What Should Have Been From The Beginning

Passing with Flying Colours

I finally arrived at the hotel and the nausea was still in my feelings. Throughout the last stretch of the journey, there had been times where I felt like I was going to cover my car in vomit but thankfully, I rather kept it in or had to stop to throw up in a bag. By this point, knowing it wasn't nerves, I was going to ring Derek to tell him not to come to the hotel in case he caught it and he had no chance of staying off work. People needed him and after all the time we just had off, he needed to be back in the hospital. I checked in at the front desk, gagging as I kept vomit from coming up. Successfully, without throwing up or even having a feeling of sickness in my stomach, the room surrounded me. It wasn't anything special, not like the one in Italy, but it was enough and comfortable to spend the night. The time was around 1pm and I had to be downstairs in the waiting room for 3:50pm, thankfully I had a few hours to kill time and get all the sickness out of my system in a bout to hopefully pass this test. I ran back and fourth from the bathroom and the bed, where flashcards were spread out across the sheets. I messaged Derek telling him not to come to the hotel and that I would be okay to stay alone for the night. Not knowing if he read the message or not, 3:30 came around unfortunately but thankfully, the bathroom hadn't been occupied for about 30 minutes. There wasn't any feelings of vomit in my stomach anymore, and the only motion that drowned my body was anxiousness. 

The room was empty with only myself and an invigilator filling the space. This only made my nerves increase but after an intimate moment with my thoughts, I talked myself down and realised the only way to pass this, was to stop worrying and just get it over and done with. I picked up a pencil, looked at the clock, wrote my name on the front of the paper, looked back at the clock and heard the words 'your time starts now' come form the mouth of the other being. I opened the paper and didn't know whether or not to take it as a good or bad sign that the first question was an easy one. 

 A 50 year old presents with a history of intermittent burning sensation in the lower extremities. The patient is a strict vegan and exercises regularly. Which of the following is the most appropriate next step in the evaluation?

3 hours and 44 questions in, I had a single question remaining and just a little over 4 minutes to answer, I had extricated my mind and I suddenly felt this urge to run to the toilet and throw up. Only now had the feeling built up again and I thought God had thought 'Oh let's let Meredith get through this and the we will overflow her body with the nausea she should have had'. To be quite frank, I didn't mind but I just needed to get through this last 3 minutes and then I would release it all. I kept my mouth over my hand whilst finishing and then as soon as I could I legged it to the bathroom. Overall, I thought the test went very well and I was confident that all of the knowledge that went in my head came out onto the paper.

I had to obviously leave my phone in the room so once I returned back to the bed and finally changed out of somewhat formal wear to loungewear, I picked up my phone and read any messages. 

'Missed Call from Derek'

He knew what time the exam started and wouldn't call me if he knew I was in it so I must have only just missed his call as I headed out of the door. I hoped that he had taken my advice to stay home because he would most likely be nearly here if he hadn't. Knowing he had completed his shift, I called him back.

A raspy, tired, soothing, music to my ears, voice picked up and I automatically felt waves of loneliness and lust come over my body. 'Hi, Meredith.' His voice sent me into a spiral of a different world and whenever we spoke it never felt forced or awkward. Every topic flowed constantly and we could have conversations that lasted hours. 

'Hey. You aren't already on your way, are you?' I asked through the phone.

'Yeah, I am. I'm about an hour out. You said you're ill so I obviously couldn't leave you alone.'

'I have the stomach flu. You're not going to be able to stop yourself from kissing me, especially when we have a room with no interruptions.' I truthfully told him, knowing for a fact that everything I said was exactly what he was thinking.

'First off, you're right. I can't be in the same room as you and not want to have my tongue down your throat, especially when we have a room to ourselves but secondly, how have you got the stomach flu? You haven't been near anyone with it and the only people you've seen since yesterday are the invigilator and the receptionist, I'm guessing.'

I joked back at him at first, making fun of the way he said first off. 'First off, are you pulled over or am I on loud speaker?'

He replied back in a confused tone. 'Loud Speaker.'

'Ok well please keep your mind focused on the road and not on my body, won't you.'

'I'll try but I'm not making a promise I can't keep.' He cheekily and lustfully, laughed back.

'And what do you mean I've not been around anyone? I was on peds 2 days ago and there were a few cases on that floor. I've probably picked it up from there.'

'Meredith has it been constant?'

'No. Well yes and no. It stopped for a bit when I was in the car and then I didn't throw up once in the exam. I also haven't been sick for about a half hour.' The speed of my sentence started to slow down towards the end as I placed every piece of a puzzle together in my head. 

'Ok, I'm about 40 minutes away. I'm coming so wait up for me and we can have some fun.' He giggled down the phone but my expressions were not the same. Nor were my feelings clearly.