lucas_apollo (lucas_apollo) wrote in paxletalelogs, @ 2017-07-25 16:02:00 |
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Entry tags: | apollo, loki |
Why do I feel like my life has been rearranged?
Who: Lucas [Apollo] and Nish [Loki]
What: Nish goes in for a routine checkup
Where: LA County Hospital
When: July 21, 2017, morning
“Nish?” Lucas called into the small waiting room. He smiled when she looked up and gestured for her to follow him down the hall to an exam room.
“Hey, Lucas,” she smiled, heading inside the room and watching him close the door. “You look like you got some sun,” she commented, immediately noting the startling change of his skin tone. He chuckled and nodded, gesturing for her to get up onto the exam table.
“I hit the beach last weekend, and I guess I was out there longer than I thought,” he said easily, which was the story he was telling everyone. It was just easier than explaining to everyone he met how he just woke up with a sudden golden tan. And besides, it was such a minor thing compared to what everyone else was dealing with that it didn’t even seem noteworthy to him, aside from the initial shock.
He opened her chart on the table next to her and nodded when he confirmed what he already knew. “So it’s been about six weeks since I’ve seen you last; any change?” he asked, taking the stethoscope from around his neck and slipping the scope just under her shirt, over her heart.
“No, not really,” she said, “I still get short of breath once in a while. I could be doing nothing and then suddenly my heart skips a few beats and I have to take a moment to recover. Really annoying if I’m at work,” she added with a chuckle, but he could tell that it bothered her a lot.
“That happens with arrhythmia,” he assured her, but also listening closely to her heartbeat. Even just sitting here in the exam room he heard a few beats skip. “Have you been having any pain lately? You mentioned it a few times before…”
She nodded, “yeah, uhhm...early June I had to cancel plans with a friend because I wasn’t feeling well,” she said, a slight grimace creasing her forehead at the memory. Jo hadn’t been happy about it, and going to the Pride parade the next day hadn’t helped matters. Also, thinking of Jen… “and...uhhm, once a few weeks ago, when I was having sex,” she added, trying her hardest not to sound embarrassed to bring it up. Lucas caught her discomfort immediately, but didn’t draw attention to it. He could tell from the look on her face how much this had worried her, and wanted to dispel that right away.
“And now you’re afraid of it happening again,” he finished for her with what he hoped was a friendly smile. “I wouldn’t worry...it wasn’t any worse than usual, was it?” he asked, not at all surprised when she shook her head. “And the nitro helped?”
“Yeah,” she replied, consciously forcing her fingers to unclench from the fists she’d been driving into the table below her. “I think I kind of freaked out my girlfriend,” she added with a little smile. He chuckled again.
“I’ll bet...well you can tell her it wasn’t anything to do with her,” he assured her, wrapping the stethoscope back around his neck. “And it’s no reason to stop having sex,” he added with a smile. Even so, he made a note of it in her chart, because if it started to happen consistently, that was a whole different story. But occasionally wasn’t anything to worry about.
“It’s true, when you have sex your heartrate and blood pressure go up, and that can be stressful on damaged heart muscles, but the medication I have you on should help relieve some of the every-day pressure, including from any sort of exercise or rigorous activity. If it gets any worse or more frequent, you let me know right away, okay? You’re one of the only patients I’ve ever given my cell number to,” he added with a wink.
“I promise to use this power for good, never for evil,” she smiled, though it was subdued with thought. He laughed and closed her file.
“Well looks like you’re doing well; you’re keeping up with your meds and your appointments...how are your sessions with your therapist going?” he asked, his arms crossed over her chart in his hand.
“Ohh, they’re okay. I feel fine now...I don’t see why I still need them really.” The truth was, she couldn’t remember ever feeling this good before. Her therapist said it was likely the effect of the antidepressants she was taking, but she knew it was definitely more than that.
“You’re out of the woods, Nish, and it feels good to be in the sun, but you have to be prepared for the occasional storm. At this point, it’s just maintenance,” he explained, “and if you want to space them out more so it’s less expensive or less time consuming that’s fine, but I’d like to see you stick with it. You’re doing remarkably well right now...you’re sober, you’re drug-free, you have a better outlook on life...I’d hate to see that all come crashing down if you hit a snag and have no support system set up.”
Nish was nodding, though she’d been hoping to just be done with the therapy sessions. “These days I go to see her and we just chat about the weather, the news, work, that kind of thing,” she said with a slight frown. He chuckled.
“I know it seems like a waste of time, but she’s judging your emotional well being while you talk,” he said. “It’s just like these appointments...I’m monitoring your physical health, and she’s monitoring your emotional and psychological health.”
Nish nodded, paused, and then a wry smile tugged at her lips. “I wonder what she’d say about what’s been happening lately in my apartment,” she commented. At Lucas’ curious look, she continued. “There’s something...messing up my kitchen and half-eating all of my food. It’s definitely not my cat because whatever it is opens the fridge and eats vegetables and other things that Bear wouldn’t touch. And the other day...I found a giant feather on the floor. Too big to be from any local birds.”
Lucas actually laughed at that. “I have the exact opposite...problem?” he said, though he wasn’t sure what to call it. “Something or someone keeps cleaning up any little mess I leave in my kitchen. I thought I was going slightly crazy until I heard stories of other things happening...my friend and I saw what looked like a giant hairy head in one of his cupboards,” he said and chuckled when Nish winced in sympathy.
“That building is a...I don’t know, it’s like we’re all living in the Twilight Zone or something,” she said. “Don’t think litigation hasn’t crossed my mind,” she added with a wry grin.
“I think we’d all be hard-pressed to find evidence of any of this to bring to court,” he said, but she was already nodding.
“That’s the only thing holding me back.”
“Well, your health certainly isn’t,” Lucas commented, neatly bringing the conversation neatly back to her reason for coming. “Everything looks good. Keep up with your meds and your appointments; let me know if anything changes or gets worse, and come back and see me in...two months,” he said, writing that down in her chart.
Nish smiled and slid off the exam bed. “Thanks, doc,” she said with a grin, leaving the room as he escorted her out.