Title: Sharing the Future Interlude or How to Piss off a New
      M.D.
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  Johnny woke up sweating. He did not like the way he was feeling. He reached for his lover and got nothing but empty bed. Then he remembered.
 
  Roy had had to go to Sacramento for the Paramedic/EMS Convention. Johnny had been unable to attend this year due to space constraints. So Johnny was home alone for the weekend.

  Their adopted son">


Title: Sharing the Future Interlude or How to Piss off a New
      M.D.
-------------------

  Johnny woke up sweating. He did not like the way he was feeling. He reached for his lover and got nothing but empty bed. Then he remembered.
 
  Roy had had to go to Sacramento for the Paramedic/EMS Convention. Johnny had been unable to attend this year due to space constraints. So Johnny was home alone for the weekend.

  Their adopted son, David was at a friends house until Sunday evening. Johnny used the buttons on the bed and lowered the bed so that he could get from his bed to his chair. He cringed at the pain he was feeling. He knew he needed to get to the hospital. He just didn't want to have to call anyone to take him.

  Johnny dressed in sweats and a t-shirt. Pulling his blanket over his legs, he headed out to the van. Once there, he moved from his wheelchair to the Captains chair and faced forward.

  Johnny drove as fast as he dared to Rampart Emergency. He had called ahead to let them know he was coming so someone was there to meet him when he pulled up.
---------

  Dr. Joshua Drake was on duty that early morning. He was a fresh out of Medical school and doing his rotation in the ER. He heard Nurse Betty Maxwell state that a man was coming in that had stomach pains and a fever. He wasn't too thrilled.

  Betty met Johnny in the parking lot and helped the man into his chair. She pushed him into the hospital noting that he was very week and feverish. "Hey Johnny, don't you know you won't get any dates by being sick?" She teased.

  "Ha,ha. I would've come in sooner, but I had to dress myself and drive myself here since the Fire Department saw fit to send Roy to Sacramento a week before his retirement." Johnny cringed as the pain became worse.

  Dr. Drake saw Betty pushing a man into the department in a wheelchair. "What have you got, Ms Maxwell?"

  "Male, 36, complaining of abdominal pains, he's febrile and breathing is congested. Patient has history of URI's, he's a former fire fighter." Betty exclaimed while wheeling the man into the treatment room.

   "Okay, sir, up on the table." Drake turned his back to wash his hands in the sink.

   Betty smiled as she helped the man move from the chair to the exam table. Drake turned to see this. "If he could get her under his own power, Nurse, he can get on the table by himself."

  "I would, if I could walk." Johnny said through clinched teeth.

  "What is he talking about?" Drake looked at the nurse, avoiding Johnny.

  "He's a paraplegic, doctor." Betty said. "I guess, I'm used to all the doctors in this department knowing Johnny and knowing his limitations."

  Drake harrumphed and pulled on a pair of gloves. "Nurse, draw blood for a work up. Then call for an x-ray." He walked over to Johnny, who was now laying on the table with just a gown on.

  "Thanks Betty." Johnny said as she went to the phone to call for the required test.

  "We'll get you fixed up in no time." Betty smiled at the man.

  Drake did an exam first palpitating Johnny's abdomen. "Does it hurt when I do this?"

  "Yeouch! YES!" Johnny screamed.

  "Start an IV, Normal Saline. Looks like a hot appendix." Drake went to the counter and pulled out a tube of k-y and fresh gloves. "Once the x-ray's done, I'm going to do a rectal. Have you ever had a rectal before?"

  "Yes." Johnny gasped out. He so wanted to curl into a ball, the pain was getting worse. "Please, something for the pain."

  "In a few minutes." Drake snapped. Just then the x-ray tech came in to take the pictures. "Full abdominal series."

  The tech smiled at Johnny. "All right, Gage, what'd you do this time?"

  "Hey, Fred, nothing. Just a pesky belly ache is all." Johnny gritted his teeth as another wave of pain came over him.

  "I'll be done in a few minutes." Fred went about taking the pictures using the well known spinal precautions that had become a big part of Johnny's life.
------------

   Drake came in five minutes later. "Well, looks like you have not only a hot appendix, but some scar tissue that needs to be cleaned up. But first, I have to do the rectal to confirm the appendix."

  "Why, you said that the tests showed that I have a hot one, just send me up to surgery and let them take the fucker out." Johnny groused. He hated recital exams. Which in itself was strange.

  "Now, now, Mr. Gage. Let's be an adult here." He snapped on a glove and opened the tube of lube. He went over to the exam table and had the nurse turn Johnny on his left side. Then he reached over and slowly inserted his first finger feeling for the appendix. "Yup, there it is." He pulled his finger out then turned to throw away the glove. "Nurse, leave us alone for a minute."

   Betty shrugged and left the room.

   "Okay, Mr. Gage, would you mind telling me why the rectal was so easy to do? I now know that you have feeling in that area, what I'd like to know, is are you in a relationship where you are the anal receptive party." Drake did not sound too happy.

   "If it was any of your business, and if you had indeed read ALL my medical records then you would know that, yes I am in a same sex relationship, and yes I am mostly  anal receptive and NO it is none of your concern. Now, please get me taken care of before I call in my own personal physician." Johnny tried to sit up.

   Drake shook his head and left the room. He didn't want to help this person, he knew he should, but he couldn't. His old prejudices were coming to the front. He went to the base station and poured a cup of coffee. He knew he needed to give the orders for both MS and to be taken to the surgical floor, but he just couldn't do it.
-----------------

   Betty went into treatment room three, where Johnny had been for over an hour. She saw that he was getting worse. She got on the phone in the room and paged Dr. Early.

   Drake was just coming out of the men's room when he saw Dr. Joe Early heading into the room that held John Gage. "Dammit, why can't they back off and let me do my job." He cursed and headed back towards the room.

  "Well, Johnny, let's get you some relief." Joe said softly. He looked at the nurse.

  "Temperature is up to One Hundred Three, Doctor." Betty wiped Johnny's face off with a cool cloth.

  "Ten milligrams MS, IV and let's see about getting that pesky appendix removed." Joe turned just as Drake entered the room.

  "Just what is going on here?" Drakes managed to keep from yelling.

  "I am doing your job, Drake." Joe said. "This man should have been in surgery forty minutes ago. Instead, you were seen leaving the room and not calling to have him taken up nor did you administer any pain medications. Betty, also start a wide spectrum antibiotic. We don't want Johnny getting sicker than he already is."

   Drake scowled. "Why are you so worried over some fag?"

  "This is one of my best friends, you're talking about, Drake. I suggest you talk to the on call psychiatrist about your anger problems. I also think you should reconsider being a doctor." Joe then turned back to Johnny and took care of his sick friend.
---------------------

   Johnny woke slowly. His belly was on fire. "Ughnnn," he groaned out.

   Dixie McCall went to his bedside. "Shh, it's all right. The operation is over. Roy is on his way home and Davey is waiting outside to see you."

   Johnny smiled. "Roy? Davey? Good." He said then slowly let the darkness reclaim him.

   Davey went into the room fifteen minutes later. He sat on a chair beside the bed. "Dad?" He whispered. He had never called Johnny this, even though the adoption was a matter of a court appearance.

   "Davey?" Johnny groaned. "Oh, Davey it hurts."

   "Shh, I'll get a nurse." Dave pressed the call button then used a soft cloth to wipe Johnny's lips.

   Dixie entered the room. "He's due for his pain meds soon. Brandy will be in soon."
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   One week later

   Johnny was sitting on the deck taking in the afternoon sun. He had one more day before the house would be overrun with friends and family to celebrate Roy's retirement from the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

   "Hey, babe?" Roy asked as he brought Johnny a glass of tea.

   "Hi, lover. Missed you last week." Johnny said. He had spent three days in the hospital, thanks to the doctor who had originally treated Johnny.

   "I know. I couldn't get away as fast as I wanted." Roy had shown up but he hadn't been able to get there until Johnny had been there for two days.

   "Not your fault. Just think, in forty-eight hours, we'll have all the time we want to spend together." Johnny pulled Roy down for a kiss. "And I can't wait."
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the end.....

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