This chapter is dedicated to R. You deserve a massive thank you and a massive hug. Thank you so much for the help and the motivation, your're an awesome friend, and without that encouraging push, I wouldn't achieve nearly as half as what I do.
There's also some medical jumbo in this chapter - I'm no doctor, far from it, so if I've done some huge mistake in my research and this doesn't make at all sense, please tell me!
Chapter Three - Altering States
It said Dr. Temperance Brennan on the chart held in her skilled hands. She looked over at the beautiful woman laying still on the hospital bed. So young, yet so sick. It was always the worst when her patients were young. Hardly time to live and now closing in on that bright light. She sighed, life was never fair. She wondered if this woman had any relatives, anyone who cared for her. In her state, support is what will she'll be needing the most in the following months. With her stethoscope hung around her neck, the white of her coat blending easily aginst the coolness of the walls, the doctor left the room.
"Are you here for Dr. Brennan?" The doctor asked calmly. Her voice managing to reverberate off the walls, falling on the group of anxious ears belonging to those who sat tensely on the hard hospital chairs. They all stood up instantaneously, their pleading eyes burning at the edges of her resolve she gathered between her patients room and the short distance to where she now stood in her blue scrubs.
"What's wrong with her? Please..." Booth implored in a fraught voice that reflected his inner turmoil.
The doctor looked at him, her eyes filling with sympathy.
They all knew at once that Brennan wasn't merely sick, that this doctor promised dread with her words and pain in the truth. She looked at them each in turn, finally resting on Booth, "Have you ever heard of Endocarditis?"
They all looked blankly at her, Booths heart beating a thousand times harder. He saw Zach's hand shoot up in the air without hesitation, and they all shifted their eyes to him. The doctor looked puzzled at his "hands-up" approach, but nodded at him to speak.
He lowered his arm from the its position above his head, "Endocarditis is an infection of a heart valve or the inner lining of the endocardium." he stated in his customary rapid-fire monotone.
She looked at him with supressed bemusement, "That's correct, the---"
"Is that what Bones has?" Booth interrupted impatiently .
"I'm sorry, Bones? the doctor asked mystified.
"Temperance, he means Temperance" Angela stepped forth, shooting Booth a contemptuous glare, "Please, continue."
The doctor smiled in understanding. Sometimes the pain ran just as deep for the friends and family as it did for the patients. She had dealt with those restless, confused types of people before. Every day, for every patient. "When Temperance was brought in we weren't sure of what had caused her to become so ill. Her symptoms were so similar to a severe common cold that she would of dismissed it almost immediatly as non-threatening. However, while examining her we discovered a small cut along her arm--"
"A tree." Booth interjected.
"Excuse me?"
He raised his head, diverting his gaze from the linoneum covered floor, "A tree. She tripped over some roots and scrapped her arm on the trunk. We were doing fieldwork. Look doc, how does this relate to anything? It's a scratch, nothing more!"
"It relates to everything, Mr..."
"Agent Booth." he supplied.
"As I was saying, Agent Booth, that cut is what resulted in her current condition" she explained.
"A cut? Tempe's sick because of a cut?" Angela exclaimed in disbelief.
"It's not so hard to believe. Most cases of Endocarditis are caused by bacterial infections. In Temperance's situation, this is what happened. The cut on her arm would have been the perfect entrance site for foreign pathogens to enter her bloodstream. Once inside her body, the bacteria was shuttled around and had ample opportunity to do damage to her body," she took a deep breath and continued, "Her fever was the most significant symptom that suggested my diagnoses was correct, so I checked her for any new heart murmors. Heart murmors occur when there is abnormal, turbulent blood flow in the heart. Unfortunately, Temperance had a murmor.
What this tells me is that the infection has led to the development of a 'leaky heart valve'. Because this was left untreated the infection has gradually damaged the endocardium and has caused the heart valve to malfunction and her blood to back up in her lungs, explaining why she was suffering from a shortness of breath." she finished.
"This is serious, isn't it?" Angela exhaled shakily, her arms wrapped protectively around her wasit.
The doctor nodded, "Temperance is very sick, I'm sorry."
Hodgins, who had so far been silently standing behind the others, spoke up, "What's the plan of treatment?"
"Well, to start with, an intensive course of anitbiotics taken intraveneously every 3 hours for at least 4 weeks. Hopefully Temperance takes to this and gets better. Her body is very weak, which explains why she's still unconscious. We're watching her extremely closely, but I warn you now, she's in serious risk of slipping into a coma if she doesn't improve soon..." she allowed her voice fall away.
"Do you know when she'll wake up?" Booth asked, dark rings already appearing under his eyes.
The doctor shook her head softly, "It depends on so many things, Agent Booth. She's young and otherwise healthy, she has a good chance. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate," she looked at Zach, "Now, if you'll excuse me..." She turned on her heel and began to walk away.
"Doctor---" Booth stopped short. They hadn't been given a name.
"Hart" she called out, her shadow walking beside her on the white walls of the corridor.
Hodgins scoffed loudly, "Of course it is."
They all looked at him, "Convenient is all" he answered with his hands up in the air.
Angela collasped on the chair behind them. The emotion in her eyes undeniably pain, she set her jaw and restrained from opeing the water gates. She was doing a good job of holding herself together, until she ruined it by bursting into tears. The men looked awkward, all exchanging looks. Taking the inititive, Booth sat down next to her and rubbed her back soothingly. Following Booths lead, Hodgins sat on her other side and proceeded to make inappropriate comments, and she choked back on a laugh. The room fell into silence.
"She's really sick." Angela said again, somehow solidifying it this time with the repeating phrase.
Review! Review! Review! Review! Review! Review! Help me reach that 100 mark, and I'll make it worth your wild! But only if you want to. PEER PRESSURE. Pear. Hee.
Wild thang...
I finally figured out how to enable Anonymous reviews, so if you don't have an account, your excuse just hit the deck, baby!