Day Eight: Headache of Doom / "I'm fine, don't worry." / Migraines
For such-a-random-rambler with John
With much thanks to Sonia for the help and advice.
Trope: Of the many symptoms used to indicate that something is seriously wrong with a character, the headache is the most subtle and often the most insidious. Barring a few exceptions, it's rare for viewers to notice anything out of the ordinary about a headache unless it's immediately and noticeably crippling: often, the only indication that it's happening is a brief mention of the symptom and maybe the odd wince of pain.
However, due to the Law of Conservation of Detail, if a headache's serious enough to be mentioned in the story — especially aloud — there's a distinct possibility that it's tied in to something very serious.
Characters: John, Virgil, Grandma
Warnings: Migraines
The three eldest brothers were no stranger to migraines, something they had all inherited from their mother's side of the family.
Virgil's appeared when the engineer hadn't managed enough sleep and was over stressed – an occupational hazard in their jobs. So yeah, Virgil suffered frequently but thankfully they were quick to disappear once he had rest, darkness and medication.
Scott's were very rare, but the total opposite. When they hit he was out for days, unable to cope with light or sound, unable to eat or drink and often ending up in the infirmary on a drip. Thank goodness they were so rare.
John's were also rare, but his were harder to define. Sometimes they struck like Virgil's, a warning aura about half an hour before would give him time enough to take his meds and prevent it, or they struck like Scott's – no warning, nausea and vomiting and a few days completely out of it.
Living in space had helped him incredibly. So much so that John couldn't remember the last time he'd had one. A proper one, that was. Headaches, nausea, even nosebleeds occasionally, along with unsteadiness on his feet – these days they were more associated with his returns to Earth than migraines.
And that was why they missed it for so long.
With their Father back John was spending more and more time at home. That meant more and more episodes of what his brothers affectionately called his 'space collywobbles', an expression Parker had mistakenly used in front of Gordon that had delighted the boy just that little bit too much.
It usually took about two days for John to find his Earth balance. He'd come down with a headache, take the appropriate medication and put himself to bed for a good sleep session. The rest of the 48-hour period would be marked by dizziness, nosebleeds and discombobulation until suddenly he was alright. It had been this time period that had John staying only a few hours before returning to Five in an attempt to prevent such a loss of time. Dad being home gave him a reason to endure it more often.
But every time he came home it took longer and longer for the symptoms to dissipate, for the meds to control the headache, for the clumsiness to wear off.
And then, this time, they weren't working at all.
John put it down to a lack of sleep, not an unreasonable idea as iR had been extremely busy, and he sniped at his brothers for fretting, for making too much noise, for commenting on his clumsiness, for everything.
'It's only a headache. I'm fine, don't worry!'
Both Grandma and Virgil were worried. This wasn't like John at all. It took both of them and EOS and Jeff to argue with John before the man would let them even scan him, grumbling about smotherhens the whole time.
The scan flagged a red spot.
Grandma's hand flew to her mouth momentarily before the Doctor in her came to the fore.
'Virgil, call the hospital. Gordon, get Two flight-ready now. Scott, help your father with John. Alan, come with me.'
They all scrambled and within five minutes John was on his way to St George's Hospital, Christchurch.
They weren't just migraines, it wasn't just gravity…
It was a brain tumour.
