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]

"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.

[boobhat]

It did help a little bit. Hiccup didn't realize it was even helping because he didn't realize he was having anxiety. Anxiety was pretty much his general state of existence now.

After taking a few breaths, he looked to Howard.

"So what's the damage? Alien brain parasite? Lung-eating diseases? My hands are trying to detach themselves and run off without me?"

He was joking, but it was to cover up the actual concern.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Lay back. I'm going to check your stomach a bit more." He moves the holster so Hiccup has room to recline. He doesn't laugh at Hiccup's joke but he does crack a bit of a smirk. Howard in a professional environment is a lot more subdued than Howard hanging around waiting for something to do.

"Do you want it framed as good news or bad news?"

[boobhat]

His face fell, as he laid back, looking at a Medbay ceiling that he'd spent far too much time looking at already.

Then there wasn't much expression on it at all, as if he'd been expecting the worst anyway, simply hiding his fear the entire time Howard had been checking him out.

"Bad news," he said quietly. "It's always bad news anyway."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Amen, brother. Tell me if this hurts." He presses ever-so-slightly beneath Hiccup's ribcage, feeling the muscles there. "Well - and take this with a grain of salt, because I'm not qualified for mental health - as far as I can tell, there's nothing physically wrong with you that would make this happen. My best guess is it's stress-related."

He travels his hands over to Hiccup's side. "I'm going to run all the other tests just in case there's another cause, but your blood pressure's high, your pulse is fast, your breathing's a little unsteady and you started trembling more when I was agitating you. So that, to me, says the problem's mental, not physical."

He holds a hand out and flexes his fingers. "As for that, that happens to me all the time. There's nothing wrong with it. It's not weird or anything that your hands are doing it."

Easier said than believed, of course.