Fandom Clinic, Friday

[deaddadsclub]

Cristina leaned back in her seat. "So this is it, Mrs. Rodriguez. This is my life now. At least in the other version of my life with you in it I was still a surgeon. I even won like half a dozen Harper-Averies."

Mrs. Rodriguez, sitting on the reception desk in front of her, let out a small bark.

"Yes, I know that was a dream. But if you're real then why can't half-a-dozen-Harper-Averies me be real, too?"

Mrs. Rodriguez barked again.

"Yeah. There is that."

The nurse walking by looked from Mrs. Rodriguez to Cristina and scowled.

"What? We treat squirrels. Just think of him as a really big one with no drinking problem."

[open!]

Comments

[died8yearsago]

This was something Rosa had been putting off and trying to convince herself that she didn't even need to do, but the ringing was coming back with a vengeance, so she sucked it up, considered heading to the mainland instead, and then ultimately letting her aversion to extra effort win over her pride.

So she walked into the clinic.

"You guys got anyone here good with ears?"

[deaddadsclub]

Cristina raised an eyebrow at the nurses. "Any of you all ENTs? No?" She shook her head and rolled her eyes, then turned back to Rosa. "Guess you get me, then. I didn't specialize or anything, but I've done some ear stuff, before."

[died8yearsago]

And that hadn't surprised Rosa at all. Not that she was happy about it, but she'd at least expected it. A staggering amount of the working class here on the island seemed utterly incompetent and/or annoying...but, really, that wasn't much different than back home, either.

"I think I busted my eardrum."

Time to see if Doctor Buzzkill could live up to her nickname...in a literal sense.

[deaddadsclub]

"That would suck."

Cristina had never been known for her bedside manner.

"Come on back to an exam room and I'll check it over for you. Mrs. Rodriguez, you can cover the front desk."

Mrs. Rodriguez barked, then circled around a couple times before curling up on said desk, eyes on the door.

"Good boy."

[died8yearsago]

Rosa followed Cristina, but not after giving 'Mrs. Rodriguez' a bit of a suspicious look.

"Is she usually like that?" she asked.

Because, around here...

[deaddadsclub]

Cristina shrugged. "I've only had him for, like, three days. He's proven to be very smart and trustworthy so far, though."

[died8yearsago]

So...not just a member of the clinic staff.

"You named your dog Mrs. Rodriguez?"

When in a glass house, Rosa threw all the stones.

[deaddadsclub]

"If you knew him, you would understand." Or if she could see inside Cristina's head to her weird alternate reality dreams.

Cristina led the way into an exam room and gestured to the patient chair. "So let's see to this ear. What makes you think it's ruptured?" She picked up the clinic tablet and gave it a few taps, then paused. "Also, what's your name? I'm guessing you're not going to be in the system as 'Princess Sparkle'."

[died8yearsago]

"Why not?" asked Rosa, sitting in the chair with the reluctance of someone who hated doing anything that might even suggest a weakness. And then she was faced with a dilemma, because when Buzzkill put it like that, it made her really not want to use her real name. She could have stuck with Emily. Emily had papers. Emily even had insurance. But Emily worked in New York; she wasn't going to work on this BFE craphole unless Rosa put in the effort or was a fifteen year old no one seemed to know already.

So she conceded. "Diaz," she said. "It's Rosa Diaz. And it started Monday, with some unexpected, high-pitched feedback right into my ear from some headphones. There's been a faint, on-and-off ringing there ever since."

[deaddadsclub]

"Diaz, then." Cristina grimaced sympathetically as she typed that information into the tablet. "That could definitely perforate the tympanic membrane, yeah. Is it in one ear, or both?"

[died8yearsago]

"Just the one," said Rosa, pointing. "Right ear."

[deaddadsclub]

"Any other symptoms?" Cristina asked, picking up an otoscope. "Dizziness, pain, nausea, any puss or anything?

[died8yearsago]

Rosa shook her head, just slightly. "Just the ringing. Which gets so sharp sometimes that it causes pain, but nothing else. I think if it was any of that other stuff, I'd've come in sooner."

No, she wouldn't. That was a lie.

[deaddadsclub]

"You kidding? You said this happened Monday, and it's only Friday. You're practically here early. I've seen people with visible tumors who've waited longer to get them checked."

Several of them, actually. People tended to blindly hope for tumors to go away on their own.

[died8yearsago]

Well, crap. If that just didn't make Rosa feel like she'd jumped the shark on the whole thing.

But then it started building again, that ringing, and she sucked in a breath as if that would help it quiet down. It almost seemed to make it worse.

"Yeah, well, they're pretty stupid, then, huh?"

[deaddadsclub]

“Yup,” Cristina agreed easily (never mind that she’d once ignored abdominal pain long enough that she ended up passing out in surgery and almost bleeding out internally). “I’m going to take a look in your ear now.” She held up the otoscope. “If there is a rupture, I should be able to see it.”