Log [Alison, Madelyn] - Medlab visit...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Thursday late afternoon, sometime after the training session with Manuel. Alison goes down to the medlab for further testing and manages to ask a favor from Madelyn while she's at it.



It was at its worse today and Alison knew why only too well. She'd pushed too hard, tried to keep the white generators off just shy of raising the medical alarms. And she hadn't been able to stop herself from trying to at least get one note right from Faith, even if it meant constantly plucking at the one damn string over and over again because it hurt her fingers too much and the training session... had been the one drop too many. Carefully, Alison stepped into the medlab, hood drawn up although that didn't change much of anything to the light coming from her body. The sound dampener on her wrist was turned on though she discreetly turned it off before Madelyn could catch sight of her.

Madelyn missed the switching off of the dampener, but didn't miss the heightened light intensity. "Couldn't help yourself, could you?" she scolded gently, coming over to Alison. "How's the pain?"

Gyah, she could barely hear her with the hood up and the earplugs. But it was something at least, which was why she'd probably overdone it since yesterday. Being able to hear had just been... Alison gestured a bit helplessly, trying to offer Madelyn a sheepish smile. "It was good to hear." She didn't even think to speak out loud so used she was to not being able to be heard, and just shaped the words with no sound behind them before they entered the isolation room.

At least Madelyn was getting better at reading lips - had to be, these past few weeks. "Don't over do it," she warned. "You're giving off more light today than yesterday, and that's not good. We're trying to get your power levels down, remember?" Her expression was sympathetic though - she'd seen how hard it had been for Alison. 'Hard' didn't even begin to encompass it.

"Okay." She tried not to look to mournful as she acceded to the request, making a mental note to ask Forge about a secondary power source for the white noise generator on her wrist. Just in case. "Will keep the generator in my room open longer." Thankfully, the tension between her shoulders was so tight that there wasn't even the ghost of a slump at admitting to that sort of setback. "Sorry?"

It was like kicking a puppy - Madelyn preferred the patients who yelled back. At least she didn't feel quite so heartless. "Forgiven," she said, smiling a little. Heartless-feeling or not, at least she was able to have an actual conversation with Alison now. As opposed to the mental meanderings and agonies of the previous week. "How are you feeling?"

Oh. She had better get that done before they fell into the medical talk, Alison decided. Then there'd be no shaking Madelyn off the trail. "Guilty." She sighed, looking indeed a touch remorseful, speaking slowly so Madelyn could follow easily. "Kurt is handling dance all alone. I need to find someone take my place and help him. End of term soon." She looked up again, clearly at a loss for what to do.

Madelyn blinked. Not exactly the answer she'd been expecting... "None of the other teachers can help?" she asked, thinking of the various candidates.. No, no-one really appropriate there... no wonder Kurt was looking so tired lately.

She'd have twiddled her thumbs if she could, but as it was Alison had to settle for something between hope and not quite puppy dog eyes. "I saw you dancing at the HeliX benefit a while back... would you mind much taking up my place for a while? Just until I get better?" Ah yes, more hope now, and adding a bit of 'perfect solution would feel so much better' to the mix.

"Me?" The idea was so far out of left field, Madelyn didn't get suspicious of the Looks she was getting. "Well, I suppose, now Hank's back... I'd have to check there's not a clash with my classes or anything..." she temporised.

Alison smiled - not one of the usually pained smiles she offered people, but a true, filled only with relief and a touch of sheepishness kind of smile. "I'd feel so much better..." And that it was the truth only helped things along, of course.

Well, if she put it that way... "Sure. I can't guarantee I'm teaching standard, but I won't trip over and fall on my face at least."

"That's fine!" Alison smiled brightly once more. "Moral support and all that. Thank you. Owe you one." She owed Madelyn a lot more than one, but there didn't seem to be any way at all to encompass the scope of that in her thanks yous, so she simply let it go for now.

"So now Kurt's sanity and the balletic careers of the kids assured, let's get to the other part of the 'how are you feeling' question, hmm?" Madelyn tilted her head at Alison, giving her the Look that all her patients were well acquainted with. It was the one that said 'don't even try and bullshit me'.

"I..." She sighed, the smile fading entirely. "It hurts." Alison's hands opened and closed, a touch helplessly. "Nothing to do about it. More time in room or with hood on. Earplugs. Wait. All I can do is wait." She looked down at the last sentence, hiding it from Madelyn, only belatedly realizing she was doing so. "I'll be more careful. My bad."

Madelyn nodded. "I'd give you something for the pain, but..." She felt as helpless as Alison looked. "And right now I'm afraid I have to inflict more - time to change the suit, remember?"

Either the meds would not work well on her, or they'd keep her so out of things she'd be no better than a drooling idiot. Or both when you considered the results. Firmly not looking at the area where the isolation room was, Alison nodded - every day it was the same thing. And today wouldn't be better than yesterday. "Okay."

"I'll be as careful as I can, Ali," Madelyn said, still looking unhappy. She hated this part as much as
Alison did.

"Has to be done. Know you will be." Yesterday she'd patted Madelyn's arm lightly but today wasn't really the same there and she refrained, taking a slow and deep breath instead. "Do it. Then I rest a bit. Observation." It would probably be best if she stayed a bit longer today at that, even she had to admit to herself.

Madelyn nodded. "It'd be best, yes. Considering the extra glow." She nodded in the direction of one of the cubicles outside. "Now, since you don't want to be stripping where just anyone can see you...?"

With a feeling of resignation which she hid as best as possible, Alison nodded once carefully and then headed for the cubicle. The fabric of the robe there was similar to the synthsilk - light and silky, not as comfortable as the previous day, though that might be better tomorrow if things settled. At a snail's pace. A few long minutes passed and Alison finally stepped out, holding the robe loosely shut, the wrist mounted white noise generator firmly in place and at nearly full power, until they made it to the isolation room.

"I'll just check how those gashes are going and then we'll get you suited up again, okay?" Without the suit, the glow from Alison's skin was far more noticeable, and Madelyn frowned - she'd definitely been overdoing it. "How have you been doing with the fluids?" she asked, indicating Alison should drop the robe enough to let her see the healing wounds on her back. "Drinking enough?"

The robe was dropped and almost gratefully at that, Alison not caring who saw her if it meant getting the fabric off. The synthsilk suit she'd gotten used to but the robe moved all the time and was normally a very pleasant sensation was anything but just now. "Haroun has been watching me like a hawk on that," she said silently, once Madelyn was looking at her face.

The scars on her back where healing nicely, the smallest ones almost completely gone. Madelyn nodded, satisfied, and came back around to Alison's front to catch the bit about drinking. "Good. Because your digestive system's all funky, we're really going to have to watch for things like kidney stones," she said, carefully moving the robe aside so she could look at the cuts that had been made down her legs. Also healing well. "The ankle?"

Madelyn would not be happy with her answer. "I don't know. I can't separate it from everything else anymore. Same for my side or the cuts or... yeah." She could tell it was still weak from the fact that it gave out while she walked now and then, but if it was actually hurting - that was lost in the rest of the pain. "It's stiff still?"

She wasn't happy, but it made sense. "Too much pain - your receptors are overloaded," she said, making a mental note to make sure Alison got checked over for accidental bumps and scrapes - she wouldn't be able to feel if she hurt herself. The ribs were slower to heal than the cuts, but were still progressing nicely. "Now the not-so-fun part," she said, reluctantly. "I have to test your skin sensitivity again."

Alison hated that part. With a passion. She spent all her time walking down to the medlab for her daily tests pretending it wasn't going to happen and then all the time leading up to it telling herself maybe they'd be skipping it that day. It was the only way to not start crying at the thought. After a long pause she just nodded once, barely, not able to look at Madelyn directly.

"We'll start with the feather again," Madelyn said briskly. The sooner they did this, the sooner it would be over. "Back of the arm first - that wasn't so bad yesterday."

The jokes about that particular test (or any of the others) had stopped very quickly. Steeling herself, Alison simply raised her arm obediently a bit, her breathing automatically steadying as set about concentrating on deal with the extra input of pain.

Watching Alison's face, Madelyn ran the barest tip of the feather down along her arm, stopping as soon as the pain registered in the other woman's face. "How bad?" she asked. "On the ten to one scale."

Was that compared to how she was already feeling or a new level, Alison nearly asked, none too steadily. "Don't know. Worse than yesterday." Like a knife cutting through her skin, or the eerie memory of Sabertooth's claws slicing up her arm slowly. "Eight maybe?" Because she had to throw a number in there and it wasn't as bad as it had been to start with.

Worse wasn't good. And there was no point continuing the test, since the back of the arm was the least sensitive spot. Madelyn sighed, and lay down the feather. "Let's get you into a nice fresh suit, shall we? You look like you need it."

And that meant cleaning up too - something which Alison both dreaded and wanted badly. "Bath. Suit. Yes." She resisted the urge to rub the back of her arm, which wouldn't help in diminishing the pain the least, and waited for Madelyn's approval on the matter.

"Bath," Madelyn agreed. "Forge rigged up a white noise generator in one of the bathrooms, so this time you won't have to hang your arm out and not electrocute yourself." She nodded at the personal generator.

Alison carefully did not point out that at this rate, electrocution wouldn't be much an issue. She carefully gathered the robe up once more, glad they weren't pushing the test further and took a slow breath, reminding herself she'd feel better after all this. Maybe. "Madelyn?"

"Yes? You need something, hon?"

Asking when the pain would start to fade would be unfair, Alison knew, even if that was what she'd meant to ask. It wasn't as though they wouldn't tell her if they knew. "Ok if I try this alone this time?"

"Of course. The call button's there if you need anything." Madelyn caught the hesitation, knew what it was Alison had wanted to say. "It'll stop hurting, hon. I don't know when, but it will stop." Her hand hovered just millimeters above Alison's, the only gesture of comfort she could make. "I'm sorry it's so hard."

"Am alive. Miles is safe. That's good." Alison tried to smile, and then turned her hand, determinedly lifting it up to brush against Madelyn's in a quick, feather light touch. And hid the wince as best she could. "Thank you. For everything."