Chapter 6 - Hospitalization

"He lied to us. I was talking to his doctor, and he never returned the doctor's call," Grissom told Nick, Warrick and Sara who were seated in the waiting room.

"But why? Why would he refuse to see his doctor? Doesn't he want to get better?" Nick questioned.

"I think that maybe he knew he was getting worse... but yet he wanted to come back to work. He must have known that if the doctor saw him, he'd either be sent to a hospital, or told to go back home for a few more weeks," Sara suggested.

Just then, the doctor walked in.

"He's woken up. Luckily, this wasn't a major setback, but it still could have been avoided if Greg had just come in for the check-up," the doctor explained.

"Can we see him?" Sara asked.

The doctor shook his head.

"I don't think that would be a good idea. He's getting worse, possibly because he's missed a few doses of medication. A few days before, he called one of the nurses, claiming that he needed a refill of the prescription picked up. The nurse didn't even get topick upthe prescription, so he's only been on one set of medication for the past few days, and I'm just found this out now. If the nurse had bothered to tell me of this at the time, I would have noted that it's too soon for a refill and he most likely lost some of his medication," the doctor explained.

"Lost some of his medication?" Nick gulped.

"It's a possibility, and if it's the case, it's going to pro-long the treatment process. I think it would be best if he was kept in the hospital, and kept a few more days under quarantine. You all do realize that since he came back to work after missing some of his doses, he still might have been able to transmit the bacteria. Anyone who's had contact with him today will have to undergo another test."

"But Greg is going to be okay right?" Warrick asked.

The doctor nodded. "As long as he's kept here where it is made sure that he gets all of his medication."


"Where am I?" Greg asked a nurse who was in the same room as him.

"The hospital. You collapsed while you were working," she replied.

"How long do I have to stay here?"

"I'm not sure. You'll have to ask a doctor about that. Now I've had strict orders to make sure that you're eating, so what do you want? I'll bring up something up from the cafeteria," the nurse explained.

"Hospital food? Can't you run to the store and get me a bag of chips?" Greg joked.

He began to cough.

"Drink this. The doctor told me to give this to you if you started coughing," the nurse extended her hand and held out a glass of cloudy water. It probably had some medication crushed up in it.

Greg took a sip and felt as if he was going to gag.

"That tastes awful! What is it? Ground up chalk in water?" he asked.

"Don't you want to get better? You have to drink it, and tell me what you want to eat."

Greg took a few more sips from the glass and asked if the nurse would bring him up a hamburger. She nodded and left him to go get it.

"Well I guess I won't be heading back to work anytime soon..." Greg said out loud to himself once the nurse was gone.

Not too long after, the nurse returned, and Greg saw that she was carrying a salad and not a hamburger.

"Let me guess, they are all out of the good food? And I need something to drink," Greg told her.

"That's what that glass of water I gave you was for. And the cafeteria doesn't have any hamburgers made," the nurse replied.

"Chalk water and salad? Yum yum, this is the best dinner I've eaten in ages," Greg tried to laugh but he started coughing again.

The nurse faked a smile despite the fact she was started to get slightly annoyed.

"Just drink your water, okay?" she said before turning to walk away.

"If you're going out... could you run to Mc. Donalds and pick me up a Happy Meal?" Greg asked.

The nurse didn't even turn around to acknowledge him as he went into the waiting room to speak with the doctor who was talking to Nick, Grissom, Warrick and Sara.

"He's still coughing, so maybe you should go get him some more 'chalk water' as he called it. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go get him a Happy Meal from Mc. Donalds!" the nurse told the doctor sarcastically.

A smile fell upon Grissom, Nick, Warrick and Sara's faces.

"That's our Greggo," Nick laughed.

The doctor went in to Greg's hospital room tocheck on himand saw him trying to reach for a tissue as he continued coughing.

"Here, let me get that for you," the doctor said as he walked over and handed Greg a tissue.

"Thanks," Greg replied as he started to cough into it.

Blood.

"Umm..." he held up the tissue.

"Mr. Sanders, could you of by any chance misplaced or lost some of you medication?" the doctor questioned.

Greg shrugged his shoulders. "I guess so."

"Well why didn't you call? And why didn't you return my call when I wanted to see you for a check up before you returned to work?"

"I don't know," Greg replied sheepishly.

The doctor sighed. This conversation wasn't going anywhere.

"You have to be put under quarantine for a few more days. A week tops. You would have been able to return to work if you'd only called me... and not let this get worse," the doctor explained. Greg nodded.

For a moment, neither of them spoke until Greg broke the silence.

"Am I going to be okay?"

"If you keep taking your medication you will. I'm not going to lie to you. It'll take around 6 to 9 months to get rid of this. You'll be in the hospital for the next month, and if I see any major improvements after then, you'll be allowed to return home. Once you're home, I don't want you to return to work just yet. I want you to take it easy for another week or so, but you'll be able to have people visit you, by that time, you shouldn't have to worry about transmitting this. After you have a week or two of relaxation time at home, you'll be allowed to return to work, but I'll have to have a talk with your supervisor and make sure that you aren't given anything to strenuous to do," the doctor outlined.

"So I'm here for a whole month?" Greg questioned.

The doctor nodded.

"Also, you won't be able to have any visitors for a week. Then after that you'll be able to have family members, and a few of your close friends. We're unsure if you are still contagious, so for a week you'll be put in quarantine, and the only people in here will be doctors and nurses."

Greg sighed. He hated quarantine.