#PNEUMONIA

[nightingalesandnorco]

talk to me about pneumonia (I know you have a great post already.) what are some complications that can happen? If it gets to a really bad place, like almost dying what is that like?

The complications of pneumonia can include respiratory distress, pulmonary abscess, meningitis, and sepsis/SIRS. I talked about respiratory distress in the other post so I'll focus on pulmonary abscess, meningitis, and sepsis. I'll also be focusing on pneumonia of a bacterial etiology.

Pulmonary abscess: This is a pocket of pus that forms in the lung. The symptoms are the same as those of pneumonia, except that it starts with a dry cough that progresses to a productive cough. Sputum will likely contain pus. Abscesses are treated with antibiotics, or may be drained surgically if they are bigger than 6 cm in diameter.

Meningitis: This is a bacterial infection of the lining of the brain (see the image below).

Bacterial meningitis is very serious and can cause death in 24 to 48 hours. Bacterial meningitis presents with fever, neck stiffness, confusion or lethargy, headache, seizures, and increased intracranial pressure. If the causative organism of the meningitis is meningococcal bacterial, the patient will present with a reddish-purple, pinprick rash on their legs (see the image below).

Bacterial meningitis is treated aggressively with antibiotics. If the patient has meningococcal meningitis, they will be placed on droplet precautions, meaning that all staff attending to them will be wearing masks, gowns, and gloves.

Sepsis/SIRS: SIRS is a systemic inflammatory reaction to bacterial infestation of the blood (sepsis). Sepsis/SIRS can lead to death in 12 hours if untreated. SIRS is characterized by 2 or more of the following: a body temperature greater that 100.4° F or below 96.8° F, heart rate greater than 90 beats per minute, respiratory rate greater that 20 breaths per minute or an arterial carbon dioxide level of less than 32 mmHg, and a white blood cell count greater than 12,000 or less than 4,000. SIRS can also be diagnosed in the presence of one of these signs with evidence of organ damage (respiratory distress, cessation of urine output, neurological symptoms, severe anemia, neuropathy). Septic shock presents with low blood pressure that can't be raised with IV fluids. Sepsis is treated with antibiotics, IV fluids and electrolytes, medications to raise blood pressure, corticosteroids to reduce inflammation, and ventilation if respiratory distress is present.

A patient in danger of dying from pneumonia or any of its complications will likely have a very decreased level of consciousness and unstable vital signs and may need to be mechanically ventilated.

[beepbeep-eddy-27]

[unveilandresist]

Got a glimpse of where we're at as a country medically via the r/nursing subreddit. People are really not okay and it's deeply scary. 'Letting it rip' when it comes to covid is killing thousands and disabling millions. With the latter, here's what it looks like:

Nurses saying they are seeing ear infections in kids all the time secondary to other illnesses (or routinely in adults which they have never seen before), nurses saying their hospitals are overrun by flus, rsv, norovirus, mycoplasma pneumonia. many people saying they went to the doctor sick as a dog and came out with 3 different illness diagnoses at the same time or that they and their kids get sick over and over and over. it is not normal for this to happen. we were lied to about covid, y'all.

have you and the people around you been physically as well this last year or two as they were in 2019?

If you didn't know, as a lot of people don't - covid makes you immunocompromised. It damages the immune system, blood vessels and organ systems. It's a vascular infection, not a cold. the more infections you get, the worse it is. In the lab it's considered a level 3 pathogen (categories are for risk level/safety protocols), in the same category as tuberculosis. People are being treated with IVIG, because it's for immunocompromised people.

Also there is improper preparation and tracking for a h5n1 (type of bird flu) that has a very real chance of evolving to become a pandemic this and/or next flu season. they are finding it in wastewater all over the country, someone in Louisiana is in critical condition with it. Flu vaccine provides partial protection to it so I'd highly recommend getting that this and next winter.

Following epidemiologists is really important and helpful. The government wants you to go to work and think things are normal so they don't have to send you another check - they are not invested in our collective wellness (in fact, they take tons of lobbying money from insurance companies invested in keeping you sick). With some of these folks saying it is taking them weeks to recover from the flu, I wonder if some of it isn't bird flu, though it could be just being significantly immunocompromised.

fwiw masks work. I haven't gotten as much as a cold in years. well fitting kn95s and n95s protect you. even if you can't wear one at work, wear one to the doctor, at the grocery store and pharmacy. it would really help disabled people in general too.

[destielmemenews]

"Pope Francis has the onset of double pneumonia, the Vatican said on Tuesday, complicating treatment for the 88-year pontiff and indicating a further deterioration in his fragile health.

Francis has been suffering from a respiratory infection for more than a week and was admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital on February 14.

The Vatican said in a statement that the pope had undergone a chest CAT scan on Tuesday afternoon which had revealed "the onset of bilateral pneumonia that requires further pharmacological therapy"."

Reuters

Sky News

USA Today

[smollbetawooper]

Two types of pneumonia, bronchitis and of course COVID are at an all time surge right now especially in children. Adults and children are also being misdiagnosed for pneumonia or also denied getting chest x-rays and being told it’s just the flu. I’ve currently have been seeing infants up to 19 year olds passing away for something that could have been taken care of with basic rest and accessible antibiotics. (Please have whichever practitioner that denies X-rays write in their notes why for legal protection.)

Mask up, COVID never ended and none of the working class can afford healthcare. Mask up for the kids and the disabled. Mask up for care of your community.

[ausetkmt]

Pharmacist Lunsford Richardson made Vicks a household name throughout the nation, but his popular product did not do the same for him.

Even in his native North Carolina, where his most celebrated of chemical concoctions has been right under our stuffy noses and on our congested chests for generations, the mention of Richardson’s name elicits blank stares from all but those who study and cherish history.

Richardson’s salve, Vicks VapoRub, helped the world breathe easier during the devastating influenza pandemic of 1918 and during the countless colds and flus of our childhoods, yet most of us couldn’t pick Lunsford Richardson out of a one-man police lineup, much less a who’s who of medical pioneers.

Why didn’t Richardson — by all accounts a creative inventor and smart businessman — ever become as famous as those vapors packed into the familiar squat blue jar?

Because his name wouldn’t fit on the jar.

That’s one version of the story. According to company and family lore, Richardson initially dubbed his promising new product Richardson’s Croup and Pneumonia Cure Salve. Realizing that this name didn’t exactly roll off the tongue nor fit when printed on a small medicine jar, Richardson changed the name to honor his brother-in-law, Dr. Joshua Vick. Another account suggests the inventive druggist plucked the name from a seed catalog he’d been perusing that listed the Vick Seed Co.

The truth may never be known. What is known, though, is that Lunsford Richardson created a medicinal marvel for the ages, the likes of which may never be equaled.

Croupy beginnings

A Johnston County native born in 1854, Richardson loved chemistry and hoped to study it at Davidson College. The college’s chemistry program at the time wasn’t as strong as he’d hoped it would be, so he studied Latin instead, graduating with honors in three years. He returned to Johnston County and taught school, but it wasn’t long before the young man’s love of chemistry got the best of him. In 1880, he moved to Selma to work with his physician brother-in-law, Dr. Vick. It was not uncommon in those days for doctors to dispense drugs themselves, but Vick was so busy seeing patients that he teamed up with Richardson, allowing him to handle the pharmacy duties for him. Richardson relied on his knowledge of Latin to help him learn the chemical compounds required to become a pharmacist, and that’s when he began to experiment with recipes for the product that would become Vicks VapoRub.

It wasn’t until Richardson moved to his wife’s hometown of Greensboro in 1890 that his magical salve and other products he created began to take off.

“He was a man of great intellect and talent,” says Linda Evans, community historian for the Greensboro Historical Museum, which has an exhibit devoted to Richardson and Vicks.

“Druggists at the time fashioned their own remedies a lot, and he created a number of remedies, in addition to his magic salve, that he sold under the name of Vick’s Family Remedies. He was obviously a man of such creativity.”

In Greensboro, working out of a downtown drugstore he purchased (where he once employed a teenaged William Sydney Porter, the future short story writer O. Henry), Richardson patented some 21 medicines. The wide variety of pills, liquids, ointments, and assorted other medicinal concoctions included the likes of Vick’s Chill Tonic, Vick’s Turtle Oil Liniment, Vick’s Little Liver Pills and Little Laxative Pills, Vick’s Tar Heel Sarsaparilla, Vick’s Yellow Pine Tar Cough Syrup, and Vick’s Grippe Knockers (aimed at knocking out la grippe, an old-timey phrase for the flu).

These products sold with varying degrees of success, but the best seller in the lineup of Richardson’s remedies was Vick’s Magic Croup Salve, which he introduced in 1894. And by all accounts, necessity was the key to its success.

“He had what they referred to as a croupy baby — a baby with a lot of coughing and congestion,” explains Richardson’s great-grandson, Britt Preyer of Greensboro. “So as a pharmacist, he began experimenting with menthols from Japan and some other ingredients, and he came up with this salve that really worked. That’s how it all started.”

Another version of the story suggests that all three of the Richardson children caught bad colds at the same time, and Richardson, dissatisfied with the traditional treatment of the day, which included poultices and a vapor lamp, spent hours at his pharmacy developing his own treatment.

Richardson’s salve — a strong-smelling ointment combining menthol, camphor, oil of eucalyptus, and several other oils, blended in a base of petroleum jelly — was a chest-soothing, cough-suppressing, head-clearing sensation. When the salve was rubbed on the patient’s chest, his or her body heat vaporized the menthol, releasing a wave of soothing, medicated vapors that the patient breathed directly into the lungs.

Vicks in the mailbox

In 1911, Richardson’s son Smith, by now a successful salesman for his father’s company, recommended discontinuing all of the company’s products except for Vick’s Magic Croup Salve. He believed the salve could sell even better if the company stopped investing time and money in the other, less successful remedies. He also suggested renaming the salve Vicks VapoRub, according to the company’s history timeline, to “help dramatize the product’s performance.” Richardson agreed, and a century later, the name’s still the same.

Meanwhile, Richardson intensified his marketing efforts by providing free goods to druggists who placed large orders and publishing coupons for free samples in newspapers. He also advertised on billboards and sent promotional mailings to post office boxes, addressed to Boxholder rather than the individual’s name, thus earning him the distinction of being the father of junk mail.

In 1925, Vicks even published a children’s book to help promote the product. The book told the story of two elves, Blix and Blee, who rescued a frazzled mother whose sick child refused to take nasty-tasting medicines. Their solution, of course, was the salve known as Vicks VapoRub.

Expanding and experimenting

As successful as the marketing campaign was, nothing sold Vicks VapoRub like the deadly Spanish flu outbreak that ravaged the nation in 1918 and 1919, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans. Loyal Vicks customers and new customers stocked up on the medicine to stave off or fight the disease.

According to the company’s history timeline, VapoRub sales skyrocketed from $900,000 to $2.9 million in a single year because of the pandemic. The Vicks plant in Greensboro operated around the clock, and salesmen were pulled off the road to help at the manufacturing facility in an effort to keep up with demand.

As the flu spread across the nation, Richardson grew ill with pneumonia in 1919 and died. Smith took over the company. Vicks continued to grow, buying other companies until Procter & Gamble bought it in the 1980s. Through the years, Vicks continued adding new products to its arsenal of cold remedies: cough drops, nose drops, inhalers, cough syrup, nasal spray, Formula 44, NyQuil. And whatever success those products attained, they got there standing on the broad shoulders of Richardson.

Richardson will never be a household name, but his salve has held that status for more than a century — and may do so for the next hundred years. And for Richardson, were he still around, that ought to be enough to clear his head.

A cure-all salve

Vicks users have claimed the salve can cure and heal many maladies. Even though Vicks doesn’t say the salve works for these problems, people still believe.

Toenail fungus: Rub the salve on your toenails, cover with socks, and sleep your fungus problems away. Cough: For a similar fix to a nagging cough, some believe rubbing Vicks on the soles of your feet can fix the problem. Dandruff: Rub Vicks directly on the scalp, and your flakes may just disappear. Chapped lips: Petroleum jelly is one of the ingredients in Vicks, and some say the ointment can help heal cracked lips. Mosquito bites: If you smooth Vicks on the red bumps on your legs and arms, it can supposedly take the itch right out. Warts: Dab Vicks on the wart, cover with duct tape, and it may fall off in a few days.

Greensboro Historical Museum 130 Summit Avenue Greensboro, N.C. 27401 (336) 373-2043 greensborohistory.org

See historical Vicks VapoRub bottles and learn about Lunsford Richardson.

[piplupfluffwritingstuff2]

Whumptober 2024 No. 30- Recovery | Hospital Bed | Holding Back Tears

This is another short one, but I hope you like it all the same!

Whumpee coughed themselves awake. They opened bleary eyes to fluorescent lights and a plain room. Something was strapped to their face. In addition, a quiet yet fast beeping came from somewhere nearby. Whumpee reached up to pull the thing- whatever it was- off of their mouth and nose. A gentle hand landed on theirs and moved it back to their side.

“Shh, Whumpee, baby, that has to stay on, okay?”

Whumpee turned their head.

“Caretaker?”

Their voice was muffled, and as they tried to speak, a few more harsh, wet coughs erupted from their chest.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay,” Caretaker said, “don’t try to talk.”

Their eyes were red and puffy, they must have been crying. Why had they been crying? What was wrong?

“You’re in the hospital,” Caretaker went on, “you’ve been very sick, and I tried to take care of you from home, but you got worse, and I had to bring you here.”

Caretaker’s lower lip trembled, and Whumpee watched them swallow. They reached up a hand to their face. Caretaker leaned into the touch, letting out a shaky exhale.

“The doctors are giving you oxygen therapy, that’s what the mask on your face is for. It’s helping you breathe. You’ve- you’ve got an IV in your arm, and that’s giving you medicine. You’re gonna be okay- you-”

Caretaker bit back a sob. Whumpee wiped the tear that rolled down their cheek. They must have been in a really bad way for Caretaker to get so upset like this.

Whumpee opened their mouth to say something, but all that came out was another string of coughs. Their hand dropped back down to their side.

“Easy, easy,” Caretaker sniffled, “I told you, don’t try to talk.”

Whumpee weakly reached for Caretaker’s hand. Caretaker obliged and rubbed circles into Whumpee’s with their thumb.

…

Pneumonia, the doctors had said. A severe case. Caretaker was right to act when they did. Whumpee had almost died last night, it was a wonder they had woken up today at all. Caretaker hadn’t slept in twenty-three hours, but they didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was Whumpee and their recovery.

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@mythixmagic @infinityshadows @fishtale88 @thelazywitchphotographer @the-beasts-have-arrived @princessofonwardsworld @surplus-of-sarcasm @memepsychowhowantsuperpower-blog

@electrons2006 @just-a-space-rabbit

[mindblowingscience]

A mysterious and rapid rise in Legionnaires' disease, a severe bacterial lung infection, has been linked to cleaner air, in a US study of trends in sulfur dioxide pollution. Puzzled by the lengthy global upsurge in Legionnaires' disease, an atypical form of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria, researchers at two US universities and the New York State Department of Health investigated possible environmental factors that could explain the trend in their neck of the woods.

Continue Reading.

[indycinders]

As if it's not bad enough to be recovering from a big surgery, I have to get pneumonia on top of it.

My fatigue is fatigued atp.

[dalekowrites]

Ok so here’s an update on my current health status.

Three weeks of pneumonia with complications. Bilateral brachialgia. Bilateral sciatica. The latter is one of the most painful things in life, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. If you’ve experienced it, radiating down to the soles of your feet, you understand the horror.

I can't cough due to the pain in my side from the complications of the lung inflammation, I can’t even blow my nose, and as you can imagine, with pneumonia and a productive cough, that’s kind of essential.

There is not a single position where my body isn't in a state of unbearable pain, despite the 14 different medications I have to take daily. I’m writing all of this while crying from the pain, despite the fact that I normally suffer from osteoarthritis and chronic pain, so I have a pretty high pain threshold. You can imagine what it takes to make me cry like a child. There have been moments during last night when I seriously considered offing myself—I think I'm going mad with pain.

It goes without saying that any creative work, writing, coding, debugging, support, etc., is on hold. If you're patrons and want to cancel because of this, feel free to do so; right now I’m barely surviving so yeah, priorities.

Thank you all for your understanding.

[chronicforest]

I just saw a tiktok of a woman downing cough syrup during a marathon. She thought she “had just a bad cough” but was diagnosed afterwards with pneumonia.

Comments are positive. Calling her superwoman. Saying she’s incredible.

NO!!!!!

That’s actually called being a danger to yourself and others!!

She knew she was sick with something and chose to run (maskless) at a crowded race. That has the potential of significant worsening health to herself, as well as infecting others.

This is disgusting behavior. And it’s shameful that so many people support and promote it.

[the-writer1988]

HEALTH UPDATE

Hello, faithful readers, I just wanted to give you all an update since @tangledbea let you all know I had been hospitalised with pneumonia and needing oxygen support.

I am now back home! It's been a horrible week. I am battered and bruised from countless needles and cannulas. I am a walking pharmacy with the amount of drugs I am on still.

I just want to give a little context. I am 37, and I am on immunosuppressants due to kidney transplant, which I had in 2006 when I was 18. I've never been hospitalized before for pneumonia, and it is a horrible thing to get. It can affect anyone, and it came on so quickly.

If you are unwell, struggling to walk upstairs, shortness of breath, chest pain, check your oxygen levels! Mine were 88%, and this is life-threatening.

I did get worse before I started to get better. I needed high-flow rate oxygen, and then just normal oxygen before being weaned off completely.

The NHS in the UK doesn't get enough praise. They deserve so much more than they get.

Going forward, I am recovering at home for a time before I return to work. (funnily enough, I am an NHS worker myself), and in that time, I plan to get back into writing. Between The Kisses has not been forgotten. I may concentrate on other fics during my recovery period but once I feel able, BTK will become a main focus again!

~ the-writer1988~

[pmak2002]

It’s the coughing that wakes you. You gently start to pat his back as he sleeps thinking it’s just allergies or something. You fall back asleep and think nothing of it.

It happens continuously throughout the night. A harsh and rough sounding cough with occasional gagging thrown in. By the next morning it’s even worse.

When he comes downstairs for breakfast he’s wrapped up in a blanket and looks whiter than a sheet.

“Oh Timmy.”

He whines but it comes out as a strangled gurgle.

He practically melts in your arms when you wrap your arms around him. He buries his head against your neck coughing,

“Oh sweetness.” You coo. “You might have pneumonia let me call the doctor.”

He nods but doesn’t move from your arms.

You kiss his head and grab your phone to make the appointment.

He whimpers when you pull away

“I’m cold you’re warm!” He whines

“That’s the fever talking lovey.” You say.

He groans and headbutts you.

“I’m gonna call the doc and see if he can get a good look at you. But I’m pretty sure it’s pneumonia.” You tell him.

He nods and you call the doctor and set up the appointment for later that day.

Sure enough it’s pneumonia just as you had suspected. The doctor prescribes antibiotics and a nebulizer for breathing treatments twice a day.

Timothee had been so exhausted he had been falling asleep while the doctor examined him.

You let him sleep in the car on the way to the pharmacy and he slept through you getting his medicine.

Once home.

“Hey baby let’s get you inside and up to bed.” You say as you wake him up.

“Mm don’t feel good.” He whines.

“I know let’s go to bed.”

He nods and gets out of the car and follows you inside and he immediately heads up to bed.

You bring up his medicine and nebulizer and set it up on his nightstand. Then help him take the antibiotic and the first round of breathing treatment before letting him go back to sleep.

“Cuddle?” He asks weakly.

“Of course sweet boy.”

You join him in bed and hold him tight. He falls asleep quickly in your arms and you both nap for a while.

Thankfully the medicine seems to have helped some. The next time he’s awake the cough has already slowed a bit in its intensity.

You play with his curls and suggest you get up to get him some water or something to eat before another round of a breathing treatment. He nods and you fetch him soup and more water.

He eats the soup and drinks the water before you set up the nebulizer for him.

After the treatment you join him for more cuddles.

Later after you wake up. You head downstairs to clean up and take care of Kodak the German shepherd dog you own with Timothee while Tim sleeps upstairs.

Later you are awaken to the sound of coughing from Tim. You find him coming downstairs wrapped in blankets and practically hacking up a lung.

“Why are we out of bed sweetness?” You coo at him.

He whined and hugged you. The blanket he had wrapped around himself fell to the floor, and he shivered. You wrap your arms around him.

“I woke up, and you weren’t there.” He says weakly.

"I'm sorry you woke up when I was down here. You were so peaceful, and I didn't want to wake you," you tell him.

he whines and coughs harshly.

"back to bed come on."

You help him back up to bed and make a mental note to put the blanket in the wash later.

Once back in bed you set Timothee up with another breathing treatment.

Kodak watches from his bed in the corner of the room eyeing the nebulizer suspiciously.

“It’s ok Kody it’s helping Daddy. You explain to the dog.

Kodak just stares at the machine. Probably not taking in any words you are trying to tell him. He seems transfixed by it In a concerned way.

You play with Timothee’s curls as he does his treatment. He sighs heavily.

“Better?” You ask as you sit next to him in bed.

He nods and you notice there’s color back in his face and you sigh with relief. It’s definitely improvement from just this morning.

Throughout the day you tend to Tim’s every need and when he wants cuddles you give him lots.

Later before bed you help Timothee with a warm shower to help dislodge the phlegm from deep within his lungs.

After the shower you help him into pjs and get into bed for his antibiotics and another breathing treatment. Before doing chest and back physical therapy to help further move the phlegm and help him cough it up.

He manages to get a decent amount of mucus out and it seems to help him feel a bit better and he doesn’t seem to be struggling with breathing as much.

You take the towel of mucus to go toss in the laundry along with the blanket and other laundry.

Before you get ready for bed and join him to cuddle. After his last treatment for the night you fall asleep cuddling Timothee as he sleeps.

After a long few days of treatments and longer on the antibiotics Timothee felt much better.

Here you go @sitruksista sorry it’s not great thought I’d tag you since you are looking for more pneumonia sickfics. The treatments are based on what I had whenever I had lung issues as a kid.

[mindblowingscience]

University of Central Florida College of Medicine researcher Renee Fleeman is on a mission to kill drug-resistant bacteria, and her latest study has identified a therapy that can penetrate the slime that such infections use to protect themselves from antibiotics. In a study published in Cell Reports Physical Science, Fleeman showed that an antimicrobial peptide from cows has potential for treating incurable infections from the bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Continue Reading.

[cc-gross]

R.I.P. Madmartigan

[piplupfluffwritingstuff2]

Hi, could you write something about a Villain taking care of a Hero with pneumonia?

Hi Anon! Sure I can! Thanks for your patience while I got around to this, and for requesting it! Here you go!

“Come on, you need to take your medicine,” Villain coaxed.

Hero’s breaths came in short little gasps, a sheen of sweat coated their forehead, and their eyes were glassy and unfocused.

“You probably can’t even tell I’m here,” Villain sighed.

Without warning, Villain sat Hero up against the pillows, eliciting a heart-breaking whine from the incapacitated crime-fighter. Villain poured some medicine onto a spoon and pushed it past Hero’s lips.

“Mmmf?” Hero mumbled with a grimace.

“Swallow for me,” Villain said, “you can do it.”

Hero held the medicine in their mouth for a few moments, then eventually acquiesced and swallowed the bitter liquid. Villain let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m gonna take your temperature now,” Villain said, “hopefully the fever’s gone down some.”

Villain pulled out a thermometer and gently shoved it in Hero’s mouth. After a few moments, a loud beeping broke the silence. Villain pulled the thermometer out and their face fell as they read the number.

“Not much better,” they muttered, “I might need to take you to a hospital.”

Just the one word was enough to bring Hero back to some semblance of lucidity.

“N-no!” they said weakly, “no hospital!”

“Hero, I know you have a thing about hospitals,” Villain reasoned, “but this is serious. If your fever gets much higher, you’re not coming back from this.”

“You s-said you’d take care of me,” Hero pleaded, “please, Villain, no hospital.”

Villain looked at Hero’s pitiful expression. They groaned loudly.

“Alright,” Villain conceded, “but I swear, if your temperature goes up by so much as a decimal of a degree, I’m taking you to the hospital. No arguments. Deal?”

Hero sniffled and nodded. They suddenly lurched forward as they let out a string of wet coughs. Villain rubbed their back soothingly. Hero fell back against the pillows, blinking slowly as though their eyelids were made of lead. Villain adjusted Hero’s covers and left the room so they could rest.

…

Villain entered Hero’s room with a tray in hand. On the tray was a bowl of soup and a tall glass of water with a straw. The sound of whimpering made Villain practically run to Hero’s bedside. They set the tray down and caught sight of Hero tossing and turning in their sleep.

“N-no,” they mumbled.

Their fever-addled mind had conjured up some sort of nightmare, Villain guessed. Villain shook Hero a few times to wake them.

“Stop it!” Hero cried in their sleep.

“Hero, it’s me,” Villain said, “you’re alright. It’s just a dream.”

Hero’s eyes flew open, and they screamed, bolting upright in bed. Their wide eyes darted around the room until they fell on Villain. They hugged Villain as tight as their weakened state would allow.

“Shhh, you’re alright, you’re alright,” Villain soothed, carding a hand through Hero’s sweat-dampened hair.

“I-I- it was so real,” Hero muttered.

“I know,” Villain said softly, “it’s over now, okay? It’s all over.”

Villain adjusted the pillows and sat Hero up against them. They set the tray of food in Hero’s lap.

“I need you to eat,” Villain said, “you need fluids.”

Hero nodded. They tried to lift the spoon, but their hand was shaking, and their grip was so weak that it fell back down on the tray with a clatter.

“It’s okay,” Villain said quickly, seeing the tears form in Hero’s eyes, “let me.”

Villain quietly fed Hero small spoonfuls of the soup. Once or twice Hero reached for the water, so Villain held it steady for them to drink. Once the bowl was empty, Villain set the tray back on the nightstand.

“Thank you, Villain,” Hero said quietly.

The corner of Villain’s mouth curled up into a small smile.

“Of course, Hero,” they said.

It would be another week before Hero fully recovered, and Villain was there every step of the way.

ko-fi

tags: @mythixmagic @infinityshadows @fishtale88 @thelazywitchphotographer @the-beasts-have-arrived @princessofonwardsworld @surplus-of-sarcasm