Participants:
| Scene Title | Weak Hearts, Strong Hearts |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Lucy needs help, but nothing that Brennan and Megan can't do. |
| Date | November 24, 2009 |
Financial District - Brennan Medical Practice
The trip from the Staten safehouse to the doctor's office was made with as much nonchalance as can be mustered. Megan Young accompanies Lucy and her father, Jerry, to Dr. Brennan's offices and they are promptly on time. The father is in his late forties, a little older than perhaps expected with a six-year-old daughter, and Lucy is a cute little brunette sprout with dark chocolate eyes. Megan remains with both of them while Brennan handles his examination of the young girl, who is still a bit flushed with fever and has labored breathing. Megan reports quietly, "She had a rough night. The fever spiked again and although most of the children who were in with her are being released at this point, it seems to be gripping her harder again." The father looks exhausted and more than a little worried, watching Brennan with wary eyes.
He was taking his time, more time than with even a regular patient. The odds of seeing this girl ever again were slim to none, what with her going out of town with her parents, settle some place else. questions abounded, when did she get sick, was it the same time as the other kids, directed at her father and some directed at Lucy. He kept her entertained though, letting her listen to her own heart after he spent a great deal of time listening to it himself.
In the end, it wasn't good. It was plain to see on his face and after settling Lucy down with a soda in the room, he took the adults out into the hall.
"It looks like she got scarlet fever like the rest, but from it, she developed likely, a rheumatic fever. A little harder to bounce back from. That alone is tough on a kid. But she shows signs of having developed Rheumatic Heart Disease" Brennan glances between Megan and Jeffery.
There's a shake of her head, and Megan grimaces. "Shit," she says succinctly.
The father, for his part, looks confused. "So… what does that mean? She will get better?"
Megan glances at Brennan and then says quietly, "She will get better, yes…. but it means she's going to need to be watched closely, and any illness she has is going to need to be immediately checked and monitored by a doctor when you get where you're going." She bites her lip and looks at Brennan. "Is she okay to travel? There's no air travel involved…"
"When Megan said. We can give her steroids right now, the good ones, to bring down inflammation and prevent any further damage. She's in for heart issues further down the line, but she's going to be okay. But like Megan said, she will need to be watched, and any little illness she will need to see a doctor." His one arm stretches and rests over his sling'd one as he lays it out broad shoulders hunched in a fraction so he doesn't come off as imposing. "She'll need to be on penicillin likely for the better part of a year to prevent it from developing into anything else that could damage her heart. You brought her in at a good time, to catch it before it gets too badly damaging to her heart"
Jerry looks more than a little worried. "We don't have the money for that, Meg."
The redhead puts a hand on his shoulder and says quietly, "It'll be okay. I promise." Her word seems to carry weight with him. "Why don't you go sit with Lucy while I find out the rest of what she'll need, okay? And then we'll get back."
The father nods and puts his hand out to shake Brennan's. "I can't thank you enough. She's been our blessing. Thank you for helping her."
Only when the father steps back into the room with his daughter does Megan allow herself to show the flash of … regret. She feels responsible for not bringing Lucy to a doctor sooner. "Thank you, Dr. Brennan," she tells the man quietly.
"My pleasure Jerry, she's a beautiful girl. I'll talk with Meg here and we'll get you sorted out best we can" Brennan's grip is firm, the kind that can only be shared between men with much in common when it comes to daughters. Meg doesn't know that it's something similar that led to his own daughter loosing her hearing.
When he leaves, there's a gesture for Megan to follow as they head to the medical supply closet again. "I'll give you what samples I can, I'll sign out a couple bottles of cortico's and syringes. You'll need to teach them to handle an injection for her. If they leave soon, I'd say, five days at least, if they can before they go. That should give you time to teach them to give her what she needs and for her heart to get a bit better. Right now, it's strained, straining. Don't suppose you have access to an oxygen tank for her?"
As she follows him down the hall, Megan goes through her mental inventory. "Yeah, I can get my hands on one. How long should she stay on the tank?" she asks as she follows him into the closet. And while they're standing there, Megan hesitates. "Brennan… did I make the wrong call with her? Should I have hospitalized her sooner?" She has extensive experience in the field, but still… is this her fault?
"Just till the steroids kick in, it'll help. Her hearts pushing harder to keep up with oxygen" But megan knows this. He's unlocking a fridge, picking up two small bottle, both fitting into his palm as he passes them over. Syringes soon follow. "It's not your fault Megan. Things like this happen. It's the way it is. Do you know how many parents don't bring them in for another week? She's not go thte aching joints quite yet so it's good. We caught it before it can develop into full blown."
Brennan looks over at her, alcohol wipes joining her little pile as he locks the fridge and heads to the other side of the room. "Marlena is deaf. Michelle and I never caught it, the high fever and sickness probably caused it. Wasn't something we could have realized was going to happen, but it did. Are we wrong in not having caught it and we're both doctors?"
She listens to his instructions and looks up at him with a grateful smile for the knowledge that it was caught early enough. Megan winces. "Christ… you and your wife have had a tough row to hoe, Brennan." She puts a hand on his good arm while he unlocks the case, touching others as innate to her as breathing, and then the redhead moves just as easily onto the inventory of what he's giving her. "It always sucks to know there's nothing you can do about certain things." She grimaces.
"Nope, we haven't Megan. It's not tough, it's just obstacles to overcome and can be overcome. We're fortunate to have the money and the skills and available help to overcome them" There's no feeling sorry in this camp though there is a nod of understanding. "Nature has it's way of making sure what it plans, comes to fruition. This is just another thing for Lucy and her family to overcome, but sounds like she'll have you to help her, even from afar. Come on, back to my office" Penicillin is added, one vial of injectable and then some pills. "I'll write you a prescription for a few months supply, if you want to take it to a pharmacy and get it filled." Back to his office they wheedle and wheel.
Megan nods immediately. "Yeah, I don't have any issues with filling it." Even if it comes out of her own pocket. She carries the things he's already given her back to the office and waits for him to write the scrip, and then she looks at him. "You let me know if there's anything I can do for you, okay?"
"Just make sure she's improving before you let them leave. I'd like to get her in for some x-rays, or a mri. But the odds of that I'm guessing are very slim. I don't know a cardiologist either, so we'll do the best that we can do" The pad of paper is plucked up, prescription scribbled out in doctors cursive that no one save pharmacists ever really know how to decode. A checkbook is taken out too, money from the account used for charitable donations written out and passed over with instructions to use it on Lucy and her medicine before he's shooing everyone out of his office with a present that was waiting in the other room for Lucy while the adults talked, a toy, something fun and wrapped by his kids for the young sick girl.