To Love an Incubus

Chapter 8; Hospital Visits and Dead Spider Plants

On my next day off I visited the hospital our mom had been staying in. A lot of the doctors there knew us, so it was easy to make an appointment with them. I made both Corrin and myself a check-up appointment. Corrin was glad I was getting checked out but wasn't too thrilled at the fact he had to get a check-up too. He glared out the car window the entire ride there.

They had called us in at the same time, I got a male doctor while Corrin got a female doctor. He scowled at me harder. I laughed. Once we got in the room, the doctor had asked me to sit down and tell him if I had any concerns while he took my blood pressure and listened to my heart and lungs. He was a middle-aged man, and he had a salt and pepper beard with thinning hair; I wanted to tell him I had concerns about how fast his hair was thinning, but I stopped myself.

"Yeah, I guess. Uh, my hair has been kind of greying?" I said more of a question than a statement, tugging on the white hairs, "And I've felt a difference in my, uh, sexual desires? I guess I don't know how to word it," I say, uncomfortably. I feel heat rise to my face. I don't tell him it's not always sexual, just a need to be next to someone.

"Okay, could you elaborate a little more? Has there been an increase or decrease in sexual activity or the need to have intercourse?" He asks, sitting down in a chair across from me. I shift and the sound of the paper crinkling on the bed beneath me can be heard throughout the room.

"Increase," I state. He nods and pencils in something on his clipboard that had been laid on the desk behind him.

"Okay, well what I will do for you today is run a rapid blood-test considering your family history and if anything is too off, then I will make you another appointment to run more extensive tests," he says standing from his chair and moving towards one of the cabinet drawers. He pulls out a tube and a needle along with a band, a piece of cotton and medical gauze.

"I am just going to take a bit of blood, rush it through our test systems and get back to you in a few minutes, or have a nurse come to inform you," I nod and hold my arm out. The doctor, Doctor Carnea, ties a band like elastic around my upper arm and he takes the needle and slowly pushes it into a vein. I was glad when he got it on the first try and didn't have to re-do it. He attached the tube to the needle, and I watched as dark red liquid filled the clear tube rather quickly. He nods to himself and takes the tube, setting it on the counter, and removed the needle making my skin pull up slightly with it. His hands quickly place the cotton ball in the crook of my arm and fastens it with a band of gauze. He seemed skilled and fast-paced at his job. It gave me a sense of reassurance.

Within seconds the door was closing behind him. I sat in silence for about fifteen minutes before there was a soft knock on the door. A nurse with frizzy black hair pushes open the door, peaking inside before fully opening the door and closing it behind her.

"Mr. Ferrow? I have your test results," she sat down in the chair in front of me that had been previously occupied by Doctor Carnea. She had kind eyes, and it made me wonder if she was new or if she was unaffected by the things she must see on a day-to-day basis. I nod for her to continue.

"Well, your Testosterone levels are a little high and Doctor Carnea mentioned that your blood pressure seemed a little low, but that's common for smokers.

"Overall, all of your levels seem to be just a tad off but your heart and lungs sound good. Genes may be a factor in the greying of your hair and quitting tobacco use may help, if not rid you of your symptoms. Maturing may also be a factor in an increase of sex drive. We ask that you take quitting into careful consideration and we also ask that you come back in a few weeks if you see no change," I nod and she hands me a few pamphlets on the dangers of smoking and the importance and steps you can take to becoming 'drug free'. I sigh and fold the papers, stuffing them in my back pocket.

When I reached the waiting room, Corrin was sitting in a plastic chair already waiting for me. I sign us out and I was told that our insurance would cover it but a fifty-dollar copay was needed. I hand over the money-albeit a little grudgingly-and walked into a different part of the hospital, Corrin follows, knowing I am going to see mom before we leave.

"So what did they say? It look a while," Corrin stated, I glanced at him.

"My levels were a bit off but nothing too bad or out of the ordinary. It's all good, you?" Corrin looks at me skeptically but says nothing about it.

"Picture perfect health," he says in a high voice, trying to mimic his doctor. I give him a little shove and then pull him back towards me, laying my arm around his shoulders and ruffling his hair. He tries to push me away but I squeeze him a little tighter and he gives up, letting me drag him to get a visitor's tag and into mom's room.

She was in the same room as last time, but she looked more tired than I remember her being. Instead of sitting up on her own like she normally does to see us, she pressed a remote and the top of her bed moves higher up, letting her sit straight. The TV wasn't on like it normally was and the small spider plant that she had hanging in her window looked brown and uncared for. There was a pink bedpan on her lap, her hair greasy and unwashed was pulled back in a loose ponytail. She probably just got back from radiation, she usually got sick after.

I let my arm fall from Corrin's shoulders. "You feeling okay ma?" I ask.

"Oh, I've felt better boys, but I'm doing okay," her voice seemed raspy and weak. I didn't bother to ask her about her weekly reports, we all knew the answer.