(WiB) Body Hammer

[Vassagon]

Continued from here

Sutter's General Hospital was just as it was since Miach had been there last. Between his work at the facility and his injury's treatments, the place should have been very familiar to the doctor. The staff moved about busily, always having many patients to treat and symptoms to diagnose. Physicians, surgeons, nurses, and medical students are mixed in, practically stepping over each other's feet to get to their next round of treatments. One could easily mistake it for the setting of a Medical Drama.

The lobby is full of those waiting to be seen, grumbling over paperwork and flipping through last month's magazines. The receptionist sits behind a counter, answering phones and scribbling down information into a notepad in front of her. Now and then she glances at the clock, anticipating her break.

[Miach]

Moving in familiar territory, Miach, better known as Dr Blyes here, walked confidently behind the counter as if he belonged exactly there, and saluted the receptionist as he started perusing through the list of recent admissions, looking for anyone with the symptoms attributed to Glo. He had barely started that he looked at her with his customary friendly smile, and asked, the more casually he knew how.

"Do you remember if there's any patient with the worst withdrawal symptoms possible or anything close in any of the wings, please ? I've got a very very bad case in the ER, and I'd like to compare notes with another patient, if possible. Or does the Laboratory know anything about that recent kid's drug, you know ?"

If she's too busy to answer him, he'll merely keep on sifting through the patient's records to find any likely check.

[Vassagon]

The receptionist smiles politely to Miach slash Dr. Blyes as he greets her. She does look busy but she sets her work down as soon as he approaches to speak with her.

"Oh yes, there have been an increased amount of withdrawal cases lately. If it's got a street name I'm not aware of it yet, but it's certainly not showing up the same as any known narcotic. Dr. Farris has been handling most of those cases if you'd like to take a look at their charts. Because we can't identify the substance itself we can't hold the patients for possession or abuse. But it's clearly having an impact on their mesolimbic pathways."

While the receptionist is saying this she is also digging in a small file cabinet below her counter. She reveals a booklet and a pen. She scribbles down a note quickly off a notepad and hands the paper to Dr. Blyes. "If you can't get a hold of Dr. Farris there's also the medical database for aggregated records if you want to check the similarities between the cases." This is all said and done quickly by a practiced hand.

[Miach]

Miach listened with attention as the professional and efficient receptionist gave him the information he was after. Looking at her nametag, he made a mental to try and give a good word for her. Would that everyone in this hospital could be so diligent !

"Thanks a lot, this is exactly what I was after." and he smiled at her while giving her a small nod of thanks and respect.

"With any luck, and a lot of work, we'll be able to find a way to sort out this mess. Hopefully, neither the mesocortical pathway, nor the nigrostriatal or the tuberoinfundibular one are involved either... But I ramble, I ramble... I'm off to see Dr Farris, then." the Acanthus said with a last smile, and he strode toward Dr Farris's office.

The note ?

I assume it's just a bullet list with two items: Dr Farris & Medical database for aggregated records, correct ?

Also, does Miach already know this Dr Farris, please ?

[Vassagon]

The receptionist smiles politely at the thanks and the brief reply. It's clear that she has a lot to keep track of and likely is efficient because she can't spare the time for idle banter.

Miach knows where Dr. Farris's office is without difficulty. They have a working relationship together, but it is a big hospital with a large staff and they haven't spoken to each other except for brief exchanges. From what Miach can recall, Dr. Farris has his own practice, a small rehabilitation clinic in the suburban part of town, but still comes in often to do his rounds and train medical students.

When Miach reaches Dr. Farris's office he sees the door open and a young Asian doctor collecting samples from the plastic dropbox fixed to the door. Miach recognizes him not as Dr. Farris but as Dr. Tran, another medical practitioner on staff. He turns at Miach's approach, "Hey, Blyes, how's it hanging?" ribs the man playfully. Since Miach had been out of medical care for some time now, the tragedy he had suffered had slowly transformed into a light-hearted joke. Of course anything that made people uncomfortable often resulted in a joke, as was human nature.

[Miach]

Miach had been greeted by that sentence so many times by now that he barely registered it, and gave his customary reply. "Still attached, doing well. Ask your girlfriend for more details." The pain had receded to only a dull ache when he overexerted himself, so he could now joke about it again. A little bit, at least.

"By the way, Tran, you're working with Farris ? I wanted his opinion on some things, but maybe you can help. You know, that new drug with the horrid withdrawal symptoms ?" And why was it called Glo on the street ? Was it linked to "Glow" and perceptions ? Would he dare trying some on the chance he found any ?

[Vassagon]

"Oh snap," replies Tran, "Ha, you got me. Glad you're doing alright. Oh, Farris? We're just sharing office space. You just missed him about a half hour ago. I'm just getting in myself. You could probably call him on his cell. But yeah, I've heard lots about that new drug. Supposed to be pretty elusive, right? Farris has talked about it now and then. Says it's got symptoms like cocaine but chemically it doesn't leave the same traces in the bloodstream. Kids keep coming up with new ways to have fun I guess."

Dr. Tran continues to speak to Miach as he turns and enters his office, waving a hand over his shoulder to indicate its okay to follow. The office itself is pretty clean and orderly with filing cabinets and two large desks on opposite sides of the room. The doctor looks over the samples and papers he had just picked up and divvies them up between his own desk and Dr. Farris's. After he's done he grabs one of Dr. Farris's business cards from a stack at the desk edge and hands it to Miach.

Tran slumps into his office chair, spinning it to face Miach in a relaxed posture. "I'm sure he's still on the road, probably heading to his practice. Or home, or golf, I dunno. So what's got you interested in this? You got a patient who's hooked on the stuff?"

[Miach]

OOC

I'm assuming that Miach has actually seen first-hand patients suffering from the Glo, or is it too much of a stretch, please ?

Grunting in agreement to the assessment about the new drug, Miach followed Tran inside his office. It was clean and efficient, as it should be. Laidback and carefree as he was, Miach was not lazying around when his patients were concerned. And in a manner, that was the case.

"Right now I don't, but they come with alarming regularity, and I would have liked to know some more about it. Especially what painkillers to give to be efficient, and where to send them after that, though as I am right now, I'd settle on anything about this shit."

His voice was getting heated as he finished, so loathsome seemed the stuff he was talking about.

[Vassagon]

Miach has not yet encountered a patient who he believes fits the description of the recent withdrawal symptoms that follow the rumors of Glo.

"That bad, huh?" comments Dr. Tran, his eyebrows knitting together. "I mean, Dr. Farris talks about it, but I figure that's just his work. Didn't think it was so wide-spread. I know a lot of his patients just end up getting sent over to his clinic. He thinks it might have left a psychological effect rather than a chemical one, so he's recommending counselling. But you'd really have to talk to him about it if you want to know more. I'm just an EKG technician. Ha, just. But seriously, give him a call or check in with Liz at the front desk about his schedule."

[Miach]

Turning the card he'd been given in his hand, Miach nodded. "Sounds good. Thanks for the tip. By the way, a good EKG is worth his weight in gold. Don't let anybody say "just"." He insisted, his tone encouraging.

"Mind if I sit here to call him ?" he then asked to his fellow doctor.