RP: Down by a Knockout

[shh_kenneth]

Date: February 18, 2005
Character(s): Kenneth Towler, Cedric Diggory, Andromeda Tonks
Location: Kenneth Towler's Clinic
Status: Private
Summary: Kenneth Towler treats Cedric Diggory's concussion.
Completion: Complete

Kenneth apparated with Cedric into one of the clinic's small patient rooms, knowing it was best if he didn't move his patient around too

Comments

[shh_cedric]

As soon as they'd arrived, Cedric knew he was going to be violently sick. He barely had time to get out, "Bloody buggering hell," before everything half digested in his stomach from dinner the night before came back up all over him and the floor. At least Towler had taken a step away and so missed the mess.

It also hurt viciously as his body convulsed to rid his stomach of what was in it, as if someone had thrust a red-hot poker through his eyesocket. He roared with the pain, then nearly choked on his own spew and coughing was, if possible, even worse. When it was over he was lying on his side and whispered, "Oh, God -- just kill me now please."

[shh_kenneth]

This is what you get for apparating with a concussion patient Kenneth thought to himself as he watched Cedric Diggory vomit with a tinge of both sympathy and misery. And not a little bit of relief that he'd managed to avoid getting dirty in the process. He loathed dirt of any sort

[shh_cedric]

At least Towler wasn't laughing at Cedric's expense. But if Towler had never, in Cedric's memory, been especially sympathetic, he also hadn't been intrinsically cruel -- or he wouldn't be a healer.

He just ... was. As the two of them had been in the same year, if not the same house, they'd shared a few classes, but Cedric really didn't know him beyond that. His memory of school was sometimes spotty in any case, although he did remember the Weasley twins hadn't much liked Towler, or at least they'd got a kick out of giving him a hard time. Cedric could also remember being friendly to Towler a few times but if Towler's reactions had never been deliberately rude, Cedric also hadn't interested him. Cedric had never really quite puzzled out the other boy. Man, now.

He took the water and raised up on his elbow enough to sip it slowly, as instructed. He also used it to rinse around his mouth and get rid of the awful taste. Then he handed back the glass. "Thank you. And what do you need me to do?"

[shh_kenneth]

Now that Cedric was convinced he was ill, he'd turned into quite the polite patient. Kenneth was too much of a pragmatist to think the situation would hold, but he'd make do until it ended.

"You're welcome," he replied as he took back the glass. "That'll do as a starter. We don't need you dehydrating."

Raising his wand, Kenneth cast a very complete diagnostic spell and was happy to note that his patient's concussion, while serious, wasn't diastrous. His patient, he noted did have some old brain damage, no doubt related to his injuries from the past. An intrigued Kenneth made a note to ask about that once he got past the items relevant to Diggory's current injury.

"What hurts, would probably be a good place to start," Kenneth said after a moment as he rechecked his patient's eyes. Diagnostic spells weren't always 100% effective and a patient's input was unfortunately often required to get everything correct. "Aside from the obvious headache, and the wrist. I'll fix the latter as soon as I'm sure the treatment won't cause problems

[shh_cedric]

As tempting as it was to reply to the 'What hurts' with 'everything,' Cedric knew that wasn't likely to be very helpful. It also wasn't strictly true. (Not that Cedric had ever let the facts get in the way of a good metaphor.)

"My stomach feels nauseous -- which is rather self-evident. I think I pulled something when I vomited too." It had been a sudden jerk. "My shoulder hurts. The wrist -- you noted that. That whole hand really, but I suspect it's the wrist. Otherwise, I think it's bumps and bruises. My chest hurts, left side. And my left shin. The left side of my cheek -- is that cut? Maybe I fell that direction?"

[shh_kenneth]

Nothing in Diggory's littany of injuries came as a surprise to Kenneth

[shh_cedric]

"Uh, going to bed? Really. I don't even remember going down to the kitchen, or what time it might have been. I probably was changing the light bulb."

[shh_kenneth]

"Mmmmm."

Kenneth wasn't too surprised by the lack of memory--common enough in a concussion--but his patient's prior history (as little as he knew of it) made him wary. Kenneth hated surprises. Especially ones that could end up harming his patients. Once someone suffered a head injury, they became far more susceptible to negative side effects on the next go-round.

"Have you ever suffered any memory lapses before?" he asked casually as he continued to clean out Diggory's cuts.

[shh_cedric]

Cedric laughed softly, and regreted it, putting a hand to his head. "Memory lapses? Towler, I don't remember half my school years before the whole 'dying' thing. Well, that's an exaggeration. But yeah, I suffered a lot of memory loss. Bits of dead brain do that to you."

[shh_kenneth]

"I can well imagine dying might be a process one might not want to keep in one's memory," Kenneth observed wryly. "I've seen it happen enough."

He'd seen it happen more than enough, and it was never pretty. But that was not something he cared to discuss with his patient.

"However, I was speaking of memory lapses since then," he said as he carefully surveyed his medical handiwork. "You have quite a bit of scar tissue wandering about that brain of yours and concussions can be tricky affairs. I need to figure out what the concussion caused versus what was there to begin with."

[shh_cedric]

And that ... wasn't a direction Cedric wanted the conversation to go. "There is a lot of damage," he admitted. Not much point in even trying to deny that. "If there's too much going on, I have a hard time focusing on anything. Sort of like information overload." Then realizing Towler might not get the Muggle reference, he scratched the back of his head. "Er, never mind. But yeah, it sort of scrambles my head. I have to go off by myself if I can to sort myself out, let my head calm down."

[shh_kenneth]

Kenneth couldn't help but roll his eyes. He'd been a healer for long enough to know when he was getting the runaround

[shh_cedric]

"I've spent a lot of time in the Muggle world," Cedric said simply. "Especially recently, so I sometimes mix my metaphors."

He had to think about the other, how to explain it. "I wouldn't say when my memory scrambles I have memory loss. More that I can't concentrate on anything? If I push it ... well, it doesn't give me a panic attack, but something sort of like it. My heart rate goes way up and I have to make myself not hyperventilate. If I close my eyes and can block out some of it, I'm all right. But I know what's happening. I mean, I don't forget it. I just may not be able to process everything that's happening."

He was starting to feel a bit sleepy. Maybe even more than a bit. His eyelids were drooping.

[shh_kenneth]

"I see

[shh_cedric]

"Every two to three hours?" Cedric resisted groaning. And while he'd done his best with the neurological exam, he had a feeling that he might have given away more unintentionally than he'd intended.

But really, he was just too sleepy at the moment to worry much about anything. "Is this normal? I just suddenly ... can't keep my eyes open. Is something bad happening?"

[shh_kenneth]

"Quite normal and nothing to be afraid of," Kenneth told Diggory with complete assurance. "Your body's had quite the shock and no matter what any potions master tells you, there are few things better for injuries than sleep."

That seemed to satisfy his patient and Kenneth watched as Diggory finally yielded to his exhaustion. Once he was satisfied that Diggory was sleeping easily, Kenneth rose from his chair, extinguished the light in the room, and headed for his office.

Sitting at his desk, he immediately sent an owl to Andromeda Tonks, asking if she could be so kind as to come in on the weekend in light of the current emergency. Noting Diggory's rather unique medical history, Kenneth wanted to be prepared if something went wrong.