Vertigo
A/N This is going to be a Derek whump with illness I'm basing this on my own experience of ear infections and googling so sorry if anything isn't completely accurate but we'll see how it goes. Also I just want to add that there are no pairings in this, it is just meant to be platonic friendship but I guess you can read it as a pairing between any of them if you want. I own nothing. Please read and review.
Derek was in his office going through his post-op charts checking everything was in order before he signs off on each of them, when he notices his ears aching slightly. He's tired after being on the go for two days straight so he knows it's likely nothing and he just rubs at his right ear slightly and continues thinking nothing of it as he signs off the last chart and gets his coat and bag to leave. He walks out of the hospital and drives back to Meredith's house, too tired to go all the way back to his trailer, he crashes into bed not bothering to change just taking off his coat and shoes.
He wakes up the next morning to a warm body pressed against him and snoring coming from the body, he rolls over to see Meredith and leans over kissing her gently on the forehead not wanting to disturb her because he knows she's not on till later. Getting up and out of bed he's surprised to find himself stumbling into the wall, he leans against the wall getting his bearings but it still feels like the room is spinning around him. He can see that everything is staying still and that he's stationary but it feels as though he's turning in circles, he realises that both his ears are sore and feel as though they're full. He pushes off from the wall slowly and starts walking into the hallway, he has to keep a hand trailing along the wall to anchor himself otherwise he'd be on the floor by now, going into the bathroom he locks the door behind him and puts the lid down on the toilet and sits down. Even sitting down with his head braced in his hands he can still feel the spinning sensation slightly and it's starting to make him feel queasy.
Staying in that position he thinks through his options, he could call in sick and go back to bed and just wait out the spinning, which he realises is probably an ear infection, but he has a patient who he really needs to check on because he did a craniotomy yesterday on them for a subdural hematoma and he doesn't trust any of the interns to be able to watch him, so he really does need to go in. He's going to have to go in to make sure that the man doesn't have any complications from the surgery but there's no way he can drive in like this, no-one else in the house is going to the hospital so he can't pretend to hitch a ride, he's going to have to call a cab.
With this in his mind he takes his head from his hands slowly and is pleasantly surprised to find that as long as he goes slowly the spinning isn't too bad, he pushes too his feet and trails his hand along the wall again as he makes his way to the phone in the hall. He flips open the phone book and finds the number for a taxi company and calls them booking a taxi to come to the house in half an hour to take him to the hospital. He's on the clock now and goes back into Meredith's room and changes into his trousers and button-up shirt, he has to sit down to do it because of the spinning but manages somehow. He's now only got 15 minutes before the cab comes so he goes to the top of the stairs and carefully walks down clinging to the banister with every step to make sure he doesn't fall. He grabs some Weetabix for breakfast, and picks at it, not able to bring himself to finish it because of how queasy he's feeling.
Not long later he hears a car horn outside and slings his bag over his shoulder and makes his way to the front door, once he's outside he realises he's got to walk without holding onto anything and can see from the driver's face that he's not doing the best job of it, he gets into the back seat and asks the driver to take him to the SGMW hospital.
"You ok buddy, do you want me to drop you at the ER entrance?" the driver obviously thinks he's going to get treatment for whatever is causing him to stumble around drunkenly.
"No, actually I'm a doctor there, just not feeling well so I thought it best not to drive in" he says offering a smile to the driver in the hopes that will re-assure him.
"That's probably a smart move. Ok, well SGMW here we come" the guy says and pulls out onto the road heading for the hospital.
The ride to the hospital was quiet with no more words being exchanged between Derek and the driver. The taxi pulls into the car park and Derek hands the driver some money for the ride, thanking him and then opens the door slowly standing up out of the car. He re-adjusts his bag over his shoulder and after holding onto the top of the cab for a moment to get his bearings he steps away and shuts the door. He just about hears the car pulling away and starts to realise that it's not just his balance that's taken a hit, he can't hear that well either, he had thought that the driver was unusually quiet but had dismissed it as nothing but now he's sure that his hearing is dimmer than it usually is.
He's beginning to get to grips with walking when it feels like he's about 10 seconds behind every move he makes, the only problem is he's slowed down to a snail's pace by it. He's not going to get much done today but at least he can check on his patients. As he slowly makes his way towards the entrance he sees Owen confidently striding towards the entrance, the other doctor always seems as though he's on a mission, probably because of his military past Derek muses. Unfortunately for Derek Owen has seen him and is now heading over to him.
"Hey Shep, you're looking a little worse for wear, rough night?" Owen says looking far too bright for Derek's sore ears and weak muscles.
"I wish, just woke up like this, but I've got patients to check on so I'm pushing through" Derek says with a grimace, and continues to shuffle along hoping that's the end of the conversation.
"Well maybe you should come over to the pit with me and I can check you out, I'll keep it under the radar?" Owen says walking backwards albeit very slowly in front of Derek frowning, which Derek's tired brain is not even ready to comprehend.
"No Hunt I'm fine, just going to check on my patients and then I'll find a nice on-call room, promise" Derek says now that they've reached the doors Owen is forced to turn back and they go inside.
"Ok well, you know where to find me if you need anything" Owen says walking off towards the pit at a pace still way too fast for Derek.
Derek makes his way over to the elevators and presses the button, he takes a moment to reach up and rub at his forehead and moves his jaw around but is shocked by the wave of pain that moving his jaw up and down causes. He can feel his jaw putting pressure on his already swollen inner ear and the pain causes his eyes to water.
"Getting emotional now, I know you missed me but no need to cry" Mark says appearing seemingly from nowhere and clapping Derek on the back. The motion is enough to destroy his tenuous grasp on balancing and he falls forwards against the door to the lift. He only just gets a hand up in time to prevent him from hitting his face against the door, he pushes off again and stands again swaying slightly now though.
"Hello Mark" Derek says clearly annoyed.
"You ok? I didn't hit you that hard this time you know" Mark says now looking genuinely concerned, great another person he's going to have to get rid of.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just tired" Derek says, thankfully the doors open revealing an empty elevator which they both step into. Derek presses the button for the floor his post-op patient is on, and steps aside to let Mark press a button hoping he's headed for plastics. That hope is dashed though when Mark just continues to stare at him.
"You sure you're just tired? You look pale" Mark says.
"I'm fine Mark, might just be a cold or something, I'm going to check on my patients then go to an on-call room for a bit anyway." Derek says. The doors open and he makes his escape heading over to his patient's room, nodding at the man's wife he steps up to the bed and goes through the chart and re-checks the patients neurological status for himself. Satisfied that his patient seems to be out of the woods, he turns and delivers the good news to the wife, but he can't get the normal enthusiasm behind his words so the wife looks a little uncertain even as she thanks him. He steps out of the room and leans against the wall closing his eyes for a second.
"Ahh, Derek I need a consult…" he hears Callie's voice approaching him but her footsteps come to a stop in front of him. "You look like you're about to pass out" Callie says more a statement than a question, and he opens his eyes looking into her concerned eyes offering a tired smile.
"Yeah, I feel like it too, but thanks for pointing it out" he says his voice coming out just above a whisper. "Sorry, what do you need" he says collecting himself and managing to stand up free of the wall but swaying ever so slightly.
"Oh uhh, I wanted a consult but it's not urgent, sit down for a second" Callie says and he feels her hands on his shoulders pushing him slowly over towards a chair in the corridor. He allows his knees to fold and he falls heavily into the chair, sitting forwards with his head in his hands allowing the spinning to settle. He realises that Callie has sat next to him, but it takes him a few seconds to realise she has two fingers pressed to the inside of his wrist and she's looking at her watch, obviously taking his pulse.
"Sorry, I'm just not feeling so good, I was headed for an on-call room to lay down for a bit anyway then I can come and do your consult" he says head still in his hands.
"No you stay here for a minute, the consult can be handled by someone else. I'm taking you down to the pit in a minute to get checked over, just your pulse is racing so let's take a minute to calm down." Callie says.
"No, I don't need to go to the pit, you can come to the on-call room with me if you want but I just need to sleep and then the spinning will stop" he says not even thinking that he's just revealed another symptom.
"Spinning, what do you mean are you dizzy or is it something more?" Callie says pushing and he knows he's not going to be able to brush her off.
"I think it's just an ear infection, I'm experiencing vertigo which is making it feel like everything is spinning, and my ears are painful. Like I said I just need to sleep in an on-call room I can deal with it" he says getting up and walking, well more stumbling, towards the nearest on-call room. Callie sighs and gets up to follow him knowing that he's not going to make this easy.
He pushes the door to the on-call room open and steps inside making straight for the first bed nearest to the door, and sits down pulling off his shoes and laying down on his side. He looks up seeing Callie enter the room behind him and just stares at her a bit surprised she followed him.
"You thought I was going to let it go, well you should know by now I let nothing go, now you stay there and I'll be back in a minute" Callie says turning and walking out leaving Derek to just lay there and wait for her to come back.
Derek didn't think he'd gone to sleep but the next thing he's aware of is Callie shaking his shoulder and she has been joined by Owen who is looking quite smug.
"I saw Owen in the corridor and he wanted to know if I'd seen you, because apparently you didn't look well when you came in, so I thought he might as well join our little party in here. Since you don't want to go to the pit, we'll bring the pit to you" Callie says looking so very proud of herself but Derek is too tired to attempt to argue back and instead just rolls onto his back staring at the bunk above him. He doesn't bother to keep track of their movements, instead he reaches for the blanket that is at the foot of the bed and pulls it over himself turning onto his side to face away from them so they don't see that his jaw is starting to shake. He feels his muscles starting to twitch and shudder and he feels as though it's far too cold in the room, it wasn't this cold before, maybe the air conditioning is set too high he muses.
"So do you want to explain your symptoms Derek?" he hears Owen say but he can't focus that well and it takes him a beat too long to answer making the other two doctors switch to concerned mode.
"Umm… my ears are sore and they feel like they're blocked… I can't hear that well… umm… bad vertigo… and it's freezing in here so I'm guessing fever" Derek says shakily pausing between phrases as particularly violent shivers run through his body.
"Ok well let's start by taking your temperature then and we'll see what we're dealing with, have you taken anything today?" Owen says getting a thermometer out.
"No" Derek answers simply, it sounds more like he's letting out a breath than talking but the word is still clear. He reaches out and takes the thermometer from Owen's hands, he's not an invalid he can take his own temperature. He sticks it in his ear and presses the button. "It's probably nothing you know, I don't feel that bad just a low-grade fever, I can just sleep off" he says in a last-ditch attempt to get them to leave him alone. He hears the beep of the thermometer and the two of them look at him expectantly, he brings the thermometer round to his face and looks at the reading. "Oh, wasn't expecting that" he mumbles to himself and before he can try to hide it Callie has reached across and snatched the thermometer from his hand.
"40.2, shit Derek you do nothing by halves, right take these and if you're fever isn't down significantly in the next hour you're getting admitted if I have to knock you out myself" Callie says holding out 2 tablets which Derek guesses must be ibuprofen and paracetamol. He takes the pills and dry swallows them. He sees Owen holding out a bottle of water and he takes it from the other man taking a few sips ignoring the look he gets from them, and lets his head fall back against the pillows still shivering. He's starting to feel a bit queasy from the vertigo, the water that he has forced into his stomach isn't sitting too well, and he's sure it's not going to stay there for long. Looking around he sees a small plastic trashcan in the corner and with a surge of energy courtesy of adrenaline he manages to roll of the bed landing on his hands and knees and crawls over grabbing the bin. His movement catches Owen and Callie off guard and neither of them moves for a second, watching as Derek turns so he's sat against the wall with the bin between his knees.
It's silent for a second as they all wait knowing what's coming, Derek feels the heaves beginning and leans forwards throwing up the water and the pills he's just taken as well as the Weetabix he ate earlier, the pressure in his ears builds to a new level and his eyes water both from the heaving and the pain. He slowly becomes aware of a hand on his back rubbing slow circles as well as a hand against his forehead making sure he's not going to fall forward. When the heaving finally stops he lets go of the trashcan allowing Owen to take it from him and put it aside. He slumps backwards now completely exhausted and still shivering, falling against Callie who is crouching next to him. She sits down fully allowing him to put the rest of his weight onto her and her hand against his forehead instead moves around to rub at the back of his neck, he closes his eyes enjoying the cool hand working the tension from his neck and starts slipping away but she shakes him before he completely loses consciousness.
"Hey, stay awake Derek, we may be boring but I need you to keep your eyes open, we're going to plan B" she looks up to Owen who has already stood up. "Get a gurney" she mouths to him not wanting Derek to realise what they're doing until it's too late. Owen nods and slips out of the room quietly. Callie turns back to Derek seeing that he's still awake, but now is covered in sweat and gone even more pale than he was before. "So, you drove here today and planned to work like this hmm?" she says hoping to keep him awake with conversation.
"I got a taxi, figured since I couldn't even walk from the bed to the toilet without crashing into a wall, driving wouldn't end well, and I was planning to just check on my patient then go sleep somewhere" he said sounding annoyed that she's questioning him but if it keeps him awake she can take him being a bit annoyed.
"Just wondering that's all, how you feeling now?" she says.
"Oh, like I could run a marathon obviously" he says with a laugh.
"Yeah, I think I'll beat you today somehow, maybe another day" she says. Just as she finishes talking the door opens and Owen walks into the room.
"It's outside" he says to Callie before turning his attention to Derek "You think you can walk, just to get out into the hallway" he says.
"Maybe but I'm gonna need help" Derek admits ashamed that he can't even walk a few feet but knowing that the two of them won't judge him for it. Callie shifts out from beside him and gets her feet under her again so she's crouching, and Owen moves to his other side. He slowly pulls his legs under him and starts to stand up, feeling both of them holding onto his arms and lifting him up, his head doesn't agree with the motion at all and his surroundings slowly start to disappear behind black dots forming across his field of vision. His head falls forwards and he would have fallen to the ground had Owen and Callie not been prepared for it, they both change grips on his arms and he feels them wrapping his arms around their necks pulling him up again so that he is being completely supported by them. He tries to move his feet to be of some use but he just gets them caught on each other and his legs end up dragging along the floor. Someone must be holding the door open because there is no pause in their strides as they pass into the hallway other than to turn sideways so the three of them fit through the doorway. They sit him against the edge of a gurney and his arms are unwrapped from around them placed back by his sides, one of them goes to his head and the other two his feet and they move him so that he is laid flat on his back, his head is now spinning out of control and he is starting to feel sick again.
A hand that lands on his shoulder is enough to give him something to anchor onto and he opens his eyes again to see Callie leaning over him saying something but he can't hear what she's saying over the blood rushing through his head. Now that his eyes are open he sees that the gurney is moving along the hallway, towards the elevators if he's guessing correctly. He looks around for Owen and sees that he is on the other side of the gurney and has been joined by Jackson. He can see Owen talking quickly to Jackson and he has that frown that he usually gets when he's dealing with his patients in the pit, which Derek suddenly realises he now is. By the time they get into the elevator his hearing has returned to the level it was at before but now he notices that he can constantly hear his heartbeat thrumming though his ears.
"Derek, you back now, you were out for a few seconds there but we needed to move you" Callie says.
"Yeah, sorry… tried to walk… failed miserably" he said surprised at how breathless that sounded, but he's pretty sure his blood pressure is low so it's not surprising really that he's out of breath. The others notice this as well and Callie puts her hand back on his shoulder again.
The elevator doors open and the gurney is propelled out into the pit, he's grateful when he sees that they're taking him straight to a private room but a bit panicked that he's now a patient in one of the trauma rooms he usually sees people severely injured in. Jackson takes hold of his arm and wraps a blood pressure cuff around his bicep while Callie is putting an oximeter on his other hand. He feels like this might be a bit unnecessary because he's just got an ear infection but he's not exactly in a position to argue with them at this point so he just lays there and allows them to continue with their ministrations.
"Pulse 100, BP's 90/60, pulse ox 98%" Jackson calls out, and Derek knows that he was right, his blood pressure is slightly low and his pulse is up, but neither of them worryingly so. He doesn't notice the thermometer in Owen's hand until it's already jammed in his ear and he bites back a groan as the pain in his ear intensifies.
"Temp now 40.4, we need to get it down" Owen says. Derek jumps slightly at the sharp prick in his elbow having not heard Jacksons warnings and turns to see the IV being fitted into his vein, looking up to see the bag of saline he's now attached to. Owen returns to his view again with two bottles and places one a tray and prepares a needle. "I'm going to give you the Ibuprofen and Paracetamol intra-venously Derek since it didn't stay down before" Owen says already pushing the medications into his IV. He they cut away the scrub top he has on leaving him shirtless on the bed, though Callie does pull up a sheet over him, he still feels as though he's freezing but he guesses that's the point. Looking around he realizes there's probably not much left to be done and so he closes his eyes and gives in completely allowing the dark spots from earlier to become a blanket and he goes to sleep.
The next time that Derek wakes up he's not sure how much time has passed, he looks around and sees that he's no longer in the pit, and is now in one of the private rooms upstairs, he still has an IV in and the bag is nearly empty so it's probably been at least an hour or two he's been asleep. He feels less shaky and the pain in his ears has reduced to a much more bearable level. Looking around the room he sees Mark is sat in a chair with his feet up on the edge of Derek's bed reading a magazine.
"Hey" Derek says and Mark looks up smiling when he sees his friend awake.
"Hey, yourself. How are you feeling?" Mark says pulling his feet onto the floor and leaning forwards to get a better look at his friend.
"Well my ears don't hurt as much but I still can't quite hear you properly, though I'm thinking that's more of a positive" Derek says smiling.
"Oh haha, well you should be glad I'm here, I happen to be an ENT specialist, not that you're surgical so normally I wouldn't pay and attention to you but I've decided to grace you with my godlike powers of healing" Mark says obviously trying to make Derek laugh. Derek doesn't want to give him the satisfaction so instead sticks his tongue out at Mark.
"I see you're feeling better" Callie says from the doorway, Meredith is stood just behind her, they obviously called her in when he collapsed.
"Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well, you could have woken me up and I would have told you to stay home, you idiot then this wouldn't have happened" Meredith says walking up to the bed and sitting on the edge.
"I needed to check on my patient then I was going to go to bed anyway" Derek said justifying himself.
"Well in future someone else can check on your patients and you stay home, now you get some more sleep and I'm taking you home in a few hours" Meredith says patting his leg and getting up shooing everyone else out of the room.
Derek lay back knowing he was safe now and slowly dropped back to sleep.