'Damn Howards mother' Sheldon thought as he lay in the hospital bed, he had been in direct contact with another Patient who had been diagnosed with Pneumonic plague, luckily Sheldon was treated instantly with antibiotics.
He lay in that room, waiting for another dose of chloramphenicol. his group of friends had just left, they hadn't helped at all, they had pretended to be storm troopers in their contamination suits and Raj had made a bad taste joke regarding his likeness to a rotting zombie card from mystic warlords of Qua.
Sheldon was writing on his laptop when the nurse entered the room,
"Hello Dr Cooper, my name is Rowan, may I check your pulse and chest? the Dr has prescribed some Beta Blockers for your heart rate." she asked.
"Yes, yes by all means" he replied, not even looking up from his computer.
he felt her warm hands take down his gown, she placed the Stethoscope on his chest and watched her fob watch.
Sheldon was taken aback by the coldness of the medical instrument on his skin, he looked up and saw her standing there, she was in a contamination suit but he could see her key features.
She was tall, fair skinned, black haired and had bright blue eyes, Sheldon considered for a moment if these were colored contact lenses, he leaned in a little, hoping to answer his own question when she backed away.
"Your chest sounds clear and your pulse is fine, here you go" she said, handing over a small wax paper cup with some tablets in.
"Thank you" Sheldon said moving his laptop out of the way and placing it on the wheeled table next to his bed.
Rowan handed his a glass of water and he took the medication he had been prescribed. he just anted to get out of this germ infested building.
"You're nearly there, just a couple of more days in here and you'll be out" Rowan remarked.
"You are very good at reading emotion, how did you do that?" Sheldon asked her.
"Well, you kind of have to be able to notice the small seemingly innocent things in this profession, for example, you took the medications without asking what they were implying that you just wanted to get better and on your laptop I can see your blog that reads, 'get me out of here oh deity I can't take it anymore'." She joked,
Sheldon looked over at his laptop and it was true, he had left his blog page open.
"I don't like hospitals" Sheldon remarked, he told her about the other times he had been admitted, when he was young he had badly burnt from a CAT scanner he had built.
"I was wondering what that scar was on your back, I noticed it when taking your gown down" she said
"Hmm, yes, it goes down both of my shoulders, thats why I wear long sleeved tops under t shirts, If I just wore t shirts then the scars would be noticeable." Sheldon explained.
"It must of been hard, have you thought about skin graphs?" she asked.
"Thats what they look like after skin graphs" he replied, they weren't attractive at all, the plastic surgeon back in Texas had done his best though, it was all down his back and arms, it was so painful when it happened, he had also lost lots of blood, thats why he was taken by helicopter.
that was the last time he was admitted to hospital, this time wasn't fun either.
Sheldon explained that he had a germ phobia, it was normal for him to avoid contact with others and this was his worst fear, that he would end up with a life threatening illness.
"Well, look on the bright side, you'll be home in a few days and you got treatment quickly, why did you go into the patients room anyway, didn't you notice the signs on the door?" Rowan asked him, he explained that he backed into the room trying to avoid a patient on a stretcher who was coughing.
"ok, so you were moving away from a patient with a cold and ended up in a room with a patient with the Plague?" she asked, just making sure she had got it right.
"Yes, it's all a bit silly now isn't it" he replied.
"Have you ever thought that you have OCD?" Rowan asked him,
"I have"
"And, you display all of the normal characteristics, the obsession with germs, your bedsheets are all straight even though your in bed, it says on your blog that tonight is new comic book day and Halo night, apparently it's also creamy tomato soup day and 'Leonard better not be sitting in my spot'" she remarked.
"So, I Have a routine, I stick to it, we live in a world of chaos, I like the fact that my days are planned out, that way there aren't any surprises." Sheldon explained.
"I won't deny, routines are great, they obviously mean a great deal to you, but have you considered how you would feel if it escalated, I have heard of people who do have OCD and won't enter or leave a building until certain times, even if the building is on fire, thats what it does, it gets into your head and you can't stop it, at least with treatment such as CBT it could help you." she told him.
"You seem to know a great deal about this for a nurse" Sheldon remarked, a little bit sly,
"I feel that when one is diagnosed with something it's best to know all about it" Rowan said, checking her watch and leaving the room.
Sheldon got the hint, she was trying to help him because she had the disorder herself.
Two hours later Sheldon was picking at the food on his tray, it was a vile shade of white, green and grey, trying to pass itself off a appetizing. Sheldon couldn't bring himself to eat it, he pushed it away and returning to his laptop, he needed some form of entertainment to take his mind off of hunger.
Rowan walked in, again she wore her contamination suit, this time instead of medication she as holding a large flask.
"Apparently Soup plantation have this really strange man coming to see them every Wednesday at the same time and he always orders the same thing" she said
"Creamy Tomato soup!" Sheldon exclaimed, hoping beyond hope that that was the contents of the metal container in her hand.
She handed it to him, he treated it as if it contained liquid gold, to him it practically was.