At some point, the bed stopped spinning when he shut his eyes and he was able to drift off. Steve slept surprisingly well despite the fact he wasn't even in his own bed. He slowly took stock of his condition as he woke. Everything seemed to be slightly less problematic than yesterday. He was pleased to discover he could move his head and eyes without the world completely tipping on its axis. A win in anybody's books. He also noted the pressing need to use the head and in his current predicament, he reluctantly pressed the nurse call button. Steve started to congratulate himself on his improvements when the nurse arrived.
"Good morning, Commander McGarrett. How are you this morning?"
"Better."
"You still experiencing symptoms?"
"Some but not to the degree they were yesterday."
"Well, that's good. I'm here cause you rang. What can I help you with?"
"They, uh, took care of some of my bathroom needs yesterday," Steve muttered, waving his hand towards the end of the bed.
"Correct. That is for your urine and I'm assuming by your current distressed expression, you need to evacuate your bowels," the nurse stated evenly.
"Oh," Steve stuttered, "um, yeah."
The nurse smiled. "I can certainly help with that."
"Oh, okay." Steve started to get out of bed.
"Oh, you misunderstand. You've been deemed non-ambulatory. I'm afraid you are required to use this," she stated, whipping out a bedpan seemingly from thin air.
Steve leaned back against the pillow and crossed his arms over his chest. "I know you have your orders but trust me when I say that there is no way in hell that I am going to use that thing."
"How about you try and be reasonable, Commander?"
"I am," Steve stated calmly.
"All right, I will make a note in your chart and Dr. Samuels can address this with you when he does his rounds. I hope you have good control," she countered while puttering around the room.
"Fine," Steve huffed, already feeling more uncomfortable.
"I knew you'd see it my way," she gloated mildly.
"I think you get some kind of perverse kick out of this," he growled.
"You caught me out. Being able to make big strong men cringe is the sole reason I became a nurse. Now should we get this over with?" All Steve could do was glare.
Steve was slugging his way through breakfast when Danny sauntered into his room. "Hey, babe, look at you! You're sitting up, your hands are steady and you are sporting a normal human complexion. I'm going to hazard a guess that you might, possibly be feeling better."
"I'd be doing even better if I didn't have to eat this," Steve replied, pushing the rolling tray away.
Danny surveyed the spread on the tray. "Yeah, can't say that I blame you. I've never been overtly fond of hospital food either. So what's the news?"
"Doc hasn't been in yet," Steve sighed.
"I guess it is too early for rounds," Danny said. "You, ah want me to sneak out and get you some real food?"
"That is an offer I am not going to turn down," Steve answered quickly.
Danny laughed, "I'll be back in a few then."
"Thanks, man."
"Don't thank me until you see what I bring back," Danny teased.
"Danny, it could be cardboard and it'll be better.
"I'm sure I can do better than cardboard," Danny said pausing in the doorway.
"I have faith you'll come through." Steve felt a wave of loneliness as he watched his partner leave. Cath should of, would of been with him but she was thousands of miles away and most likely not coming back any time soon. Steve sank back into the bed, eyes closed, mentally starting to build his cardboard box to pack away his feelings to deal with later; he had bigger things on his plate right now.
Danny came back surprisingly quick. Steve sniffed the air as he eyed the take out bag. "How'd you get pancakes and sausage so fast?"
Danny blushed. "I may have made a pre-emptive delivery order in anticipation of your need," he confessed.
Steve made give me motions with his hands. "Don't care you cheated, fork it over! I'm starving!"
Danny watched his partner scarf down the breakfast, torn between awe and disgust. "And you say I'm a sloppy eater. Use a napkin you Neanderthal."
Steve made the mistake of rolling his eyes. The father in Danny recognized that expression instantly. He managed to get the trashcan under Steve's chin just in time. He kept a steady, warm hand on his friend's back as Steve lost the contents of his stomach. When he finished, Steve slowly reclined back on the raised bedhead, blindly seeking Danny's hand with his own. Several deep breaths later, he was able to open his eyes but he didn't dare turn his head. He concentrated on the firm grip on his shoulder and his hand.
"You doing better?" Danny whispered.
"Yeah, I think so," Steve replied lowly.
"You want me to cal the nurse?"
"Nah, I'm good. It's over now," Steve answered, releasing Danny's hand.
"Okay then, I'll just tie up this bag before it starts to smell."
"That'd be good," came the muttered acknowledgement.
"You're lucky I have superior control over my gag reflex," Danny states, efficiently dealing with the bag.
"Yeah, I'm so lucky."
"Is that sarcasm I'm detecting?" Danny snarked.
"What am I going to do, Danny? What if this is permanent?"
"Hey, hey! Stop it right there! I'm the negative one in this partnership and there is only room for one. Balance and everything. You need to be the glass half full guy, you hear me?" Danny ranted.
Steve exhaled loudly. "As much as I loath to admit it, you're right. Doc said that the chances are good."
"Yes he did so now take a page out of your own book an put on a happy face," Danny demanded.
"Does that work with Grace?" Steve wanted to know.
"For the most part," Danny admitted with a slight shrug.
"Thanks again for the food, even though my actions may not indicate that," Steve said, flushing.
Danny shrugged him off. "No worries. I'll only take offense if you treat the lunch I bring you the same way."
Steve stared at his partner, mulling over the man's words. "Lunch? Danny, there's work to be done or have you forgotten?"
"Nah, haven't forgotten. Chin and I made the executive decision yesterday that we wouldn't leave you alone if only to preserved the sanity an overall general good welfare of the caring workers of this fine facility." Pausing to inhale, Danny read Steve's face. "Ah, ah, stop right there. Do not vocalize those thoughts. You are stuck with me for the duration of this day."
Steve wisely kept his mouth shut. They made small talk for a little while, exchanging snarks until Dr. Samuels arrived with the physical therapist. The man was tall, easily topping Steve by six inches and reed thin. Danny would later claim that if he didn't know better, he'd swear a gust of wind would blow the guy over. Steve gave the guy a thorough eval and decided he was tougher than he looked.
Samuels made the introductions. "Steve, this is Henry. For the next couple of days, he's going to be in charge of your care. He is going to evaluate all your results from the tests and map out the proper course of treatment."
"What kind of tests?" Danny asked when it looked like Steve wasn't going to.
Samuels deferred to Henry. "We need to figure out what the triggers are so it'll involve various balance tests, elevation changes and atmospheric changes. Sometimes simple things like bending over the wrong way to tie your shoes can set off an episode. Car, plane and boat ride experiences might change. We simulate all of these conditions."
"Oh joy," Steve muttered sarcastically.
"I'll be honest. It's not easy and if we do trigger an event, we have to hold off until you've recovered before we can go on," Henry informed them.
"How many days?" Danny asked.
"We always hope for two days but about fifty percent of the time it takes three and thirty percent of the time it takes four. The good news is we can also start with the P.T. immediately," Henry responds.
"When do we start?" Steve wanted to know.
"We'll have the nurse come in and remove the catheter within the hour. We have you scheduled to start at eleven," Dr. Samuels replied.
"I can honestly say the only thing I'm looking forward to is getting rid of the catheter," Steve joked. All the men grimaced. "Hey, if he promises to stay out of the way, can Danny stay?"
Henry smiled. "Of course. We encourage family and friends to participate. In fact you're going to want them to know your triggers and have them trained to help you with the exercises and tasks that'll help if you have an episode. When we've got the complete picture, we'll schedule a training session of those you trust."
A nurse knocked on the door at that moment as Steve gave an aborted nod. "Let's get that catheter out, Commander McGarrett." Danny followed the other medical professionals out.
