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 |  Fictitious and delicious! |
| Dana set aside her empty meal tray and sipped her water cup. Checking the clock on the wall, she noticed it was almost 1:30. Depending on the crowds at the cafes, Gus and Fiona might be over in an hour. It was nice that they continued to visit even though they were supposed to be on a mini-vacation. They had come to Paris to visit a friend rather than check out all the Olympic action, but they seemed to be doing neither. Instead, they spent a fair amount of time either visiting Dana in the hospital or making calls back to the States to provide Quinn with updates. One of the sport officials from Norway had been kind enough to stop by to bring Dana her electronics, but by the time it was a reasonable time to call home she was too tired. Leaning back, Dana contemplated the situation. It had been three days since she woke up from losing consciousness and going into the early stages of shock. Because of the extreme stress she had experienced prior to her adrenal crisis, the medical team at the hospital decided to keep her hospitalized for a few days even after she woke up. She still needed fluids and injected hydrocortisone, and being in the hospital meant that the number of people she dealt with could be better controlled. While that should have also been the case in the Olympic Village, one of the biggest open secrets was how apathetic the security guards got as the games went on. How else could the orgies in the Village become so legendary? She was staring at the wall when she heard a knock on the doorframe. "Who is it?" she asked. "Just us," she heard Fiona answer. "Come on in." At that, Fiona and Gus stepped through the door and headed for Dana's bedside. Gus took the chair to Dana's right, while Fiona leaned on the wall near the window. "You guys are early," Dana told them. "Well, we figured we'd get an early lunch to avoid the crowds and then stop over to see how your walking tests went," Gus replied. "Ah, yes. It was a bit sluggish at first, as I haven't done much of anything for the last few days. I was able to walk up and down the hall, but I had a bit of a headache at first." "Oh, that's a bummer." "I got some extra IV fluids before lunch, and so far I'm actually feeling pretty good." "What did you have for lunch?" Fiona asked. "A cabbage salad, mashed potatoes, and some finely minced lamb. I figured I'd never really had lamb and that if I didn't like it I wasn't really out much. It was actually not bad." "Yeah, I do miss having easy access to lamb," Gus chimed in. "That's one thing Great Britain does a bit better than the US, although it seems like in the Midwest you can get lamb in the local grocery stores." "It sounds like the doctor wants to try having me eat some veggies with dinner tonight since my appetite is starting to get back to normal," Dana added. "I'll be having some asparagus and maybe green beans with my ham. Hopefully I'll be able to keep my food down overnight, and I can actually rebuild my strength." "I hope so, too." Dana glanced at the empty wall. "I must say without a TV in here it's actually been pretty nice. I've done some reading on my tablet and cell phone, but I have actually avoided current news. Thus, I have no idea what's happening on the Olympic stage." "Do you actually want to know?" Fiona asked. Dana rested her chin in her hand. "I'm curious about the events themselves, but the other stories around it? I'd rather not know. I do know that Bach wants to meet with me at some point once I'm released from the hospital. Hopefully I can talk to him about general Olympics stuff instead of focusing so much on the resuscitation efforts." Fiona nodded. "That's understandable. I mean, at least she's alive." "Yeah. Yeah, she is." "You did good, Dana," Gus reassured her. "Logically, I know that. Emotionally, well, it's hard. It's excruciatingly difficult. And even if her country of origin wasn't making things even more complicated, I'd still have a lot of emotions to deal with and not enough cortisol all the time." "How are managing with that?" "Better," Dana said with a small sigh. "It sounds like the team here has been able to talk to my endocrinologist back home, and I'm allowed to double my hydrocortisone doses for the rest of my time in Paris. Once I'm out of the hospital I will need to schedule an appointment Stateside. I may try to see if I can get a ride with someone for that." "It seems like you have a lot of your own recovery work ahead," Fiona remarked. Dana opened her mouth to respond when there was another knock on the doorframe. Before anyone could respond, they saw the doctor make his way into the room. "Oh, good. Everyone's here," he remarked. "That makes life a little easier." "Don't want to have the same conversation twice, Doctor Bonheur?" Dana asked. The doctor chuckled. "Not really, no, although this time it is good news. I hope." "Now I'm intrigued!" Gus chimed in. "Well, if anyone should be intrigued, it should be Dana. Provided everything goes well over the next 24 hours, she should be well enough to leave the hospital and go back to the Olympic Village." Dana offered a weak smile. "I admit I'm not sure how to feel about that. On the one hand I would like to get out of here and back to some place at least a bit familiar. On the other hand, I'd gotten about used to this place and how I could kind of hide in here." Doctor Bonheur chuckled. "That makes some sense. Perhaps we should work out a plan for you to manage stressful things once you leave?" "well, it certainly can't hurt." "Let me go grab a couple more chairs, as this may take a bit." As the doctor left the room, Dana looked at at her friends. Gus and Fiona's faces both bore blank looks, although Dana spotted Gus blink a few times. "Well, she sighed, "I suppose I'd be doing this at some point. I suppose now is the time to really start wishing for a lot of good luck to head my way." |
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