The Hospital

[rainbowmods]

The hospital is sterile and sprawling, its hallways and patient rooms painted a glaring white. The floor is made of something hard and shining, and the lights are that peculiar kind of flourescent that makes everyone look ill.

The first floor consists of the lobby (painted a sickly green), an emergency room, and several surgery suites, all stocked with cutting-edge, even futuristic, technology and supplies. There is a cafeteria, though the buffet line is empty; the only consumables seem to be stocked in a line of vending machines along one wall. There are no stairs, only elevators, to the upper floors, which all consist of patient rooms: made beds, glazed windows, dying flowers, and the hard plastic orange chairs that are a constant in hospitals.

The whole building smells like antiseptic and death.


((Please mark your healthcare professionals as such, and enjoy!))

Comments

Re: Patient: Mel

[shadowsong26]

He jumped a little, then turned and managed a smile. "Yeah, probably. Um. I'm not sure these are healing right..." He half-turned to show her the scratches. They were about a day old, but, in hindsight, all the twisting he'd been doing to try and look might actually have reopened them.

Shit.

Re: Patient: Mel

[erica_watson]

Erica got close enough to examine them, but she made no move to touch them. "They should be cleaned up, at least. How'd you get them?"

Re: Patient: Mel

[shadowsong26]

He flinched a little. "Um. I got mauled by a...wolf." If she didn't recognize them on sight, better to keep it as quiet as possible.

Re: Patient: Mel

[erica_watson]

"And you haven't had them cleaned before?" Erica made no effort to keep disapproval out of her voice. "Come on, we'll find the ER, and I'll take care of them for you."

Re: Patient: Mel

[shadowsong26]

He flushed. "I did, but right after they happened and that was a day ago and I haven't...I haven't been doing what I was supposed to for followup, exactly..." Because he didn't want to look at them, wanted to forget as much as he could what had happened.

So, yeah, the judging was probably deserved, but he wanted to at least be judged for what he'd actually done wrong.

Re: Patient: Mel

[erica_watson]

"Well," she said, "that's not as bad." After a moment, she relented. "How did you manage to get mauled by a wolf?" A quick glance around, and then she decided on the most likely direction for the ER. "Let's try this direction."

Re: Patient: Mel

[shadowsong26]

"Okay," he said, and followed after her. "Um. I don't really remember much of it? I had a...bad date, and he ditched me, and then I woke up...after." He shivered.

Re: Patient: Mel

[erica_watson]

She glanced at him. "If your bad date led to getting mauled by a wolf, I think it's worse than just about any bad date I went on before I got married. I hope you're not going to see him again."

Re: Patient: Mel

[shadowsong26]

"Not for a date, no," Mel assured her. "But I have some classes with him at school, so I can't totally avoid him." Which sucked, but he wanted to graduate, despite...everything.

Re: Patient: Mel

[erica_watson]

Erica grimaced. "That sucks. I'm sorry about that. Did you start rabies shots when those were first treated, by the way?"

Re: Patient: Mel

[shadowsong26]

...rabies shots. Shit. Of course, they'd expect that for an actual wolf, but they'd figured out right away that it was a werewolf, which made them unnecessary.

And he didn't know what the shots would do to him if he got them anyway, or how fast they were supposed to come, if he was supposed to get one the second day, too. So he could lie and say yes, but if he got the wrong one too fast it might cause problems. Or he could tell the truth and there might be some problems by the whole thing, or if he only got one of them. Because he'd never get all of them.

On the other hand...well, he wasn't allergic to eggs or anything, and what else could a vaccination do to him that wasn't already messed up?

Finally, after realizing he'd been silent for way too long, he just shook his head. "No, only shot I get was to numb it while they were looking."

Re: Patient: Mel

[erica_watson]

"It's your lucky day, then," Erica said, her voice as dry as she could manage. "If I can scrounge one up, you're getting a rabies inoculation while we're here." And there was the ER. "And I'll numb you before I clean those up," she added as an afterthough.

Re: Patient: Mel

[shadowsong26]

Mel nodded. "Thanks. Um, what are the side effects? Of the vaccine. I-I know I should get it, but I want to be prepared if they're bad," he said, just a hair too fast.

Re: Patient: Mel

[erica_watson]

"I'll give it to you in your upper arm," Erica said. She pushed her way into the ER and gestured to one of the rooms. "In there. You need four more within a month of today, all on different days. The side effects can be pretty unpleasant--things like muscle pain and stiffness, joint stiffness and inflammation, weakness or even paralysis in your legs, and fast heartbeat, among others. Sorry about it," she added, not without sympathy. "It's not going to be fun."

Re: Patient: Mel

[shadowsong26]

"Paralysis?" he said, more than a little alarmed. The rest he could hide from Kit, but if he couldn't walk...

Re: Patient: Mel

[erica_watson]

"It's not likely, and it won't last. It is possible, though. Better than rabies. Go ahead and sit down." Erica went about searching for the supplies she'd want, unsurprised there was no rabies vaccine ready to hand.

Re: Patient: Mel

[shadowsong26]

"How unlikely?" he persisted, but he did sit when she told him. Maybe he could stall her long enough for the world to fix itself, and all she'd have time to do was take care of his back.

Re: Patient: Mel

[erica_watson]

"Less than a tenth of a percent of people who have had the vaccine have had it happen. If it does happen, call your doctor, but it's unlikely." Well, she'd find the vaccine later. "For now, I'm going to numb around the wounds and clean them." She drew lidocaine into a syringe, then mixed up a cleansing solution and found gauze to clean with.

Re: Patient: Mel

[shadowsong26]

Okay. Okay, he could play the odds there and maybe get lucky. "Okay." He took a deep breath and then sat as still as he could, subconsciously holding it.

Re: Patient: Mel

[erica_watson]

Erica idly wondered how long he could hold that. Still, she gave him the shots quickly and then said, "You can breathe, you know. Tell me when you start to go numb." She pulled the stool over and asked, "How long have you known Bad Date Guy?"

Re: Patient: Mel

[shadowsong26]

He flushed. "I didn't realize I was holding it," he admitted. "Um. Not long? We have a couple classes together, but we don't really talk. One of my friends lives in the same apartment building, though. She set it up." He didn't feel numb yet, but if it was anything like the dentist, it would probably take a couple minutes.

Re: Patient: Mel

[erica_watson]

"Planning to accept her thoughts on who to go out with in the future?" Erica was pretty sure she managed to stay neutral there, no matter how she thought he should answer.

Re: Patient: Mel

[shadowsong26]

"Well, the other blind date she set up for me was a dud--he was just boring, and we didn't have anything in common--and then this one..." He shook his head. "Not again, no." He shifted a little, experimentally. "I think I'm numb now?"

Re: Patient: Mel

[erica_watson]

"Probably a good idea," Erica agreed. She wet gauze in the disinfectant and gently started swabbing from the middle of the largest wound outward. "Tell me if you feel anything. You're probably lucky you didn't have anything worse than this happen."

Re: Patient: Mel

[shadowsong26]

Mel would have laughed, if it wasn't so risky to let her know what had really mauled him. "Yeah. Doesn't feel like that right now, but...yeah."