WHO: Marietta McLaggen, Random Healer WHEN: 16 December 2001 WHERE: St. Mungos WHAT: Getting Help. RATING: PG-13 WARNING: Nothing really bad. Just some medical questions about body functions and habits that might make some people uneasy.
Marietta had procrastinated on actually contacting Quintus like she said she would. She thought she'd just start to feel better and her paranoia would just come to a complete end. He faith in her body to go and fix itself disappeared completely in the wash when she spent the better half of her Wednesday morning in the washroom at work spewing breakfast.
Braxton seemed rather convinced it was 'Newlywed-itus' until she informed him that her husband was in a work meeting and mid-conversation spewed into his rubbish bin. He didn't just excuse her for the rest of the afternoon he told her to take the next if she felt as if she needed it. He wasn't going back into the office himself until maintenance made it up to clean up.
She arrived without an appointment and was forced to spend the majority of her day waiting for someone to see her. When she got back into a room they wanted to take samples of blood, urine and stool. She had been out of the country so they said it was possibly some sort of foreign illness that had gotten to her. They warned her that she could have to wait for a while and it bothered her. She felt remarkably impatient about it all. She was ready to know what was wrong with her.
She had no doubt that something was very wrong with her</i>.
When a female healer came in just moments after the last test was run, Marietta couldn't help but feel confused. They'd said she would be waiting for a while. Why were they back so quickly? Had they found something? Was she going to die?
She wished she'd dragged Cormac out of his meeting now. She didn't like being here alone. Maybe she should have stolen Zacharias or Cho. She felt wanted someone there to hold her hand and comfort her. She braced herself for the worst. It was her nature to expect it now.
"We've got a few ideas about what might be going on but I have a few more questions for you," the Healer said holding onto a clipboard, with a quill handy to take down any notes.
Marietta nodded. She'd answer any question they had for her at this point. She wished they'd just come out with whatever they were thinking though. This was not going to do! She couldn't sit around and wait. She felt sick at the pit of her stomach. She had to resist the urge to spew again.
"Last Menstrual cycle?" the Healer asked nonchalantly.
Marietta grimaced instantly at the question. She could remember and that was something she ought to be keeping track of. She was pretty sure there had been one in October. November was where it got fuzzy. She'd always had a weird body though. She hadn't been thinking about it. With weddings and all the stress, she'd assumed things were just out of whack. Talking about these sort of things made her terribly uncomfortable though. She did not want to talk about this with a stranger.
"October. I might have spotted a little in November," she admitted though she still wasn't completely sure where this was going. She might not want to talk about it but it had to be relevant. Was there something wrong with her ability to make children? Instant fear that she wouldn't be able to give Cormac children eventually started to flood her system. Yeah, it wasn't something that they had to have right now but it was something that they both wanted... eventually. She wanted to be able to have them when she wanted to. What if she wasn't capable? Would he still want her?
Her face must have alerted the healer that is time to proceed with her questioning.
"Any sensitivity to smells? Hunger cravings?"
That seemed like an odd question. It was a less touchy one though,
".. Yes but what does this have to do with anything?"
"Just answer the questions. Have you had unprotected sex recently?"
That felt a bit beyond the necessary medical questioning! Her sex life was rather private. She did not feel as if it was anyone's business what she did or didn't do. She did think about the question though. There was a transition in her sex life. She'd always been cautious with Padrig. She and Cormac had been careless from the beginning. They were lucky if they remembered to take their clothes off much less use a charm.
"I'm a newlywed," she said as if that answered the question. She chose to dodge it.
The Healer laughed out loud and it made made Marietta uneasy. What was she laughing about? This wasn't something that she found funny at all? Did she think the fact she was dying was funny? Marietta would have her license revoked! That would be the first thing she did after she left here.
"Sit still," the Healer said grabbing a device on a wheels and lifting up the hospital gown they'd made her put on. It appeared to be some sort of a camera though honestly, Marietta wasn't familiar with it. When she took hot clear jelly and rubbed it over her abdomen with a wand like device all Marietta could do was watch her wondering what the fuck was up. Finally, she clicked on a screen.
There was no sound but Marietta could see something.
"That's your problem there."
The healer gestured to the screen to an object that didn't really have much of a shape. Marietta gave her a look like she'd grown a third head. She was seven weeks what? It took her moment tugging the shape over in her head before her eyes widened and realization hit her. The cravings, the mood swings, the sickness and everything -- it added up to a very simple explanation. She just hadn't been looking for it.
"Based on the size, I'd say you're around seven weeks..."