i. MEDICINE harry styles [ON HOLD]

xix. NU

MARCH 16,      2018.
— LONDON, England

Ben brushed his hand across Adrian's forehead.
   Adrian's lips parted, and he started to stir. After a few minutes he managed to open his eyes.
   "You're awake..." Ben's voice was hushed. It was early in the morning, light only just seeping through the sides of the blinds. The room, fairly bland and only containing one small window was dim and depressing in the early hours.
"Adrian," said Ben, trying to get the attention of the dazed boy. "They're going to be coming around for vitals and rounds soon, try and listen, if you can."
Approximately ten minutes later, a lone nurse came in. "Adrian?"
He perked up at her voice and managed to look at her. He smiled, as much as he could.
She smiled back. "Are we bonjour or hello today?" Adrian laughed a little.
"Hello," he croaked.
"Right. Well I know you remember me, but," she turned to Ben, "I'm Anaëlle."
"I remember you," began Ben, "it's been a while though." Had Adrian not been so unwell, Ben would have reminisced more in Anaëlle's memory.
"Well, I've got some good and bad news. Bad new is that your blood work showed a fair amount of instability," she said, without pausing to give time for reaction. "The Neuro team will tell you more about that, though, I don't know too much." Anaëlle kept cheery. "Good news, kind of, is that we have to move you closer to the nurses station for monitoring, which means you'll get a bigger, and nicer room. I even managed to get you a corner room, with a window seat and all!"
The 'good' news didn't sound like much, but when you're facing weeks bound in a hospital room, a window seat becomes oddly enticing.

Soon enough, Adrian lay in a bed facing a pretty morning sky. His nurse had left, and his team minutes away.
   "You should go home."
   "Adrian, I'm not going to leave you like this. I'll go home for a bit maybe, but I can't..."
   The neurology team entered.

By dinner time that night, things were quite different.
   Further tests had shown that Adrian's brain inflammation had resulted in severe systematic deterioration. The specialist neurologist told him it was insane he had not only been able to travel, but that he was functional at all. The doctor had a told him that he had mild malnutrition (from his body being sick, and the lack of appetite he had been experiencing as a symptom).
   The treatment plan was aggressive. There was to be a minimum seven day stay in high supervision, and blood tests everyday. He would be on High Flow Oxygen (which was basically a really fat nasal cannula) until his oxygen saturation was stable, and had to wear compression socks to aid in such. For twelve hours of the night he would be on something called Total Parental Nutrition, which basically gave him everything he was lacking, and for twelve hours of the day he would be receiving intravenous Immunoglobulin to get his inflammation down. On top of this, intravenous seizure medication, fluids and Benadryl to help with side effects.
    This was daunting for Adrian, but not unfamiliar. For the twelve hour medications, required a Hickman line, which is a semi-permanent IV access point. He had gotten this placed an hour ago.
   Ben had gone home to freshen up, which left Adrian, connected to every kind of tube, alone in a moonlit sterile room, completely isolated from the media world he was apart of, trying to find the energy to lift his arm to his mouth so he could eat some mediocre soup.

!!!

okay okay i think it's probably worth mentioning that the epileptic/health issue aspects of this story haven't been added for 'dramatic effect'. you don't see a lot of chronic medical issues portrayed in fiction media, only like big events like car crashes etc that last for a bit. shit like what 'adrian' goes through happens to so many people, and whilst there will be perhaps some more dramatic things about his story, i definitely am trying to focus on the daily stuff that comes with continuous med issues xx