medicine {h.s.}

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

february.

I don't often get the house to myself. Since I opened it up to the stray surgeons of Seattle—presently, Harry and TJ—it's impossible for me to get a moment of solace. Admittedly, things could be worse around here. Even if there are more people lingering around the house, the style of my life hasn't necessarily changed all that much. The male residents of the house are well trained in the art of keeping their mouths sealed shut when I run around in some sort of tizzy in my underwear. Ruth and I have learned to do the same for them.

Even still, that does little for the fact that I never really have a minute in which the house is mine. There is always someone else here. When Harry and I were in New York, TJ's apartment complex had flooded following a particularly bad rainstorm. The anticipated snow never froze over, and resulted in a horrible downpour. Supposedly the building had already been undergoing minor construction and was left vulnerable. Since Harry and I were gone, I told TJ he was more than welcome to make himself at home. Though, I didn't account for how long it would take for an apartment building to be fixed. TJ's apartment has de-flooded, but it does little to solve the ongoing issue that all of his furniture is ruined. Now he's been moved to the couch and there is even less room to exist freely around here.

Subconsciously, I decided to add the attic to my list of home improvements. At least then, should anything happen again, I don't have to give up the entirety of my living room. Not that I'm complaining. TJ has lent his apartment—when functional—to any of us when we were too tired to make it all the way home then. Of course, there is a difference between one night and an uncertain amount of time, but I remain silent. I know if the roles were reversed, he would be one of the first to jump at the opportunity of helping me.

Regardless, my past week of suffering has been remedied.

Finally I've the house to myself. Monty spent the night at Oliver's again. He's been doing that a lot, recently. Today is his day off, and I know not to expect him around any time soon. Not when he's at Oliver's. Ruth, TJ, and Harry are all scheduled today. It is our first day back on the cardio rotation. Last month we sampled in our last new speciality. From this point in our intern year, we'll spend repeating on some of the previous specialties we honed in on. Though we won't hit every unit again, we do go through some of the major ones: cardio, peds, ortho, general, and OB/GYN. I was pleased about that, considering I rather enjoyed all of those; especially the double hit with OB/GYN. I know Ruth was a bit upset that we wouldn't hit neuro again, but I reminded her that if she plans on spending the rest of her career there, spending another month somewhere else won't matter in the grand scheme of things.

I've grown to love and hate having people so consistently around. For example, I love that I have my day off with Monty. If he were home, I know we would mess around and just have a relaxing day entirely; but since he started dating Oliver I know that he'll be out with Oliver all day. I love knowing that I have the house to myself. The only part I hate is the prolonged feeling of loneliness. Of course, I'm excited to have the house to myself, but I'm not too eager for the feeling of being alone.

Granted, today I'm not entirely free from the hospital. Tonight I'll be heading in around five to work the graveyard shift that no one really wants. For the past couple of weeks I've offered myself up for them. I'm not entirely sure why, but I like the quiet that fills the hospital at three am on the average night.

I step out of my room with my towel wrapped around my body. After I barged in on Harry's shower a couple of weeks ago, he's been evermore adamant about fixing the plumbing in my mother's bathroom. He's got the toilet and the sink working, but he is struggling with the bath and the shower. The both of us have picked up more hours recently, so he hasn't had the time to really sit and look into it. So I still shower in the bathroom shared between five people now. At this point, five people was no different than four. Annoying still, but no more difficult.