Dead Bodies in Scuba Gear Aren’t Always Accidents
By: Melinda Crow
Tags: Travel, Scuba Diving, Ninjabyob, Suspense, Fiction

FICTION

Dead Bodies in Scuba Gear Aren’t Always Accidents

But that’s true of most dead bodies, no?

Bonaire scuba diving. Photo by Gary Crow

In most cities, it’s not surprising to see police cars in the parking lot of a hospital emergency room, but on the tiny island of Bonaire, seeing them there, parked in the dirt lot across from the entrance, shatters the illusion of paradise. For Jordan and Drew, they also reminded them of the mystery at the salt pier they still knew nothing about.

They had put their curiosity aside upon entering the red-tile-roofed building and focused on Jordan’s injured shoulder. Imaging had been done, and they now waited in an open bay of the emergency department.

“It feels modern enough,” Jordan said, looking around at the equipment. There was only one other patient they could see — a toddler with a fever from what they could understand of the local Papiamento language. Growing up in Texas, they both understood a fair amount of Spanish, which shared a few words and phrases with Papiamento.

“Were you expecting dirt floors or something?” Drew teased.

“No. I know they have a decompression chamber and all, I just was scared. You know hospitals are not my thing. The X-ray machine looked newer than the one at home in Clifton.”

“That’s not a surprise. All their equipment is ancient.”

The middle-aged doctor that had examined Jordan’s shoulder when they first arrived returned, carrying an iPad. “You are teaching me something new, that’s for sure,” he said. His accent was thick and European, but not Dutch. “Most people with the type of fracture you have are dead.”

Jordan and Drew looked at each other wide-eyed.

The doctor shook his head and chuckled before continuing, “Your shoulder dislocated backward. Most dislocations of the shoulder joint come forward. Yours went the other way. We have bones back there that usually prevent the humerus from going anywhere. It takes a lot of force to dislocate posteriorly,” he demonstrated with a smack of a fist into the palm of his hand. This fracture happens from high falls, like from tall buildings, which usually kills people.” He looked again at her exposed shoulder. There’s not much bruising here. Did you land on a rock?”

“I don’t remember anything like that. All I remember feeling is sudden pain.” She thought for a few seconds. “It’s such a blur.”

The doctor nodded patiently. “Trauma can do that. Scrambles the memory more than we want to believe.”

“So, you’re saying my shoulder is broken?”

“Yes. Twice. One is in the top of your arm bone — the humerus. The other one is the interesting one. It’s called a reverse Hill-Sachs lesion. It’s more of a groove than a fracture. And that, plus torn soft tissue in the joint makes a path for it to continue ‘falling out,’ as you described.”

Drew and Jordan made eye contact. “So, what’s the fix?” he asked the doctor.

“Surgery.”

“Oh,” was all Jordan managed.

“Not here, of course. We normally have visiting orthopedic surgeons on a rotation, but with the virus…” he trailed off.

“So where would we go?” Jordan asked, still not believing she was having this conversation.

“And how urgent is it?” Drew asked.

“Bonairians who need orthopedic surgery that can’t wait for the rotating surgeon go to Aruba or sometimes Curacao for minor fractures. Anything complicated means a trip to Colombia or even Holland. In your case, I would say go home.”

“Again, how urgent?” Drew repeated.

“Not really, other than the pain, and we can manage that.”

Drew and Jordan relaxed visibly.

The doctor continued. “So, here’s what we’ll do. I’ll give you a sling. That will buy you a couple of days of better comfort. But you can’t keep a shoulder immobile for too long — it freezes. Locks up tight. In your case, that may feel better. It will probably quit ‘falling out,’ at least” he said, still chuckling at her description of the sensation she described. “But you definitely don’t want it frozen. It will make your recovery from the surgery harder. Lots of stretching therapy required to get back to normal from that.” He sort of shivered all over as if the mere thought of that pained him. “Let me get a sling. I’ll be right back.”

Drew studied Jordan’s face. “Well, this sucks.”

“Ya think? We don’t even know if we can get a flight to go home. Certainly not direct. Not to mention that I don’t have enough research done yet to finish my assignments.”