Motherhood Lessons²

Webber's Tests

Ivy sees Ben talking to someone in the back of the PRT and assumes it's Jackson. She waves at Ben who points to where she assumed Jackson was, "You coming? Plane is almost landed and I think Richard is gonna need all of us."

"Okay, let me finish with this burn," Jackson nods, Ivy smiling at him.

Making her way back into the hospital, Ivy joins her sister, Meredith and Bailey in what she has dubbed command central until they figure out what the hell is going on with Richard. Bailey, who is on the phone, says, "Carotid duplex. Echo. CT to rule out stroke, tremors, intracranial hemorrhage. Urinalysis to rule out UTI."

Amelia asks her, "Did they run a tox screen?"

"Uh, and you ran a tox screen? Clean," Bailey relays, "Okay, well, thank you. We'll confirm when we've received them. Let's round up the troops."

They leave, Ivy linking hands with Amelia, "How's my little nephew?"

"Growing. Kicking."

"I miss that. Feeling their little movements in your belly. Hearing their little heartbeats when you sneak an ultrasound cause you have those perks," She stops when she sees Amelia's raised brow, "Surprise, surprise, I liked being pregnant."

○○○○

Ivy stands with Catherine, running a hand up and down her back, trying to keep her calm as Bailey updates everyone, "Uh, we got a 65 year old male suffering from memory lapses, tremors, depression and mood swings, and erratic behavior. Yes, I am talking about Richard Webber, but today, he is not the Richard Webber you know and love. He is our number one patient. Two days ago, he suffered a public....episode at a medical conference. Patient's history includes an appendectomy, a hip replacement, surgery for a brain tumor pressing on his optic nerve. He was also electrocuted several years ago, which led to surgery for a pancreatic pseudocyst. Let's review what we have so far. This is a list of possible diagnoses. Some, we have already ruled out. This, we still need to. Meredith," Bailey gestures to the two boards.

"Uh, we'll run all the labs. We'll do the blood cultures, vitamin levels, check the thyroid function, and we'll check the urine for heavy metals."

Maggie turns to everyone, "Prepare yourselves. He's not himself."

Helm speaks up from behind Amelia, "We saw the video."

"Unless," Ivy breaks the silence that ensues, "You get called in for something emergent, this is your job today."

Tom raises his hand before Ivy nods to him, "Hi, Dr. Shepherd-Avery. Tom Koracick, neuro. I know we don't want to think it, but have we ruled out, uh, dementia?"

She shakes her head as Bailey lets out a small sigh, "No, we have not."

"Get a PET scan, throw in a beta-amyloid tracer, and look for Alzheimer's," Tom tells them.

"It's not Alzheimer's," Meredith shakes her head.

"Mer," Ivy gets her attention, "Everything is on the table until the labs prove otherwise. I know we don't want to think it, but we need to consider everything."

"Let's get to it."

○○○○

Ivy stands with Catherine as Richard is helped into his hospital bed, fighting the whole way, "Look, I can get myself into a bed."

Jackson comes up behind Ivy, kissing her cheek before wrapping an arm around his mom, still in the PRT uniform, "I'm sorry. Hey."

Catherine turns to him, "Where have you been? And what the hell are you wearing?"