"Hey feeling better" Jason asked as he noticed Jess make an appearance on the stairs for the first time since he'd seen her go to bed the night before, she quickly made a beeline straight to where her big freezer was located
"Fine, hungry" Jess mumbled without breaking her focus on the freezer as she opened the door and started rummaging through the labelled containers
"Jess, whats wrong with your arm" Ray asked noticing that was solely using her left arm for the whole affair, her right arm just hung there
"Its fine" Jess snapped, her words not totally clear like they normally were which started the alarm bells ringing in Jason's head
"Jess sit your butt down now, Trent, I want a full neurological assessment done" Jason ordered the EOD as Trent swung into action and walked over to the kitchen
"No, it's fine" Jess said sounding slightly upset over the tone that was being displayed to her in her own home
"Jess, are you aware that you've displaying hemiplegic weakness" Trent asked taking on a more softer tone and approach to the situation
"It passes" Jess said shifting her gaze to look him in the eye, that gaze was enough of a, I know what I'm doing and I want everyone to leave me alone look
"Look, let's get you back up to bed and I'll get someone to bring something up to you" Trent said keeping his tone soft, she didn't want or need everyone there staring at her, without even saying anything she just looked at him and nodded before turning back towards the stairs that led up to her bedroom
"You want us to call it in" Clay asked calling after Trent as he went to follow Jess up the stairs
"Call Alie first, see if she can explain what's happening" Trent said to him, if this wasn't freaking Jess out he wanted her kept as calm as possible, not just suddenly be dragging her of to a hospital
"On it" Eric said pulling out his phone
"Jess what's going on" Trent asked concerned as he helped guide Jess back to her bed
"Hemiplegic migraine, it passes" Jess said softly and slowly, really trying to concentrate on being clear about what she was saying
"Never heard of a hemiplegic migraine" Trent asked curiously, like he suspected however, Jess was obviously well aware however what was going on
"Genetic mutation, passes with rest" Jess responded as she sat down on the side of her bed
"So you're saying that this is perfectly normal to you when you get migraines" Trent asked, he thought he would be better asking detailed questions that didn't require detailed answers
"Yes" Jess said, relieved that Trent seemed to understand what was being said
"Okay, I'll set up a feed" said Trent, at least try to get some nutrients into her
"No, want Nonna's soup and bread, its in freezer" Jess protested, she didn't want just that plain liquid dripping into her stomach this time, she wanted proper food and there's only one thing that would cut it when she was getting over these migraines, chicken and vegetable soup slopped up with bread
"Okay, I'll go and find some, you just lay back down and sleep some more" Trent said assuring Jess he would go and find her what she wanted
"Well" Sonny asked Trent the moment he saw him go to exit the stairs
"Clay, can you do a quick internet search for a condition called hemiplegic migraine" Trent asked ignoring Sonny's question for the moment
"Here it is, a rare form of migraine, symptoms mimic that of a stroke victim, visual impairment, hemiplegia" Clay said a few moments after pulling his phone out, youth had its advantages in some situations still, a quick internet search was one of those situations
"Okay, does it say anything there about it being a genetic mutation" Trent asked trying to piece it together
"Yep, that's what causes it" Clay said after he quickly browsed the page for a few more seconds
"Now does it happen to say anything about treatment and recovery" Trent asked, mentally ticking of what Clay had told him, compared to what Jess had said, so far it had lined up
"Can take an hour for the side effects to correct itself, or it could take a week, depending on severity" Clay said
"The recovery period" Eric asked, Trent had mentioned before that all migraines had one
"Yeah, that's why Jess was adamant there was nothing wrong, its simply the recovery process we're dealing with" Trent said making his own assessment of the situation
"So what do we do" Sonny asked
"Wait, thats all we can do, she is back asleep but she's wanting her Nonna's soup and bread, she said its in the freezer" Trent said as Brock opened up the freezer to start looking for it
"Might still pay to confirm with Alie that what she's said is correct" Jason said cautiously as Eric's phone beeped, seeing Jay's name come up on the screen he excused himself to take the call
"Oohh gelato" Brock said pulling out the labelled container, it was just a basic plain food storage container, indicating that its contents weren't from a supermarket, though Brock doubted that any of those containers had supermarket contents in them, noticing a second container labelled as gelato he quickly pulled that one out as well
"Brock, we're after soup and bread, not gelato" Ray said laughing
"True, but there's a lot of containers in here, and its easier for me to look if there's 2 containers less" Brock said with a grin as he looked at Clay
"I'll grab some spoons" Clay responded bounding to the other side of the kitchen
"And here we go, Nonna's chicken soup, see told you it was easier with 2 containers less" Brock said placing the third container on the bench and a small bag with some frozen chunks of bread beside it
"And those containers can't go back in the freezer because" Trent asked with a smile as he took the container over to the microwave to heat the contents
"Well see, if we have to go looking for more later, then its going to be easier if they're already out of the way right Brock" Clay said making his way over to where Brock was standing, trying to think of a answer and handed him a spoon
"Exactly" Brock said agreeing with his younger brother as they both pulled the lids of the separate gelato containers and started devouring the contents
"Blackburn, what did Alie say" Jason asked as their CO re-entered the kitchen
"She said basically the same as what Jess and Clay did, it will correct itself with rest" Eric said glancing at the two younger members of Bravo currently eating what he guessed was gelato, kids he just thought to himself
"So Alie's not concerned then" Jason asked
"Nope, said give her a few extra days to rest after the hemiplegia weakness has passed before she flys over, and she should be able to speak to her old specialist when she gets to Australia. She did suggest seeing if she could get a full bloods done to check for any signs of infection and malnutrition as stress and illness was often a big trigger for these" Eric said informing them of the rest of the conversation
"Makes sense, I'll call Doctor Masterson, see whether it might pay to bring her in for a few days, we're going to need to work out that IV issue anyway, might as well use the extra down time to make a start" Trent said grabbing his phone just as the microwave started beeping, indicating that the contents of the container were hot. Removing the container he quickly added the bread chunks and the soup suddenly turned into a thick mushy bowl of baby food, not wanting it to be to hot he quickly sampled a mouthful, now understanding exactly why Jess had been so adamant about having the soup and bread, it tasted so good and it felt good as it went down his throat and sat there in his stomach for a few minutes before the feeling disappeared, he knew he was going to ask Jess if he could get a bowl of his own when he took this batch up to her, unlike Brock and Clay helping themselves to the gelato, Trent just wanted to be sure it was all right as he disappeared up the stairs
"Hey, so what did Doctor Masterson say" Eric asked curiously seeing Trent on the stairs about 30 minutes later
"As long as she's stable, let her rest for 24 hours then take her to the base and get Doctor Shah to draw some bloods, then he said to give her 24 hours and depending on what they show he'll bring her in. Apparently Aubree has a few ideas she's looking into about the IV issue" Trent said exiting the stairs, empty container in hand, Jess had greedily devoured the contents while he'd been up there and was now back asleep
"So why not just bring her in now for bloods" Ray asked
"If there's no concern, its best to let her rest here for a bit longer before start moving her around to much, give her as much of a chance to recover, or she could relapse, he's sent me a email with a list of neurological assessment exercises to perform every few hours or so, will allow me to check for any deterioration, at the moment she's not quite with it and hesitated on her answers, but I have a baseline now to work from" Trent said placing the empty container in the sink then pulled out 2 more from the freezer, sitting one aside he placed the other one in the microwave to heat for himself
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"How'd she go with this lot" Sonny asked as Trent moved to sit back on the couch to resume the game they had found on Jess's console, it had been 8 hours since he had done his first round of tests
"A lot better, her strength has only a very minor deficit now and she's becoming more confident with her answers, even was able to recall a couple of the words I used from last time" Trent said taking the controller the texan held out to him
"So that means its passing right" Sonny asked
"Yeah, couple of days time there'll be no indication that this has happened the way she's going with this" Trent said reassuringly
"So when are you going to say you're confident that its over" Sonny asked, medicine was Trent's area of expertise, Sonny needed guidelines to operate in
"If she can ace 4 tests in the 12 hours, I'd say its over, may still be a little tired but the neurological side of things would be over" Trent said assuring Sonny, that this would be over soon
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48 hours later Jess was being wheeled back into the one place she really didn't want to be, Doctor Masterson had called her after seeing her blood test results and told her to bring her overnight bag, she was being admitted, what she wanted was to be on the plane to Sydney and to Zalie, but that wasn't quiet going to be happening yet. Trent wouldn't even allow her to walk into the hospital, she had to be in a wheelchair as she was still unsteady on her feet and heavily tired
"Here you're being difficult again" Doctor Masterson said with a smile on his face as he saw Jess, Trent and Eric walking in, Jess clearly didn't want to be here, but hey it wasn't about what she wanted
"What can I say, just love getting to stay here, put a hold on all my calls, and I'll have the chefs special for tea" Jess said sarcastically to her specialist, James Masterson was a man you either loved, tolerated or hated. He had very little time to be diplomatic and kiss up to the brass and he played by his own rule book, maybe that was why the seals liked him so much, he understood them and their personality
"Well aren't you in luck, because tonight's chef special is a luke warm creamy white soup that is so good that there's only one way to have it" Doctor Masterson responded with a cross between a smile and a smirk
"Directly into my veins" Jess groaned, knowing that Doctor Masterson was referring to giving her TPN which bypassed her normal gastrointestinal tract, she had been given it when she was first injured to keep her going until they could get her doing enough between the EN and oral intake to maintain her
"You got it in one" Doctor Masterson said
"Then at least tell me I get something nice to wash it down with" Jess said pretending to be frustrated
"Based on your blood results, you're most likely going to be having a lovely dose of O- platelets to go along with it" Doctor Masterson said informing her of the blood test results
"She's anaemic" Eric asked
"Among other things, which is probably why the migraine developed" Doctor Masterson said, knowing that Doctor Leighton the haematology specialist he consulted with had already given him a full run-down of how the various defiencies affected the system
"So you can stop it from happening again" Trent asked hopefully
"No permanent guarantees, but we can minimise the risk and at least hopefully reduce the intensity" Doctor Masterson said
"Sounds good to start with" Trent said
"What about the other issue" Eric asked
"Aubree" Doctor Masterson said turning to look at the dark headed nurse standing beside him
"Been thinking about that" Aubree said with a smile
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"Sir, they worked out what's wrong with her" Jason asked concerned as the rest of Bravo made their way into the gastrointestinal ward, Eric had called them after they had left for Bethesda, last time Jess had been admitted for a overnight test, for some unexplained cramping, Jason nearly got written up by Doctor Masterson himself for interfering while he was running a test that was uncomfortable for Jess, he actually went to go the doctor but Ray, Sonny, Brock and Clay physically restrained him and dragged him out of the room. Eric couldn't believe his own ears when he got the call from Ray saying it was Jason that they had had to stop from getting in an altercation, it was normally Sonny he'd had the trouble with. It was at that time that he decided that it was best not to allow Jason to be in that position of unknown when it came to Jess and hospitals
"Jess is malnourished and highly anaemic, Alie was right. She's down in radiology with Trent and Aubree, then once a doctor from haematology is going to come and speak to her, get her started on either iron or blood transfusions" Eric said informing them of the current situation, Cerbs was sitting beside Eric on the seats, proudly showing of his new jacket stating he was a support dog. He wasn't technically Jess's, he was being listed as Zalie's to help with her anxiety and asthma, she and Luca had talked about potentially getting her one seeing as her asthma had gotten worse the last few months, and animal dander was not a problem for her. The dog would become her own sidekick, they'd go everywhere together, school, hospital, just being on hand to help when she needed it and stick with her to the attack was finished. When Jess discussed the full situation with Brock they had spoken to the trainer Kieran at the base, that Cerbs previous training already covered a huge portion of what normal training was needed, it was just about him learning exactly how to help when Zalie needed it and picking up the changes that would signal an asthma attack was on its way
"Can this be stopped from happening again" Ray asked
"No guarantee, but they should hopefully be able to get on top of it so she doesn't get it to the same intensity" Eric said trying to sound as optimistic as possible
"Jason, am I going to have any trouble with you in here this time" Doctor Masterson said noticing that the brunette master chief was now on the ward, out there in the sandbox, that was Jason Hayes territory, but in here, this was James Masterson's territory and he wasn't about to let Jason forget it
"No Doctor Masterson" Jason replied, not wanting to push the one doctor that they did respect, their yelling match when Doctor Masterson brought the whole team in and read them the riot act of what behaviour he expected out of them
"She behave herself this time" Doctor Masterson asked Aubree as he noticed her walk back on the ward with Trent and Jess was asleep on the guerney they pushed
"She was the perfect patient, still fairly groggy though" Aubree said answering the question from the doctor
"And I have managed to get fluids in" Trent said proudly, happy with the outcome
"You feeling comfortable about accessing it in the field in the future" Doctor Masterson asked looking at Eric first then Trent, he knew Eric would have had the same question, but providing he was comfortable accessing it then that's all that mattered to him
"Yep" Trent said confidently
"Right let her go and sleep it of, Aubree, you and I have a meeting with Doctor Leighton and the others, Trent need you for this one and Eric you're welcome to join us. Its just to discuss Jess's treatment and how we're going to progress, get it done before Doctor Leighton and Doctor Rutherford speak to her" Doctor Masterson said explaining the next step in their plans for today, yes Jess was a more detailed patient for Doctor Masterson, but she was an easy patient for him to manage as well, mainly because she hadn't sat back and made everyone feel sorry because of her injury, she worked the problems and still did. She didn't leave the entire situation for him or Trent to deal with
"By the sounds of this, Jess has no say in this matter" Sonny asked surprised
"Nope, nada" Trent said with a smile
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"So what do you think they're talking about" Brock asked no one in particular, the entire team besides Trent and the boss were gathered in Jess's hospital room, Cerbs had perched himself on the bed in the hollowed out spot that pressed against her stomach, they'd fondly taken to calling that his heat pack duties spot when he curled up in that particular area, Pepper was curled up at the end of the bed, in behind Jess's knees, Cerbs wasn't going to let Pepper take this spot yet, not when he was still around
"Don't care" Jess groaned slowly coming to
"Well hello to you to sleepy head" Jason said acknowledging the fact she was awake
"Ah, that feels weird" Jess said touching the spot where the IV line was going through the skin on her chest, Cerbs quickly rubbed his nose over the area, he wanted to make sure it was not anything dangerous
"You've had central lines before" Clay said
"Not through a port in my chest I haven't, feels weird" she responded gently prodding the hardware
"Is that what they sedated you for" Sonny asked curiously
"Yeah, heard from dad and Alie, find out how Zah's doing" Jess said each second she became more aware as the sedative was leaving her system
"You want your tablet, that way you can video chat" Ray asked
"Yeah sounds good" Jess said adjusting herself on the pillows as Ray handed her her device and she quickly found her call being answered by her dad
"Hey baby girl, how you feeling" Jay said happy to see his daughters face on the screen finally, he'd been worried sick himself and wanted to fly out straight away but Alie had convinced him to stay put for Zalie
"Okay, pretty tired, Zah awake and up for a chat" Jess asked
"What do you reckon Zah Zah, up for a chat with mummy and meeting your uncles" the boys heard the retired operator ask someone of the screen
"How did you know we, never mind" Sonny asked confused as to how Jay had realised that they were there without him actually being physically told, but he realised it was nearly impossible to hide things from a guy who knew the lifestyle just as well as he did, his daughter had been sick and was in the hospital, at least one of them would have been with her, especially with the team on operational stand down, Jay knew it to
"Sure, hi mummy, you getting better" came the voice of a young girl over the screen, the voice was happy and confident
"Ah ha, what about you, how you feeling" Jess asked responding to her daughters question
"It feels weird still and it hurts sometimes, you still coming over to pick me up" the voice asked hopefully
"Sure am, along with your uncle Sonny, uncle Trent and uncle Eric, just got to get the okay from Doctor Masterson and I'll be on that plane, is that Eevee you have with you" Jess said assuring the little girl that she was still coming over to pick her up, she noticed that Zalie had her all time favourite pokemon character sitting on her bed beside her in plush format
"Ah ha, boompa brought her in for me, is it true when nonna and boompa said that you've got me a dog" Zalie asked excitedly
"Yep, very special one, his names Cerberus, though he gets Cerbs for short, he's my teams ex dog who's just been retired" Jess said, she wasn't telling Zalie about any of the parts about him becoming a medical alert dog or that yet, they needed to wait and see how they gelled
"Whats he like" Zalie asked now full of questions
"Well, why don't you ask your uncle Brock who used to be his handler" Jess said as she handed her tablet over, thinking it would be easier for the boys to introduce themselves one at a time
"Hi Zah" Brock said using her nickname, the screen was showed a face that looked to be a young 8, she looked maybe closer to 6, dark curly hair and dark eyes and a smile on her face
"Hi" Zalie said
"What's all this racket about, you're supposed to be sick" Doctor Masterson said in response to the noise volume coming from in the room
"I'm tired, not sick" Jess said promptly correcting him
"Mummy got in trouble" Zalie giggled finding it impossible to restrain herself
"Mummy, you must be little Zah" Doctor Masterson said surprised at the little girl on the screen
"Yep, and Boompa said you're Doctor Masterson" she responded
"Yep, and I'm going to be seeing you when you get here as well as your mummy" Doctor Masterson said with a laugh
"Ah ha, can mummy come and see me soon" Zalie asked hopefully
"In a few days, Doctor Leighton who you'll be seeing as well just wants your mummy to have some special medicine before she comes, but she's going to be able to go straight from here to the airport so she can jump on the plane and see you" Doctor Masterson said telling her the good news
"Yay" Zalie said excited at hearing the news
"That's only if she behaves herself though" Doctor Masterson quickly interjected
"Mummy you have to be good and on your very best behaviour" Zalie promptly reminded her mother
"Looks like the boss has spoken" Trent said with a grin
"Don't worry Zah, I'll make sure she's on her very best behaviour, now do you want to meet your 2 other uncles before you go. They'll be coming with your mummy to Sydney, just why Doctor Leighton does what she needs to do with your mummy" Sonny said grabbing the tablet and handing it over to Trent and Eric to introduce themselves
"Okay" Zalie said quite happy to have another 2 people to talk to
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"That kid is certainly full of questions, you sure she's not biologically yours" Jason asked as Doctor Leighton finished hooking up 2 bags of fluids, one was pure blood platelets, the second was a clear mixture that was apparently full of all the other vitamins her body was currently lacking
"Positive" Jess said as she watched the whole process
"There we go, so you'll ideally be coming into the hospital every 3 months but we can go 4 months, just depending upon your schedule for a couple of nights and receive a top up of this stuff, we'll run this at night time while you sleep and then we'll utilise the daytime for Doctor Masterson to run any tests he needs to do at that period of time" Doctor Leighton said filling Jess in on the plan that had already been discussed in their meeting
"Also with the port in place, it means we're going to be able to do TPN as well as EN in the field, now particularly with you coming up to deployment, its going to be imperative that you take in as much in the range of calories as possible, so we may do both TPN and EN, we'll just need to be certain that your body is capable of tolerating receiving both at once" Doctor Masterson added from his end, knowing that anything extra he could get in her system was a bonus, TPN in the field would help make a difference as it went directly into her blood stream, her small bowel was not being stuck trying to absorb everything itself
"Okay, anything else" Jess asked wanting to keep herself fully informed about what was changing, her dad had started allowing her to design her own gear and she'd ventured into creating her own brand of medical supplies based of the designs her dad had done and marketed it towards people who had the chronic medical conditions but didn't want them interfering constantly, it was being marketed as a brand of WST, and was being manufactured using the same style of materials, but there was no camo or military patterns in place, this was purely low vis gear, made to blend into the crowd, it was one of the 3 new brands Jay was currently introducing to WST, he'd designed 2 of them based solely on what had happened to Jess and her injuries she sustained in Djibouti, the third one was just the ability to buy the majority his gear direct to the public for general camping and outdoor use
"New system for administering medication, you're going purely injectapens, we have located a company that will customise the contents so it can be administered via injectapen, easier to carry in the field and you can have them each day, for example you'll have one that contains your pain relief, antiemetic and sedative in the one pen, one injection straight into your blood stream, same with your multivitamin, one shot once a day, you'll have a mixture of daily, weekly, fortnightly and monthly medications, including this one which when used has a guarantee of at least limiting the severity of migraines, and some people it has stopped them all together" Doctor Masterson showing her the system, she had a lot to adapt to
"One shot every 4 weeks" Jess said holding the one he had brought to show her, they had tried other medications when she was younger to try and stop the migraines from occurring, nothing had worked, however that was years ago, this drug was only new to the market, 3 years she think she remembered Doctor Rutherford the neurologist who examined her said, had a 99% success rate in easing the intensity of the migraines by at least half, and in 60% of cases they had stopped all together
"You may still get them but they won't be to that intensity, you'll also be getting a preventer to try and abort it when you feel one is coming and a reliever for when all else fails, now we want you wearing this as well" Doctor Masterson said handing the bracelet to Jess to view and just reaffirming that she could still experience the migraines
"A medical alert bracelet, you've got to be kidding me, no way" Jess said in protest against the thing
"Jess" Trent said softly, the tone converting that this was a serious matter
"You want to operate, you will wear it" Eric said informing her of the decision
"How big does this thing need to be" Jess said her voice definitely not impressed about the thought of wearing it
"People have to be careful when it comes to treating you, its important for people to know that as you may not always be able to communicate whats going on, and you may end up isolated without anyone else to explain the situation" Aubree said, the bracelet had been her idea, she'd had to mix it with civilian medical staff a few times and had noticed the potential issue
"Do I need to wear it in the field" Jess asked examining the thing
"You will have one to wear in the field" Trent said, that was going to fall under her fathers designs, create something practical and couldn't be damaged but still identifiable as a medical alert bracelet
"And I can't just go dog tags because" Jess asked curiously
"Not everyone will immediately notice dog tags, civilian doctors are trained to look for the bracelets" Aubree said
"Why, whats on it Jess" Brock asked
"Enough to make me feel like a invalid" Jess said with further disgust
"You're welcome" Doctor Masterson said with a smile across his face
"So when can I get out of here to go to Australia" Jess asked resigned to the fact that she would have to be wearing the bracelet, it listed that she had no spleen, her short bowel syndrome, the feeding tube, the port, her AHS, the migraines, the anaemia, the fact the wasn't to receive morphine, she was basically immunity compromised, and had prior kidney failure
"4 days and you're free, already sent the form of to the airline approving your travel, you just need to book your flights, no partying however, nice and easy, Sonny she's to be spending her time between hotel, hospital and her fathers office and warehouse" Doctor Masterson said making it clear she was in other words not to be doing anything else
"Got it" Sonny said
"No heavy lifting until you're back from Australia, and if you're feeling up to it and Trent is happy then you can return to full duty after a minimum of 24 hours rest, don't go corrupting your daughter with bad habits before she gets here" Doctor Masterson said finishing of his recovery guidelines
"You really think I'd do that to you Doctor Masterson" Jess asked trying to sound hurt about the comment of corrupting Zalie with bad habits
"Yes" Doctor Masterson said with a smile and left the room