Dysauto… What?

The game was just about to end and Emma's team was up by one. The athletic blonde wasn't feeling quite well, but was trying to hold out till the end of the game. She had been feeling odd a lot lately, and had no clue as to why. It was her turn up and she grabbed her trusty bat and sauntered in her own Emma way to the plate and got into position to hit the ball.

Her teammates "The White Knights" and the crowd cheered her on and she was very excited to win this game. The opposing team was one of their biggest rivals and if they didn't win, they would never live it down. Ursula's Urchins were just that, a creeptastic bunch of urchins. They lost to them last time, and Emma and her team were extremely determined to win. All they had to do was get through this last inning, and then they would be home free.

The first pitch was a solid strike. What the hell? She had totally missed it. This was so unlike her. So she tried to shake it off and readied herself for the next pitch. The pitcher had mis-thrown and it was a wild pitch. The ball came hurtling towards her and she immediately knew that it was going to hit her. She tried to move out of the way, but the ball smacked her in the left thigh and she went down hard. Everything went black.

Soon after, over at Storybrooke Hospital, things were running like a well-oiled machine. "Get ready guys, we have an incoming. Looks like a leg injury, but the patient is also unconscious. Hit by a softball while playing. ETA 3 minutes." Dr. Zelena Mills informed her team.

Right on schedule, the sirens blared as the ambulance and other first responder vehicles arrived into the hospital's ambulance loading bay. With quick precision, the gurney with the unresponsive blonde was unloaded from the truck and wheeled into the emergency room where Zelena and her colleagues were waiting to assess her injuries. "Take her to room 27."

The gurney was rushed to the room and the entire team followed them into the small room. Dr Mills quickly took her flashlight pen and checked the still unconscious woman's eyes, then her pulse, which was extremely weak. " I need a blood pressure please."

A nurse, who had been standing quietly beside the bed immediately placed a blood pressure cuff around Emma's left bicep and started the machine. The reading came back 63/47. That was way too low, so she re-started the machine, thinking that it was a misread. But when the reading came back at 62/44, she knew that something else was going on.

"Let's get her hooked up to a litre of fluids and 0.1 of Fludrocortisone. Get her in compression stockings and the leg machine to prevent blood clots. Also, draw some labs at the same time you start the line, I want to see why she passed out and is so low. This is definitely not related to her being hit by a ball, but I am almost wondering if it wasn't a blessing in disguise. We need to get more fluids and salt into her and get that bp up stat." Dr. Mills professionally recited. This was obviously not her first time dealing with a situation like this.

As the team worked busily, Emma slowly started to come around. "Where am I?"

"Hi, my name is Dr. Mills, and you have had a bit of an accident. You are in the hospital. Do you think you can tell me your name?"

'

"Emma. Emma Swan."

"That's good. Tell me the last thing you remember." the doctor continued.

"I was playing ball and got hit, but why am I here?"

"You blacked out Emma, and were out for quite some time. Let me re-check your vitals now that you're awake."

The nurse, Lacey, took her blood pressure again, and it went up only ever so slightly. "Oxysats are low as well, let's get her on some oxygen. Emma, are you in any pain?" Zelena asked.

"Yes, my leg hurts. Although, this is weird, but actually my entire body hurts."

"On a scale of one to ten, what is your pain?"

The blonde weakly replied, "8". Then closed her eyes again, this time, out of sheer exhaustion. She had no idea what was going on with her body, and it was beginning to scare her. All of the sounds and smells in the emergency room didn't seem to help her either. And she drifted off again.

Dr. Mills immediately responded, "We need to get her into x-ray and get a CT off her head and leg. I need to see what is going on, plus I want to get an ekg to check out her heart as well, just in case. Let's put a rush on it!"

With that, the doctor left to go check on some of her other patients, and waited for all of the test results to come back on the Swan girl.

Back in Emma's room:

"Hi, my name is Killian, and I will be taking your ekg really quickly. Can you please tell me your name?"

"Emma Swan."

"Forgive the cold leads, I will try to be quick." He was a charmer, that was for sure, with stunning blue eyes… The skilled technician quickly hooked up all off the leads and started the EKG. It was a short procedure and he was done and gone before she even knew it.

Shortly after, a young volunteer came into room 27. "Hi, I am Pete from transport. I am going to take you down to get your CT scans. Can you please tell me your name?"

"Emma Swan." This is really getting old, she thought to herself.

"Great Emma, we can head out now. There are going to be a few bumps on the way, I apologize in advance." Pete said to her. He was a sweet kid and was trying to make small talk with Emma, but she really was feeling out of sorts and didn't want to speak with anyone. This was definitely not her norm. She generally was a happy-go-lucky, talkative woman, but today she couldn't find the energy to make a coherent sentence. It was beginning to frighten her. She knew something was very wrong. Normally, the blonde was extremely healthy and energetic. She was an all-star collegiate athlete, and continued to play sports even after she graduated. It was fun playing in the lesbian leagues, very competitive and satisfying. But right now, Emma was out of sorts, in pain, and maybe just a bit frightened of the unknown.

"Here we are." Emma kept her eyes closed and chose not to speak during the procedure. The x-ray technicians explained what they were doing as they put the contrast into Emma's IV. They had transferred her from her gurney to the table that slides into the CT scan machine.

"Ok Emma, when the machine says to hold your breath, please do so. Then it will tell you when you can breathe again."

The blonde nodded in response and followed the directions as the machines whirred to life and took her into the tube. One thing she wasn't prepared for was the warm feeling in between her legs, it was as if she had peed herself. She knew she hadn't, but had no idea what was going on.

As soon as the table slid out of the tube and the machines shut down, the warm feeling had disappeared. "Excuse me", Emma asked politely. "Can I ask why it felt like I just wet myself?"

The tech chuckled and then said, "I forgot to warn you of the side effects of the contrast. What you felt was perfectly normal. You are perfectly dry. My apologies for neglecting to tell you earlier."

"Oh, it's not really a big deal."

Not too long after that, Emma was back in her room in the ER. Just as Dr. Mills walked into the room, Emma passed out again. This time she did not immediately wake up. Emma was no longer breathing normally so Dr. Mills ordered her to be put on a ventilator and had her transported up to the ICU, while waiting for the test results.

Two days later

Emma awoke to a quiet, steady beeping tone. What the hell? She thought to herself. As she assessed the situation, she realized something was very wrong. She was not breathing on her own, and there were tubes and wires everywhere.

"Well, look who has decided to join us." came the most beautiful sound to her ears. As she found the source of the melodic voice, she saw the most stunning woman she had ever seen. Perfection. Luscious brown locks to her chin and matching eyes, on a perfectly golden tan body. Who was she? And where had she been all her life? Emma thought she must have died to see such an Angel.

"Ms. Swan, my name is Dr. Mills and you are in the intensive care unit. You have been here for two days with us and you are very sick." the doctor explained.

Emma tried to speak, but was prohibited by the tubes that were down her throat.

"Do not try to speak until we remove the ventilator from you. If you can stay awake, we can do that today. Ms. Swan, I have been studying your labs and symptome for the past few days and I believe I know what is happening to you. We will need to confirm it with a Tilt Table Test, but I am pretty sure that what is ailing you is a form of Dysautonomia called POTS, short for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Unfortunately we do not have that capability here. We are going to transfer you to Boston University Hospital when we believe you are stable enough."

Tears rolled down Emma's cheeks silently. She had no idea what was going on with her. Just a few minutes ago, at least in her mind, she was playing softball. Now she was laying in a hospital bed hooked up to machines with gods-knows-what disease.

"Please do not cry Ms. Swan. We are doing our best and will find the best treatments available to you. Let me get you a pad of paper. I am sure you have many questions." Emma nodded and the doctor stepped out of the room to get her the notepad and pen.

Emma just lay there, wondering what was happening to her. She knew she hadn't been feeling 100% lately, but she just attributed it to her hours at work. She was increasingly tired, exhausted rather and her stamina was non-existent. Nothing a few days off couldn't fix. Her diet wasn't the best either. She had been eating too many burgers at Granny's, and those bear claws. Her absolute weakness.

As she was deep in thought, Dr. Mills returned with the promised pen and paper. "Here you go Ms. Swan."

Emma quickly scrawled out "You can call me Emma."

"Emma it is, ok. How are you feeling?" Dr. Mills inquired of the blonde.

"Better than before, just tired and achy. My leg really hurts though." Emma wrote out.

"That's to be expected, at this phase. I have you on medications that should help to make you feel better and regain a bit of energy as well. Tell me, have you been dizzy or feeling feignt as of late?"

Her doctor was very young looking, but spoke as if she had just left finishing school. Very prim and proper. Emma wrote more. "I have been exhausted, and sometimes dizzy when I stand up. It happens even if I do it slowly."

"Yes, those are definitely signs and symptoms of Dysautonomia."

"Dys auto what?"

"Dysautonomia, or more specifically, POTS, which I believe you to have."

"How did I get this?"

"It is an inherited or genetic illness. Does anybody else in your family exhibit any of these symptoms?"Regina asked.

"I'm an orphan."

Regina cocked her head inquisitively.

"I was in the system after I was abandoned as a newborn. I aged out and have been on my own ever since." Emma wrote, in her barely-legible chicken scratch.

"I guess we will have to rely on the tests and other means then to make an accurate diagnosis. As I already mentioned though, I believe that this is what you have."

Emma rolled her eyes and tilted her head, at a loss as to how to process all the new information thrown at her.

"Don't despair Emma, we will get you feeling better as soon as possible." Dr. Mills smiled.