without limping, out of the room.
8