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Mavis entered the room of the next patient on her chart. She knocked, capturing the attention of both of the people in the room.
"Captain Trevor Jackson. Ma'am," she greeted walking into the patient's room.
"Army?" Dr. Vega asked.
"Ranger. First Battalion 75th Regiment," Jackson said.
"Cool," Mavis said taking her pen and moving it across Trevor's eyes. follow my pen line.
"You served?" he asked.
"Oh, no." Dr. Vega raised her head. "However, during my fourth year of medical school, I had the opportunity to visit a military base and assist in the treatment of wounded soldiers."
"You're a long way from Georgia what brings you in today?" Dr. Vega asks.
"Fender bender. It was my fault," Jackson said. I got lightheaded. "Thought I was gonna pass out."
"Well, you been drinking, soldier?"
"No, Ma'am," he nodded.
"Blood work," April said coming into the room. handing Mavis the Ipad.
"You two in town for business, pleasure.?" April asked
"Visiting my family. Lincoln Park," Trevor's wife said turning to face April while she sat beside her husband on the bed.
"I got to get back to duty. My Mother in laws cooking packing on the pounds," Mavis smiled brightly.
"Kids?' April asked.
"Not yet," Lauran said. "One day, baby, one day," Trevor looked her
"I don't want her to have to raise kids alone Jackson said. While I'm still being deployed." Mavis noticed something concerning his blood work while he was speaking.
"Captain Jackson, are you diabetic?" she asked.
"I'm not," he said.
"I'm afraid these numbers indicate differently mavis pointed at the screen tilting her head. Your blood sugar is at 350."
"What? No," Jackson insisted. "There's no way I have diabetes," he looked at his wife. "Baby listens to the doctor," she said.
"If I have diabetes they won't deploy me, and that's it he said. I'm done, and I can't be a soldier anymore."
Mavis nodded while listening. "Well it's true you don't have the classic risk factors... Obesity, family history..."
"And your white blood count is elevated. so possibly there is some underlying infection. driving your blood glucose up."
"Okay"
"We'll run some more tests to see if that's the case." Mavis finished handing April the Ipad back and walked out of the room.
...
Mavis went to see Dr. Charles after receiving all of the test results. She went to the hospital cafeteria to see if he was there.
"Hey, Dr. Rhodes," Mavis waved as she walked in and noticed Dr. Charles preparing to sit at a table with a tray of food in his hand.
"Hey," Conner smiled.
"Dr. Charles?" Mavis said sitting down "Can I ask you something?" She said setting the IPad down.
"Don't mind if I eat. I missed breakfast," he said biting down on a carrot. "That's fine," Mavis said.
"So, it's my patient, Captain Jackson. he is a physically fit active service army ranger," Mavis began. "But, his blood sugar indicates he has diabetes."
"You run labs? Do a CT?" Dr. Charles said.
"His pancreas is healthy. There are no signs of tumors. His labs came back clean, for infection and autoimmune disease."
"Couldn't find a reason for his diabetes but I did find this," Mavis said as she handed Daniel the iPad. He put on his glasses and began to examine it
"He fractured two thoracic vertebrae."
"Ouch"
"Exactly. So why hasn't he said anything?" Dr. Vega asked.
"Why do you think he hasn't said anything?"
"That is something I noticed while treating soldiers on base during my fourth year of medical school. Many of them were depressed because they were frequently away from home."
"Depressed patients tend to mask or hide pain." Dr. Charles said.
"Right. The thing is, diabetes is a red flag for the military. You test positive you don't go back to combat."
"Because they were diabetic, a few of the soldiers I treated had to be sent back home."
"So, if your depressed about overseas deployment..."
"you'd think he'd be happy to have diabetes. He's home for good. well, that's not the case Jacksons completely upset at the possibility of not going back to active service."
"Something is going on with him," Dr. Vega said.
"Let's go say hello to Captain Jackson," Dr. Charles said.
...
They made it back to Captain Jackson's room. to talk with him and to figure out what was going on.
"Captain, this is Dr. Charles. He's a senior attending physician here. I've asked him to consult," Dr. Vega said introducing Daniel. to Trevor and Lauran
"I just wanted to make sure that I have your history straight," dr. Charles said.
"So you've seen combat before?"
"Yes sir,"
"And this was your first tour?" Dr. Charles asked.
"Seventh," his wife corrected him
"What was in the test results?" Jackson asked cutting Dr. Charles off.
"You have a couple of fractured vertebrae. that will heal on their own, but all of your other tests have failed to give us an answer."
"We can't find a clinical reason for your high sugars," Dr. Vega explained.
"Clinical? What does that Mean?" Jackson asked.
"A physical cause," Dr. Charles said.
"I'm sorry, what kind of doctor are you?" Jackson asked Mavis could tell he was starting to feel uneasy.
"He's a psychiatrist"
"A shrink? I don't need a shrink; I'm not crazy."
"No one saying you are, Dr. Charles said
"Honey they are just trying to help you," Mrs. Jackson tried to console him but he got more upset.
"How is a shrink gonna help me?"
"As I said, we're covering all of our bases"
"You think I'm faking this."
"No you can't fake blood sugar," said.
"So what are you saying, huh?"
"You think I did something to myself?" he said
"You think I'm a coward?" he looked between Mavis and Daniel
"Not for a second," Dr. Charles said. Trevor then began ripping out the IVs from his arms, causing blood to spill.
"I'm out of here," he said trying to get out of the bed frantically.
When he stood up, he became frozen, and his body fell over, his head banging on the tray in the room, causing it to fall to the floor with him.
"Nurse, need a little help!" Mavis rubbed his chest in an attempt to wake him up, while Lauran sobbed in an attempt to wake him up as well.
...
Mavis began suturing Trevor's head wound after he became conscious once again. Mavis and Daniel were able to figure out what was wrong with Trevor after going over more of his symptoms.
His wife had been poisoning him with prednisone. because she just wanted him to be safe at home
The police were called and were escorting her out of the hospital, but Trevor accompanied her. Mavis was filling out a form after her shift when Conner passed by.
"Dr. Rhodes," she explained as she handed the form to a nurse. "Dr. Vega," He came to a halt and turned around to face her.
"So, I heard about your patient Russel, and I'm glad he's okay," she said as she walked alongside him.
"Yeah, thank you; I heard about your patient as well." Dr. Rhodes said
"Yes, but I'm sure they'll be fine."
"So you're going home now, she says."
"That's the plan."
As they left the E.D. together, he asked, "How about you?"
"I'm going home, but I need to make a new schedule for the E.D. residents because Dr. Abrams mentioned it again about not having his good-for-nothing resident."
"I'm trying to figure out a good schedule for you guys so that you can get your hours in and sleep."
"Being in charge is tough," Dr. Rhodes smirked.
"Yeah sure, but I'll find a way," she waved her hand. "If it doesn't work I'll figure out some type of fallback plan."
"Dr. Rhodes, good night and safe trip home," Dr. Vega stated that the two had parted ways.