Not Quite General Practitioner [closed and backdated network (voice) / log]

[spaghettimonster]

Date: November 6th, 2018 (more dates may be added)
Characters: Network: {number to be determined}, Action: Russell and Mary Ann

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After a few conversations emphasized the importance of getting checked on by a doctor while he could, Russell takes the leap and contacts the networked doctor recommended by friends and family alike.

He could use a phone, could risk the mysterious military-looking forces maybe still being in the area and monitoring strange and suspicious communications... but he opts for the network instead. It's not as though the mysterious network communications were less likely to be tapped somehow - whatever causes them to stay saved and accessible, months after the fact, means that they're somewhere that someone might somehow get into. Someday.

But, if nothing else, calling her directly on the network implies why he's calling her, rather than his usual doctor.

"Uhh... Hello! Is this Mary Ann...? I'm Russell, you might have seen me around. On the network? I was told you're a doctor, and you might be able to... take new patients. With our, uh, unique concerns, going on."

Comments

It's about ten days before the border test, so it keeps the timeline consistent this way

[spaghettimonster]

"Right, right..." He grimaces a little, because blood test, but what can you do. "Is there anything else I should do, in the meantime? Uhh... Keep a record of what I eat, or exercise, or anything?"

Russell's fingers tap irregular patterns on his knee. Being proactive enough to come, only to be pushed back into the wait and see game, doesn't sit right. Even if it's just something to feel involved in the process.

Re: It's about ten days before the border test, so it keeps the timeline consistent this way

[catted]

She looks at him for a long moment, considers it, and then nods. He obviously needs something to do himself, and it might be helpful.

"Actually yes." Mary-Ann gets up and walks over to a drawer on the other side of the room. She pulls out a small notebook. "Please keep this one. You see here's a space to put in the dates, and there are various categories in here to fill in every day - times you ate, calorie intake, times you exercised physically, sleep, blood pressure... you can ignore this category, I don't need to you test blood sugar, it's a multi-purpose thing."

[spaghettimonster]

"That's... a lot of categories." He half-smiles, not sincere enough about it for that grimace to disappear. On one level, he already regrets asking. Keeping regular updates of anything isn't something he's ever really had the discipline for...

But, maybe, if he thinks of this when he starts getting nervous about things, he'll fill this out to distract himself. "I'll do my best."

[catted]

"Don't worry if you miss some or miss days. It's more to try and track a general pattern, after all." She shakes her head. "Even if we find no medical causes, it may be able to tell you something about what's going on."

[spaghettimonster]

Russell taps the small notebook on his knee, flipping through a few of the pages to be sure they're consistent. It looks like it is, and the columns and rows neatly labeled.

"Oh, well," he says with a sigh of relief. "Alright then. I'll just... track these things, until the blood test. Thank you, again."

[catted]

She smiles and gets up, holding out a hand for a handshake. "It's no problem. I'll see you once the results are in.

Please wait in seating area C, a nurse will come to take the bloods."

[spaghettimonster]

He stumbles a little in his rush to stand and extend his hand, following through on the handshake before too long. "O-Okay, thank you. You, uh, know how to contact me, either way," network or mundane phone alike, now.

With their meeting settled, Russell nods again and makes for the doorway, glancing at her to doublecheck they're good to go, and then follows her instructions to that seating area. No one likes their blood being drawn, but it's a fact of medical care, and he deals with it.

It'll be eleven days after this appointment - likely after the blood test results come in - that he gets some undeniable proof that the changes are due to echoes; even filming the transition at the boundary, though he's careful not to post the video anywhere.