CHAPTER 14- FURTHER IMPROVEMENT
Around 10, Doctor Pitt made his way into Tony's room. He smiled at the sight that greeted him. Gibbs and Tony were watching a movie or perhaps more appropriately Gibbs was attempting to watch while Tony was offering anecdotes every two seconds.
"Well I can see you are feeling better if you are brave enough to interrupt Gibbs train of thought every few seconds. If nothing else your lung function is certainly improving if your chattiness is any indication." Brad spoke up, disturbing the two's camaraderie.
A huge smile lit up Tony's face at the interruption. It was the kind of smile Brad was happy to see. Everything up until this point had just been a pale imitation of Tony's normal grin. This smile held all the hope and joy and humor he was used to. He was relieved at its return.
"Yeah man. I feel pretty good. Does that mean I can go home soon?"
"Well, let's not jump any guns but you are definitely getting there. I'm going to run another blood panel and take some more films to check your progress. If the blood gas comes back favorable I will switch you to room air and if you can maintain good numbers throughout the day then maybe tomorrow we can talk discharge."
"Yes!" Tony tried to shout punching his fist into the air like someone who had just won a huge victory. Brad thought perhaps that wasn't far from the truth considering the war Tony had been waging with his body recently. Unfortunately the attempt at yelling caused a short coughing fit also.
Gibbs helped Tony sit up a bit taller and rubbed slow circles across his back as he coughed. He also grabbed one of the ever handy pink bins and laid it in front of Tony in case he coughed any of the junk in his lungs up. The move was a smart one as soon Tony was spitting up phlegm into the bin.
Brad remained quiet during the ordeal but glanced at the yellow looking sputum to check the rate of infection.
"Well Tony it was nice of you to provide a sample for checking the course of your infection though next time perhaps we can stick to just the blood draws." Tony rolled his eyes at his doctor's attempt at humor.
"All joking aside the lack of green in that mess is a good sign that the antibiotics are hard at work still. Now stop trying to get ahead of yourself- no more yelling. You are still sick. Keep resting and we will talk more about discharge tomorrow. Remember though you will still have a lot of recovering to do at home. It won't be back to work on Monday. You need to give your body time to heal otherwise you will end up right back here and maybe next time we won't be as lucky in fighting off infections." Brad said in a firm tone.
Tony nodded his acceptance. Not that he could argue considering Gibbs was nodding in agreement to everything Brad said, and if Gibbs was onboard with the plan he better get on board too.
"Alright boys, I'll let you get back to your riveting movie. Tony, try not to ruin too much of the plot for him." With that parting gesture Brad left the two to their fun.
Soon both men were doing exactly as told and engaged once more in the film. Tony's attempts at checking his commentary lasted all of two minutes and soon Gibbs was once more rolling his eyes at his excitable agent. It was good to see him having some fun though and hopefully soon they would be doing this in the company of the rest of the gang in front of Tony's big screen in his spacious living room.