Sickness And In Love

Care-Taker

JUGHEAD POV

The next morning was normal again. Get up, take off my heavy oxygen mask, do a breathing treatment, take my pills, get dressed, and put on my oxygen tube. I had to go down to the lobby though and meet my caretaker. I'm 18-years old, I don't need a babysitter but I have to in order to keep everything going.

I went in the elevator but Jolene stopped me. She had a doctor mask and latex gloves for me. It was good so I didn't spread disease. She then went in the elevator with me to the lobby.

"Jughead, there are going to be at least 40 patients down there. Please, be careful and do not under any circumstance, take off your gloves or mask."

"I know. I've been this way since the beginning of my life."

"Where's your beanie?"

"Left it in my room. I'm going back up anyways. How does this caretaker thing work?"

"You're gonna get someone who is the same gender as you so it'll be more comfortable. They'll check on you and give you medicine and  help you do your treatments. But it's mostly to spend time with you." Jolene nodded.

"When my next lung scan?" I asked.

"I believe next Saturday." Jolene said. We got to the bottom and then I went to the lobby. I saw the Chief of the hospital and many people behind her. She gave one long and boring speech about how we should be kind and blah blah. Then people started picking people. It was a commotion and there was no way I could make it to my room. I just sat in a chair and watched everything and it was going fine...until I realized there were no more male caretakers. There was one more and she looked like a lost puppy. She had blonde hair in a ponytail, blue eyes, and flawless skin. She then approached me and smiled.

"Hi." She said. I nodded and smirked.

"Hi."

"You're the only patient left...maybe we can ask to be partners."

"Look doll face, I'm not getting any healthier. I'm just gonna keep living life until I can't no more."

"I got the horses in the back." She smiled. I looked confused and she turned pink  and looked away.

"I'm kidding! I know that song. If the nurses had told me that the female volunteers would be so cute, I would've met you quicker." I smirked. She rolled her eyes and then got the attention of Jolene.

"Excuse me. There are no more same gender volunteers and I think I want to be his volunteer." She nodded. Jolene looked at me and I mouthed the words, "She's so hot."

"Sure. Jughead, take her to your room." Jolene said. I nodded and we walked to the elevator.

"This Hospital is huge!"

"Yup. Floors 9, 8, and 7 are for all the super sick people live...I'm on floor 8. Floors 6, 5, and 4 are for women who are having kids. Floors 3 and 2 are people who have broken bones and are getting them checked out. The 1st floor are the 3 ER rooms, the 2 OR rooms, the cafeteria, the gym, the meditation room, the pool and hot tub, the basketball court, and the tennis court." I said. Then we got to the 8th floor and I walked around the corner and grabbed her gloves and a mask. We then walked to my room and went inside and she shut the door behind me.

"Wait, why do I need gloves and a mask?" She asked.

"You don't. But if you touch something then go around the hospital it could be bad news for the patients. You can stuff off in here though and then put it on when you're d-" I began. Then I felt like I couldn't breathe. My chest got tight and I pointed to my inhaler. Betty nodded and grabbed it for me. I took 5 big puffs on it and then coughed a lot when I was done. She sat down on my bed with me.

"My name is Betty Cooper. What about you?"

"My name is Jughead Jones."

"What do you have, Jughead?"

"It's called Emphysema." I sighed and coughed more into a tissue.

"Isn't that what smokers get?" Betty asked in a confused tone of voice.

"Yeah, but there is a rare time when you can be born with it and that happened to me."

"What are the symptoms of Emphysema?"

"Anxiety and depression, loss of appetite, lots of coughing especially with mucus, fatigue, finger tips usually turn blue but hasn't happened to me yet, headaches in the morning because of difficulty breathing, loss of energy, and there's usually lung infections. That pretty much sums it all up."

"That's awful! What do you do for treatment and is there a cure?!" Betty shrieked.

"No cure...kind of. The only cure is a Lung transplant and I've been on the wait-list since I was 13-years old. I'm doing oxygen therapy. It pretty much just brings oxygen to my lungs. I do about 3 of those a day and then my inhaler just helps for sudden breathlessness. My pills are just supposed to help calm my anxiety, clear passage ways for breath, and increase lung function and activity."

"What if you did get a lung transplant? Would it come back after a certain amount of time like it does with Cystic Fibrosis?"

"You ask a lot of questions, Betty." I snickered.

"I'm just trying to learn." Betty shrugged.

"Alright. No, it doesn't come back after a certain amount of time. I get my new lungs...and I'll be free. What about you, Betty? What are your plans and school?"

"I'm 18-years old. I skipped a grade because apparently I'm too smart. Next year, I'll be at Yale...I'm gonna become a doctor."

"I'm 18-years old too...let's make out already." I said. Betty looked at me in complete shock and I started to laugh. I burst into a huge cough and she got a tissue and put it in front of me. A lot of mucus fell out and she threw it away.

"I'm gonna keep this nice and professional, Jughead. You keep doing your treatments and I'll be watching you like a hawk!"

"Aw! Anything to spend a lot of time with me, right?" I smiled. Betty rolled her eyes and the got the oxygen machine or as some of you know "a breathing treatment". She out the oxygen mask thing on and I took deep breaths in and out.

"Jughead, you need to do that for 10-minutes and then take 3 pills after that. Also, do one of these before bed." Betty demand. She sat on my bed and pulled out a magazine from her bag...this was going to be quite the experience.