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.“Oh heavens, Dinah, I don’t know.” She made no sound, but he knew she would have been planning for it, would have bought a hat, an outfit.Steeling himself to take the sensible option, he said, “Look, perhaps it would be safer to count me out for the summer, until things get clearer.”She said evenly, “Of course.” Then: “We could always keep it to Ascot, couldn’t we? Just a couple of days.”“Best not.Too chancy He heard a distant ringing and realised it was his mobile, back in the study.“Speak later!” Cutting Dinah off without chance of reply, he hurried to answer the call before the message service picked up.“Sorry I was a bit delayed,” said Fergal in his unhurried tones.“Nothing wrong?” asked Terry, clambering breathlessly into his chair.“No.Fine.”“So?”“So she’s regained consciousness.”It was on the tip of Terry’s tongue to admit that he already knew this, but he checked himself.He didn’t want to confess to having made the call.“And she’s lucid,” Fergal continued, ‘which is a good indication forbrain damage, by which, of course, I mean lack of brain damage ‘“She’s talking?”“And seeing.There’s a question mark over the hearing -may be damage to one ear.But the other’s fine.”Terry shuddered with relief and anguish.Fergal went on in his soft educated voice, “They operated yesterday afternoon, as planned, and they’re pleased with the way it went.They’ve also done a further round of X-rays and CT scans, so they’vegot as clear a picture as they’re going to get for the moment ‘“What is the picture?”A moment while Fergal phrased his answer.“It’s as they first thought the spinal cord is damaged.”“For certain?”“For certain.”“The operation they couldn’t fix it?”“Spinal cord damage can’t be fixed, Terry.”Fergal never referred to him as Terry never called him by any name at all in fact and the unexpectedness of this only served to drive home the dread finality of his words.Terry heard an escape of breath and realised it was his own.“Oh dear Lord,” he murmured.“But they can’t say what the effects will be, not yet ‘“Can’t say or won’t say?”“Can’t say.It’s a bit complicated, but I can take a shot at explaining it if you like.After I got the information I went and checked it out with a doctor friend of mine.I think I’ve got it straight.”Terry made an effort to clear his mind.“Okay go ahead.”There was the leafing of paper as Fergal looked at his notes.“The spine is damaged in two places, in the neck and in the thoracic region.The injury in the neck, at what they call C5/6, is a simple fracture ofthe vertebra a hairline crack to you or me.It isn’t likely to be aproblem.The bone should mend itself over time and the scans suggestthe spinal cord is undamaged.Just suggest, mind you, because here’swhere the uncertainty comes in they won’t know for sure about anyeffects until the body gets over the trauma and the swelling goes downand any natural healing has taken place.Then ‘“Healing? I thought you said.”“I didn’t say there wasn’t any healing,” Fergal replied in his patient way.“Just that damage to the spinal cord itself can’t be mended.”Terry hadn’t entirely followed, but let it pass.“Now the second injury is at the point known as T9.Here the vertebra suffered a comminuted transverse fracture.This means the bone was shattered and the spine was partially dislocated I’m not sure that’s the right word put out of alignment, if you like.The operation fused the spine with screws and metal plates, so no further injury can occur.It’s here that the scans show damage to the spinal cord, but again the doctors can’t tell what the effects will be until the swelling goes down and the body has had a chance to recover generally.And that takes months, sometimes many months.There are different types of damage to the spinal cord, like to the front of it, the back of it, the side of it, and different degrees of damage, partial, complete, etcetera, and only time will tell what’s what.Oh, they’ll be transferring her to a spinal unit as soon as it’s safe to move her, by the way.No date yet, but in two weeks, something like that.”“But the outcome? What are they saying? What do they think?”That’s what I mean it’s too early to say yet, they have no way of knowing.”“Come on,” Terry protested.“They must have their views.I mean, privately.”“Privately?” echoed Fergal with soft irony, as if the information he’d already obtained hadn’t been exclusive enough
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