Get out

To Panic or Not to Panic

This time Ray didn't knock. Taking beta blockers was no joke, and needed to be monitored carefully. He could still see the textbook in his head from when he learned it back in med school. Suddenly stopping beta blockers could lead to extreme high blood pressure, heart attacks and death following either of those. Learning that Eddy wasn't consistently taking his medication was more scary than learning they had prescribed him unnecessary beta blockers.

"May I borrow your arm, please?" he asked, having come back with one of the cuffs they used to measure blood pressure. He needed to know how Eddy was doing, and he was lowkey blaming himself for not checking this before. He had just been so preoccupied with his other injuries!

Eddy offered Ray his arm, "You can have it. I want it back later though."

He chuckled softly, it was strained though since he was trying to deal with his own stress off not knowing. Not knowing was worse than knowing. Now he had to wrack his brain for all the possibilities.

Ray didn't really chuckle, which terrified Brett. He knew the rookie as a lighthearted guy, and watching him measure Eddy's blood pressure with a stone face was scary.

Eddy licked his lips since he got no response, he didn't fill the silence though. He just tried to bear it. On one hand though, if he was dying that wouldn't be all too bad. At least he thought so.

"Okay, okay..." Ray muttered quietly, swallowing hard. He was struggling to keep his composure, one of the many reasons he never became an actual doctor.

"What is it, Ray?" Brett demanded. "What are you figuring out? What do we need to do?"

"Am I dying?" Eddy's mind immediately jumped there. It would almost be amusing if him not taking his prescriptions was what killed him, not the life-threatening job.

"Not if I can help it," Ray said, looking through the pill bottles to find the beta blocker one. His brain was scrambling to figure out what to do about this. "Your blood pressure is... well, skyrocketing, if I'm honest. I've never seen blood pressure that high."

"Oh? I don't feel anything, only tired," Eddy couldn't tell if he had high blood pressure or not. He felt normal. At least he felt normal for him.

"No, you probably wouldn't... I need you to lay back for me," Ray said, gently pushing on him so he could lay down. "And you'll need to take one of these... Boss, please get him some water to swallow it with?"

Brett was on his feet before Ray had even finished his sentence. He was basically radiating with worry at this point.

Eddy laid back as he was told, "Would be almost funny if this was what ended up killing me."

He voiced what he had been thinking finally, Eddy wasn't too concerned about his fate. Either he was going to live or he wasn't.

"You're not gonna die," Ray said as Brett came back with the water. Ray got a pill out of the bottle. "You do need to tell me if you get any chest pain, though, or blurred vision or anything out of the ordinary. Now, take this please."

He held out the pill for him as Brett crawled onto the bed with the glass of water.

Eddy took what was given to him, placing the pill under his tongue. He didn't feel any of those things really. Maybe that morning but he was certain that was just his pure panic. Eddy thought that it could be helpful to mention though. After he swallowed he would. He then took the water from Brett.

Brett let him take the water, practically feeling his own blood pressure go up from the worry and the stress.
"Do we need to take him to hospital or anything like that?" he asked Ray, running a hand nervously through his hair.

"I don't know. I don't think so, not as of now," Ray answered, watching Eddy swallow the pill. "We will need to monitor him, though. No stress, only resting. Keep checking the blood pressure... watch out for symptoms..."

Eddy listened to them thoughtfully, he cleared his throat after swallowing, "I guess I had some chest pains this morning. But I thought it was just anxiety. I woke up panicking though so it might not be relevant."

"Did it go away, or did it last a while?" Ray asked, feeling almost dizzy himself. This felt like it was way out of his ability, but he knew both Eddy and Brett wouldn't love having to go to the hospital. Probably Eddy least of all.

"It lingered a bit until Brett came in and I calmed down. I mean there was a faint ache but it did go away," Eddy explained himself softly, he didn't really want to worry them though. It would be unfortunate to cause more stress than he already caused them.

"Okay, if it comes back you need to tell me or Brett," Ray said, looking all serious. "Or if you feel out of breath."

"Should I... I mean, will he be able to go out later?" Brett asked Ray, wanting to let Alex know what was going on so he wouldn't worry and upset Victor or anything. Victor had already seemed hesitant about having Alex there, so he didn't need a grumpy Alex to deal with as well.

Eddy figured they wouldn't so while the other two men talked, he crawled back under his blanket fort. He needed to rest and feel safe right now, "I'll let you know."

He murmured his reply to Ray first.

"No, no, absolutely no going out... and if you'd be okay with it, Eddy, I'd like someone with you here. Just in case," Ray said, watching him disappear under his blankets. He was really worried.

"I can stay, if you'd be okay with it, Eddy," Brett offered softly. "Or I can ask someone else, if you'd be more comfortable with someone else..."

Eddy looked at them both then nodded, "That's okay," first he addressed Ray, then he looked at Brett, "You can stay with me, Brett. I'm comfortable with you. I like your company."

He wasn't going to make a big deal about it, Brett could choose though.

"Would you like me to call Alex and let him know?" Brett asked him softly, feeling stupidly happy to hear that Eddy was comfortable with him.

"Yes please," Eddy would let Brett into his blanket fortress if the man wanted to. Eddy would always leave it to Brett's choice.

"I'll need to go grab some other things... but I won't be far, and... honestly, if the pain comes back or you have any symptoms just go to the hospital. Don't bother waiting for me," Ray said, standing up. "Anything change, just... yeah..."