Doctor’s Visit
@badthingshappenbingo
My first story featuring Neal and Christian!
Christian wasn’t the biggest fan of going to the doctor, but he understood how important it was. He would do it. Begrudgingly, but he would do it. Neal, his beloved however, did everything he could to avoid going. Especially when he was sick.
Which was why Christian was sitting on the couch, dressed to leave, with his car keys in his hands, waiting for Neal’s truck to come home.
As soon as he heard Neal’s truck pull up, Christian was quickly up on his feet and rushed out the door.
Neal was getting out of his truck. Christian thought he looked real tired. Good thing they were going to the doctor and he was the one driving.
“Great, you’re here,” Christian said instead of a greeting. “Let’s get going.” He grabbed Neal’s arm and took him to his car.
“Going where?” Neal asked in a confused tone. “I just got home—”
A cough escaped from his lips.
Christian winced at the sound. He opened the passenger side door and had him sit down. He closed the door and went to the other side. He got in and buckled up, giving him a look to do the same.
“Where are we going?” Neal repeated his question. He sounded more hoarse this time
Christian didn’t answer him right away. He backed out of the driveway and started towards their destination before replying.
“We’re going to the doctor,” said Christian.
“Seriously?!” Neal exclaimed. “This is ridiculous! I told you I’m fine—” He started to roughly cough.
“Not with a cough that sounds like that,” Christian told him. “Besides, if Jayce sent you home, you know you’re sick.”
“You told him to send me home, didn’t you?” Neal asked.
“No, I didn’t have to,” Christian replied with a slight huff.
Neal huffed too.
“Christian, I know you’re worried about me,” said Neal, “but I’m alright. It’s just a cold—”
He started to cough again. Christian was worried but he stayed quiet. Once he stopped, Christian sighed.
“I think this is more than just a cold,” he told him. “Please…just let the doctor examine you. Real quick. Then, we’ll go home—”
Neal stared at him at first. Then he sighed.
“Ice cream for dinner and you got a deal,” he bargained.
Christian huffed a laugh, pretending to think about it. “Ok. You can have ice cream for dinner.”
They soon arrived at the doctor’s office. Christian parked the car and then, guided Neal inside and to a chair.
“Wait here,” Christian gently ordered. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get you checked in.”
Neal nodded. Christian could see him shaking before going to the desk. He felt bad for him but he knew it was necessary. He got him checked in and went over to sit next to him.
“Neal?”
“Hmm?”
“You know Dr. Banks will only do what he needs to do to help you get better.”
“I know that.” Neal sighed. “But, I still feel nervous.”
Christian nodded. He took Neal’s hand and gently squeezed it.
They only waited for about five minutes before Layla, the nurse, called Neal back.
“Hi hun,” Layla greeted with a warm smile as they approached her. “How are you today?”
Neal shrugged. “I can’t complain.”
Layla knew better but she nodded anyway. She took them into an exam room.
“Alright,” she said gesturing to the scale, “let’s get your weight.”
Neal took off his shoes and hoodie and stepped up onto the scale. Layla checked the number and wrote it down while Neal slipped his shoes back on. Then, he went to the chairs next to the exam table and sat down. Christian sat down next to him.
Layla went over and put the pulse oximeter on his finger before grabbing the blood pressure cuff and wrapping it around his arm. They all stayed quiet as Layla took his vitals. Once she got the readings, she took off the cuff and oximeter and wrote down the results. Then, Layla took out the thermometer.
“Under your tongue,” she gently ordered.
Neal opened his mouth and let her stick the thermometer under his tongue. He stayed quiet. When it beeped, Layla took it out of his mouth. She frowned.
“That’s quite the fever you’re running there hun,” she said as she wrote the number down.
“What is it?” Christian asked, taking Neal’s hand into his own.
“102.7,” Layla answered. She walked towards the door and opened it so she can put Neal’s chart into the holder on the door. “Dr. Banks will be here in a little bit. I hope you feel better soon hun.”
Neal thanked her as she left. He sighed.
“I didn’t know I had a fever that high…”
“You wouldn’t even gotten out of bed this morning if I’d known you had a fever that high,” said Christian.
Neal looked down at his feet.
“I’m sorry…”
Christian kissed his cheek.
“You don’t need apologize for being sick darling.”
“I still feel bad,” Neal mumbled.
“It’s ok.”
Neal laid his head against Christian’s. He closed his eyes to rest for a bit.
They didn’t have to wait very long for the doctor to arrive. They heard the knock at the door. Christian called out that it was ok to come in.
Dr. Banks opened the door with a smile.
“Hello there,” he greeted. “How’s my favorite patient this morning?”
Neal looked at him and gave him a hesitant smile.
“Can’t complain,” he croaked.
Dr. Banks’ eyes flashed briefly in concern but he turned his attention towards Neal’s chart.
“Says here that your vitals have been all of the place…and quite high.”
“Well…umm…uhh…” Neal stammered.
Dr. Banks puts the chart down and picks up a instrument to look into Neal’s ears.
“Alright, I’m going to have you hop up onto the exam table and we’ll get started, Ok?”
Neal nodded, shaking a little bit. Christian helped him onto the table.
The doctor approached him with the otoscope. Neal winced when it was put into his ear.
“Does your ear hurt?” Dr. Banks asked.
“No,” answered Neal. “My ears don’t hurt. My throat does though.”
The doctor made a ‘hmm’ sound. He examined his ears and then, examined his eyes.
“Eyes and ears look good,” commented Dr. Banks as he got the tongue depressor. “Now, open wide and say ‘ahh’ for me please.”
Neal never liked this part but he did what he was asked. He coughed roughly afterwards. He winced and rubbed his throat.
“Your throat does look a bit swollen,” said Dr. Banks as he threw away the tongue depressor. “Doesn’t look like strep though, so we won’t worry about that.”
Neal nodded.
Dr. Banks went over and felt the lymph nodes in his neck.
“Your lymph nodes are swollen too,” he said. “But with that fever, I’m not surprised.”
“They do kinda hurt…” Neal admitted.
“Yeah, I’m sorry, son,” Dr. Banks apologized.
Christian had been staying quiet and just listening to the doctor. He felt bad for Neal and wished he could do more to help him.
Dr. Banks picked up his stethoscope from around his neck and put the tips in his ears.
“Ok, let’s start with those lungs,” he said as he rubbed the diaphragm between his hands. “I don’t like the sound of that cough.”
Neal lifted up his shirt and Dr. Banks put the diaphragm of the stethoscope on his back.
“Just breathe slowly through your mouth ok?”
Neal nodded. Dr. Banks listened carefully to his lungs. Neal coughed a couple of times during the exam. While Neal didn’t see it, Christian saw Dr. Banks frown a little bit. He took off his stethoscope.
“Ok, I want you to breathe normally now,” said Dr. Banks, “I’m going to just have a little listen to your heart.”
Neal nodded and coughed a couple of times. The doctor placed the diaphragm of the stethoscope to his chest and listened carefully to his heart.
“I’m hearing a heart murmur but we know that you get them with your fevers,” said Dr. Banks as he took off the stethoscope. “Now, I’m going to have you lay down and lift up your shirt a bit.”
Neal lied down on the exam table and pulled his shirt up, exposing his stomach.
Dr. Banks started to gently feel Neal’s stomach. Once he was done, Dr. Banks had him sit up. Christian stood up too.
“So…” Christian started, “is it a nasty flu or something else?”
“It sounds like we’re in the beginning stages of a chest cold,” said Dr. Banks as he looked over at Neal. “I want you to stay at home and get some rest. I’ll also prescribe some medicine to help.”
Neal nodded.
“Ok, thank you Dr. Banks.”
“You’re welcome son,” Dr. Banks replied with a smile. He turned to Christian. “If he starts to get worse or he isn’t getting any better, call me ok?”
Christian nodded.
“Yes, sir.”
Christian helped Neal up and out of the doctor’s office and helped him into his car. Once Christian was also in the car, he turned to him with a small sigh.
“Let’s get you home and I’ll make you some soup.”
Neal nodded.
“Thank you…”
Christian kissed his cheek before starting the car and driving them home.
13 notes
·
View notes
i just got back from my first ever gynecological exam and somehow, despite the doctor being really nice and way more knowledgeable about trans bodies than i was expecting, it still ended up being incredibly upsetting and honestly probably mildly traumatizing. i’m sure it’s no secret to anyone following me that going to the gynecologist is a uniquely shitty experience for a lot of trans guys and i knew that but i really was not prepared for that.
first of all, everything you read says that the pelvic exam and pap smear shouldn’t hurt even if they’re super uncomfortable, but let me tell you, that shit fucking hurt. like, i have a pretty high pain tolerance and usually even when something does hurt i don’t show it very much, but that was maybe the most painful thing i’ve ever had a doctor do to me and it showed. to be fair, i’ve never had good luck with things like that — i couldn’t even use tampons back when i had a period because the one time i did, taking it out was really painful — and i’m on t now so i’m sure that makes things even harder and i was prepared for it to hurt, but i really wasn’t ready for just bad it was. it’s been an hour since the exam finished and there’s still some pain so, yeah, so much for “it’s just uncomfortable, not painful”.
(and a side note: when it did hurt, the doctor told me to relax my muscles because the tension makes it hurt more. what they didn’t seem to realize is that if your brain and body are collectively rejecting the presence of something inside you, making those muscles relax is a fucking herculean task and i for one was not in any way capable of it so it just…kept getting more painful.)
i also was never informed ahead of time of what a pelvic exam actually entails; i had assumed it was a more general external checkup, and that the pap smear was the only really invasive part. as it turns out, i was very wrong, and “pelvic exam” actually means the doctor sticks their finger up you to feel around. she asked me if i was comfortable getting the exam because it was so obvious that the pap smear didn’t go well, but i had no clue what i was saying yes to and it was a total surprise for me when there was something inside me again. and she knew it was my first time, so she had no reason to assume i knew that the exam would be like. by the time i realized i absolutely should not have said yes to it, i was too late and it was already happening. it really feels like common sense that if you’re going to be giving someone what basically amounts to a professional fingering, you should probably make it clear that that’s what’s about to happen, but i guess that doctor would disagree.
and of course, the whole time i was also being misgendered. the doctor used the right name for me, but the other staff didn’t and everything about it was so excessively gendered (i’m pretty sure the appointment i had was literally called a “women’s wellness visit” on the same sheet that had trans man and nonbinary as gender options). not to mention, when i told them i’m getting top surgery and have the exact date set, the nurse made a comment to like“well aren’t you one of the lucky ones,” which really felt like it had “i think trans guys have a super easy time getting surgeries that cis women have to fight for” energy.
and the irony of all this definitely isn’t lost on me — i just did a project this past semester about how trans guys are fucked over by reproductive healthcare practices so a lot of us just never go, and now i got some firsthand experience in exactly why so many of us just say “no fucking way”.
i just want to put this out there for anyone who hasn’t done it before because i think this would have been a lot less awful for me if someone had just told me “yeah, it might hurt way more than you think, and also that thing they call a pelvic exam is actually an internal exam.” i thought i was prepared and i totally wasn’t, so hopefully this will reach someone else who will be better off knowing all of this.
407 notes
·
View notes