Big thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter - I hope you know what it means to me.
Here is chapter 2 (obviously) - had to look up some of the medical stuff so it may not be quite right. Just to let you know that a 'hypo' that you see in the story is short for hypoglycaemia which is when the blood sugars go to low.
I hope this turns out as well on 'paper' as it seemed to be in my head haa haa.
What Happens In Magaluf...Chapter 2
Ethan rubbed his sleep filled eyes, not really comprehending who was in front of him, "Joe...what?"
"It's Mike! He keeps dropping in and out on consciousness...can you come?" Joe pleaded, tears evident in his eyes.
"I take it he's been drinking?" Ethan already knew the answer but had to ask.
"What do you think? I know that he's having a hypo, I've been trying to give him some sugar but it's not helping!" Joe cried.
"Let me get some things," Ethan told him as he gathered up his phone, key to his room and a t-shirt.
He closed the door gently behind him, mindful of the other guests. Joe was already tearing his way towards the stairs - Ethan had to jog to keep up.
The young doctor could see that there was no use in trying to get any more information out of the younger man - he was beyond worried, so he bided his time until he got to the room.
"Where have you been?" One of the other men there demanded.
"I've been to get some help," Joe told him as he directed Ethan in the direction of his brother.
"What's he going to do? He can't even see right!"
Joe turned on him, "He's a doctor - so why don't you just shut your mouth and if you can't do that then get the hell out of this room!"
Seeing Joe in such a state seemed to sober everyone in the room up, "Erm perhaps we ought to go to our room and let them sort Mike out," a different man said as he helped the noisy man to his feet, "Joe let us know how he is will you?"
Joe nodded, closing the door as they left. Ethan was relieved to see the back of them, "Where is he?" as asked.
Joe led him to the bedroom, where Ethan saw the older man laid on the bed, very pale, eyes closed, already in the recovery position, "Has he been testing his bloods?"
"I gave him the machine..." he muttered as he got the monitor and turned it on, checking the activity over the last few hours, "Damn..."
"I take it that's a no," Ethan commented.
"God he can be so stupid!" Joe snarled.
"Give it to me - let's do a test, see what we're dealing with," Ethan explained as calmly as he could. He took the monitor from Joe, "Ok Mike, can you hear me?" He shook the younger man gently until he heard a groan from him, "I'm going to test your blood..." He proceeded to use the monitor on Mike. He waited for the beep to tell him the result, all the while keeping his eyes on Mike. He had his fingers on his wrist pulse and could feel his pulse pounding. His blood result came back, causing Ethan to sigh deeply, "What?" Joe demanded. Ethan showed him the monitor, "Oh God! What an idiot!"
Joe turned on his heel, shaking his head, mumbling to himself about idiots and about how he 'never listens'.
"Joe!" Ethan shouted after him, "Joe I need your help."
Joe paused in his mumblings and turned to the doctor, "What do you need?"
"We are not going to get any sugar down him at the moment so do you have any of that glucose gel?"
The younger man thought for a minute, then scrambled through one of the drawers in the room, "He's got an emergency kit somewhere...I know he has...I packed it...ah here we are." He pulled out a small box that contained glucose tablets, glucose gel and an injection as a last resort. He passed them to Ethan who immediately began to rummage through the box. Joe sat on the bed, out of Ethan's way but close enough to keep an eye on his brother. He pressed his own fingers to Mike's pulse point in his neck, gasping at how fast it was beating, "It happens when the blood sugar drops so low, but we'll get it sorted, try not to worry."
"How do you stay so calm?" Joe asked, truely amazed at how unfazed Ethan seemed to be.
"I suppose you get used to it in a way but it takes some doing. It also depends on what sort of person you are. I can quite easily get into a flap about the simplest of things, even though I know I'm doing the right thing - yet my brother...he's kind of a shoot first ask questions later kind of doctor...now let's see..." He got out the glucose gel and tried to push some into the inside of Mike's mouth, onto his cheek for absorption purposes, but he didn't have much success, "I managed to get a small amount of gel into his mouth so I will wait a few minutes and re-check his blood ."
Joe nodded his agreement, clearly still quite flustered, "Have you never seen him like this before?" Ethan asked.
"No. I've seen him have hypo's before but this is the worst I've seen him. But he's his own worst enemy sometimes - just take tonight for instance, he didn't eat before leaving for the bars, I mean that's rule number one with drinking with Diabetes. I kept trying to get him to supplement one alcoholic drink with a drink of water or something just to keep him hydrated, but he got wise to that so that didn't work. Now I realise that he wasn't even checking his blood sugars..."
"Sometimes they don't want to be thought of as different, they want to live like everyone else," Ethan offered.
"Yeah well it's better being a little bit different than not being here at all! How did he think I would tell Nicola? That's always been his problem...selfish..." He wiped away an angry tear, hoping that Ethan hadn't seen it. He had seen it but decided not to say anything, busying himself instead with rechecking Mike's blood. His next result was worse than the previous one. Ethan shook his head as he looked at the man laid on the bed. He was as pale as the sheets with a slight sheen of perspiration shining on his forehead, "Right it looks like it's plan B now - pass me the injection please."
Joe looked shocked, "But..."
"This last reading was lower than the one before. He's in danger of slipping into a coma, which is definitely not what we want, so I'm going to give him the injection and see where that leaves us."
Joe nodded slightly as he passed the doctor the injection. Ethan used it straight away, not leaving any time to think about it, "That's given him a massive shot of glucose which hopefully will act really quickly and help him to recover. If he doesn't wake up though, he will have to go to hospital," the young doctor explained. Joe shuffled up the bed more so that he could keep an eye on his brother.
Ethan left them alone while he went into the other room to find out details of the local hospital which are left in every hotel room. He needed phone numbers etc just in case.
A few minutes later, he tentatively made his way back into the bedroom, "How's he doing?" he asked quietly.
Joe looked his way and moved slightly so that Ethan could see that Mike was starting to wake up, "Ah-ha so our patient has decided to wake up I see. Joe can you do another blood test while I got and make him a sandwich or something else as equally loaded with carbohydrates."
Ethan made his way into the tiny kitchen area, rummaging through the cupboards. Luckily, when he opened the fridge he found that there were a couple of pre packed sandwiches shoved between the packs of Spanish beer. He grabbed a ham sandwich and dashed back to the bedroom. By the time he got back, Mike was sitting up, "How are you feeling?" Ethan asked him, casting a medical eye over the young man.
"Pretty lousy," Mike told him.
"I guess drinking yourself into a coma will do that to you!" Joe retorted, surprising both the other men in the room.
"Joe, I'm s..." Mike began.
Both men could see that Joe was now angry, "Don't even bother saying sorry Mike. You're getting married in a couple of weeks - you've got a baby on the way - what would I have said to Nicola if you had died?"
"Come on Joe...don't be dramatic," Mike chuckled.
"Erm Joe, I'm going to have to stay to monitor your brother overnight, could you sort me out some tea or coffee please," Ethan asked, giving the young man something to do before he blew his top. Joe looked at Ethan as if he had grown a second head, but nodded and left the room.
When Ethan was sure Joe was out of earshot, he turned to Mike, "You really ought to be more careful you know. You were so close to slipping into a coma. I'm sure you know that you should eat before you go drinking and keep hydrated while drinking. You should also test regularly because when you drink with diabetes you can't always tell when you are going to low..."
"I could tell," Mike began.
"If you could tell, then why didn't you stop?" Ethan asked confused.
"It's my stag do! Last few weeks of freedom and all that," Mike countered, "I'm not letting some stupid illness stop me from enjoying myself," he growled.
Ethan sighed, "Look Mike I'm not going to preach, but you have more than yourself to think about now. Joe was following you around tonight and by the sound of it has been all the time you've been here, making sure you had everything you needed, but when it came down to it you didn't take any notice of him. You've got a baby on the way...it's not just about you anymore."
"It's alright for you to say - you haven't got this illness hanging round your neck all the time..."
"No I haven't but I have friends who have it and they are still enjoying a normal life. They go out and enjoy themselves, but they do it sensibly, it doesn't make them any less of a person - and if you can't do it for you, then do it for your child or for your little brother...he was out of his mind with worry when you were in and out of consciousness...now eat this!" He thrust the ham sandwich in his hand and stared at him until he started eating it.
Ethan smiled as he left the bedroom to look for Joe. He found the younger man stood on the balcony breathing in deep breaths of air, "Joe," he quietly let the man know that he was there, "He's sat up now and eating. The worst has passed."
Joe just nodded his head, he was actually afraid to talk, "He's going to be alright you know," Ethan assured him. He put a gentle hand on his shoulder, surprised to feel small tremors running through him, "Look, I will stay with him and monitor him for the rest of the night. You go and get some sleep then in the morning we can make some arrangements for you getting home."
"I don't think I can sleep," Joe whispered, "I can't believe how close he came to a coma...all because..." he couldn't finish.
"You did everything you could Joe. I think the main problem was that he'd not had anything to eat before he went out and so he couldn't really tell that his blood glucose levels were dropping like a stone. Anyway, it looks like he's on the mend now so you go and get some sleep and I'll keep an eye on him."
"But I woke you up - you should go back to bed - I'll look out for my brother," Joe told him.
"That's exactly why I'm going to stay. I'm a younger brother who always seems to be looking out for the older one so I know what it's like - so as one younger brother to another...go to bed - no arguments!"
Joe finally smiled, "I don't know how to thank you Ethan."
"No need - just doing my job."
They both groaned at the cliche.
Joe poked his head around his brother's bedroom door before he went to bed, "Ethan, his eyes are closed again," he told the young doctor fearfully.
"I'm sure he's just asleep. Go to bed - I'll be here."
"Thank you," Joe yawned as he made his way to bed.
So that's chapter 2! Didn't want to drag out all the medical stuff coz I'm not that good at it anyway. Probably another small chapter after this one although I'm not sure when it will be up as it's a bank holiday weekend and I've got things to do (for a change!). Please let me know what you think - thank you xx