Amy (amychen) wrote in neogenesisrpg, @ 2009-01-02 04:56:00 |
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Entry tags: | amy chen, gil hatayama |
Who: Amy Chen, Gil Hatayama
What: Amy goes to see the doc as a precautionary measure.
When: Dec 30, 9: 15.
Location: Seattle Medical
Rating: PG
Status: In progress
The waiting room had bright taupe walls and Amy wondered at the choice in decor. If they were going for soothing, the tint fell short of the mark. If they were going to hygienic, they'd have been better off white white. She wrinkled her nose, realizing she was beginning to think like Eleanore. Scary thought. Eleanore could afford her exigence. She had the money and the name to back it up. Amy did not.
What she did have was a bright pink form with her real name on it and Cosmo spread out on her lap at the exact middle. A 'Ten Ways to Improve Your Sex Life' headline stared up at her from the page. She had perused it twice, thought about taking notes, but figured it would be inappropriate, especially with a nurse watching.
Instead she made a point to commit to memory points six and seven. Not really her thing, but if guys were into the talking thing, well, she could try.
Her attention shifted from the magazine to the door as it opened and a man in scrubs made an appearance. The nurse looked up. Amy looked up. The lady with the very large... with the very large teeth looked up. Everyone smiled. It was like a clip straight out of a toothpaste commercial.
"Hello, you must be Amy Chen. I wanted to introduce myself in person before we got started." Gil tucked her chart underneath his arm and held out his hand for her to shake. He usually greeted new patients in the waiting room. It spared women having to meet their prospective gynecologists wearing nothing but a paper gown. Their nervousness would make him nervous and all efforts were made to avoid both at all costs.
"I'm Dr. Hatayama, nice to finally meet you. Kelly is my nurse, she'll be with us during the examinations. She'll take you in and get your vitals recorded while I take a look at your medical survey. Did you have any questions?"
Dr Hatayama was a hell of a lot taller than Amy expected and she craned her neck up even as she stood to shake his hand. She really needed to buy heels. Cosmo spilled out of her lap and onto the floor and she bent to retrieve it with a sheepish grin.
"Oh--" Okay. Smooth entrance. Don't lose your head, Amy. "Sorry. Hi. Yes. I'm Amy Chen." She waved to the nurse, Cosmo and pink slip clutched to her chest. "No questions, just to check if we'll be done in thirty minutes. I have to get to work by ten at the latest."
"Actually, the consultation takes an hour or more, depending what we go over after the examination." Gil clasped his hands together and then opened the door for both Amy and Kelly to step through. The walls of the corridor that lead to the doctor's personal offices and the examination rooms was painted in a relaxing palette of mauve, beige and gray. He stepped aside and allowed Kelly to steer them to an open cubicle where the medical scales, blood pressure machines, thermometers and lab supplies were lined up around a single chair.
"What we could do is get the examination completed today and reschedule a time for you to come in to discuss the results and the best course of action." he suggested while Kelly directed Amy to the scale.
"Ah." Amy gaped, Cosmo still in hand. Guess I'm stealing it, then. "An hour today is impossible, so yes, I think we should do that. Unless there's anything terribly wrong with me and then I think I can make time."
She was talking too fast but she was also maybe a little nervous. Since her mother's battle with cancer, trips to the hospital were a necessary evil. She felt more anxious knowing she had to wait for the doctor's than she did at the thought of spreading her legs for cool gel and gloved hands. Or, failing that, painful mammograms.
Kelly the nurse offered to take her coat and bag and magazine, smile full of waxy lipstick and recent veneers.
"Thanks," she nodded and stepped onto the scale. Please don't be fatter than the last time.
"We'll get you back to in no time." Gil nodded, handing the chart to the nurse to record Amy's vitals. "I'll see you in a few minutes."
The nurse took the chart and moved the metal measuring devices until she got the scale to balance. She turned Amy around on the scale and made her press her back against it while she extracted a ruler to take an accurate measure of her height. Scribbling the numbers onto the chart, she pointed to the chair with her pen. Taking Amy's temperature and blood pressure went in rapid order, the woman only pausing as she timed the other woman's pulse on her watch. She picked up a specimen jar, wrote a series of numbers along the side and handed it to Amy.
"All normal. I'll need you to give me a urine sample, there are instructions on the bathroom door if you've never given one before but there's nothing special to it really. Just set the jar on that tray at the nurse's desk when you're done." Kelly explained, directing her to the bathroom.
The last time she had given an urine sample, she remembered distinctly that the toilet had been cold and clammy and she'd gotten cystitis as a result. It had been back before she moved out of the dorms and walking around with two pairs of socks on had been beyond attractive in a residence hall where girls regularly ran around in thongs.
Without bothering to look at the instructions on the door, Amy filled the sample jar, corked it and made her way down to the nurse's station where Kelly was waiting. The color of the walls and the plastic furniture made her feel no more relaxed than before, but her bladder was empty and with it came that feeling of lightness that sometimes accompanies anxiety.
"Alright, come with me," instructed the nurse with a smile much too bright for the neon lights. She led her down the hall to what Amy was quick to realize was an examination room - if only because she saw the stirrups and put two and two together.
A paper gown was pulled out and laid in front of her. "You'll have to change into this. Doctor Hatayama will be right with you." As she exited, Amy imagined her rolling her eyes.
Twenty-three and totally clueless about gyno consult protocol.
Her skin bloomed a little redder.
Gil entered the room with the chart in hand and the nurse following close behind. He flipped through the first pages of the chart as the woman draped a sheet over Amy's legs.
"So far you look to be in good shape, Ms. Chen. Since this is your first exam Kelly or myself can talk you through it if you'd like." he said, lifting the stirrups into position and making sure that they were locked in place. "Sit as far as you can to the edge and put your heels in the stirrups. If you're cold we can get you another blanket."
He reached in the supplies drawer and extracted a sealed examination packet and slipped on examination drugs as the nurse moved behind him, positioning a UV lamp and magnifier bedside the examination table.
The nurse waited until Amy's legs were in the stirrups and the blanket adequately covered her knees before pressing the hydraulic lift to the bed.
Not only was Kelly present to keep patients at ease, the woman acted as his second set of hands, touching things that Gil wouldn't want to risk contaminating his gloves with. Gil and the nurse worked in tandem, him rolling out of the way as she moved things the way he wanted them. His nurse fished in the drawer for the tube of lubricant while his attention focused on inspecting the tools from the kit, placing them on the sterile tray below the magnifier. He held the plastic speculum between his hands under the light, warming both. Once ready, he rolled closer to the table. "Try to relax and take deep breaths. It'll be over before you know it."
Sat down and spread out like she was, Amy felt a momentary pang of guilt for wishing the serum had never been invented. That visits to the gyno were still an obsolete necessity as they had been throughout her life. Existing simply as a whim for the rich or an undisclosed reality for the promiscuous, Amy had felt utterly removed from the medical discipline until the time came and the Fruitful serum was announced. Everything changed.
Except her shame at the thought of having a man look between her legs was still there, whether she was imagining herself in Cosmo-inspired sexual positions or in the doctor's office.
"Talking me through it would be very welcome," she replied, eyes fixed to the ceiling. No cracks. Nothing to count. "Since I've never actually had an exam, I'm a little... yeah. I mean. I know how it goes. I've read about it. But I don't know know and--aah, that's cold." A harsh little laugh tore itself free from her chest. "Sorry. I'm fidgeting."
"It'll warm up in a second." Gil reassured her, his tone conditioned of hours upon days of practice on bedside manners. "I'm going to expand the speculum a little, this may be a little uncomfortable but it should not hurt. What I'm doing is checking to see if everything appears normal. Then I'm going to take this little brush-" he held it up over the blanket. "To collect a few cells. You'll barely feel it at all."
Amy listened, nodded and thought again about note taking. Not such a bad idea, considering. Doing as told, she sought to relax and wait for the gel to warm in contact with her skin. "Alright. I've never had any infections as far as I can remember... maybe had cystitis once, but I was a kid." She was talking for the sake of talking, to make up for the anxiety slowly mounting at the thought of him finding something that shouldn't be there. A tumor, maybe.
Oh God.
"It's mostly a precaution, almost finished here." he said, handing the wand over to his nurse and removing the speculum. If he saw anything worth noting, he was going to wait until everyone was dressed and sitting in a comfortable position. Kelly added gel to Gil's fingers and he stood from his stool. Explaining his actions as he did them, he continued. "Next step is for me to examine your internal organs. I do this by inserting a finger inside your vagina and lightly pressing your lower abdomen. You might feel some discomfort in certain places, but let me know if it hurts anywhere."
He furrowed his brow a little and pressed a particular spot. "Does this hurt?" He moved to the opposite side of her abdomen and repeated the pressure. "Or here?"
Embarrassing got uncomfortable but Amy was determined to get through the consult and prove a clean bill of health. After all, it wasn't like she could get a husband without it.
Seeing his frown over the blanket, she mirrored it, worry gnawing at her. "No. Uh... is it supposed to?" And again the fear of tumor came back. The fear that something wasn't right. "Is there something wrong?" She searched his face for the answer, confused. Beside him, Kelly the nurse kept a good poker face.
"No, that's actually a good thing, Amy." Gil removed his hands from the woman's body and pulled the gloves off and threw them in the trash. His nurse lowered the bed and helped Amy into a sitting position. "We're all done with the examination, not to bad, right?"
He smiled and then glanced at his watch for the time. "We'll leave you alone so you can change. Kelly, if you could please bring Miss Chen to my office when she's ready? Thank you."
It was quick and painless, in the end. A lot more so than she'd expected. And the doctor smiled at her like nothing was wrong and she had nothing to fear. Deciding to trust him and his pretty face, Amy smiled back.
Once dressed and, for the most part, composed, she made her way out of the examination room full of thoughts of a future family. He was going to pronounce her healthy and the government would pronounce her married. It was a happy thought, so she smiled and Kelly the nurse smiled back, though somewhat reserved.
In Dr Hatayama's office, she felt the pinpricks of worry renewed. With a glance at her watch, she decided to remind the good doctor of her schedule.
"Was everything alright? I only have a few minutes before I really need to go--"
"This will not be long," he interrupted, motioning to the seat in front of his desk. His tone left little room to argue against it. He waited until she was seated before doing the same, folding his hands over her chart as he thought of what he needed to convey.
"I wanted to let you know my initial findings from your pelvic exam. We'll still need to wait for your lab work to come in, but I know that conceiving and carrying a child to term is important to you. I wanted you to think of your options before your next appointment."
Amy was thankful to be sitting down, the doctor's tone unsettling her. She had thought - hoped - everything was fine. She didn't like surprises and this rang like the bad kind.
"My options regarding what?" she asked archly, hanging onto the strap of her bag. Damn right conceiving a child was important to her, her whole future depended on it.