Missed Dose

[aggedy_ann]

Ethan forgot his allergy meds, but still has to go about his day; here’s his morning.

 

“Hachoo!”  Ethan covered the sneeze with a tissue from the box on his desk and resisted the urge to rub his eyes.

“Bless you.”  Toby said, softly, from the next workstation.

“Thanks.”  Ethan swiped at his nose and began making his way through his emails and patient messages.

He’d started to make a dent in his messages when he was forced to press the tissue to his nose again.  “HatShoo!”

“Bless you.”

Ethan nodded, blowing his nose and depositing the tissue in the wastebasket under his desk.  He plucked another tissue from the box and kept it in his hand, at the ready, a move that didn’t go unnoticed by his colleague.

He progressed his way through the messages, hoping to get through them before he and Toby had to start teaching diabetes education.   And before Toby killed him.   Although, he mused, that might be a blessing today.    

“AtChoo!”

“Bless you.  You sick?”  Toby frowned.

Ethan shook his head, sniffling.  

“Stop and play with a dog on your way to work?”

Ethan laughed.  “That’s never gonna happen.”

“Forget your allergy pills, then?”

Ethan looked down at his keyboard.  “Yeah,” he admitted, sheepishly.

Toby stared at him in disbelief.  “You?  You forgot your pills?”

Ethan sighed.  “I had the worst migraine last night.   Tim woke me for my insulin, but we both forgot about the allergy meds.”

“Picked a hell of a day to do it.  Pollen’s through the roof.”  Toby commented.

Ethan picked up on the congestion in Toby’s voice and sighed.   For Toby’s allergies to actually be audible in his voice, they had to be bad.   Which meant Ethan was in for a long, rough day.

“Hey guys!”  Toby called out to the room.  “Mr. Perfect forgot his allergy pill.   Prepare yourselves for a long day of listening to him sneeze.”

His announcement was met with sighs.    

“Sorry.”  Ethan blushed.

“I’ve got some Benadryl…” Neelah offered.

Ethan hesitated, remembering the last time he’d tried to mix Benadryl with work.   He’d been so sleepy he couldn’t keep his eyes open, and Dustin had had to come pick him up.

“Thanks, Neel.  But no.  I’ll be nonfunctional in 30 if I take it.”   He looked at Toby, hopefully.  “You don’t have a Claritin stashed somewhere in your desk?”

Toby shook his head.  “Sorry, man.” Concern flashed across his face.  “You gonna be ok today?  I mean, we’ve got class til noon.   Then you’ve got patients.”

“I’ll manage.  I’m inside now; it’s shoul-  AhShoo! Should slow down.   Besides, not the first time I’ve had to do this.  Might be the first time I forgot Zyrtec though.”

“We know.”  Paul called from across the room.  “We’ve had to listen to you every time your allergies flare.  At least the two of you sit in the corner.”

Ethan wiped his watery eyes, looking apologetic.  

Toby nodded, eyes glazing over.  He pulled his scrub top up over his face, sucking in a deep breath.  “HehhhEptschoo! EmmpSchoo, EhhhtSchehh!  Looks like I won’t be the only one sneezing through class today.”  He grabbed a tissue from his box and blew his nose.

“Fucking allergies.”  Ethan grumbled, turning back to his desk, hoping he could get through his messages before class time.

“You got that right,” Toby sniffled.

They walked into the classroom with 4 students sitting there, waiting for them.    Ethan cleared his throat as he set the box of tissues on the table.   “Hi.  I’m Ethan, and this is Toby.”  He glanced down at the tissues.  “And just to warn you all now, we’re both really struggling with allergies today.  I apologize for our sneezing in advance.”

Toby finished handing out packets and nodded.   “Just bear with us on that part.  Ethan’s going to start you off on a brief overview of Type II diabetes.”

“One second,” Ethan paused.  “Hatshoo!”  He pressed his nose into his shoulder.   “Just wanted to get that out of the way first.  Although, unfortunately, that won’t be the end of it.”  He smiled, launching into his prepared lecture.   

He was only too grateful to switch out with Toby half an hour later after answering a few questions, so he could step out to blow his nose.    Toby was trying to explain carb counting when his first round of sneezes hit, forcing him to take a step back from the table.   “Hehtchehh, ehptchuhh, heptschoo, heyyechtschoo, ehhtscheshh.   Excuse me.” He apologized.   “I may not be sneezing as frequently as Ethan, but it’s never just once for me.  Excuse me for just one more minute.”  He stepped out of the room, and they heard two more sneezes and the door across the hall close.

“I can answer any questions you may have so far.”  Ethan offered, stepping in for Toby, who he hoped had just stepped out to blow his nose.   He’d listened to Toby’s portion enough and had enough of his own experience to answer any basic questions, but if there was anything in depth, he’d have to wait for Toby to come back.   

He was in the middle of answering a question about foods that were a mix of carbohydrates and proteins when Toby slipped back in, listening to his answer.  “And now I’ll turn this back over to Toby,” he grinned, finishing his answer.  “Hopefully, he can see if there’s anything I left out.”  He looked at Toby.  “Combination food, like pizza.”

“I think you covered it.”  Toby cleared his throat.   “Ethan’s been teaching this class for so long, I’m sure he can do the whole thing by now.”   He resumed where he’d left off, explaining that what he was giving was a general guideline, but that everything would be individualized when they met with their nutritionist, then turned the class back over to Ethan to cover hypo- and hyperglycemia management.

Ethan approached the white board and began talking the class through the signs and symptoms of a low blood sugar.  He was starting to switch gears to treatment when a sneeze snuck up on.  “Atshoo!”  He turned his head quickly to the side, managing to get his forearm up to block it.   “Excuse me.   As I was saying,” he sniffed, “you’ll want to treat with fast acting carbohydrates.  You should carry glucose tablets with you as you may not always have access so something to eat or drink.”  Clearing his throat, he filled them in on other options for treatment, and when they should recheck.   

“Now, switching gears to hyperglycemia, or high blood sugar, excuse me.  Hashoo!”  He smothered another sneeze in the crook of his arm.   “The best way to prevent hyperglycemia is good management of diabetes, but it can rise if there are changes in your diet, if you’re ill or under a lot of stress.”   He began covering the symptoms.   “For issues that are not transient, such as one day, you ate an extra piece of cake, or you have a cold, or a brief stressful situation such as an exam, it will resolve.   But for anything that lasts longer, you’ll need to contact your doctor to help adjust your medication to bring your blood sugar back down.”  

He paused.   “Now, switching gears to sick day management, I’m going to turn things back to Toby.”

He looked over at Toby who was fiddling with a tissue and who shook his head.   “On second thought,”

“HeptSchoo!”  Toby interrupted.

“Let’s take our 15 minute break now.  I’m sure we all could use it.”

“Ehckshoo!” Toby agreed as Ethan gave the 4 students directions to the restrooms and cafeteria.   

“Hehhtsheshh, ehtshoo.  Heyyyehhshoo-ehshoo!”

“Bless you.”  Ethan frowned.  “You ok?”

Toby blew his nose.  “Making it.  You?”

“I’ll get through it.   Not gonna lie; counting down till I get home and can grab an allergy pill.”

Toby laughed slightly.  “I still can’t believe you forgot.”

“Tim had to give me my insulin last night.”  Ethan admitted.

“Damn…that bad?”

“Yeah.”  Ethan bit his lip.   

“Hey, thanks for covering for me earlier.   Just couldn’t stop once I started.”

“No problem.  Like you said, I could probably teach this solo by now.”

Toby cleared his throat.   “I’m gonna go grab a drink.  You want anything?”

“Sure. Diet whatever.”

“I know, I know.”  Toby blew his nose again, sanitizing his hands after tossing the tissue in the trash.   

Leaning back in the chair, Ethan sighed.  It had already been a long day, and it wasn’t even close to 4.   “Hatshoo!”  He grabbed the hem of his shirt, ducking forward with the force of his sneeze to cover.

When the class returned, Toby launched into how to get enough carbohydrates to keep your blood sugar from dropping when you’re having a hard time eating.   Ethan took over at the end, stressing the importance of continuing medications as usual, and contacting your doctor if difficulties persist more than a day.   Pressing hard against his nose with the back of his hand for a second, he continued.   “You should…AtShoo!  Excuse me.  You should go to the emergency room for the following.”  He sniffled, launching into emergency management.    Sniffling again, he concluded, “I know we’ve thrown a lot at you in the last 2 and a half hours, so Toby’s going to start taking questions, and I’ll be back in just a second.”

He stepped across the hall into the restroom to blow his nose and caught sight of his puffy eyes in the mirror.   ‘At least he didn’t look a total disaster,” he thought, ‘considering the way he felt.”   He’d looked much worse, but fortunately that had lately been reserved for Tim.  Rinsing his face, he blew his nose again, washed his hands and headed back to the education room.

Toby was fielding food related questions when he entered, but the questions quickly turned to him.  After 45 minutes, the questions had ceased, and the students were looking at them expectantly again.

“Hands on portion time.”  Ethan cleared his throat, as Toby handed out glucometers to the students.    “These are yours.   The machine given to you is what your insurance covers and the supplies you get from now on will match the machine.  We’re going to cover the use of these, making sure you all know how to use them.   One of us will work with you individually to make sure you’re comfortable with the technique and the machine.”

He and Toby each paired up with a student, giving two students time to review course materials for a final Q&A at the end, then switching.

Fortunately for Ethan, his two students caught on quickly and were able to demonstrate with no problems within minutes following his example.

Toby, on the other hand, had a student who was having trouble with the machine and a nose that was starting to give him trouble again.   

“Hehhptschoo.”  He sneezed for the third time since starting his instruction, quietly thanking the student as she blessed him and apologized for struggling.    

“It’s alright.” He reassured her, rubbing his nose.    

“Want me to see if I can make it simpler?  I’m basically an expert.”  Ethan grinned, stepping next to Toby.

Toby shot him a grateful look, burying his face in his arm again.  “Huptschoo.  UhhtShuhh!”

Ethan took the spot next to the woman as Toby moved on to the final student and immediately knew what Toby’s problem had been: the perfume the woman was wearing was nice, barely noticeable (at least with his congestion) from a distance, but strong and very floral up close.    And after a few seconds, he saw her problem as well.   She wasn’t penetrating her skin far enough with the lancet, so by the time she had enough blood, the meter had timed out.

Using the demo meter, he showed her how to pierce the skin of her finger enough so she had enough blood, then slide it onto the strip.   He adjusted her lancet to make it easier on her, and a few minutes later, she had the process down.    

Burying a sneeze in his arm, he regrouped with Toby for the final Q&A.    After another half hour of questions, they were able to dismiss the class a half hour early and return to the office.

“Thanks for covering for me with that woman.”  Toby sighed.   “Her perfume.”  He groaned.   “And I didn’t want to say anything.”

Ethan laughed.  “No problem.   You had a rough morning.”

“You were pretty undeterred by yours.”

“Just sneezed like 20 times as I was trying to teach…or interrupted you.”

Toby shrugged as he sat down at his desk.  “I did my fair share of sneezing while you were talking.”

“AhChoo!  Now to work through messages before lunch…and patients.”
 

[MyOwnPrivateSFC]

Lol, but also oof: poor Ethan, for his migraine to be bad enough for him, of all people, to forget his allergy meds! 😮

(Also, I really liked getting to see more of him with his job!)