If You Need a Doctor, I'll Examine Every Inch of You [Phys Evals; Open]

[meat_mooks]

Ever since the medical briefing on the comms, the medical bay staff has been preparing for an influx of appointments for physical evaluations, as well as a few walk-ins. After that, the hunt will be on for those who've been skipping such appointments.

A few of the staff members are going about their regular duties, expecting patients or simply biding time at the coffee machine until they're called on.

[OOC: please state the name of which med character(s) you want to administer the evaluation in the header to your comment. If you're fine with anyone tagging in, please indicate so. Available characters are Sakura, Howard, Dr. Faiza Hussain, Soren and Dr. Carson Beckett.]

Comments

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Well, hate to break it to you, but you were accomplishing absolutely nothing."

Howard writes down what Hiccup tells him in neat print, then glances up at Hiccup's hands - and pauses. Because that's familiar. That's something Howard catches his own body doing as often as not, usually at night, usually paired up with the insomnia that seems to be going around the ship like the world's most brainsucking flu.

He gets closer and holds his pen out between two of Hiccup's fingers, judging how much they're trembling.

"Comes and goes with what?"

[boobhat]

"Hey, it wasn't for lack of trying," Hiccup said mildly to Howard's remark about the Council, but then he focused on his hands.

"It just...comes and goes. It's usually worse when I first wake up."

Particularly when he woke up from the nightmares.

"Is it something serious? It better not be something serious 'cause I'm getting pretty tired of serious."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Hey, you were one of the few councilors I liked. Not that I voted for you, but still." Howard will never vote another teen into anything. It's just a rule of his, one borne from watching the teens on his own council in the FAYZ, and it's unlikely to change for anything short of said teen being the only alternative to voting in Hitler.

"When you wake up at night or in the morning?" He furrows his brow and leans in close to the hands, then hands Hiccup the pen to see his dexterity while they're shaking. "Depends on how you define seriously, probably. It's not like, cerebral palsy or anything, if that's what you're thinking."

[boobhat]

"Both. Depends. But it's other times, too. Like right now."

He paused.

"I'll assume cerebral palsy is a bad thing?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Yeah. It is." Howard angles his head over to the side and bites his lip. "I want you to play a word association game with me. I say a word, you say the first thing that comes to mind. Okay?"

[boobhat]

Hiccup looked a little confused, but hey, future medicine, right? Who knew how it really worked. He'd follow along if Howard thought it'd help him figure out what was wrong with his hands.

"Oookay. Sure."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Here."

[boobhat]

"Stinks."

Understatement.

And he meant both "here" as in the Medbay and "here" as in Stacy.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard tries not to laugh as he put the blood pressure cuff around Hiccup's arm. "Home."

[boobhat]

"Gone."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Mood."

[boobhat]

"Miserable?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

To his credit, Howard manages to cover his mouth before he snorts.

"Sleep."

[boobhat]

"Nightmares."

Hiccup's blood pressure was through the roof. Much higher than it should've been for someone his age and physical condition--and he was in good physical condition now after all the time training with Zuko. His pulse was too high as well.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Every." Howard writes it down without letting it show on his face that something's off.

[boobhat]

"Time."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard makes an educated guess based on Hiccup's file. "Aliens."

[boobhat]

"Pain."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Fear."

He puts the pen between Hiccup's fingers again to see if he's trembling more or less since this conversation started.

[boobhat]

More. He was trembling more.

"Death."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Well, that's enough of that.

"Okay, I've got some ideas. Let me screen you for any bugs or anything though, okay?" He glances over at his tools. "You don't mind if I draw blood, right?"

[boobhat]

"Go ahead."

He was just...going to go very very pale and look away the whole time.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Figures. A guy gets his gut busted open by aliens but a little needle still makes him queasy. Howard will never understand people's priorities around here. He takes the blood and sets it aside - he'll run it through the scanner for the usual suspects, but also to see if there's any sort of coagulation problem that could offer an alternate explanation to the high blood pressure. Just in case.

Howard's pretty sure he has this pegged, though.

"Okay, shirt off." He puts his stethoscope on. "I'm going to check your heart and breathing and then poke your stomach a little."

[boobhat]

Hey, hey, maybe he just didn't like the sight of his own blood after seeing it so many times, Howard. Did you ever think of that?

Hiccup checked to make sure his gun was holstered properly with the safety on first, then took off his leather belt and shoved it, weapons and all, behind him on the Medbay bed. His tunic followed right after.

His abdomen and chest were still a messy mass of surgical scars and graft scars, but they'd faded slightly over time.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard makes the effort to hold the stethoscope in his palm first, so it isn't a freezing cold metal instrument against Hiccup's bare skin. He places it there, ding his best to ignore the scars. It's not like he doesn't have some nasty scars of his own either, although nothing that required the extensive grafting Hiccup needed.

"Breathe deep." It's partially so he can hear Hiccup's lungs. It's also partially to try and get Hiccup to relax just a little.