Martha's 3rd - Video/Action - Day 98

[notrosesshadow]

[To anyone who has been to the clinic when it was still there, that's where you'll see Martha when the video opens up.]

In an attempt to be of some use around here, I'm opening up the clinic again. I have my credentials from Royal Hope Hospital in London circa 2008. I also have experience treating non-humans thanks to some travel in both time and space. Most recently, I have gained experience as a field medic.

For anyone who has been seeing Dr. Barrett as your physician while here on this island, you may keep seeing her. But more doctors are always helpful.

If you have any questions or would like to sit for a physical, you may talk to me here or come visit the clinic. If not, that's perfectly fine too.

[Of course, baseline physicals would be much better, but she's not going to push anyone. Martha wants to be trusted above anything else.]

Comments

[bluesrat]

[He drops into the chair, and rubs his face a little. Since he woke up back in the alley, after possibly being abducted, he's felt like he got run over by a train, but saying so to a doctor seems less useful than specifics. He probably looks a little like he's been through the wringer, anyway.]

Yeah... ever since- well, I guess maybe a month ago, I was in the woods when there was a fire. I got out okay, but there was a lot of smoke. I only have about one cigarette a week. They're in short supply around here, anyway. I guess... it would do me good to drop the habit completely, but... [He smiles weekly, apologetic.]

[notrosesshadow]

[Martha takes down some notes. It sounds to her that it's some sort of irritant caused by the smoke, but she has some other questions.]

When did it start? The cough I mean.

[bluesrat]

I didn't notice it until after the forest fire. Were... you here for that? It was weeks ago though. [He gives a few wheezing, rattling coughs, a kind of accidental demonstration.]

[notrosesshadow]

[It is a rather awful sound. Martha pulls out the stethoscope she had found and fits it in her ears.]

Mind if I take a listen?

[bluesrat]

[He grimaces and looks sheepish, but really, it's silly to be embarrassed about coughing at her when that's what he came here for. The question gets a nod, and he sits up straight helpfully.]

It's not so bad I can't sing, but it's getting annoying.

[notrosesshadow]

Coughs are annoying, and exhausting if they continue for a long time.

[She puts a finger to her lips to warn him to be quiet so she can listen. It's a simple matter of listening to both lungs from the front and back.]

((OOC: What type of cough am I looking for? Don't want to tell him he has some illness when that's not what you want him to have!))

[bluesrat]

[He sits up straight, and tries to breathe slow and steady, but his back aches when he straightens, and he's clearly trying not to cough by the second deep breath. There's a rattling there, but it's all upper respiratory and fairly mild. Still, trying to breathe through a bunch of mucus is no fun.]

((OOC: Wasn't thinking anything too awful, but he could have an upper respiratory infection or something. Also, smoking is bad for you kids!))

[notrosesshadow]

[She steps back after a moment, considering her supplies.]

It definitely sounds like an Upper Respiratory Infection. Lose the cigarettes. They'll only make it worse. You could probably get something good as a trade for them. As for meds, I don't have much but...

[She rifles through a cabinet and pulls out a bottle of pills. She parcels out four of them.]

Take one of these a day. They should help with the symptoms and get that cough to be more productive. Keep drinking water, and if you can, get moist air. Hot showers, boiling water and breathing in the steam, that sort of thing. If it gets worse or you get a fever, then give me a call.

[bluesrat]

I don't... smoke that much... [He starts, then sighs and coughs with a grimace, relaxing into a slouch again. Rat is one of those tall people who's learned to be a little apologetic about it, at least in his body language.] Yea-yes ma'am. And thanks...

[He gives a lopsided little smile.] Haven't had a hot shower in years. That part doesn't sound bad at all.

[notrosesshadow]

[She lifts an eyebrow at his smoking comment, especially when he starts coughing again. It's nearly impossible to get people to quit even with the technology available in her time. She doubts it'll be easy here. But Martha will still try.]

It's been a while for me too. The shower bit. The water here does warm up decently though. Take advantage of it. [She smiles a little more kindly then as she looks up into his eyes even though he's slouching.]

Anything else I can do for you?

[bluesrat]

[It's hard to quit in any day and age, but it's true that he smokes as little as he can bring himself to, just because cigarettes are a luxury when you can barely afford food.] I'll try it after I leave here. Uhm...

[He rubs the back of his neck, and looks a little sheepish.] I don't know. Just... there's nothing else weird about me, right? A friend thinks I was abducted by the scientists who run this place...

[notrosesshadow]

[Martha knows what it's like to go hungry...]

The withdrawal period might be hell. If you can find something to take your mind off it, that'll help.

As for the rest of you, I could give you a more thorough physical if you'd like.

[bluesrat]

I've run out before... [He shakes his head and sighs, because he knows just quitting completely is long past due.]

You know, when I was a kid, doctors used to recommend some cigarettes when you had a cough... If you're willing, I guess it might be a good idea. I haven't seen a doctor in a long time. [He's apologetic and sheepish about that.]

[notrosesshadow]

[She laughs.]

Doctors tried very hard, but they just didn't have the technology to know the things we do now. Cigarettes don't show their damage until much later in life. And of course, the old ones people rolled themselves were... well, they had less additives then.

Well, let's do height and weight first.

[She walks over to a scale. Good thing these have stayed pretty much the same for a long time.]

[bluesrat]

I've... noticed a lot of people here seem to be from a later time... [He's not sure how he feels about that, still.]

Should I take my shoes off? [The soles are worn down so far it probably doesn't matter, anyway.]

I'll leave his height and weight up to you.

[notrosesshadow]

[Martha glances down at his shoes and shakes her head.]

Any difference in weight or height with them on will be negligible.

[She waits for him to step on before fiddling with the scale.]

When are you from, Rat?

[bluesrat]

[Getting an accurate read on his height may be tricky, as he comes in around six-foot-eight, or 2.032 meters. At 182 pounds, he's definitely on the skinny side for his doorframe-ducking height.]

It was nineteen-forty-nine, where I came from... I guess I have met a couple of guys from an earlier date, but everyone else here seems to be either ahead of me, or from some alternate dimension...

[notrosesshadow]

[He is tall. Martha looks at him apologetically as she grabs a chair to stand on. 5'2" is just too short to deal with someone that tall. The weight is a bit worrying, but then he does smoke, and there does seem to be a lack of food here. So she's not going to worry about that too much other than to notate it.]

I've never been to 1949. What's it like?

[She leads him back to the chair he'd been sitting in and looks around for a thermometer and blood pressure cuff.]

[bluesrat]

[He makes an effort to stand up straight for it, too, which just shows that he tends to slouch the rest of the time.]

As compared to...? [He gives a weak smile.] It's... well, the war's over and the memory's fading, so I guess that's a good thing. Truman's still president. I dunno, I'm not as up on current affairs as I used to be...

[Watching her pick up the blood pressure cuff, he shrugs out of his jacket and rolls up a sleeve obligingly- and then stops and stares. His arm is bruised all over, like somebody with crushing strength gripped and held it a while, a few different times. Those were not there before.]

[notrosesshadow]

I dunno. The history books all talk of big events. They never mention the normal person. What's it like to actually live then?

[Martha's in the process of pulling apart the velcro when Rat rolls up his sleeve. Her eyes widen in surprise at the bruises that he hadn't mentioned. She's about to chide him even when she sees the look on his face. He doesn't look like he knows what happened either.]

How did these happen?

[She has to ask anyway.]

[bluesrat]

I... don't know.

[Suddenly his mouth seems to have gone dry, and his voice comes out in a raspy whisper. No wonder he was feeling sore all over, and like he'd been run over by a truck. Without trying to come up with any further answer, he pushes up his other sleeve to check the other arm. It's similarly beat up, which is more or less what he expected now, but the shock is clear in his face. He didn't have these bruises before he woke up in the alley, missing time.]

[notrosesshadow]

[Martha stays calm. Keeps evaluating.]

How about your torso? Can you take your shirt off?

[She wanted to see how far these bruises ran, make sure nothing was worse than just surface bruising.]

[bluesrat]

[He's too distracted by this new development to be embarrassed, peeling off a few layers of shirts as quickly as stiff and sore muscles will allow. Underneath he's too skinny, kind of dirty, and of course badly bruised. There don't seem to be any other sort of injuries, though. Nothing's broken, and if he had internal injuries he'd have had some sign hours ago. He's simply banged up.]

I... didn't have these... Nothing happened-!!

[notrosesshadow]

[Martha gives him a sympathetic smile as she lifts one of his arms up by the wrist. She lightly runs a finger over his skin to feel if it's an odd rash or something. But no, it does seem to be bruising. She exerts light pressure up by his bicep.]

How much does it hurt on a scale of one to ten.

[bluesrat]

Ow... [It's a natural reaction, before she's even asked the question, but he doesn't flinch away.]

I... don't know. It hurts like a bad bruise. Two or three? I... felt stiff and sore all over, achy, I thought maybe I'd had the flu or pneumonia or something, with a fever. Ever since I woke up in the alley I've had that... feeling you get, after you wake up from being sick with a high fever, almost like you've lost...

time.

[He scrubs his face with one hand, letting her play around with his other arm still. Having lost a chunk of time is exactly what Balthazar described of being abducted. At least Rat is over his initial panic quickly.]