The Medical Tent

[liahgeron]

There is a brief shudder and pause in the word stream before it redoubles in pace while losing volume and coherence. As the veil fills, he begins to waver a bit more before finally falling backwards into the cot.

[Ellie Kennigan]

Being ready for it, Ellie manages to draw most of a vial--good enough--before Gil faints, and her training takes over. Drastic loss of blood to the brain is the ultimate cause of most fainting cases. This may be caused by a variety of conditions including physical exhaustion, hunger, dehydration, emotional stress, hyperventilation, anemia, low blood sugar and serious cardiac problems. Passing the syringe to the waiting try with one hand and beginning to stabilize the man with the other arm around him, she firmly guides him into a supine position on the cot. She immediately checks his breathing and pulse, of which he still has both, and turned his head to the side to eliminate the risk of him swallowing his tongue. Ellie is cranking the foot of the cot upward as the narration continues, but not far enough that he would begin to slide off the bed. The act of falling and lying down increases blood flow to the brain so in the majority of cases, the patient will regain consciousness in three to five minutes. Elevating the feet above the heart and head may alleviate this sooner. With Gil settled to probably wake up on his own, the middle-aged doctor begins to check for dehydration.

[liahgeron]

After a moment or two, Gil stirs. (Note: He is probably rather dehydrated at this point.)

"Bugger. Thought I had it under control for a second. You'll out grow it she said, don't worry she said. Margle." He mutters to himself before slowly sitting up again. "Can we keep this particular malady to the two of us? Avis and Beatrice would never let me live it down if they knew. I practice every morning with a claymore, but a little needle and I flop over." He finished with a grumble.

[Ellie Kennigan]

"Well, now. Sleeping beauty awakes, and I didn't even have to kiss you," Ellie says with a dose of sarcasm, easing away from where she'd been leaned over him. "Keep it to myself? You do know I'm a doctor, right? Confidentiality and all that. You go on... practicing."

"Meantime, best idea is to stay down for a few minutes while the blood works its way back into yer brains, else y'might collapse again, but if you wanna sit up," she shrugs, allowing him to make his own decision. "Your health, not mine. Anyway, I should pump a bag of fluids in you since dehydration was likely a contributing factor, especially since you said it took the feds a bit to pick you up off the island. Crazy couple days," the doctor shakes her head, scratching down some barely legible notes on Gil's chart. "But a hydration pack would mean another needle. You up for it?"

[liahgeron]

Gil shakes his head at the mention of more needles then stops, wincing and rubbing his eyes before letting himself flop back into the cot.
"Yep, staying down, Doc. Any chance you'll let me get away with pedialyte instead? It's what we use during summer seminars to keep going during the heat. And just making sure... doctors tend to gossip in my experience, even without names, and Doc Mason might tell Avis, who will tell Beatrice, who will figure it out... she always does."

[Ellie Kennigan]

With the mention of Pedialyte, she begins rummaging through drawers and shelves supplied by the feds. She might have forced the issue of a hydration pack on someone more familiar to her, but she isn't too keen on chancing a successive fainting spell with the young man. "Softening in my age," she mumbles, then sharply looks at Gil--lying flat and slightly upside-down. "Don't you let John Marner know I said that 'r I'll never get that old bat to take his medications."

"I'll be darned, they have the stuff," Ellie says, pulling a generic powder packet from a drawer. She mixes the drink and cranks the bed back to level. "Alright, think you can sit up now." When he does, she hands the plastic Solo cup to him. "Look, I won't tell anyone you're a tough guy who passes out at the thought of a pin prick unless I need to, alright?" Eyes watch that he drinks it all.

[liahgeron]

Gil raises his right arm in a thumbs up as the bed raises, "You got it, Doc. And it's less of being a 'tough' and more being taken seriously. I"m trying to get a western martial arts school up and running, and it's really, really hard to convince someone that their swing is too tentative and they need to commit more to their block when they know that you have a ... weakness to needles. And its not that bad, only comes up once or twice a year after all. I could have much worse fears." Gil pauses then mutters quietly, "Though I think I"m adding giant moths to that list."
He sits forward slowly and takes the cup and begins sipping away.
"Mr. Marner does seem a mite determined to avoid his meds. I did tell him you were looking for him on the island. He said "Bah" and shook a shotgun in the air. Has he been a patient of yours long? I feel that most docs nowadays would just drop him from their roster of patients." Gil reaches the end of the cup and looks into the bottom to confirm he got it all, "Got any more? Or should I switch to water for now?"

[Nick Sleet]

Nick Winters walks up to the tent. Raising a hand to knock (before realizing that canvas is not the best medium), he instead stops just outside and asks "Is this the line for the pokings and proddings?"

[Ellie Kennigan]

Ellie finishes the notations on Gil's chart as he talks, nodding with understanding of his explanation about not wanting word to get around. She glances up at him over the rims of her glasses at his mention of giant moths, but makes no further comment.

For a moment, the doctor looks genuinely surprised and a little horrified at the mention of dropping Marner as a patient. Then she makes a sharp hand-wave in the air, as if back-handing someone across the head. "That old man's just stubborn, like most folk up north here. If I dropped every patient who gave me guff out here, I wouldn't have a practice. Barely do as it is." A pause as she scratches the last note and puts the clipboard aside. "It's a small town. You don't just leave your neighbors without health care, y'know? Who the hell else is gonna take care of 'em?" She asks in exasperation and sighs. "Anyway, you're all set to go, and it sounds like I have another patient. Water for the rest of the day, at least another twenty-two ounces. Stay hydrated and do what the feds tell you. Hopefully, we'll make it out of here okay."

[liahgeron]

Gil smiles broadly at her response, "Sounds like you have a good heart, Doc. I'll chug some water, but I see a bed in my future. I've gotten... well how long was I outside...." Gil checks his watch. "Oh boy. Bed it is. Thanks again Doc. See ya around!"
Gil slowly gets up and shuffles through the door, waving a greeting to Nick as he holds the flap up for him.
"Next!" He grins a bit.