Well, obviously I missed my weekend deadline! My apologies again. This time I struggled a little with writer's block, but I think I got past it now. Thank you so much for all of you that have been reading faithfully, especially those of you who have reviewed and/or added the story to your favorites! I'm overwhelmed with the response. Even though I have slowed down a few times on writing this, you have made this an incredible experience.
This chapter has no spoilers.
Blair leaned back in his bed and closed his eyes. It had been almost two hours since he took his initial dose of Rythmol, and so far nothing had happened. Not just nothing exciting; absolutely nothing. Nobody had been by to check on him, he had not gotten any breakfast, nothing. They probably thought they were giving him an opportunity to sleep. Unfortunately, after Doctor Simmons had told him they would be monitoring him, he had anticipated being disturbed frequently and consequently he couldn't sleep. Twisting irritably to the side, he sighed gustily. This was really annoying.
"Uh . . . problem, Chief?" The amused voice from the hallway startled him, causing him to flip over in the bed. Jim was leaning up against his doorway, watching him in amusement.
"Actually, yes," Blair admitted sheepishly. "I keep waiting for them to come in and check on me, so I can't sleep. And nobody has actually been in to check on me in two hours." He sighed again.
"Do you need to be checked on?" Jim moved into the room, sounding slightly alarmed.
"No, that's not the point." Blair shifted again in his bed so that he was marginally more comfortable. "It's just that they kept waking me up all night to check on me, and now I can't sleep because I keep waiting for them to come back and check on me again."
Jim settled easily onto the chair beside the bed. "Rough night, huh?" He studied Blair sympathetically.
Blair sighed again. "You could say that." He sat up suddenly. "Oh, hey! Doctor Simmons was in a couple of hours ago, and he started me on a new medication that I have to take for a while. I have to stay until they are sure I'm not going to have a bad reaction."
"Well, what symptoms are you watching for?"
Blair frowned. "I don't know. He didn't say. I've just been lying here waiting for something to happen. Nobody's been by at all. I didn't even get breakfast." He cringed at how much he sounded like a pouting child.
Jim grinned, obviously thinking the same thing. "Do you want me to go check on your breakfast, Chief?" He stood up, not waiting for an answer, and headed for the door. "You rest; I'll be right back."
Blair slumped down in his bed, embarrassed. Why hadn't he thought of asking what he was supposed to be looking for? Huh. Guess I'm more tired than I thought.
*****
Jim strode purposefully back to the nurses' station, smiling politely at the woman behind the counter. "Good morning. I'm with Blair Sandburg in room 315. He was wondering if someone would be bringing him some breakfast soon?"
The nurse, a friendly gray haired woman, smiled back apologetically. "I'm very sorry, sir. The doctor told us to let him sleep. I guess he got disturbed a lot during the night. I'll call down and have his breakfast brought right up." She lifted the telephone receiver from the cradle and prepared to dial.
"Actually, I do have another question." Jim jumped in before she had time to dial. "Blair told me he's still here so that he can be monitored while he starts his new medication, but he doesn't know what to watch for."
The nurse grinned mischievously. "Well, that's kind of the point. We don't want him imagining symptoms because we told him what to watch for. I've been monitoring his heart rate and pulse oxygenation, and he looks good so far." She pointed at the bank of monitors along the back of the counter. "He's doing fine. I'll get that breakfast right up for him."
Jim nodded. "Thank you very much." He watched as the nurse spoke quickly into the telephone and headed back to Blair's room.
Blair looked up as he entered the room. "What did you find out?"
Jim grinned. "Well, your breakfast will be up in a few minutes. They were trying to let you sleep since you had a rough night. I guess that didn't work out so well."
Blair made a face, sitting up straighter in his bed. "Well, at least they're bringing me food now. Did you find out what symptoms I'm supposed to watch for?"
Jim shook his head, sitting back down in the chair. "Sorry, Chief. They don't want you to know, because then you might be imagining you had them. She said you're doing great so far. They have all of your monitors at the desk, and she's been keeping an eye on you from there."
"Oh." Blair leaned back again. "Well, I guess that makes sense. So . . . I guess I have to stay here all morning, if you need to go to the station."
Jim smiled fondly. "I'm here as long as you're here, buddy."
Both men looked up as the door opened, admitting a young volunteer carrying a tray. She smiled brightly at Blair, sitting the tray down on his rolling table. "Here's your breakfast, sir. I hope you enjoy it." She gave him another smile and quietly exited the room.
Jim watched with interest as Blair began to uncover his various breakfast items. "What did you get?"
Blair grinned at him, studying everything on his tray inquisitively. "Scrambled egg looking things, some shriveled up sausage-like things, a cup of fruit cocktail and toast. Oh, and orange juice and some kind of hot tea to drink."
Jim laughed out loud. "Scrambled egg looking things and sausage-like things? What are you talking about?"
Blair shrugged, picking up his fork hungrily. "Think about it, Jim. I'm in the cardiac care ward. Do you really think they're going to feed me real eggs and sausage?"
"Oh. Good point, Chief. Well, uh, enjoy your breakfast." He grinned unrepentantly at the sour look Blair gave him, settling back to wait while his partner ate his meal.
*****
"Okay, Blair. It's time to wake up."
Blair slowly opened his eyes, groggily trying to figure out where he was and who was speaking to him. Oh, that's right . . . hospital. He tried to focus his vision, looking for the speaker. Jim was still seated beside his bed, but it hadn't been Jim's voice. He rolled his head the other way and spotted Doctor Simmons standing there.
"Hey." His voice came out hoarse, and he cleared his throat. "What's up?"
Simmons smiled. "You've been sleeping for a couple of hours. I just saw the results of your last EKG, and I think we're safe to send you home now. You haven't developed any of the side effects we were concerned about, and your heart rate is stabilizing a little bit. I'm going to keep you on the Rythmol for three weeks just to give you a little help while your heart is healing from the ablation."
Blair struggled to sit up, wide awake now. "Really? I get to go home now? No offence, Doc, but being in the hospital is kind of not conducive to resting! I can't wait to sleep in my own bed."
The doctor and Jim both laughed at that. Simmons turned to the nurse who had followed him into the room. "I'm going to release Blair to go home. Could you please get him ready to go?"
"Yes, sir." The nurse stepped up to the bed, looking significantly at Jim.
Ellison smiled at her, but then as she continued to look at him, he got it. "Oh, yeah, uh, I'll just wait outside, Chief."
Blair smiled mischievously. "Where are you going, Jim?"
Jim smirked back at him. "Out. I'll be back when the nurse is through with you. Then we can get you home and you can rest in your own bed."
Blair watched as Jim and Simmons left the room, turning his attention to the nurse, who began to disconnect him from all of the monitors and the IV. He nodded stoically when she exclaimed sympathetically over the rash left behind on his chest by the adhesive on the electrode pads.
"I'm going to put a lotion on that to keep it from itching too much and help it start healing." The nurse bustled out of the room, returning momentarily with a bottle. "This will help you feel a little better. Every once in a while we get someone with reactions like yours, so we keep some of this on hand."
Blair cringed when the cold lotion dripped on his wounds, but the nurse was true to her word. She had barely rubbed the liquid onto the irritated skin when it seemed to feel better. When she had finished, she handed him the bottle.
"You can go ahead and take this along with you. That way you can keep putting it on until your skin heals." She patted his shoulder. "You can get dressed now. Doctor Simmons will be back in a moment with your last minute instructions."
As soon as the nurse had left the room, Blair pulled himself out of bed, wobbling a little as he aimed himself toward his clothes in the small closet. He slowly dressed himself and then gingerly made his way into the bathroom to take care of things there. Once he was done, he sat back down on his bed to wait.
Jim returned to the room almost immediately, and Blair smiled as he thought that his Sentinel must have been keeping tabs on him to know that he was done getting ready. Doctor Simmons and the nurse followed shortly after, and Blair found himself studying a handful of materials.
He listened attentively as Doctor Simmons explained the importance of noting any side effects he noticed with the Rythmol, and he finally had a detailed list of what things to watch for. He really hoped that this stuff actually helped, because the list of potential side effects was staggering. Glancing down the list, he shook his head. Nausea, vomiting, heartburn, gas, loss of appetite, stomach cramps, dizziness, drowsiness, headache, weakness and changes in sleep habits were all on the list, and they were only the ones to expect while getting used to the medication. No wonder they hadn't wanted to let him know what they were. He felt queasy just thinking about it.
He was also supposed to watch out for muscle aches, sweating, dry mouth, tremors and an unusual taste in his mouth. But the symptoms to really be concerned about would be chest pain, blurred vision, unusual bleeding or bruising, skin rash (great! He could hardly wait for that one!), chills, infection, fever, persistent sore throat, sudden weight gain, swelling of his ankles or feet, trouble breathing, or an unusually fast, slow or irregular heartbeat. If any of those symptoms occurred, he was supposed to contact Doctor Simmons immediately.
Blair was still shell-shocked from the list of symptoms when Doctor Simmons fixed him with a steady gaze. "Now, Blair, there are a few things I need you to remember."
Blair groaned dramatically. "This isn't enough?" He lifted his fistful of paper.
Jim swatted him playfully across the back of his head. "Listen up, Chief. This is important."
Blair nodded, sobering. "Go ahead. What else do I need to remember?"
Simmons, leaning up against the night stand, nodded back. "Okay. I need you to wait another day before you take a shower. Keep your incisions covered. When you do take the bandages off in twenty-four hours, make sure that your incisions are not doing anything more than a mild seepage. If you're bleeding, you need to call right away. When you do shower, make sure that you wash the sites very gently. If they're still seeping, keep them covered. Otherwise, you'll end up with a mess on your clothes.
"Also, you might notice a small lump at your incision sites. That's normal, and it should go away in a week or so. But again, if you notice heat or real swelling, call. If you notice that the bruising at the incision site is getting bigger, call. And I don't want you to lift anything heavier than ten pounds for at least five days. Oh, and don't take the stairs. You don't want to be bending those legs any more than you have to right now."
Blair nodded solemnly. This was serious stuff they were talking about.
"What if he does start bleeding?" Jim was apparently taking it seriously, too. "I know we call, but what else can we do?"
Simmons frowned. "That's a very good question. Of course, I hope it never comes to that, but if it does; Blair, you need to lie flat and let someone hold pressure at the incision site. If it doesn't stop bleeding within fifteen minutes of pressure, call 911." He grinned suddenly. "So . . . are you ready to go home?"
"I'm not really sure." Blair wondered if he would remember all of the instructions the doctor had just hurled at him.
Jim chuckled, grasping Blair's shoulder. "Don't worry, Chief. I was listening, too. Between the two of us, we're bound to get it right!"
*****
"Hey, Chief?" Blair opened bleary eyes to see his partner looking at him in concern. "We're home."
Blair looked around, realizing that Jim's truck was parked in his usual spot outside the loft. He wondered how long he'd been out. Just getting to the truck had been exhausting, and for most of that time he had been in a wheel chair. Jim had practically lifted him into the truck to avoid any pressure on his incisions. Now he needed to martial his strength to get up to their apartment. Jim jumped out of the truck and came around to open the door.
"Let me do most of the work, okay?"
Blair nodded, letting Jim lift him out of the truck. Once on firm ground, he shuffled wearily toward the building, letting Jim go ahead of him to get the door. Inside, they immediately headed for the elevator, and Blair heaved a sigh of relief that it was functioning today. The old equipment seemed to function sporadically, and he had been very concerned about how he would get upstairs without it, since he was not allowed to take the stairs yet.
Jim leaned against the wall of the elevator, clutching a bag containing Blair's toiletries in one hand, and a small pharmaceutical bag in the other containing a bottle of Rythmol and the lotion for Blair's rash. Once the elevator reached the third floor, Jim herded Blair gently toward the apartment, unlocked the door, and shooed him toward the sofa.
"Go lie down, buddy. I'll get you something to drink and a blanket. I promise I won't wake you up every two hours." He grinned at the younger man as he headed for the kitchen.
Blair gingerly stretched out on the sofa, sighing at the soft feel of the comfortable cushions. He was feeling better already. He pushed a throw pillow under his head to get even more comfortable and closed his eyes. He barely felt it when a soft blanket floated over him, and he vaguely registered the clink of a glass on the coffee table. He could hear Jim puttering quietly in the kitchen, which seemed so normal it felt even more relaxing. He felt his body completely unwind for the first time since the whole procedure began and drifted peacefully to sleep.
TBC . . .
I think that I should not promise when the next chapter is coming, because lately I can't ever seem to keep to my deadlines. I will just say that I am already working on Chapter 15, and I will have it posted as soon as I can. Thanks again for reading, and please review and let me know what you think!
