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anastasiabeaverhousen87 · 4 years ago

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Make Wise Choices Part 3

Doctor Sharpe

You can feel yourself being held by strong arms and your face being placed in an odd angle. Someone is touching your mouth and your cheeks. You can feel liquid filling your mouth, no not liquid blood and tugging inside your cheeks. A few moments later you begin to hear voices, several voices in fact. You can recognize your sister’s voices and Lena’s but there is one you most definitely do not know who it belongs to. Its quite soothing though and because you don’t feel pain, you take that as a major win for now. Then you seem to notice the tugging and hands on your face continue to prod and touch inside your mouth and now you are intrigued to know what’s is going on.

You try to open your eyes but there’s a bright light directly assaulting your eyes, you first instinct is to hiss and close your eyes again but you find impossible to move your jaw to perform such action and in response the person manhandling your mouth tenses their hold to make sure you don’t move your jaw and the pressure grows stronger this time. The hands touching your jaw are strong and cool soft. You don’t feel scare and you wonder who the person might be.

By now everyone in your proximity notice you began to regain consciousness and now the voices are directed at you.

Alex: “Hold still little one, Doctor Sharpe is here, and she needs to look at your incisions and assess the damage. Please don’t be scare its just us and Doctor Sharpe” says in a very calm and reassuring voice.

Doctor Sharpe? You mentally ask yourself; you don’t know anyone named Sharpe and you know your dentist name is Richards.

Kara: “Shhh little one, we got you. Doctor Sharpe is a friend of Lena and she was super nice to come here and check on you. She is a dentist by the way, so don’t think we would just let anyone just prod and touch your mouth. Lena called her once you passed out, we were worry for you and I mean is not like I don’t appreciate your being here Dr. Sharpe but…”

Lena: “Kara, Love please calm down. Take a deep breath, you are rambling, and you are going to make y/n nervous” -Lena puts a reassuring hand on Kara’s shoulder and that makes the blonde stop and relax.

Kara: “sorry…”

You open your eyes once again, this time you are prepared for the assault of bright light and squint your eyes and can barely distinguish 3 figures standing in front of you, one of them holding your face.

Alex rolls her eyes at her sister “Kara tends to ramble a lot when she is anxious, but honestly thank you for coming so quickly to check on our sister. We really appreciate it” – Alex says with a small but grateful smile aimed to the doctor.

Dr Sharpe: “don’t be, it’s fine” the mysterious person says chuckling a little at Kara’s fluster rambling. The doctor removes her hands from your face and all of the sudden the blinding light is gone - “Honestly it’s okay, don’t worry, I’m used to worried parents and relatives doting over my patients. Its perfectly normal to worry about your love ones, especially when they are as cute as your sister right here”

Y/N: “Wow that voice. Pretty voice. I like it …Hooot” In your drugged out state of mind you think you’re having an inner monologue but you actually voiced those words out loud and you are thankful for the mouth piece you have stuffed next to your cheek and that the words come up a bit sluggish. Still you know everyone understood because you can hear different kinds of snickering coming from the women in the room.

Y/N: “nghhh…”

Dr. Sharpe: chuckles- “Well thank you honey, that is very sweet of you to say. But please try not to speak or move your jaw just yet”

That voice again, you really like that voice and you are finally able to see her face and the owner of that voice. You are mesmerized by the eyes looking straight at you, like she is looking into your very soul. The most astonishing blue eyes you have ever seen in your life. And that face, blonde soft waves and kind face. And in that moment, you are so grateful for the fever and swollen cheeks, otherwise you would be bright red with embarrassment and wouldn’t be able to hide it.

Lena: “Actually Cassandra is not a dentist, she is actually an amazing Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon and a good friend of mine” Lena says smiling at the doctor and both your sisters look quite impressed and a bit embarrassed for calling her a dentist without knowing exactly what her expertise or field was.

Dr. Sharpe: blushing a little – “You are very kind Lena. But don’t worry, dentistry specialties are not commonly known. But let’s get back to the most pressing matter at hand” – the woman switches back to her professional persona and imposing presence. “Y/N I need to ask you a few questions, I’m going to hold your hand and please press my hand once for YES and twice for NO, we are going to let the muscles in your mouth rest for a bit. Are you comfortable doing this? – you press her hand once to let her know you are okay with it.

Alex- laughs a little and there’s a smirk on her face – “Oh wow, that’s a great and polite way tell someone to shut it, good one doc. I wish I had used that one sooner on this one” -Alex points at you while Kara and Lena give Alex a disapproval look while you look at the doctor with teary eyes.

Kara: “Alex! don’t mock y/n. she feels bad enough and you are not helping”

Lena: “don’t be mean Alex”

You know its all good and there’s not bite behind the words. You just feel bad because you just remembered why you end up in your current predicament. By being stubborn and a brat. You feel bad for worrying your sisters and Lena and all you want to do is to apologize. But you can’t, because you were told not to speak which makes you tear up in frustration at not being able to communicate properly.

But Alex being the wonderful sister she is, she knows without you being able to say anything she just looks at your eyes and just knows what’s wrong.

Alex: “Kara come on, you know I’m just joking. I could never be mean to her. she is not crying because of that tough.” – Alex comes to sit next to you and holds your other hand – “ y/n don’t cry, I know okay? I know you are sorry, and I know you are just frustrated for not being able to speak at the moment. Please sweetie no, please don’t cry. Just listen to the doctor and we will speak later okay? – you nod at her and she tenderly brushes a few stray tears from your face. She stands to let the doctor continue with her examination.

Meanwhile Doctor Sharpe is looking at the interaction between the women and she smiles at the warm and caring dynamic among you all. She is quite intrigue about how soft Lena is with them and more importantly she was becoming quite smitten by you, you had that power over people. You didn’t have to do much, you y/n Danvers had something that automatically draws people in and your eyes are so expressive and innocent that the good doctor can’t fight the urge to look at them and feel something she wasn’t expecting nor she had felt in a very very long time. She is taken out of her reverie when she hears Alex mentioning the examination she was supposed to be doing right about now.

Dr. Sharpe: “Riiight, yes sorry. Ok so here we go. From what I was told by Lena and your sisters the pain your experienced was bad enough to knock you out. y/n while you were unconscious, I injected you with a very strong pain medication. You should not be able to have much sensation inside your mouth, but let me ask and without traying to move or prod with your tongue, do you feel any sort of pain in your mouth?

You take a moment to take inventory of your current condition and you cannot feel any sort of pain in your mouth nor anything similar to the pain you felt by stumping your foot during your temper tantrum thrown at your big sister. You press her hand twice, saying NO, you don’t feel pain.

Dr. Sharpe: “Good, that’s good. You will experience lack of sensation for a couple of hours. Like I said it’s a strong pain reliever with a numbing agent, I gave you the best drugs available” – she winks at you. “But once that wears off you will feel very uncomfortable for at least the next 48 hours. Basically, strenuous activity can cause pressure to build up and complicate things like heavy bleeding and rupture of your stiches and of course can be extremely painful. Which unfortunately was your case. Because you haven’t developed the blood clot inside the tooth cavity, you are not suffering from what Is called dry socket, and that is not fun let me tell. It’s quite painful.”

Your eyes were comically wide in both surprise and fear.

Dr. Sharpe: “ Ok let me explain that better. Nothing to be scare about. Think about it like a lake. Yes, like a lake or a pond. After a tooth extraction, blood fills the site where the tooth was. Blood is what allows the body to heal. Just like a lake needs to be filled with water, a tooth extraction needs blood to heal. What happens during a dry socket is that the blood washes away and the site dries out too soon. When the blood clot is lost, the site lacks the blood cells and nutrients needed for healing. A dry socket is like a lake in a drought. The lake has dried up.”

You like her voice and how soothing it is. Even tough what she is saying sounds painful and scary. Your sisters and Lena are paying rapt attention to what the blonde doctor is saying.

Dr. Sharpe: “Ok so in your case you were lucky it was just the stitches, but painful, nonetheless. Dry sockets are a very common complication and can cause the healing time to extend. You did cause damage to the tissue surrounding the incision and I was not able to use stitches to close the gap without risking nerve damage. I use aviente, that is a microfibrillar collagen to help you absorb the blood to reduce the bleeding and accelerate the clot formation. I know this is a lot of information and maybe you can feel a little out of sorts due to the pain medication, but I like to explain everything to my patients.”

You could listen to her voice for hours and being explain anything she wanted to you because you liked her voice very much. You were also sporting a goofy smile towards the blue-eyed doctor while your sisters and Lena took into everything the doctor was saying.

The doctor gave you a warm smile and explained more about your condition to your sisters and Lena, making them feel much calmer now that you were okay and being tended by a very competent specialist. After the incident with your childish tantrum you learnt that Alex was about to leave to get your meds when Lena remembered her friend being back in town and she was an expert in all things dental according to Kara’s explanation. She called Cassandra Sharpe right away and her friend was able to drop everything to help her and be there for you because she knew Lena Luthor would never just call and ask for a favor in such urgent way and that only meant that you were someone very important and dear to Lena. You may be high as a kite right now and drooling like a fool, for obvious reasons, now but you certainly weren’t blind to appreciate how beautiful Cassandra Sharpe truly was. You were taken out of your daydreaming once again by the voice you could become addicted very soon.

Dr. Sharpe: “You need to be very careful Y/N, the next 8 to 12 days you need to follow the indications to a T. No hard or crunchy food, no smoking, no alcohol, no caffeine and avoid excessively greasy foods those can irritate and create infections in the tooth cavity. I noticed the drinking bottles Lena got you, those are great, please don’t let her use any kind of straws or bottles that requires suction those are a very hard no, they can easily dislodge the blood clot and that is what we are trying to prevent from happening at all cost. From what I can tell your pain tolerance is almost nonexistent and that would only create a horrible painful experience for you. Taking into consideration what I read and heard from Alex about your medical history, you can have complications due to the poor capacity for your blood to clot. The aid I use is designed to help create the clot but that takes time and you will have literally two open blood oozing wounds inside your mouth. I’m leaving a list and indications of everything you need to know, I’m getting you guys my direct line so if you have any questions or concerns you can call me right away or Lena can get ahold of me. But in the case, she is busy you can easily reach out to me. Y/N You can’t do any kind of exercise, heavy lifting, no strenuous activities even too much walking can be harmful. Try to relax and chill on the couch or your bed for the next 48 hours”

You knew your helicopter sisters and super protective Lena wouldn’t let you lift a finger in the near future. You sighed and nodded to the whole speech. You honestly felt like crap for putting your loved ones in this position, just for being stubborn and you were is no rush to be in that kind of pain again, you were going to avoid it at all cost. Besides you liked to see the bright side of things and meeting the gorgeous blonde doctor was something bright alright. Something about her was drawing you like a mot to a flame.

Alex, Kara and Lena were taking on everything Dr. Sharpe was saying like their lives depended on the words being spoken by the blonde woman.

Alex: “We will make sure she follows all your indications, and if I have any questions, I will call you right away. Thank you so much for all your help Doctor Sharpe, I cannot express how thankful we all are you were able to make a house call at such hour and leave all the important activities you probably had to put on hold”

Dr. Sharpe: “nonsenses, what are friend for right? I mean I love Lena like a sister, and she is one of my closest friends. I’ve heard a lot of stories about the wonderful Danvers sisters and I wish we could have met under better circumstances. But work and life kept me from National City and my favorite Luthor over here” She looks to where Lena standing close to Kara and gives her a very honest and tender smile. “I recently moved to National City looking for a less hectic and strenuous life, I love my job and being able to help and learn more about my field of expertise. But you know, there’s a time in your life where you need to stop and think of what you really want and need. I’m not in my 20s anymore and I needed a change. The need to settle down and have more time for me. I also missed Lee so very much, she’s been my family for a very long time, and it’s been years since we could be together in the same city for more than 2 days at the time. I just missed this amazing woman so much I just knew that if I wanted a fresh start and a place to call home it had to be wherever this amazing soul named Lena Luthor would be”

Lena started to tear up at the heartfelt words coming from the doctor, and you could sense Dr. Sharpe was a force to be reckon with and she was definitely someone very special and that she loved Lena fiercely. Wish only increased your need to know more about the blonde woman.

Lena: “Cassie why are you always trying to make me cry you beautiful idiot amazing woman. I have a reputation to uphold you know?” Lena teased and came to where the blonde woman was sitting at the coffee table in front of you and Kara. She gave the blonde a hug and whispered something in her ear that you couldn’t catch. But you saw Dr. Sharpe tear up a bit and nod against Lena’s shoulder. Suddenly you wanted to move Lena away and hold the blonde blue- eyed woman yourself. Ooookay possessive much? Damn those pain meds are really doing a number on you, what the hell? You mentally asked yourself while trying to sit up a bit since you been in a weird angle for a long time on top of Kara. You could swear you heard the words ´I love you too´ being whispered back from the blonde to Lena. You frowned.

This made the women turn in your direction, Kara helped you to sit with your back to her front while Alex kept looking at the exchange between Lena and the doctor and then at you with a smirk on her face.

Dr. Sharpe: “Okay well I guess that was a lot coming from someone you just met” she gives a nervous laugh while discretely removing a tear from her eye and continue with your examination. “And after that mushy festival, I would like to ask you y/n to really take it easy. Drink a lot of fluids and try to eat the food I listed in the sheet I gave your sisters. I will email you a more detailed list so you can have it at hand. I know it sucks no being able to eat many things but trust me y/s, I made sure to list a very good and delicious options, I swear to God and all the deities in heaven that I don’t eat rabbit food like Lena. I actually love food and I always try to make things easy for my patients. I mean they are already in pain and miserable so why make them suffer even more? I don’t like to see any of my patients in pain, that’s one of my main goals, that and to help them have a fast recovery period so they can go back to their normal lives in no time”

Kara: “wow you are a very impressive and dedicated doctor. Thank Rao Lena only has eyes for me, and we trust each other very much otherwise I would feel very intimated by you Doctor Sharpe.” Kara joked and laughs when Lena tries to slap Kara’s arm while still sporting a beaming smile at her girlfriend antics and having all her favorite ladies in the same room.

Dr. Sharpe: “Rao? As in the mythological Indian king?” – asked the blonde quite intrigued.

Everyone froze at that and Kara just giggled and said- “it’s just an expression from where I’m from but anyhoooow…what’s the verdict doctor?” – trying to change the course of the talk back to y/n.

Dr. Sharpe: “Oh, I see. That’s cool. Well Miss Y/N here needs complete and total rest for at least the next 48 hours. I would like to check on your incisions tomorrow just to make sure there’s no sign of nerve damage nor infection. And to try to gauge your pain tolerance while being out of the hard stuff and make sure you get the best option in time and avoid you experiencing any unnecessary pain. The first couple of days are the tricky ones. Reason why if you all are comfortable with, I would like to be your primary dental specialist, I’m not trying to impose or say that your current doctor is inadequate. The surgery was done perfectly. However, my concern comes from the post op care indications and the pain meds you were prescribed. Due to your medical history, the level of pain you experience today was very extreme, you doctor should have been aware of certain details to avoid searing pain based on your records. I’m sure he or she is a very competent doctor, however there are cases where the patient needs a more specialized professional, not to brag, but I am one of those professionals”. – she jokes while pointing a finger to herself.

Dr. Sharpe: “Besides any friends of Lena are friends of mine and I would hate for such a lovely girl like y/n to suffer unnecessary pain if avoidable” - her smile is kind and sincere.

You smile at the goofy doctor while being in awe of the amazing woman she is.

Lena: “Honestly Cassie you are so very humble I’m amazed you head still within the same space of your body and not floating around the streets ” – she says sarcastically with no bite behind her words, just friendly banter among close friends. “In all seriousness thank you so much for everything, I wanted to referred y/n to you as her first option, but you were so busy with the move and seminars that I never thought of asking. And her current doctor is an amazing professional as well, just not as immerse as you are in the studies of nerve damage caused by maxillofacial surgery. Nor the involvement in recent studies of sensory intervention to the face, and the you are pretty much involved in all the branches in mandibular nerve injuries”

Alex: “Absolutely, you seem to know more about what y/n needs right now and we would love for you to continue as her primary periodontist. And we have complete faith in what Lena says, to impress Lena Luthor is not an easy thing to accomplish and she speaks very highly of you. And like you said, a friend of Lena is a friend of ours as well”

Dr. Sharpe: “Perfect, that’s settles it then” – the blonde woman gives a brilliant smile to the women in front of her.

The Danvers sisters were beyond impress, if you could actually move your jaw, it would probably be hanging low near the floor at the amount of words coming out of Lena because, you were smart but that sounds like doctor Sharpe was some sort eminence in dental care. Can this woman be any more perfect?

Lena seems to be super proud of her friend and the way she talks about her work, you know Lena is beyond intelligent and crazy smart, but her friend is looking like a masterpiece created by the Gods themselves. Yes, the drugs she gave you are doing a number on you indeed.

The blonde doctor turns bright red at the words Lena just said and you think is the most wonderful thing to witness. You are in so much trouble.

You began to feel like all energy was leaving your body, you wanted to keep listening to Dr. Sharpe speak but you felt a heaviness take over your body and you still had something odd inside your mouth and all you wanted at the moment was to sleep. You tried to find a better spot within your sister arms and you brought a fist to your eye a clear sign that you were sleepy and about to get fussy.

Kara: “Someone is getting fussy over here. Dr. Sharpe are you all done, or you need her awake for a bit longer?” -Kara asked while traying to cradle you in a way you felt more comfortable.

Dr. Sharpe: “Oh my, I’m so sorry we kept talking and time got away from us. Yes, just hold her head like before and I will remove the mouth peace and apply the antiseptic and anesthetic gel really quick”

Doctor Sharpe was very quick to clean her hands and put on a new pair of latex gloves and very gently you felt your mouth being held again by those soft hands, and nimble fingers remove something spongy feeling that was placed inside your mouth. Then you saw when she grabbed something from a bag you haven’t noticed before and continue to properly finish wherever she was doing at the moment, finally you felt a sort of cold liquid and that was it.

Dr. Sharpe: “Ok all done. Sorry I got distracted for a moment. But you are all set y/n. You can now try to talk if you want but avoid making too much facial movements or prod the gaps with your tongue. I know is tempting, because you may feel a funny sensation around the tissue or just of out curiosity, please don’t do it. Rinse the extraction site with warm salt water 2 times a day for 1 week beginning tomorrow afternoon. Don’t let her take any of the medications on an empty stomach. If for any reason you experience discomfort or any problems, do not hesitate to call Okay?”

Y/N: “Thank you” – you replied very quietly and with a timid voice. Your sisters and Lena found that odd as you are always a ball of sunshine and not really shy. But then you had to do it, because of course you would…

Y/N: “So that means no corn dogs, right?”- you sheepishly asked.

Dr. Sharpe laughs a little – “No, sorry honey. You can’t eat those right now”

Kara and Lena just hide their smirks at the cheeky comment and Alex being the more mature of you all just gives you a look and you know you need to stop right now.

Alex: “Very well, you heard that y/n? no corn dogs and stick to what Dr. Sharpe is saying. You don’t want to be in pain and you will have tasty food options. So, shush you menace”

You sigh in relief that your sister is not really mad, and you honestly don’t want to prolong the time you need for recovery by doing something stupid, again.

Kara: “Okaay on that note, I’m taking this one to her room and tuck her in. Dr. Sharpe you should totally come to our games night, there’s wine, beer, food lots and lots of food and obviously games. We’re not sure when the next one will be though, until y/n right here feels better that’s for sure. But again, thank so much for all you’ve done tonight”

Alex: “Yes, I’ll be there in a moment, I will stay with her tonight. She tends to move in her sleep, like A LOT and I don’t want her hitting her face or putting to much pressure on her cheeks by lying on her side or stomach. If she is being held, she stays still”

Y/N: “No I don’t, Alex don’t say that” – you’re mortified by what your sister just said in front of the hot doctor and you want to hide your embarrassment.

Kara just snorts and Lena shakes her head. However, the blonde doctor seems to be pretty amused by that statement and looks at you with something you can’t quite decipher, she doesn’t look disgusted or mad. Her eyes seem to shine even brighter at that, and a smile so warm directed at you that you feel butterflies in your stomach. You are in so much trouble.

Dr. Sharpe: “You are just the cutest y/n. I think I’m going to have a blast getting to know you all now that I’m in National City. Now Alex, I think that’s a wise choice. An ice pack should be applied to the face as soon as possible, hold it for 20 minutes and then removed it for 20 more. Do it for a few hours, it will help minimize swelling”

Alex: “Of course, we have several ice packs ready. Thank you again for everything and it sure is a pleasure to meet you Doctor Sharpe I hope you can come to our game night; they are pretty fun and stress relivers. You can text us what time is best for y/n check up tomorrow or if you think it’s better for us to take her to your office…”

Dr. Sharpe: “Please, call me Cassandra Dr. Sharpe is way to formal and I would love to join you, just let me know what I need to bring and the time and date. About tomorrow, just call me whenever y/n is awake, and I can come to check on her pain level and make sure the clots are forming. It’s better for her to stay home so I think it’s easier for me to just stop by.”

Lena was looking at the exchange with curiosity, she seems to notice how her doctor friend was being towards y/n, she knew her well and her eyes never sparkle like that. At least not just at anyone and she hasn’t seen that look in a very long time. It was a good luck on her, however Lena was very protective of y/n, so she was going to have a nice long chat with her doctor friend very soon.

y/n was fading fast, so Kara just said a quick goodbye to the blonde doctor and walk out of the room with y/n in her arms while saying something about lunch or food. You weren’t quite sure.

Y/N: “Byeeeee doctor pretty eyes” – you said with a goofy smile and obviously losing all sense of shame and inhibition the sleepier you got. You gave a cute wave and you let yourself being carried away to your room.

The blonde doctor just gave you a big smile and waved back at you.

Dr. Sharpe: “See you tomorrow cutie, sleep tight”

Yes, things were about to get very interesting soon.

Next Part 4: dry sockets...

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Note: I don't know how or when it happened. The story took a twist without me actually knowing. somehow while thinking about this 3rd part i just kept seeing these scenes playing on my mind and my fingers just kept typing. I just realized how much i written and i was shocked to see it was at least twice the amount of words from the two previous parts. Let me know what you think, I never imagined this story to become so long. But bear with me, this is the first time I have written anything like this and i guess i still need to control my thoughts. Still i kept the same idea of baby Danvers being her silly cute and adorable self while being taken care and dot over her sisters and Lena. I just added something extra that I hope you'd enjoy. Please let me know what you think. I made this fluffier to compensate from the angst on Part 2, However don't think the pain is over (I laugh evilly and I slowly walk away)

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#baby danvers #baby!danvers #alex x baby danvers #origial character #supercorp #supergirl #lena luthor imagine #lena x reader #lena x supergirl #lena luthor #kara x reader #kara danvers imagine #kara danvers #alex danvers #fanfic

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beenpxshedaside · 7 years ago

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Some Things Secret

Summary: There’s something about Bing

The title is based off a quote I found on Google “I guess we are keeping some things secret” It’s meant to be a pun but it’s like gone 4am here so it may not make the same sense as I am getting from it. So this has been in my head all night during my nightmare shift. I hope it’s allright and I didn’t fuck up

@bubblegum-borb @pleaseletthisjimbetaken

Bing is a lousy droid - Fact.

Not only is he undeniably inferior at many basic functions that come so much easier to Google, he’s far too upbeat, tends to be hyperactive, and spends too much time on that dang skateboard, the droid’s systems are way too slow, and he takes an age to charge. Despite Google’s repeated insistence that none of them need Bing, Dark frequently shuts down his protests and says that Bing is staying.

Google has deemed that letting Bing know just how aggravating he finds the inferior droid is worth less than looks of disdain and grunts of disapproval when their paths cross. Still Bing doesn’t seem to get the idea, and every time he continues to give a wave and that weird greeting.

Google’s brothers are a little more tolerant of Bing, though not by much. So it’s they who start to notice something off about him.

Red mostly just says no to whatever stupid new dangerous activity Bing is wanting to check out. This week it’s BMX, last week it was abseiling, next week it could well be sky-diving. It makes no sense that a droid would be that intent on putting itself into such dangerous situations. He doesn’t notice initially that Bing has stopped approaching him, realising that the last time Bing suggested some activity was a good few weeks ago.

Green often assists Dr Iplier in his clinic, and one day, he enters to find Bing speaking with the doc in hushed voices, though he soon shuts up when he realises they aren’t alone. Dr Iplier doesn’t realise and promises that he’ll ask Schneeplestein but that Bing should assume the answer is no. Once Bing has left, Green asks what that had been about but the doc just claims doctor-patient confidentiality and says nothing.

Oliver is the closest with Bing, the two of them actually getting on quite well, though Google still doesn’t understand it. The yellow droid and Bing often watch TV, or hang out in the garden or go for mini-adventures (nothing life-threatening).So when he searches everywhere for the orange droid, only to find the guy still in bed barely moving or responding, of course he’s worried. At first he thinks it might be a charging issue but Bing kind of half wakes up and inisists it isn’t, before he asks to be given some time to just rest.

The three of them take their concerns to Google who reminds them that Bing is not like them. He is an inferior machine and that he is distracting them from their objectives. It isn’t until he is passing Bing’s room and he can hear muted sobs that his own curiosity gets the better of him and he goes in to investigate.

Bing is sat on the edge of his bed, cradling his right arm that looks like it’s shut down, a bit too stiff and still. Sure enough Bing is crying, though as soon as he sees Google coming in, he gives this big fake smile as though he doesn’t look like death.

The two of them stay like this for a moment or two, Google in the doorway, Bing on the bed. Having satisfied his curiosity, Google starts to leave, stopping because Bing calls out to him, asking him for help.

Bing admits that he isn’t actually a droid powered by the search engine Bing. His real name is Ashley Bingham. Bing was a childhood nickname that’s always stuck. When he was in his late teens, he was involved in a nasty accident that destroyed a large portion of the right side of his body. By rights he should have died. He only survived because his parents agreed to an incredibly experimental (and probably not very legal) bionic procedure. It was a success but the connections between his robotic parts and his human parts made for a messy problem when it came to illness or malfunction.

A doctor can look after his fleshy body, a robotics specialist can easily maintain his enhancements, but very few are willing to get involved when the two mix. The only person really qualified to maintain Bing is an up-to-date expert in bionics, and even then given the often controversial nature of the practice, most of them only know how to handle it in theory.

The only practioner, who has maintained Bing to this point, died six months ago, and Bing has spent all this time trying to find someone else before something goes wrong. Even asking Dr Iplier to see if Dr Schneeplestein knows anything that might help. Bing then explains that he may be too late, since he can’t move his arm and his eye is starting to malfunction. If he doesn’t find someone to fix him soon, it’s only a matter of time before something more vital fails, and there’s no coming back from that.

This is a lot to take in, Google finding himself with a lot of questions but deciding that now is probably not the time, he sends a message to summon all the Google droids in Bing’s room. They each have a vital role to play.

Green is tasked with finding any and all resources available that discuss the practice of bionic surgery and to search for notes by the original surgeon. After all, in this new digital age, nothing is ever truly lost to death. Everything needs to be found, read, noted, printed, filed and shared between them.

Red has to find out which of the other egos know, discreetly. A somewhat arduous task but a vital one nonetheless, given the extremes to which Bing has gone to try and keep this hidden since he joined the group. It’s clearly a point of concern, possibly even shame and if there is anyone who may try and use it against him, they need to know.

Oliver’s duty is to keep Bing calm, since he’s still crying and clearly very distressed. Keep him distracted and reassure him that this is just a hurdle, not a road block. Make sure he doesn’t do anything to further aggravate his parts and maybe try to find out what was replaced so they know where to start looking.

Google heads straight for the clinic, informing the doctor that he knows, that they all know and that they will require access to his clinic at various points, and maybe even request his assitance from time to time. When the doctor asks why Google explains that the four of them will be fixing Bing from now on.

They can hardly leave him in the state they found him, they cannot allow him to simply cease to function. Google doesn’t entirely understand his own motivation but he knows one thing.

Bing is a lousy droid - Fact - because he’s not a droid. And he definitely doesn’t deserve to die.

#cyborg!Bing #this probably sucks because of sleep brain #i am sorry if it does #i hope you like

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swandrews · 4 years ago

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Further Adventures of Dwayne Carlos and Company, Parts 2 and 3

**This blog only goes one way, so if you are catching up you may want to scroll back to “Further Adventures with Dwayne Carlos and Company, Part 1”, or to “It Is That Year”. I mean, you can look back further than that but I think most of the preceding 4 years (after my surgery etc) boils down to “I had an MRI/it was fine”.**

WARINING: This bit is extremely long…very busy few weeks on the mental & emotional teeter-totter.

Part 2 - in which the trap is discovered to have already been sprung, and serious considerations go all wackadoo

September 24-25

When it was learned that eflornithine/Vaniqa-for-brains + older chemo did nothing for me (nothing that was good, anyway), we were presented with a few other possibilities. One of them had already been mentioned and quickly dismissed: stage 1 trial, the herpes cold sore virus, theoretically converted into only going after cancer, injected into the brain. Still seemed…kind of crazy? Another was standard, but generally only taken by those who have run out of options: an injected medication, Avastin, used for a variety of cancers, sometimes helps some people. Another round of my first chemo was listed as “doubtful, but you could try it”.

And then there was another trial just opened up, for a type of medication you have probably heard about in recent news: immunotherapy. It has had very limited effects for brain cancer BUT for SOME people who have been on it, there has been very promising, if not near-miraculous results. It worked for Jimmy Carter, for his melanoma that spread to his brain! They think that people who have a higher “tumor mutational burden” are most likely to respond well to immunotherapy. And that’s me! When I read about the studies that Dana-Farber had made about my tumor tissues, that was the thing that stuck out the most to me. I didn’t know what it meant but it did not seem good: apparently I had a “tumor mutational burden/megabase” that was 82% higher than all glioma cancers they’d looked at. And while I now understand it slightly better, it is still way beyond my ability to explain what little I know - but the upshot is that it makes Dwayne Carlos potentially much easier to take down.

The explanatory papers on the immunotherapy trial were frightening, as they all are, but it did seem like the best option available and I started to get…well, maybe not excited, but hopeful? I was hopeful. So I said, yes, let’s do that. OK. I filled out the forms and answered a lot of questions. There was some concern about problems I’d had with my eyes in the past and recently, which they were checking on, but we were proceeding with paperwork and scheduling and I was getting ready to do this thing! and then I got a phone call:

“Everything seems fine with your eyes and you’re good to go with all of that. But… it turns out that there’s not enough of your preserved tumor samples remaining for this trial. You can’t be in this trial. Sorry!… I’m calling to talk about your other options, like the [cold sore virus brain injection]?”

“Not enough tumor samples remaining”??? Why?!??! Well, some of it was used for trial studies for the [lengthy & furious string of invectives] Vaniqa, and some of it was used for the oconopanel studies they had done, in which they found how I’d potentially be a star in the immunotherapy trial that I was no longer able to do because the trial required more tumor samples than I had left. !!! I was so upset that I was barely able to speak, and I am still pretty much unable to write about the fall from rising hope to its abrupt and total disappearance. I will say that they were surprised by the discovery…I don’t know where the blame lies for all of this, and would like to find out but I don’t have that kind of time.

My remaining options were as listed above: brain cold sores, questionable chemo, standard last-ditch Avastin. I did some research on the Avastin, and learned that one of the main reasons that it is often considered a last-ditch drug is that, if it works at all (it doesn’t for everyone), sooner or later—could be several years or a few months— it stops working and when it does, for many people the cancer tends to come back at super strength and lightning speed and then you are done. It’s like a timer starts ticking when you begin that treatment. I don’t know why this was never mentioned to me by any doctor who has been involved in all this, but I brought it up in conversation with a doctor today and was answered with a sad head nod. Also, it turns out that the same is sort of true for the chemo I spent a year on, though not as brutal as the Avastin: when the cancer comes back, it tends to be stronger, and that does indeed seem to be the case with me.

So, unbelievably, the previously tested on mice, stage 1 cold sore brain injection trial was actually starting to look like maybe my best option. I had an online appointment set up with a surgeon, to talk about my limited options if there were any (I had already been told a number of times that my tumor was in a spot that is too risky/would be too deep in my language center/etc). That surgeon just happened to be the guy who was heading up the cold sore brain injection trial.

Part 3 - in which we come full circle and thankfully reach the end of this awful chapter…

The surgeon was a very nice guy. He asked me to talk about my history, I think more to get a better idea of how I talked and how well my Remaining Brain was working than for information, and he took me on a little tour of my recent MRI images, explaining everything I saw: “this all is your skull, here, and see, here you can see your jaws… and now if we turn it, this here is your left ear and here is your right…”. I eventually had to stop him and tell him I had seen many, many MRIs. I think that maybe most patients he sees have had a worse run with brain cancer by the time they get to him, and so have a harder time understanding what he’s trying to show and explain.

I had been extremely anxious about the meeting but talking with him was surprisingly less stressful than I had anticipated. We spoke about the cold sore injection trial. I had looked into it more, and it did seem like it might have real future promise, someday, but it was at a stage now where the studies were still mostly testing just for basic safety, more than effectiveness. I told him what I had learned about the cold sore studies, and said, this is really positive work but at this point, how or why does anyone choose to join this trial? He told me: they choose to do it when they have run out of options, and you are not there yet. We asked his opinion about my other options, the Avastin and the chemo retrial. He was refreshingly blunt: “No, bad idea.” He saw the options and saw that they held more potential problems than potential benefit.

My options, he said, definitely could include more surgery. Unlike everything I had heard so far, he was of the opinion that removing my new tumor should be relatively easy. They would have to check with an fMRI, but it appears that my tumor growth is near but not directly in what is the general language/speech area. As for getting at the tumor area, well, he says it should be easier than the last surgery since now I have a great big empty space in my brain to get through. I was confused: why had everyone been saying that surgery was too much of a risk, and this surgeon was nearly blasé about it? But he is the head of neurosurgery for one of the country’s top hospitals. I guess he knows what he is talking about.

We asked how soon surgery would be possible; “Next week, if you like.” Uh, no thank you! Not next week! Maybe the week after that! So we left it at that, and after another talk with my ocono-neurologist, we went ahead and started the process for surgery. I’m scheduled to go in this coming week for an fMRI (I never wanted to go through brain surgery again but I was kind of hoping for another fMRI!), and then the following week I am scheduled for brain surgery. It is frightening and it has serious risks and will come with a bunch of new challenges (all of which I hope to write about more in the little time I have left before surgery, but not right now!)—but it is a solid path forward. It is possible they’ll be able to get the whole thing, which would be wonderful (if they can do it without robbing me of too much speech). Or, if they can’t, they can get more of the cancer tissue needed for them to learn more about where my tumor is at, and get me into more clinical trials. I am not thrilled about brain surgery, but I am so relieved to be on more solid ground.

Part 3.5 - …or do we???!??

Don’t think I mentioned before but Dana-Farber and Brigham & Women’s Hospital are deeply connected, my MRIs are at BWH and so is the surgeon and the upcoming surgery, etc. So this is not great:

This was already under way even as I spoke to the surgeon but I only learned about it a few hours ago (Friday). I just…I’m done for now. Done. Everything is fine.

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rayanrooke · 7 years ago

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Ranking the 10 Best Survival Books of 2018

Survival books are essential fountains that you can tap into for a variety of useful outdoor knowledge. Some are more heavily focused on tips and tricks for building fire, making shelter, and finding food. Others cover everything you’ll need to know about wilderness medicine.

Luckily, many outdoor enthusiasts and survivalists have come before us and decided to compile their experiences and lessons into books that we can learn from. A great number of these books are fantastic resources to keep with you whenever you venture into the wilderness.

We’ve compiled our list of the Top Ten Survival Books to help you find one that fits your needs. At the conclusion of this ranking, we’ve also put together a comprehensive Buyer’s Guide to simplify the process and ensure that you find a book that contains the information you’re searching for.

1. Bushcraft 101