ways_infirmary | (no subject)

(no subject)

She'd realized it was time to go when the sweating had started. Mainly because it had been preceeded by a bought of really bad shivering.

Not to mention the fact that her back was killing her.

And that she was suddenly teary-eyed.

Plus, she could practically taste the elixir, and that was the best sign of all.

"Is someone here?" Her voice sounded small, even to her.

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A dark curly-haired head peers out of the office. The owner removes his feet from the desk they had been on and gets up.

"Bella? You okay?" Guppy disentangles himself from his headphones and moves into the main body of the infirmary.

Belle gave him a not-so-convincing smile. "Mind skippin' t' de problem, wit' explanations t' follow at a later date? I'm startin' t' go through morphine withdrawal."

Guppy nods.

"Of course not, although I will need to ask questions relevant to your current condition, okay?"

He gestures to the nearest bed. "Take the weight off your feet and let's see what we can do. Can you tell me how much you were on for how long, how you're feeling and how long it is since you stopped taking it?"

She gladly sits, groaning a bit when as she does. "I doan know de dose. Over a year, almost a year and a half, and it's been a day since I was due f'r another dose."

Now that she's sitting, the shivering becomes a bit more obvious.

He puts a gentle hand to her forehead and nods. Burning up.

"Have you been through this before?" he asks. "And is this happening because you want to quit, or because you can't get hold of the drug? I only ask because it changes the treatment."

"Non. Never stopped takin' it befo'. And bot'. But mo' wit' de wantin' t' quit dan de unavailability."

She sniffles, pulling out a handkerchief.

Guppy nods.

"Okay, well the good news is that if you can stick this out, the symptoms will be much reduced in about seven to nine days from now. The bad news is that you're in for a rough forty eight hours, and that some of the residual symptoms will persist for a couple of weeks. These will be less bad than the first eight to ten days of withdrawal though."

He gets her a glass of water; if she's sweating and feverish he needs to make sure she doesn't get dehydrated.

"There are two treatments for this back home. The first would be to give you methadone, which will help reduce your symptoms. However methadone itself is addictive, and if you were my patient in Holby I would not be allowed to give it to you. I should add that the main reason for this is for staff security as much as the addiction problem; if we hand out methadone, drug addicts from all over will flock to the hospital, putting its staff and patients at risk. This applies less in Milliways, because it has a smaller catchment area. But the same potential security risk applies, not just to me, but to all of the staff that work here, so I hope you will understand why I am very reluctant to give it to you.
The other option is to sit it out and we treat the symptoms as best we can. This will get you off drugs more quickly because we won't then have to wean you off methadone. Neither way is going to be easy, but I'll help you as best I can, okay?"

She took a deep breath. "I'm not goan ask y' f'r another drug t' get off dis one. I jes' need a place where I c'n be restrained. My family's mental history is shaky at best, 'n' I seen some of my friends nearly homicidal from de combination o' trainin' 'n' withdrawal. Which doan bode well f'r de Millifolk, especially de ones dat're Bound."

Guppy's relief at not being forced to disobay his instincts is immediately quashed by this added information.

"When you say restrained, how strong are you talking about here? We have straps on the bed that I can put you in, but they aren't really designed for heavy use I don't think. As for the staff, I don't know what any of the others have in terms of combat training. I have about enough to avoid the occasional swipe from a patient at home, but probably not enough to hold off an assassin."

He hesitates. At this point he'd usually be looking for a member of security to consult with, but given the amount of distress the withdrawal is likely to cause her, being banged up in the cells with no ability to moniter her (besides Baby, and she doesn't show him any stats) isn't necessarily going to do her much good.

"If the worst comes to the worst I'll have to have Security put you in a cell." he says eventually. "For all of our safety."

Belle nods. "I might hold t'gether, but if push comes t' shove, I would rather be put in de cells den hurt anyone. I jes'. . .figgered dat it's be easier t' explain t' you den a security member."

Guppy nods.

"It's okay, I understand." A half smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. "I wish all my potentially violent patients would give me advance warning that they were likely to try and kill me."

Leaning against the edge of the bed. "I won't put the straps on just yet, you're still on day one. How are you feeling right now?"

"'S only fair. After all, I doan wanna hurt no one while I'm here. I feel shitty. But not too bad jes' yet."

She attempts to get comfortable. Which has limited success.

Guppy nods.

"Okay, well I don't need to go back to Holby unless I get paged, and if that happens I'll make sure I find someone to cover in this case. So you can keep me posted as necessary."

He passes her an extra pillow and goes to get her some paracetamol.

"This will help get the fever down. Any changes in your medical history that I should know about since we last talked?"

She smiles at him, though it's not quite genuine. "Merci, Doctor. Nope. Hale 'n' hardy. 'Cept f'r, yano, bein' here. Which, are y' keepin' me, or non?"

"For the moment, yes, I would like to keep you in here, assuming that's okay with you. If later you become too violent for me to handle I will have to ask Security to escort you to the cells until that stage has passed, okay?"

She nods. "Oui, dat's fine. Woulja min' takin' a couple notes t' de Bar f'r me, den? I doan wan' people t' worry."

That's what she'd forgotten. Ah well, she could blame it on being distracted.

"Sure I can." He says with a gentle smile. He fumbles for some paper and passes it to her. "Or you can give them to our infirmary waitrat."

Nod nod nod. "Thanks again, Guppy."

She takes the paper and pen, and concentrates for a minute. Her shaking seems to have calmed down a bit, and the notes come out nearly legible. There's three of them, each folded in half and labeled.

The writing utensils are handed back, along with a rosary made of a white, unfinished wood. "Woulja put dis somewhere I c'n see it but not get t' it?"

Because even her religious symbols could double as weapons.

Guppy nods, putting the notes in his pocket and thinking.

"If I climb up here and sort of balance it on top of this cupboard, will that do?"

"Oui. Sorry t' put y' t' so much trouble."

She looks somewhat sheepish.

A reassuring smile.

"Bella, it's okay. It's my job, and besides, you're a friend."

He clambors up onto the side, putting the necklace up as high as he can. Then gets down carefully, just a flinch of discomfort in his features as he does. Guppy isn't keen on heights, even just standing on a high counter.

She notices, but doesn't say anything. "Y' de only doc here?"

A small smile. "No, thank goodness. There's some flow but there's, to my knowledge, at least four doctors and a couple of healers operating here at the moment. Some come, some go, just as any other patrons. I'm not in charge either, just quite easy to find."

"Dat's good. Doan wancha t' work y'self t' death."

The bed wasn't as bad after a couple minutes of laying on it. "Feels weird, shoudla come here mo' often when I was healthy. 'S hard enough gettin' used t' wakin' up in strange places under de best circumstances."

He smiles. "I try not to. Double shifts can be murder though."

Leaning on the edge of the bed. "I'll be here, or nearby. If I'm not in here or the office, I've probably just nipped out to get food or go to the bathroom, in which case you can page me on this button, and I'll come back, okay?"

Belle nods. "Thanks. I'll try not t' have y' runnin' 'round too much."

She sneezes, and looks annoyed. "Ugh. I already can't wait 'til dis is over."

He passes her a box of tissues.

"Hey, you call me as much as you need, all right?"

Giving her hand a small squeeze. "Try and get some rest, I'll be in the office if you need me."

She gratefully took the box. "Merci, Doctor."

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