Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks

Author:Sebastian Faulks
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3, pdf
Tags: General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780375704574
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 2005-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

"Good morning, Fraulein. I am Doctor Maierbrugger. How are you feeling?"

"Much better, thank you." Kitty levered herself up on the pillows and tried to remember if she had seen this grey-haired gentleman in his silver spectacles before; the last two days had passed in a haze of morphia and men's faces bent over her bed.

"The surgeon, Herr Obmann, is extremely pleased with the outcome of his operation. I believe he paid you a visit this morning."

"Yes. He came when the nurse changed the dressing. He did seem pleased with..." She tailed off.

"With himself?" Maierbrugger raised his eyebrows. "It is a characteristic of the profession."

Kitty smiled. "And when may I go home?"

"Not yet, alas. We need to observe you a little longer. To begin with, I would like to look at your throat, if I may. Open your mouth wide. Thank you. Now I am going to listen to your heart, if you would care to open your nightdress a little. There. I hope it is not too cold."

Kitty looked down at the crown of Maierbrugger's head, red flaky scalp through a gash of grey hair, as he moved the diaphragm of his stethoscope over her skin. Free from pain, she felt happier than she had for some time and was beginning to be impatient with the exaggerated care to which she was being subject.

"Are your parents alive, Fraulein?"

"My mother is alive. My father died a few years ago. Of a heart complaint."

Maierbrugger nodded. "Did you nurse him? Were you in proximity?"

"Yes."

"But you also have a history, I understand from Doctor Midwinter, of throat infections."

Kitty pursed her lips. "Not a history exactly. I suppose I was sometimes sick as a child."

"Did it cause you to miss school?" His voice was rasping.

"On occasions, yes."

Maierbrugger tapped a pen against the clipboard he had taken from the end of her bed. "I understand that at one point you had some involuntary movements of the shoulders and the face. Is that correct?"

"Yes. At one time the muscles seemed to have a life of their own. This shoulder particularly. It was a little alarming. But it stopped. I have not been troubled by it for a considerable time."

"Did you have movements in the hips as well?"

"No."

"Not the entire StVitus in that case. However, Fraulein, I have little doubt that you have been suffering from rheumatic fever. It is a distressingly common ailment, which varies a great deal in severity.

Its early symptoms can include the spasms you have described, particularly in children and young people. The main symptoms, however, are pains in the joint, such as you have suffered in your fingers and wrists, and an intermittent fever, which I understand you have also had."

Kitty said, "But I do not really feel unwell any more."

"Good. I suspect you have had a number of attacks and that your most recent and most acute one is now receding. If you rest, you can expect to return to full health."

"Is that all?"

"Not quite," said Maierbrugger. "The disease can damage the heart valves.

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