[FIN] Deep Breaths

[BlackFireKitsune]

"I will, don't worry," he assured him, even though both of them knew how poorly he took care of himself at times. Dith wanted him to take care of himself though and he knew Zevran absolutely would, and Taavi too probably... It was just so difficult to want to do so with his boyfriend in the state he was in.

And then Dith left, so Abel hooked his thumbs into his pockets and turned to head back to Zevran's room where he knocked lightly on the door first since in all likelihood someone was still in there. They had said noon and it wasn't quite noon yet, he was still early. Staying away from Zevran too long when he was like this was difficult though.  

[TawnyAngel]

After a couple of moments the door opened and Abel was greeted by a softly-smiling woman with salt and pepper hair, she looked perhaps somewhere in her forties. "Hello, are you here to visit? You can come in now if you like. I'm nurse Jenkins but call me Summer, okay?" As she spoke she stepped aside to let Abel inside and re-opened the blinds that had covered the large windows, presumably while she had been working.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"I am, yeah," he affirmed with a nod and a faint smile, then slipped inside when she said he could do so. "Thanks. My name's Abel, Zevran's boyfriend. It's nice to meet you, Summer. Ah, and before I forget this is Amigo," he gestured to the bug-type, "Zev's Butterfree." Isaac, meanwhile, had remained out by the desks as per usual. Summer seemed nice so far, that was good. It wasn't like Zev was awake to see or interact with any of the nurses or staff but Abel was always glad to find they were nice just the same.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Abel, Amigo," Summer echoed, perhaps to help herself remember their names. "You want I should get you a cushion? Sitting on those chairs for too long gives you paresthesia of the gluteus maximus." She paused a moment smiling before adding; "A numb butt."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Despite himself, how he felt and the gravity of the situation, he couldn't help the smile that formed unbidden or the brief, quiet chuckle that bubbled up from his throat. "It does, doesn't it? I'd appreciate a cushion, yeah; thank you." Oh yes, Summer seemed quite nice.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Can do," Summer nodded, and then she poked her head out of the door to relay the request to one of her younger colleagues. "So," she turned back to Abel with a smile and then nodded at Zevran. "You two been together long? How'd you meet, if you don't mind me asking?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ah, a few months now," the blond said after a very brief thoughtful pause, mostly to remember what day it was. Not that the specific day really mattered. "Early January. And we met early last year," he went on with a wistful smile, taking a moment to look back over his boyfriend that remained so uncharacteristically quiet and still. "It started pouring down rain all of a sudden, and we happened to pick the same awning to take cover under."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Ooh, caught in the rain together?" Summer chuckled as she checked her watch. Having noted the time she took the chart from the end of Zevran's bed and started to glance at the machines and make notes. "That makes a much more interesting story of how you met you other half than 'we met online', that's all I can say for me and my boyfriend. We've been discussing making something up, I might steal the rainstorm from you."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel's colorful eyes drifted away from his boyfriend and to the chart in Summer's hands, and he vaguely wondered what exactly she was writing down. Probably nothing he'd understand; medical stuff had never been his forte and he wasn't about to pretend otherwise. "Well if you wanna steal it go right ahead, I won't tell anyone," he said, a small smile still on his face for the moment. "It was an interesting day, to be sure... and a good memory."  

[TawnyAngel]

Summer seemed to notice Abel's gaze or perhaps she had been going to do it anyway but in either case after a chuckle and; "Thanks, I will!" she gestured to the chart with her pen. "We're making a note of all the reading every half hour, it's a lot easier to do it from in here than peeking through the window and updating the chart later, easy to make mistakes if you do that or forget and get muddled. Some people don't like to intrude, so that's why they do it, but I just barge right in. I'd rather be an unwelcome presence than make a mistake. Mmmh, there. No real change in anything from eleven thirty, which is fine."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ah, okay." Well that made sense. "Yeah, I'd rather everything be right, that seems more important. And they do say no news is good news," he added with a shrug... although he'd much rather have actual good news than 'everything is more or less the same' and have Zevran be more or less still completely unconscious. But he would wake up, he would be okay. He would.  

[TawnyAngel]

"That's true, they do," Summer agreed affably as she hung the chart back on the end of the bed. "I don't know how much Dr. Solus brought you up to speed just now, I'm guessing not too much as he was off to do rounds. He'll be checking later if he's happy with how Zevran's lung is doing, if it's looking good we'll start to reduce his reliance on the ventilator. Once we can take him off that and replace it with either a mask or a nasal cannula - " she gestured at her nose, "that's just little tubes that go into the nostrils - then we can bring him around. It takes a while for people to wake up and he'll probably be a bit confused, so we'll make sure we do that during visiting hours so somebody can be with him."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

It came as no surprise that Summer seemed to know Dr. Solus's rather interesting tendencies, and while Abel was grateful for his information, he appreciated Summer's additions quite a bit. "No, he didn't say quite as much but that's good to know," he said, nodding a bit as his gaze drifted back to his boyfriend. Better, he was slowly getting better, and soon he'd be awake again. He would, he would, he would. He would. "If his lung is looking good, how long d'you think it'd take to wean him off the ventilator and get him on," he gestured to his own nose like she did, "one of the other things, and to wake up after that?" Probably quite a bit, but Dith said maybe a day or two, which wasn't really too long. He hoped it wasn't much longer than that.

Confused, though... The thought dredged up memories of when Zevran had been drugged to all hell and kept trying to speak Spanish, hadn't recognized any of them at all... Would it be something like that? He hoped not, but if it was then at least it wouldn't be too unfamiliar a thing. At least he'd be awake, that's what mattered most.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Considering the amount of trauma to his chest we'll want to take it more slowly than we would for a different kind of injury, make sure he's coping okay," Summer said, casting a thoughtful look at Zevran and smoothing a hand back over her short tight curls. "So I'd say about eighteen hours to come off the ventilator, then we can stop the drugs. We're using quite short acting sedatives as we weren't expecting him to be under for too long, so as soon as we stop the drip he'll start to come around slowly pretty much right away. It'll be a few hours before he can properly respond to anything coherently - and like I said he might be confused even then - but he might respond to simple requests sooner than that, like to open his eyes or squeeze your hand."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Ah, taking it slow made sense, he couldn't argue with th--

"So sometime tomorrow?" He asked abruptly, before he'd even had time to finish processing her words, his words and expression brightening a bit and turning more hopeful. "If everything looks good, that is," he added after a moment. Maybe he shouldn't have spoken so quickly, but he couldn't help the sudden rush of excitement. Dith's guess was one thing but this was quite another, and from someone who knew quite well how things usually went, so if she said in eighteen hours then that was the best news he'd heard all morning.