#if you’re over 60 you might want to get an ultrasound just in case. and also if you have Marfan’s syndrome or

[perfect-jerry-blossom]

i always find it a little funny when people say “i’m gonna have an aneurysm” or “he had an aneurysm” as a stand-in for like, freaking out or getting really mad. because an aneurysm in and of itself is not necessarily symptomatic! you could have a 5cm aortic aneurysm right now and not even know. on top of that, an aneurysm is not always deadly, especially if it’s caught early and monitored. when i was working outpatient imaging we regularly had older folks come in to have their aneurysms monitored. so when people are like “omg i’m gonna have an aneurysm” i’m like well you probably wouldn’t know even if you had one for years :) it just doesn’t have the same urgency as like “you gave me a heart attack” yknow lolol

it might make more sense to say “i’m gonna hemorrhage” or “he was thrombosed” but those both sound stupid and lame so aneurysm wins

[highwaydiamonds]

Um. Excuse me. You had cancer??

Yeah... I mean I guess I really haven't discussed it much on tumblr. I have a little bit, but only in vague ways, or rarely made veiled references in tags.

SO, get a drink, get a snack, because this is a bit of a saga, and you already know I am longwinded at the best of times. I'm going to do like Vizzini said, and go back to the beginning. I hope you're ok I'm making this public Shells, it seems easier to? And I'll put this behind a cut because I really do wax on ( and on).

It's the end of August 2018 and i appear to have gotten some kind cold/respiratory infection. I'm at work the first day of it and it feels like a cold. No big deal. (Also this is all pre-COVID so no I didn't have COVID). The next day I feel really awful, so I call off work, and figure all I need to do is rest and I'll be ok. Turns out, NOPE. The next day I feel worse- now I can tell I have a bit of a fever, my appetite was basically, " eat one baby carrot and my appetite is exhausted." Finally, I get to the point that I am having trouble lying down - as in I am becoming short of breath when I try to lie flat (sorry if I am using the wrong word - lay/lie was always a grammar issue that eluded me.) So, I decide, ok, i will be sensible girl and go get medical attention. But I am stubborn and feel the ER is overreacting, so I go to urgent care. i park in the front row of urgent car parking, but by the time I reach the intake desk I have to put my head down because I am so winded and a bit lightheaded.

They take one look at me and tell me, point blank, "we're getting a squad for you to take you to the ER." I say, " what? no, I don't need that, this is not that big a deal." They counter, " you could barely walk in the door and you you are having significant trouble breathing. We don't have the ability to see you here." So, for the first time in my life I have to go via ambulance from urgent care to a free standing ER.

I get to the ER - where they decide, OK, lady, you're a mess. Let's get some chest x-rays and we're gonna slap some IV fluids and I can't even recall if they immediately put me on IV antibiotics or not. But after two hours there they informed me, " hey.... So, we think you need to go to the hospital-hospital not the freestanding ER." I tell them well you better hand me my laptop ( I'm that bitch who takes the laptop with her juuuuust in case I am stuck in the hospital. you never know.) Because i am not going to a hospital until I figure out if they're in my health plan. I do so and then for the second time in my life, all in one night because sometimes I am an over achiever i guess, I go via ambulance to the hospital.

They admitted me and over the next few/couple/ hours ( it was hard to tell) I progressively felt worse. I had trouble breathing if I didn't sit absolutely straight up, and at that point I hadn't gotten good sleep for around 60 hours or so. Me being me I started to get teary and panicky, because I was so tired and wasn't sure what to do. I called for the nurse and she came in and then within the next half hour your girl got taken down to the ICU. By the time we arrived down in the ICU I was really getting panicky. My mom died in the ICU ( different hospital but still) and I knew the fact they took me down there was no laughing matter. I started to think about, " ok is this what death is like? this isn't what i thought it was going to be - this is panicky and scary and not all white lights and peace."

The next thing I knew - it was two days later, and I woke up intubated. Did you know that you can be conscious and intubated? I did not. I'll speed things up a bit here. I spent a total of 8 days in the ICU - I had one hell of a case of pneumonia, and there were a couple of other diagnoses thrown in ( nope, not cancer. promise, we will get there.) . The nurses I had were AMAZING. I was intubated for about 6 of those 8 days. Then I got weaned off of it. Funniest moment on the ventilator: Physical therapist comes around and says, " Hey let's get you up and walking, you think you can?" I nodded and shrugged my shoulders to try and communicate, " sure, ok!" It went totally fine, but there were nursing students, residents, other doctors and who knows who else looking out of rooms and over desks at the two of us just y'know... *walking down the hall*. I gestured to the people because it was just flipping weird. I had an audience at the exact time NOBODY wants an audience and it confused the hell out of me. PT advised me, " there aren't too many times ventilated patients are ambulatory. You're a bit of a curiosity so people want to see."

Once I got out of the ICU and was put back on a regular floor, I got to meet with other doctors re those other diagnoses I mentioned ( chronic things I just have to manage) I also mentioned that it had been a really long time since I had been to a GYN and as had been noted in the ICU I spotted quite frequently ( I have never, ever in my life been regular period-wise and it just got weirder over time, but I just didn't really consider it. So I asked while they were setting me up with new practitioners ( my previous doctor had retired) too please set me top with a gynecologist.

So I'm out of the hospital by September 10th, 2018. The gyro appointment occurs i want to say by mid- to late September. I go in and meet her and she's lovely. While I'm up on the table she says, " hey let's do all the things and get a uterine biopsy!" I say, " excellent, do the things!" We agree it's likely going to be nothing but hey we're smart people and we will play it safe. Huzzah Gyno visit accomplished! (if I were a gamer I'd make some kind of ladybits achievement unlocked now, but I'm not a gamer.)

Two or so weeks go by - or however long it takes to get those test results back (some of these spans are lost in the mists of time). Dr Boyle calls me and apologizes that the test results that she was sure would be nothing... they are not nothing. Turns out, it's endometrial cancer.

At that point you could have knocked me over with a feather. Shells, I wanted my mom to be there so badly, I can't even express it. She would have understood how I felt - she'd been there with her breast cancer. But at the same time, I was glad she wasn't there? I remember how heartsick my mom was to tell Grandmommy when Mom got cancer. I didn't want my mom to have to hear that news, to worry about that. Dr Boyle advised me that she would be referring me to a good oncologist and i should hear from them in a week or two.

Thus began MRIS and PET scans and ultrasounds, and blood work etc. The oncologist diagnosed that he figured I might be stage three, but it depended on my lymph involvement. It brought back memories of when Mom was diagnosed and when she told me she was stage three. I asked my Dad later, "what does that mean?" He told me, " there are only four stages, so what do you think?" This time around I knew what it meant. So, we put me down for surgery November 9th, 2018. That's two days before my birthday - so I joked that I was getting my cancer out for my birthday - hooray! My best friend actually flew in from texas for my surgery ( my best friend is a SAINT, and I love her more than pearls and rubies.)

Best surgery story from this experience: For my total hysterectomy (uterus and ovaries go sayonara and then also two signal lymph nodes in the chain of nodes on either side of the pelvis to se if there is any lymph complication.) I had to be tilted back - so with my head down to move as many organs away from the uterus etc during the laparoscopic procedure. I knew this going in, However, when I woke up back in my hospital room I looked at Bestie and said, " I hurt in places I didn't expect to hurt. Oh wait. My shoulders hurt because they're not used to being weight bearing, but the procedure was laproscopic - so why the heck does my vagina hurt?" Bestie in one of her best moments ever says, " I know why." I replied, " wait, YOU know why MY vagina hurts?!" She said, " yep. So your surgery was supposed to take 3-3.5 hours ended up taking 5 hours instead. Your uterus was really big. The oncologist told us they need up having to cut it in half to pull it out of you." bestie admitted she joked with the oncologist that it was like I had just birthed a baby, he looked back at her (NOT laughing) and said, " yes, that's basically what she did." I laughed so much at that ( i mean i was also well medicated, but still) I told Bestie, " I had a Uterus! Let's call it George!" ( In retrospect I am disappointed in myself that I misgendered my own uterus, I should have called it Georgina.)

So, after healing from the surgery, by about January of 2019 I started two courses (each with a few rounds) of chemo. First came what the doctors and I called "low-pro" chemo - that we did along with radiation. Honestly, though i was making a heck of a lot more bathroom trips, you wouldn't have generally known I was sick. Most of my coworkers had no idea. I just was a bit more tired than usual. After the low pro rounds - then we moved to the bigger guns. Radiation was done but I moved to more significant chemo drugs, This wasn't because things were bad - this was the plan all along :) But I knew the "high-pro" chemo was going to make me lose my hair. THAT was a psychic struggle. I cried so much knowing that was going to happen. I got hats and caps and I even got a very nice wig. I mean, I planned as much as a girl can plan when she hears that news. I even preemptively cut my long hair. It was about half way down my back at that point. So I went in and asked the stylist please braid it and put it in between two hair ties - and then cut it - so i could keep my braid. I couldn't do locks of love anyway as it was colored, and I know it's selfish, but I wanted my hair. So, the hair went from half down my back to a face framing bob. then I just waited. And then in a few weeks it happened. I could put my hands through my hair and easily, painlessly pull it out. I am not a cute bald girl. That's when people KNOW you have something going on.

I was very lucky though, there ended up NOT being lymph involvement, and even the high pro chemo didn't make me nauseous or lose appetite. I did have HORRIBLE bone pain usually the first week after chemo ( i'd get it every three weeks). I learned a hell of a lot from that. I also was able to get some meds to help alleviate it a bit, and I took time from work when the pain was at its worst. But I have never experienced pain like that - where no matter what I did - no position changes helped. Even ice packs or heat pads didn't help or do much. It was just a waiting game, a painful waiting game. Oh also - I learned that IV benadryl is nothing like oral benadryl. IV benadryl is like walking right into a brick wall made of sleep. That stuff knocked me the hell out right quick - amazing.

Right before COVID started and the world shut down I got the flu because my immune system was in the toilet- and so I spent another week in the hospital and except for the bone pain that comes with chemo, you know what is worse than chemo injections? POTASSIUM injections. Among other things, my potassium levels were low and so I got those injections with other meds. Those suckers HURT. they BURN, and so i spent a week in the hospital only to eventually come out and find out the world was starting to shut down from COVID. Not my job at that point, but my oncologist told me, " GO HOME - YOU KNOW YOU ARE IMMUNO COMPROMISED - DON'T STAY AT WORK." So, I went home until about a month after I finished chemo.

Since finishing chemo it's been about scans, which have gone ok so far... I'm not willing to talk about the R word. I just think I'll have to be careful the rest of my life - My mom always said, "once you've gotten cancer, you always have cancer." So, maybe it's the anxiety talking, but it's kind of like waiting for the other cancer shoe to drop. In the mean time though, it's business as usual - try to find good stuff in the midst of the hot mess. Cancer has been a crisis but not a reason to lose my sense of humor. I've needed it more than ever :)

So, sorry for the SERIOUSLY LONG ASS answer, but sometimes it's just better to lay it bare. I'm not ashamed of this stuff. It's been a lot. It's been a journey... It still is... it's part of the rest of my journey, which i hope isn't over by a long shot yet. I don't believe things happen for reasons - the world is WAY too absurd for that in my opinion, BUT good gravy have i been able to learn so much from this whole three ring circus. I'm not grateful for cancer, but I am grateful for the lessons.

Thanks for checking in, Shells. You're a complete sweetheart.

[terrm9]

CHAPTER 4 - The Talk

Ethan woke up from yet another nightmare, cold sweat sending shivers down his spine. Ever since Chiara's accident, the nightmares kept creeping back into his sleep, making it almost impossible to actually rest. It was 5 AM but since he knew he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, he decided to workout a little bit in hospital's gym and use gym's shower while he was at it. He missed the comfort of his own apartment, but couldn't stand the idea of going home with no one watching over Chiara here at the hospital. So he kept sleeping in his office, using gym's shower and eating whatever a vending machine had to offer at the moment. He let out a humorless laugh when he remembered Naveen's olden words that Ethan would move into the hospital one day. This situation was not what he had in mind back then.

After running on a treadmill for 40 minutes, trying to run away from the fear that consumed every cell of his body, fear that he would never hear Chiara's laugh again, refreshing shower and short conversation with an old lady that couldn't find Cardiology, he walked in into the diagnostic office, June and Baz already inside, going through a file together.

"What do we have there?" Ethan asked as he put some other files on the desk.

"Woman, 60 years old, sharp chest pain, fever, troubles when swallowing. She was admitted an hour ago."

"Pericartidis?" Ethan asked without even sitting down to go through the file.

"No, the ultrasound already ruled that one out. I already ordered blood test," June replied, trying to sound neutral, but the tension between her and Ethan was still obvious, leaving Baz in rather uncomfortable position.

"Okay, I'll go talk to her," Ethan nodded and left the office.

He didn't mind talking to his patients, quite opposite, but he knew Chiara was much better at it and that it would be her talking to the patient now, if only she was there. He entered the patient's room still deep in his thoughts and without thinking about it twice - he did it all the time after all - greeted the woman lying on the bed without even looking at her.

"Hello, I am Dr. Ramsey and I'll be taking care of you while you are here, Mrs.-"

He stopped abruptly, frowning at the name written on the chart. He had to blink several times to make sure that he is reading it right, that his sleep-deprived mind is not playing tricks on him and only then he looked at the woman lying in front of him. His eyes widened at the realization, the absurdity of situation getting down on him. He was shocked and surprised and so full of anger at the same time, but finally he found his ability to stay calm and distant and with the flat voice, he simply asked: "What are you doing here?"

"I was admitted with chest pain and fever."

"That much I know. I am asking what are you doing here, in Edenbrook of all the places? There are plenty of hospitals that would treat you."

"Ethan please. We need to talk."

"No we don't."

"Ethan, listen to me-"

"I said no."

Ethan tried his hardest to stay calm, to be the doctor and nothing but the doctor, but the anger built in his body was suddenly stronger than any other feeling and he felt himself losing it all. The next second, he was almost shouting.

"How dare you to use his name? My name? You left us 26 years ago and now you are telling me that I need to listen to you? I've seen my father crying himself to sleep for months, because he couldn't imagine his life without you. And then, after I made sure that he was asleep and safe, I cried myself to sleep because I has no idea what did I do wrong for you to leave us. You left your child, you left a little boy without any sort of explanation. I always tried so hard to be a good son, I worked hard at school, I cooked with dad and helped you garden, I never asked for much and still you decided that I wasn't good enough for you to stick with me and left like a coward! Dad might have forgiven you, but I never will. I was a child. A child! I needed a home, I needed love and security and all I ever got was wrecked father and feelings of self-hatred. Because no matter how hard I tried, my own mother left me without goodbye. I never trust anyone, because how could I? I push people away before they can push me away. I am not able to love someone because you made me feel like love didn't exist."

"Ethan, please-" 

"Don't please me here. I don't give a single damn about what you have to say. For 25 years I felt unworthy of love, I felt like a failure, I felt like everyone will leave me eventually. And when finally someone comes and for the first time in all those years makes me feel like I might be worth of their love, I am not able to love them back because I fucking forgot what love felt like. And now she could die any second-"

He stopped, realizing at his outburst wasn't leading to some point, ashamed of himself for even letting the emotions out. He could do better. They stared at each other for a long time, neither of them breaking the silence that filled the room. He tried to see some familiarity in her eyes, he tried to remember the best memory from his childhood that could maybe, just maybe make everything feel a little bit better, but all he could recall was the pain in his father's eyes and the empty feeling in his chest.

"I am sorry, Ethan. I am truly and honestly sorry." Mrs. Ramsey broke the silence after all.

"Save it for someone who cares. I'll get you another doctor."

Without any other word, he left the room. He felt the need to punch something rise in him, the need so strong that he locked the door of the nearest supply closet and smashed the wall so hard that some of the plastering fell off. And then again and again, Ethan kept hitting the wall with intensity that could cause serious injuries if it was a person instead of a wall. His knuckles started to bleed and it was enough for him to calm his own breathing, collect himself and get out of the tiny space.

On his way to office, he decided to invite Naveen over for dinner, the strong urge to finally share his feelings with someone supporting the decision. Just as he found Naveen's name on contact list and was about to dial, he spotted group of interns chatting near the nurses' station, the last sentence catching his attention.

"You think they'll make another competetion for interns to get the spot when she dies?"

He stopped in his tracks and with gritted teeth listened what they had to say next.

"I don't know," the tall, blonde guy shrugged, "but I am definitely not willing to sleep with Ramsey to win."

"What do you mean?"

"Well it's pretty obvious, isn't it? Everyone knows that Ray fucked Ramsey to get the spot in diagnostics team. She is average doctor, at best, so I guess she must be outstanding in bed."

Ethan's fists clenched at his side and without thinking, he moved forward to throw a fist into the asshole's face. However, before actually moving, he was stopped once again, staring wide eyed at the scene unfolding in front of him. Dr. Varma, apparently hearing the conversation too, stepped in front of the blonde intern and with blades in her eyes, she asked: "What did you say?"

"I...ugh... nothing! What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, asshole. At least stand up for what you said."

Ethan could see that the boy was shocked and maybe even embarassed, but after few seconds he grinned and repeated what he said earlier. "So you're saying that it's not true? That Dr. Ray slept with Dr. Ramsey to get the spot?"

"What I am saying is," she hissed through gritted teeth, "if I ever hear you talking about Dr. Ray this way, I will personally fuck whomever it takes to have you kicked out of this hospital. Even if it's Banerji himself."

Despite feeling so much anger, Ethan had to chuckle at the idea of Naveen being seduced by woman that charming and that scary. Heck, looking at the scene, even he was terrified of the young doctor. Jackie turned on her high heels and started to walk away when she noticed Ethan staring at her. She grinned, waved at him and disappeard in the patient's room.

~

Being in his own apartment didn't bring him half as much comfort as he thought it would. He enjoyed cooking in his own kitchen, using his own shower, listening to piano compound rolling peacefully from his phonograph, filling the whole apartment with soft tunes. The evening could be perfect if not for his frequent need to check his phone in case something changed with Chiara. Exactly at 7 PM, soft knock on his door interrupted him while setting the table.

"Naveen, hi. Thank you for coming."

Dr. Banerji smiled softly as he entered the apartment, handing a bottle of red wine to Ethan.

"I am glad to be here. I missed talking to you."

Ethan couldn't help but feel slightly ashamed at Naveen's word, realizing very well that for the past few weeks, he didn't do much to preserve their friendship.

"I'm just surprised you are not spending another night in the hospital," Naveen added.

"You've noticed."

"Of course I have. So, what made you change your mind?"

"Rafael Aveiro is back in Boston for three days and he asked me if he could stay with Chiara tonight. It puts my mind in ease knowing that someone is by her side."

There was no point in lying. Naveen could see through Ethan and he would know he was not telling the truth. They sat down and started to eat in silence, Ethan forcing himself to take at least few bites of the food he made.

"I am sorry for being so distant Naveen," Ethan broke the silence with statement, trying to put all the sincerity into his words.

"Oh, don't worry about that. I understand that life is hard on you right now. I heard from Dr. Hirata that your mother is in hospital?"

With a long sigh, Ethan put the fork down, knowing that he's done with eating. After short hesitation, he nodded and told Naveen everything, from being angry at June for wanting to replace Chiara to meeting his mother and spilling his heart to her before he could stop.

"It seems to me, Ethan, and don't get angry now, that you haven't made your peace with the situation at all."

"Which situation?"

"Your mother leaving. Your mother reaching back. Neither of them."

There was a long silence as Ethan let Naveen's work sink in. When he spoke again, his voice was almost whisper.

"I can't make my peace. She ruined me."

"You are not ruined, Ethan."

"Oh but I am. I push people away because I am scared of them leaving. I despise love, because I am scared of feeling something so transient, so conditional. It all happened because of her and it keeps ruining my life, now more than ever."

"I take it you are not talking solely about your mother now?"

Ethan looked at his mentor, not knowing what to do. Telling him the truth about Chiara would mean confessing that there is the truth to reveal in the first place. That there are feelings he is trying to hide even from himself. And what if Naveen would judge him for falling for his intern, his protége? But again, Naveen observed and analyzed people all his life, he probably knew already.

"It's Chiara. I care for the woman so much it hurts me physically sometimes. She is not only brilliant doctor, she is such extraordinary person I just keep wondering how does one like her even exist. And I know I am hurting her by pushing her away, but it's the only right way."

Naveen was smiling knowingly at Ethan and at the same time, his heart was breaking at the sight in front of him.

"And what makes you think so?"

"Because I am not able to love, Naveen and she deserves someone who will love her. And even if she thinks she loves me, the moment one of her conditions for loving me abolish, she'll stop feeling that way."

"You keep avoiding unconditional love like a plague, but it actually exists, Ethan. Listen to me now and listen very carefully. Chiara always stuck with you, even when you were very persistent in pushing her away. When she found out about my illness and kept it hidden from her friends even though they share everything. That's love. When she spent her free time with you, trying to diagnose me, with you being, well, an asshole. That's love. When you left the hospital and shut yourself off at the times she needed you most and she still found her way to talk to you and make sure you're okay. That's love. When she found the cure for me, but didn't tell you until she was absolutely sure, because she wanted to save you a heartbreak in case she wasn't right? When you accepted your position in Edenbrook back without ever telling her and she was happy for you? When you left to Brazil and didn't talk to her for two months even though you knew it hurt her? Oh, my boy, even if she had any conditions for loving you, you made sure to ruin every single one of them and still, she did never hesitate to show you she cares. What conditions for loving her do you have? Being a brilliant doctor? Showing her affection? Pushing you to be better? All the things she did until the accident? Because right now, she offers you none of those things and yet, look at yourself, sleeping in the hospital every night to make sure she is okay. Talking to her daily, hoping it could get her brain started. Never leaving her side for the three days after the surgery. Hell, you didn't even sleep in the hospital for me!" Naveen laughed before taking a sip of his wine and continuing. "What you are doing is unconditional, Ethan boy. It's the very same unconditional love which existence you recant so much. And don't give me this incredulous look now. I remember very clearly that one call I received from you when you were in Brazil."

"Which call?"

"The one that came in the middle of the night. You were obviously very drunk and you were crying. I never heard you cry before, but even through the phone I could hear the sobs escaping you very clearly. And you just kept repeating that you loved her, that you loved her and had to leave because you loved her. That you even wrote her 'a damn poem'. Not once have you mentioned who "she" is, but I am not that old or stupid."

Horror run through Ethan's face as he recalled blurred memories of the night. He was indeed very drunk and the damn poem was the proof that Naveen was telling the truth, but Ethan didn't remember anything about the call.

Everything Naveen has said was slowly settling in and the voice in his head, now more clear than ever, kept repeating the new truth.

I love her.

Fuck, I really love the woman.

Instead of admitting it to Naveen, he frowned and said: "Even if it was true, it doesn't matter. I am her mentor, her boss and so there's no way we could work as a couple."

Naveen laughed again, Ethan's mind and his morals never stopping to amaze him.

"Oh please. You wouldn't be first nor the last to maintain such relationship. You two kids love each other already and it doesn't affect your work anyhow, so what difference would it make if you allowed yourselves to actually be happy? Sure, Chiara's reputation could take a hit, but I think the two of you would be able not to make it too public until she is an attending, wouldn't you? It's not illegal."

"But it is immoral. Unethical."

"Look, Ethan, you can be ethical and wretched, or you can change the way your morals work and actually find happiness, after all those years."

~

Nine days after his dinner with Naveen, Dr. Ramsey decided to spend his lunch break in Chiara's room, telling her about the newest patient. He stood by the window, looking at the street below him, hands in his pocket as he talked about the man whose nose bleeding was so extensive it made him faint. When he got to the ideas about what could cause such odd bleeding, the device monitoring Chiara's brain activity started to beep somehow more frequently. Ethan didn't pay any attention to it - it happened on daily basis now, showing that her brain actually still works, only not enough for her to wake up just yet.

"...we ruled the brain tumor out but it could-"

"Hurts.... head.... hurts.... hurts."

He turned around and in two steps got back to Chiara's bed, his wide eyes showing broad spectrum of emotions, from disbelief to relief to fear to shock. He leaned over Chiara so that he could see and hear everything perfectly, and really, she was trying to open her eyes while wincing painfully.

"Shh, it's okay, I am here. I am right here. Let me just page others," Ethan put his doctor expression on and with trembling fingers paged other doctors.

"...head hurts," Chiara let out, her words so silent he almost didn't hear.

"Does it hurt when you try to open your eyes?"

She nodded.

"Okay, keep them closed. Does it hurt when you are talking to me?"

"My throat... sore.." He took her hand between his own and started to draw soothing circles on her skin with his thumb.

"It's okay, everything's okay. Your eyes need to adjust to the light. Can you tell me what your name is?"

"Chiara... R...Ray."

"Wonderful. Do you remember what your job is?"

"I - a doc... doctor."

"You are doing great, Chiara. Keep going. Could you try to open your eyes now?"

Chiara's eyelids fluttered and she had to blink several times, but she managed to keep her eyes open for a while.

"Perfect. Now, can you tell who I am? Do you remember me?"

Ethan's heart skipped a beat at her words and all he wanted to do was to take her into his arms and hold her, tell her how much he missed her and how sorry he was, but the moment was interrupted by Baz, June and Harper Emery entering the room, their expressions shocked.

She even managed to create a small smile before saying: " Ethan Ramsey. Unforgettable."

"When did she wake up?"

"Four minutes ago. No memory loss."

"Where does it hurt, Chiara?" It was Dr. Emery, already poking into one of Chiara's legs. "Can you feel this?"

"Yes, but the legs hurt. And head. And my back. It all hurts so much."

Harper looked at Ethan and nodded. "No paralysis."

"It's natural for your body to hurt now, Chiara. We will run all the tests we can and monitor your functions to make sure you'll heal properly. Do you recall what happened?"

"Not really," Chiara said, closing her eyes again, not being able to bear so much light. "I remember driving... driving home and that's it."

"Okay, you need to rest," June stepped into the discussion. "Keep your eyes closed, don't move, rest. We'll come with a treatment and recovery plan for you soon."

Chiara nodded and all the doctors started to leave the room. As he was leaving, Ethan squeezed Chiara's hand and whispered: "I'll be here as soon as I can."

~

As evening fell over the city of Boston, Chiara Ray finally didn't feel like her head would explode everytime she opened her eyes. She was now laying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for some other doctor to come and examine her. When the door opened, she didn't even have to look to know who entered the room, his scent so unique she would recognize it anywhere.

"Hey," she smiled softly. "Another test?"

"I came to check how you were doing."

"I need to know if my friends are okay. Someone should finally talk to me."

Everytime she asked about her friends, the girls sitting in the car that night, she would be stopped and told to rest. At first, she was so confused and in so much pain it didn't really startle her, but now, feeling much better, not knowing was torturing her.

"They are all alright. You were the only one seriously injured."

"Can I see them?"

"Not now, no. You have to take this slowly. They'll come to see you tomorrow. Right now, you really need to rest."

"From what you told me, I've been resting for the last seven weeks."

"This is not the right time for jokes, Chiara. It's a miracle you are alive and this well at the moment and I am speaking as someone who doesn't believe in miracles. It will cost you a lot of strenght and dedication to heal. You basically need to learn to walk again. And for that, you need to rest."

She turned at him, finally taking a good look at him, observing every detail.

"Look who's talking. What about you? Which musketeer are you audiencing for with that beard and those hair? Athos?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"You don't know The Three Musketeers?"

"No."

Even though she still felt physically miserable, she couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes at him.

"Okay, well you could also play Sirius Black after he ran away from Azkaban."

"Who again?"

"Don't tell me you don't know Harry Potter."

Ethan sat down on the chair next to her bed and shrugged.

"I don't, obviously."

"God, you're hopeless. So, what is it going on in your life that made you look like this?" 

She knew something was going on, even if she didn't pay attention on his appearence, his eyes screamed that he was in pain.

"Nothing serious. Just a lot of work. It's not important now. What is important is you getting better, that's why you are not allowed questions today. Don't put too much pressure on yourself already."

"Come closer," she told him softly and he leaned over her, looking straight into her eyes. She reached for his hair, wincing with pain as she lifted her hand.

"Closer," she repeated and he got closer, so close that he could see how her green eyes turn into colour of rosin around her pupils. His breath got stuck in his throat, because damn, even now she was the most intriguing woman he's ever laid his eyes on.

"Ramsey, is this a gray hair I see here?" she whispered and chuckled.

Ethan closed his eyes, trying his hardest to maintain serious, professional face, but hearing her chuckle made him let out soft laugh too.

"You are really stepping over the line here, Rookie."

"Of course I am. Seriously though, Ethan. What is going on? You look even worse than I do and that's almost impossible at the moment."

Her voice was caring and he couldn't bring himself to pull away from her. But he had to, after all, so he sat down back on his chair, holding her hand from there.

"It's really nothing Chiara, just work. I am down to a member of my team after all, remember?"

She knew he was hiding something enormous, but it was too soon to push him into telling her. She would have plenty of time for that.

He wanted to tell her everything and he knew she sensed his lies. But at this time, her recovery was the most important thing to him and he didn't want to put that at risk. He knew he would have plenty of time to tell her everything.

[ladyseaheart1668]

Endless Summer Book 4: Daughter of Vaanu (Chapter 51)

Description: Jailbreak!

Tagging: @endlesshero1122 @mysteli @feartheendlesssummer @whatmcsaid @xo-endlessmayhem-xo @tigerbryn11

Chapter 51: The Midwife

Alodia

My first instinct is to be relieved at the sight of a face that in my experience has always been friendly. But caution overpowers relief pretty quickly, especially as the questions start flooding through my brain.

“...How...? What are you doing here?”

“The long and short of it is that I am here to help you. My ability is fairly limited, but I will do what I can.”

“I don't understand,” Diego says. “No one has seen or heard from the Anachronists in five years. We thought you guys vanished when the timelines merged.”

Clockmaker sighs. “As Anachronists, we made time and space into toys within the island's bubble. The crystals were our playthings. The Endless made many mistakes, but she at least learned from her errors. She worked with a singular purpose, reset the game board each time she lost. ...We were more careless. We counted on Vaanu and the Endless to be responsible so we did not have to be. We didn't really know what would happen to us when Vaanu departed. I think most of us assumed it would be the end of our world and we would move into the afterlife. But it didn't quite happen like that.”

“...What did happen?” I ask, dreading the answer.

“We were alone. We were alone in Quarr'tel, and Quarr'tel was hidden from the world. Or at least, our version of it was hidden. Vaanti from Elyys'tel came to seek us out, and they walked around the burned-out husk of our city, but they couldn't see us. They couldn't hear us. They seemed to pass through us. We were like ghosts, trapped together, unable to roam beyond our city.”

“But...why would...?”

Clockmaker shrugs. “I don't know. I could not tell you why that was our fate. What I can tell you is that your return brought us back to the world of the living—and that with your return, time crystals have begun to turn up on the island again.” She pauses for a moment, tipping her head at me. “You know...I am actually qualified to examine you. My methods are a little bit old-school by your standards since I trained in midwifery the 1960's, but they were still scientific enough to be trusted with a routine prenatal visit.”

“...This is hardly routine...” I mutter dazedly, but as she gestures invitingly at the exam table, I nod. Diego obligingly turns away as I take off my pants and underwear to climb onto the table. I lie back and Clockmaker covers my exposed lower body with a sheet.

“I won't insist that Diego leave the room. In the 60's, the culture was still very much that men had no place in the act of childbirth, but I think we've moved past such silly gender stereotypes, don't you?”

“I hope so,” I mutter, stretching out a hand to Diego. He comes to take it between his palms, his gaze never leaving Clockmaker. If she notices, she doesn't let on as she guides my legs apart.

“The crystals have begun to turn up again on the island. However, they are not plentiful. Nor are they as powerful as before. It seems the majority of my brothers and sisters went mad during our five years in limbo. When they began to get a picture of what had happened since Vaanu's departure and your return, they turned their hostility onto you. I tried to tell them that you were clearly not omnipotent, and you couldn't have known what would happen, but...well, you try reasoning someone who has lost all reason.”

She slips her fingers into me, and I suck in a sharp breath at the intrusion, squeezing Diego's hand. She squeezes my knee reassuringly with her free hand, but otherwise continues without comment.

“The crystals allowed them to track the energy of the Prism Crystal to Northbridge. They were hoping to find you directly, but instead they found the Prism Gate—and Everett Rourke, apparently. As well as Dax Darcisse's disguise technology. It was one of them who abducted you, Diego, wearing a hologram disguise.”  

“That...makes sense. ...So...is that how Rourke managed to fake his death? With some help from the Anachronists and the crystals?”

“Precisely. It's also how the Liquid Prism was stolen, and probably a number of other things I have not been able to be witness to since the other Anachronists banished me.”

“They banished you?!”

“Yes.” She removes her hand and slips off the used gloves. “I'm fortunate I managed to get my hands on one of the disguise earrings before they did. They intended to send me into the far future, but instead I ended up in 1958. I was already aware of your pregnancy at that point, and I thought it might make sense to study midwifery in case I managed to get back to you somehow.”

“...How did you manage to get back?”

Clockmaker shrugs, wrapping a blood pressure cuff around my upper arm and grabbing a stethoscope off the wall. “The extended lifespan of a Vaanti, nothing more. I have lived the last sixty-six years in the United States of America, and I simply avoided returning to the island in order to avoid a paradox. When the other Anachronists joined with Rourke, I spied. Miraculously, I managed to stay out of their way enough that Rourke didn't realize who I was, and simply took me for another Anachronist ally. It was easy to convince him to let me meet up with Fiddler here to act as your midwife.”

“So, he does want my baby. ...What for?”

“That I do not know just yet. But yes, he does want her alive and well. Quiet for a moment please, I need to take your blood pressure.”

I obligingly clam up while she takes blood pressure and pulse, though my lips are practically itching with more questions. When she takes back the stethoscope and gives me a nod, I think it's the most important question that leaps to my tongue first.

“How do we get out of here?”

Clockmaker places a hand on my arm, meeting my gaze. “You have a little patience, and give me three days.”

“Why three days?”

“Because in three days, you will be close enough to Northbridge that I will feel more comfortable releasing you. Plus, at the next rest stop, I will be able to acquire the last piece of the device I need to remove that chip in your neck that's keeping you from contacting Varyyn.”

Diego gasps softly at the mention of his husband, his fingers tightening subtly around my hand. His reaction makes his next question a little jarring.

“Close to Northbridge? Where are we now?”

“Manitoba, Canada. Not far from Winnipeg.”

“Canada!” I repeat incredulously. “Could...is it possible to travel from Riverside to Winnipeg in...however much time we've been traveling?”

“Not by natural means, no. Your captors have been helped along by the crystals. Do you recall how my brothers and sisters and I were able to transport you through space and time with crystal fragments back on the island?”

“Yeah, kind of.”

“They crystals they are collecting now are weaker, but they still have enough power to transport any vehicle containing you short spatial distances. ...And distances over time, but Rourke was strictly against subjecting you to that in your present condition as it may have led to your pregnancy advancing  the way Quinn's illness did when you leaped forward six months.” She guides me to lie back, lifting my shirt just enough to expose my belly. “Quiet again, please, while I listen for the heartbeat.”

She takes an instrument out of the drawer that looks like a small silver trumpet minus the pipes and valves, and places the bell end against my belly, lowering her head to press her ear to the flat end. After adjusting it a few times, she smiles.

“Ahh, there it is. Good and strong. But a little high-placed. I don't think baby has turned yet.”

“No, she hasn't. Or she hadn't last I knew. We tried EVC, but it didn't take. I've been preparing myself for a likely breech delivery—and possibly a C-section.”

Clockmaker frowns. “...The sooner we get you out of their hands, the better. Any complications in labor would likely go very badly for you if you're still a captive.”

“Why can't you just teleport us out of here with the crystals?” Diego asks.

“If I had access to the crystals myself, I would not have gotten stuck in the 1950's,” she replies ruefully. “I would be performing an ultrasound on you instead of using a pinard, and I would likely be qualified to perform a C-section myself.”

“You never decided to update your skills?”

“Records became much more difficult to forge as technology advanced. I read what books I could, but it seemed safer not to attempt formal study again. In any case, if you go into labor within the next three days, I will take what risks are necessary to get you out of here. But the safest option is going to be to wait, since the safest option will also require me to stay behind and throw them off the scent while they attempt to hunt you down.”

I nod slowly. I won't say I feel like I completely understand what is happening here, but I still feel like I can trust Clockmaker. Diego seems a little bit more skeptical.

“But why help us like this? Why not tip off the authorities that you know where we are?”

“For one thing, I believe the authorities would have a harder time getting you out than I will. For another...I still care about what might happen to the Vaanti if the authorities turn their suspicions toward the island.” She hesitates a moment. “...When we reach the next stopping point, I intend to drug their food to knock them out long enough that you can escape. ...I could poison them. Kill them. But if their bodies are revealed in an investigation, that will come back to you.

“Which is why, Diego, when eventually questioned on how you escaped, you are going to tell them that in this very room, you discovered a bottle of rohypnol abandoned in one of these cabinets, and smuggled the pills in your sock.”

“I see. And...what will...'I' do with these pills?”

“Well, at the next safehouse, you will drug their water supply, of course. You've had your eye out for an opportunity since you discovered the pills.”

“...No one will stop 'me'?”

“Once the deed is done, I will show you how 'you' did it, and I'll make sure to set it up to look plausible. Of course, it may be rearranged when your captors take off, but I don't believe that would strike anyone as very odd, either.”

“And what should I tell them about who kidnapped us?”

“You know Fiddler. You know she was a rival of Jake's. Tell them you don't know the others. It will be true. Tell them you don't know why you were abducted. That will be a lie, but it will be a lie that protects the Vaanti.”

“It will also be a lie that protects Rourke,” I point out.

“It will also protect you,” Clockmaker counters. “And your baby. ...I will not let Rourke escape justice, Alodia. I promise you that. But sometimes winning the war means losing the battle, and right now, it is more important that you and Diego are safely returned to your families before the baby arrives, and that the Vaanti's secrets are kept as long as possible.”

“As long as possible. ...You make it sound as if you don't think they can be kept indefinitely.”

“I don't,” she admits. “But if I can help it, I won't have them turned into laboratory experiments like Rourke tried to do. ...I believe there is a way that the truth can be safely revealed. But it must be done carefully and there are many unknowns to be considered.”

“What unknowns?”

She sighs a little, shaking her head, but there is a slight smile on her lips. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Alodia, than I could have ever perceived from my vantage point within Vaanu's time bubble. ...You can probably start getting dressed now. They're going to start wondering what we're doing in here.”

I sit up slowly. My head is spinning a little, probably with all this new information. But there is one more thing I feel I should know.

“...Where are they actually taking us? Where is Rourke waiting?”

“The exact location appears to be on a need-to-know basis. But I have reason to suspect he is making his base somewhere in the Greek isles.”

“Well, I won't ask why there. I'm sure finding the answer to that can wait.”

“Absolutely. The important thing now is getting you someplace where you can have your baby safely.”

I nod. “...Thank you, Clockmaker. Thank you for coming to my rescue.”

She smiles sadly. “I suppose I ought to tell you not to call me that anymore. The Anachronists have appointed a new Clockmaker.”

“Do you want a new name?” I ask.

She shrugs. “It was never really a name, was it. It was a title of sorts, though Anachronists are not really supposed to have titles. ...I suppose I would like for you to call me the Midwife now. It seems appropriate.”

“Midwife, then. Thank you, Midwife.”

Kenji

It's been quiet for the last few days while Tahira has been off tracking Alodia. Just the occasional petty crooks hopped up on weak street-cut doses of Liquid Prism that have actually become weirdly routine. Just as well, considering we're down our leader, but I can't help feeling kinda twitchy. So when my phone chimes while I'm working out in my home gym and the screen shows an unfamiliar number, I am immediately on edge. But I pick up because I'm not about to ignore it, either.

“This is Kenji.”

“Katsaros. What's the word in Northbridge?”

I could be mistaken, but I think I can hear a slight tremor in Caleb's voice. I feel my forehead crease.

“Uh, not much happening here at the moment. Why? Where are you?”

“You swear the Prism Crystal's secure? Maybe you should check on it.”  

“Yes, Caleb. It's secure. You're gonna have to trust me on that.”

“When was the last time you checked? When was the last time you saw it with your own eyes?”

“Man, seriously. I'd say you sound like you're trying to get its location out of me for some nefarious purpose, but I don't actually think you're dumb enough to be so transparent. It's secure. I promise. Getting at it right now would be way more complicated than either of your former bosses could pull off. ...Where are you?”

“I'm at Gigi's squat.”

“What?! What are you doing there?!”

He hesitates. “...Not really important. Had a dumb idea that isn't gonna pan out anyway, because the place is completely deserted.”

“Is that unusual? It was deserted when we found you there.”

“Yeah, that was the gang away on a day mission. This is...different. I been here two days with no trace of anyone, and most everything's gone.”

“Did they maybe move on from that squat? Set up a new base?”

“Maybe. 'Cept they didn't take entirely everything. There's still mattresses and linens, a generator, a minifridge, space heaters...”

“Well, those are heavy. Probably thought it more worthwhile to acquire new ones.”

“I'd buy that...except that they also left a supply of food and bottled water. Water and canned goods may be heavy, but you can pack 'em in backpacks and carry 'em easy enough. And packs of ramen noodles weigh next to nothing.”

“So what do you think is going on?”

“No idea. I just know it's probably not good.”

I consider this for a moment. “Maybe you should come back to Northbridge.”

“Yeah...I don't know. Got some things to take care of.”

“Well, I'm not gonna twist your arm.”

“How is Tahira?”

“Oh, right. You probably haven't heard yet. She's okay. She woke up, and she's out of the hospital.”

“Well. Good to know.”

Before I can reply, the call cuts off. I wait a minute or two to see if he's going to call back. I even take a chance on calling back the number he called from, but no luck.

...Guess that might be the reformed criminal for you. I wonder if I'm ever actually going to know what to make of him.

Alodia

Midwife stays with us over the next few days while we're held in what I have concluded is probably an abandoned hospital. She's there when we're bound and blindfolded again and loaded into another vehicle. This time, though, they cut our bonds once we're in the van, and we're permitted to take our blindfolds off. I realize why once we do.

We're inside what can only be the trailer of a semi. No windows to the outside. Separated from the drivers in the cab. Only a few hanging work lights to illuminate our steel and aluminum prison. But it has been fitted with car seats, and the car seats have seatbelts. We fasten ourselves in and settle in for the journey, however long it will take.

“You should both try to rest as much as you can,” Midwife tells us. “Now, and when we arrive. You'll both need your energy very soon.”

Jake

It's early morning, and my turn holding the Prism Crystal while Sean drives. I really ought to stay awake. Be a decent navigator. But my head still isn't fully healed, and Michelle encourages me to sleep when I need to as long as I keep a hand on the Crystal. So when I feel myself start to drift off, I grab a handkerchief out of the glove compartment and wrap it around my hand and the Crystal. The top of the gleaming Crystal is still visible, and it feels secure enough that I don't think it will fall. I prop my head on a travel pillow against the passenger-side window, and let myself drift off.

I come around again slowly. The sunlight makes my eyes water as voices buzz around me. There are no words just yet, but the atmosphere is tense. I claw my way back to full consciousness just as the tension starts to ebb away.

“Wha...? Wha's goin' on...” I manage to form the question, but the words feel like mush coming out of my mouth at first.

“It's okay,” Sean assures me. “We lost the trail for a minute, but we've got it back.”

I frown, turning to study his profile, even as the glare from the sun obscures my vision at first. He still looks concerned. I look down at the Crystal tied to my hand. It's glowing bright as it was when I fell asleep. A glance in the rearview mirror reveals the others still following us in the other car. But I look at the clock on the dashboard, and I look at the sun, and I immediately understand what's different.

We're not heading northwest anymore. We've turned entirely around.

Alodia

Our new prison is another farmhouse. Or cabin. Or cottage. Whatever. We're blindfolded again once we arrive, and I only see the inside of the room we're locked in, but it definitely has wood floors and wood-paneled walls. As usual, we're supplied with food when we arrive. Nothing gourmet, of course, but nutritious. I eat valiantly for my baby's sake, and Diego eats for mine, but I can tell he's struggling to find an appetite. I reach out to place a hand on his arm.

“You okay?”

“I'm just...anxious. Do you think we can trust Midwife?”

I sigh, turning my attention back to my meal. “I think we probably don't have much of a choice. I think if it turns out she can't be trusted, we won't be much worse for it.”

“I don't know. It's not like there need to be only two sides in this conflict, us and Rourke. If the Anachronists have gone as crazy as she implies, they might just be out to hurt you themselves...”

“I won't say the possibility didn't occur to me. But given the choice between taking a risk trusting her and risking my baby falling into Rourke's hands...I'll take the choice that presents a possibility of freedom.”

“It does seem like a better choice than waiting to be delivered to Rourke,” he concedes.

“We should rest if we can. If Midwife can be trusted, we're apparently going to need it.”

* * *

I'm not sure how deeply I actually manage to sleep. At nine months pregnant, I haven't really slept soundly in weeks. But it does feel as if some time has passed when I open my eyes to see Midwife leaning over me and realize that she was gently shaking me awake.

“Your enemies are sound asleep,” she says softly. “Drugged. It's time to get you both out of here.” I sit up carefully. Midwife puts a hand on my shoulder, preventing me from standing. “Stay seated for a moment. First things first, we need to get that chip out of your neck to reopen a line of communication with Varyyn. Diego, help me out here, okay?”

“What do you need me to do?”

“Sit down there and hold her steady. This will be quick, but it will be painful for as long as it lasts. Alodia, try not to make too much noise. I don't expect anyone to wake up in any state to chase you, but I would rather not take chances.”

Diego sits beside me on the cot and draws me into his arms. I grip him back, pressing my face into his shoulder, bracing myself. I feel Midwife gather up my hair and twist it up off my neck.

“The effects of this chip are likely to last beyond its removal, but they will wear off in time. Unfortunately, I cannot say precisely how much time it will take.” As she speaks, I feel pain go through me like a full-body electric shock. I gasp sharply, digging my fingertips into Diego's back, but I manage not to cry out. “But I do promise you that it will wear off. ...All done.”

I sit up shakily, my stomach quivering. Diego squeezes my hand, rubbing my back. “All good now?”

I manage to nod. “Yeah. All good. Just a little woozy.”

“I advise Diego to take the first shift driving. There's a jeep outside for you. Full tank, spare tire, and three cans of gas. Northbridge is about two-hundred miles away. I have programmed the fastest route into the GPS for you. The whole trip should take around three hours.”

“...Couldn't we just go to the nearest town and call the police?” Diego asks.

“Once you have driven off, I can't stop you from doing whatever you see fit. But I highly recommend putting as much distance between yourselves and your captors as possible before putting yourselves in the authorities' hands. Particularly because I cannot assure you that there are no Anachronist spies in holographic disguises along the road to Northbridge.”

“I know I would rather get back to the other Catalysts before we try to send anyone out after Arachnid,” I murmur. “I have more faith in them and the Supers to protect us than the authorities. Especially with the threat of Anachronist spies.”

“Just think the police might wonder why we drove two-hundred miles instead of getting them involved sooner.”

“Like Midwife said. We wanted to put as much distance between us and them as possible. Besides, I'm pregnant and scared and I probably pushed you to get us to Northbridge once I saw how close we were. If nothing else, we can blame it on my hormones.”

“That feels sexist.”

“I am willing to exploit sexism when it suits,” I reply, smirking a little. “But...there is another problem I can see with driving almost non-stop to Northbridge: I am nine months pregnant, and I have to pee constantly. I've been able to hold it when they move us, but I'm usually in agony by the time we arrive. And the thought of going three hours without a rest stop...”

“I have a solution for that, too,” Midwife says almost proudly. “Frankly, I am annoyed they never provided you with a portable female urinal before. But you will find one under the seat in the jeep. It's actually designed with pregnant women in mind. Specifically, pregnant women who have to spend a great deal of time in cars. Now, Diego. Pay attention.”

“Hmm? What?” Diego snaps to attention, his eyes widening slightly.

“I'm going to tell you how 'you' managed to drug your kidnappers.” She taps at the handle of a locked closet that we made a cursory attempt to open when we were first left alone in the room. “When you arrived here, they took a water cooler jug out of here and left it with you. Before they locked the closet, you saw that there were other jugs inside. When they left you alone, you tried the closet door and found that the locking mechanism was clearly broken, because in spite of the knob not turning, the door opened. You took a chance, and emptied the six pills from the bottle you found at the doctor's office into an almost-full jug that had already been opened. By the way, you'll find said bottle in the glove compartment of the jeep. Make sure to get your fingerprints on it before you let the authorities have it as evidence.”

“...Should we tell them that there was a gynecologist at the abandoned doctor's office?”

“Of course. Don't worry. There's no reason to believe you will harm me by doing so. As long as you keep my description vague.”

“So...once they were drugged, how did we get out?”

“Through a window in the back of the closet. This room is actually underground, and there is a window at the top of the wall at ground level. In fact, Diego, come with me. I'm going to direct you through your escape path. Alodia, there's no way you could climb through that window in your condition, but Diego, you should follow the plausible path and leave your traces where you can.”

I notice that Midwife uses a key to unlock the closet, but I assume she is going to do something to break the lock mechanism after we leave. She takes him into the closet, and I hear them talking for a minute or two before she comes out alone.

“...Where's Diego?”

“Walking around with the key to unlock the door. I can't leave my traces all over the grounds. Not when you're supposed to be escaping without my help.”

I want to protest. I can't keep back a nagging fear that something is going to go wrong here, that maybe one of the guards wasn't as drugged as Midwife perceived. But I hold my tongue. Midwife has always given me the impression she knows more than she lets on in any given situation. Trusting her pays off. Within five minutes, I hear the key turn in the lock, and the door opens. Diego beams at me from across the threshold.

“Time for a jailbreak, Allie. The coast is clear.”

Diego

I'm honestly a little surprised at how anxious I feel leaving Midwife behind as Allie and I drive off in our stolen jeep. But then again, maybe it's not leaving her behind that's making me anxious. I mean, after all, my best friend and I are running for our lives right now, leaving behind a bunch of hostile ex-military goons with sinister designs on an unborn baby girl. They're drugged, giving us a good amount of time to make a head start, but I know I'm not going to feel safe until we're among friends in Northbridge. Even as I speed through the night, going as much over the speed limit as I dare on the silent country roads, I can feel them lurking over my shoulder like ghosts.

“This thing have a radio?” Allie mutters after a few minutes.

I take a quick glance at the dash. “Satellite. You think we should...?”

She shrugs. “Don't see how it could hurt. And it might calm us down. ...And River, if we can find the right station.” She rubs her belly pointedly. “I think she's picking up on how nervous I am.”

“It does feel like we're driving with a target on our backs,” I concede as she starts flipping through the stations.

“I keep looking in the back seat, like one of them might have snuck in and is lying in wait back there.”

“We checked it thoroughly before we left, remember? We even looked underneath.”

“Of course I remember.” She settles on a station playing electronic music and leans back in her seat. “Doesn't stop it from feeling like they could be right behind us.”

“Yeah, you're right.” I chuckle a little. “Know what this feeling reminds me of? Being in high school, watching gay porn on the computer with the door locked and my headphones on and my parents out of the house and still being terrified that I'd get caught. I used incognito mode, did virus scans afterward, checked about fifty times that my headphones were on, and I would still be terrified of my parents coming home early, or something showing up on the search history days later and I would get caught...”

“You were more careful than I was. I did get caught once.”

“Yeah, but all your aunt and uncle were ever going to do was give you a lecture about privacy. Embarrassing, sure, but not life-altering.”

“True. ...I think if we're going to compare this situation to pre-adult anxieties, mine would be being inside or anywhere near the garage when Aunt Molly or Uncle Rob was out. When I was four or five, I had a nightmare about being trapped in the garage with a sentient killer car, and I have hated the sound of the garage opening ever since.”

I take my eyes off the road just long enough to glance at her in surprise. “You have?”

“Yup. I don't mind it so much from my room. Or any room where I can't see the door from the garage into the house. But if I'm in that hallway when I hear the garage door open, I bolt.”

“Huh...” I think back, trying to recall if I had ever noticed her doing that when we were kids, but I guess it's never stood out to me. She was a high-energy kid, and good at masking her distress when she wanted to. I probably put it down to her getting a new fun idea and running off to make it happen. “Funny how you can know a person all of your life and theirs, and still not know everything about them.”

“I should hope I still have a little mystery to me,” she replies, chuckling. “Even from you.”

The truth is that I am glad she does. In another timeline, she was a figment of my imagination. Everything she was, I made her. All her secrets were mine. The woman sitting next to me is real enough to surprise me with a strange, irrational fear left over from childhood. I don't express any of that, not wanting to remind her of a timeline I know she doesn't like to think about. But I do spare a glance to smile at her. Though not enough to make me forget what we're running from, that happy thought is enough to ease me a little, and as we continue on our journey, I hum along with the music on the radio.

Jake

We're not robots. We can't travel indefinitely. We have to stop occasionally to piss and shit and get food and fill our cars with gas. I take care of my essential bodily functions and lean against the car's rear door while I gulp down a protein bar that tastes vaguely like vanilla-flavored newspaper. Tahira leans beside me, working her way through a take-out chicken sandwich. She stares straight ahead while she eats, taking each bite with an expression that suggests she's getting it down through sheer willpower. The Prism Crystal winks at the top of her pocket. She's facing vaguely southwest, and the Crystal is gleaming in response.

“...Why did it change?”

I ask the question before I realize I did it. Tahira looks sidelong at me, and her expression is hard to read.

“What do you mean?”

“Don't be coy. I mean the Crystal. It turned us around. Why?”

“...We passed her. Somewhere on our journey, we passed by her and we had to turn around.”

“If that's the case, shouldn't we have intersected her by now? Or at least turned right or left, or...?”

“I don't know, Jake. This is hardly an exact science. We're flying almost blind.”

“...Are we sure it's even her we're tracking with the Crystal?”

“Who or what else could it be?”

“...I don't know. It ain't an exact science.”

“But there is an objective reality to it,” she murmurs, sounding thoughtful. After a moment's hesitation, she adds, “It's her, Jake. I can't totally explain how I'm sure it's her, but I know it's her.”

“Well, I guess you'd know.”

But I'm not comforted. Following the Prism Crystal might make me feel less like I'm spinning my wheels, but the pit in my stomach's not gonna go away until she's safe in my arms again. In my world, nothing's right without her. I lived that reality for five years. I can't face it again.

[propertyofnikkisthighs]

Afraid Ch 9

Sorry for the long breaks between uploads guys. It’s overtime season at work and I’ve been pulling 60-70 hour weeks so I haven’t had much time to write. Also sorry this chapter is short, but I already have the next chapter outlined and prepared.

Warnings: Smuttt

“Babe you haven’t said anything most of the drive. Are you okay?” Nikki asked concern heavy in his voice. He took my hand in his on my thigh and rubbed light circles with his thumb.

“Just still not sure how to feel about all of this honestly. I just didn’t picture this is what we would be doing on our short time back to L.A.” I offered a small smile to hopefully reassure him, but he didn’t seem convinced.

“Hey we’ll figure it out. Don’t be so down, we get to see our son today.” Nikki broke into a smile that nearly split his face in half.

“There is no way for you to know we are having a boy” I chuckled out. He had been calling the baby a boy and our son since the positive pregnancy test confirmed what I already had felt was the case.

“Call it my father’s intuition kicking in early” He smirked pulling into the parking lot of the doctor’s office. “I know we won’t have confirmation on the sex for a few months, but I just have a feeling.”

“Yeah well if we have a girl not only will I laugh because you’re wrong, I will also laugh because that would be your karma.”

The room at the doctor’s office was just cold. That’s what I kept telling myself at least to explain why my hands were shaking. I felt a nudge to my shoulder and looked to see Nikki pulling my hands apart from their death grip on each other. Nikki squeezed my hand in his and brought it up to his lips pressing a soft kiss to my wrist. I slowly let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding just as the doctor made her way into the room.

“Hello, you must be the Sixx’s. I’m Dr. Ferrell.” The older woman smiled the lines near her eyes crinkling as she did so and I instantly felt more comfortable.

“Oh Sixx isn’t my last name” I corrected noticing a distinct eye roll from my side.

“I’m sorry for assuming. When was your last period?”

“A little over a month ago. I should’ve had my period two weeks ago”

“Alright, well let’s lay back and see if we can locate this little sucker in that belly of yours” She began to prepare the materials for the ultrasound. I leaned back against the table and lifted my shirt up so she could apply the gel to my stomach. I hissed at the cold feeling of the gel at my stomach and my hand found Nikki’s once again as the anxiety of what was happening hit my body like a freight train.

“You ready?” She asked with a kind smile.

“As ready as I’ll ever be” I nervously chuckled. 

That was when I heard it. The whooshing that quickly changed into a thumping. Our baby’s heartbeat rang through the room and every other noise was blocked out.

“Babe? Babe are you okay? You’re crying?” Nikki’s swiping the tears from my cheeks and looking at me with so much concern it only seems to cause more tears to fall.

“I’m just so happy and scared” I finally sigh out earning a small chuckle from the doctor.

“As I thought you’re about five weeks pregnant.”

Five weeks? What happened five weeks ago that caused them to slip up in protection? That’s when it hit me, the night I wore that damn school girl outfit that Sam made me buy.

    This is so stupid, I thought, it’s three in the morning and you’re sitting here in a tiny skirt instead of sleeping. I was waiting on Nikki to get back from the strip club he had gone to with Tommy and Vince and had been silly enough to put the school girl outfit on to surprise him. He probably wouldn’t even care about the little outfit after being surrounded by half naked beautiful women. I pushed my anxieties down and flipped the channels on the T.V for the millionth time. I must have fallen asleep because I came to at the sound of Tommy’s boistruous laugh and a “See you at the studio” from Nikki. I smoothed the outfit out and propped myself with my legs tucked under me leaning slightly against the headboard. Nikki’s boot came flying into the room with the second not far behind and I stifled a giggle at him kicking the shoes off so aggressively. Nikki came into view and stopped in his tracks his small smile dropping open as he took in the sight of me.

“Hey” I smirked instantly feeling more confident.

Nikki didn’t respond and slowly made his way to me. My smirk faltered confused by his actions and lack of response until he ever carefully reached out and touched the skin of my thigh between the tiny skirt and my stockings. That was when the gentleness ended. I let out a small yelp as Nikki pulls my legs out from under me and drags me toward him before crashing our lips together harshly. Warm arousal settles in between my legs as Nikki nudges them apart to better position himself there. I whimper when he bites my lip roughly and work on trying to unlace his leather pants, but he tugs my hair pulling my head back to look up at him.

“Don’t.” It’s a command that I know I should obey, but the desire to see what he’ll do if I don’t listen outweighs and I continue my work on his pants with a playful smile.

“I said not to do that.” he tugs my hair harder.

“Make me stop” I challenge.

I’m on my knees again as Nikki’s hand comes down giving my ass a hard smack. I grip the sheets and whine as he delivers another smack and I feel the wetness ever increasing in the thong I am wearing.

“Such a fucking brat making Daddy punish you like this” He growls spanking me again. “When I tell you not to fucking do something you listen.”

I can’t respond outside of a moan as he rubs his hand over the red mark I’m sure that’s grown there and then slides two fingers to rub against my clit.

“So fucking wet already” He spanks me one more time for good measure before flipping me on my back again.

He spreads my legs and digs his teeth into the flesh of my right thigh. My eyes screw shut as my back arches pleading for him to touch me where I need it most. The sound of tearing fabric makes me open my eyes again and I see Nikki ripping the second side of my thong before tossing them to the side. Placing his hands on the sides of my thighs he dives in licking my clit and my head is once again thrown back in pleasure. Nikki inserts two fingers and I try to buck my hips in time with his movements but he holds me in place with his free hand. I feel the familiar build up in my lower abdomen and I tangle my hands in his hair when he suddenly pulls away and bites my thigh again.

“You get to cum when I say you can cum” He growls against my thigh. He’s standing and unlacing his pants while I scramble to flip back over onto my knees for him.

He grabs a fistful of my hair before entering me all the way to the hilt not sparing me any time to adjust before he’s pulling all the way out and entering me fully again. My eyes water from both the force of his thrusting and the pulling of my hair and I’m reduced to a whimpering mess. My hands fist the sheets to try to leverage myself as Nikki roughly snaps his hips against mine. I feel his teeth sink into my shoulder and I cry out his name as the sensation of both the pleasure and pain overwhelm me. His free hand snakes around to rub my clit in small circles while still keeping his unrelenting pace and I feel the orgasm building in me once again.

“God you’re so fucking hot like this” He pants against the shell of my ear.

“I want you to cum in me” I cry out.

It’s enough to push him over the edge and the warmth of him releasing inside me sends me into my own orgasm.

    “We have to tell them.” I sighed brushing Nikki’s hair out of his face. He was laying with his head against my stomach and pressing kisses there. He was always touching my stomach and kissing it despite it being so early in the pregnancy. He said he didn’t want our son to ever not feel love from both of his parents for a second and who was I to argue with that?

“I just like that this is our secret right now.” He shrugged.

“Okay well you guys have almost finished the album and we head back to L.A. in a month and then you guys will be planning a tour and will all be busy so we need to do it soon.” I wouldn’t tell him to his face, but I liked that nobody else knew just yet as well.

“Ugh. I know I know you’re right.” He groaned. “Why don’t we all go to dinner tonight and we can tell them then?”

“That’s a good idea just please no breakfast places. Bacon still turns my stomach” I cringed.

“I’ll go to their rooms now and let them know” He gave me a soft kiss before heading out of the hotel room.

The back room of the restaurant that the boys chose was luckily closed off from the rest of the patrons there. I sighed and shook my head as Vince and Tommy spoke loudly about how they couldn’t wait to get home and the dirty things they were going to do to their wives. Looking at Mick for some sort of relief he just shook his head and sipped on his soda. We were the only two that hadn’t gotten wine, which was another reason the boys had zero filters, and the only two with any sense of shame. 

“Yeah dude that’s why it’s so great how short Heather is so I can pretty much walk around and bounce her on my dick.” Tommy snorted shoveling more pasta into his mouth.

“Man Sharise can ride me for so long thanks to the mud wrestling shit she used to do” Vince snickered.

“Hey Nikki maybe you should make that announcement you wanted to make” Mick finally spoke up and I sent him a silent ‘thank you’ with my eyes.

“Oh yeah I almost forgot” He stood quickly grabbing the boys’ attention. “So (y/n) and I have some news. We’re having a baby.”

The boys reacted about how I expected. Vince went on about how Sharise and Skylar were going to be so excited to have playdates, Mick clapped Nikki on the shoulder and grumbled a ‘congrats’, and Tommy hugged us both so tight we thought we might break something. The ride back to the hotel was spent discussing the album and upcoming tour and thankfully not about the wives waiting back home.

[octavejohn2-blog]

replacing An Excess Skin With A Facelift.

Hifu Treatment

Content

What Can I expect during My Cryopen therapy?

two therapies.

Cryomatic Ii Cryo Console.

contact united States Today For Your Cryo storage Space Solutions (or Anything Else Gas Or Cryo Related).

Femiwand vaginal Area tightening treatment Edinburgh.

See Our providers.

What Can I Do To lessen Cellulite?

There is nothing that I feel can be improved at Cadogan Cosmetics. I was dealt with as well as cared for very well the location was very clean.

Cosmetic surgery outcomes as well as benefits can differ and also are various for each person. Therefore, https://luton.hi-fu.co.uk/ can not ensure specific results. Mr Alamouti is among our top boob job, fat reduction & abdominoplasty surgeons.

Nevertheless, it is essential to remember that although your external look will certainly look healthy and balanced and recovered, inside your body will certainly still take 6 to eight weeks to recover completely. The outcomes of the Principle ™ Facelift procedure will certainly leave your with a natural, fresh as well as vibrant appearance that lasts up to ten years. I really feel so excellent regarding myself and also can not think how much far better I appear to look. I would very advise having surgical treatment with Amir at Bella Vou. I really feel much more youthful and also revitalised in my look, as well as it's all thanks to Bella Vou.

Mr Super qualified in Medication in 1987 and also learnt Bariatric surgical treatment in 2001. We'll exist to assist throughout your journey, from yourfirst consultationto completion of yourcomprehensive aftercareprogramme. Facelift surgery can offer you a more vibrant and renewed appearance. Consent By ticking this box you consent to obtain marketing material by means of email, text, post and telephone calls from The Medical facility Team and Transform and any third parties directly related to your care.

Can you get frostbite from cryotherapy?

Frostbite is possible if someone has wet clothing or is overly sweaty during the session. Make sure the client is completely dry before they enter the cryotherapy chamber. If not make sure they dry off any water or excess sweat from working out with a towel.

What Can I anticipate during My Cryopen treatment?

Hi-Fu.co.uk hifu Daventry: full feature set will certainly ask you concerning the results you're wishing for and also deal with you to attain the best end result. Springfield Medical facility opened up in 1987 and is just one of Essex's leading private healthcare facilities. It is a 64 bedded device containing fifty 8 private bedrooms 4 of which are 2 bedded moms and dad as well as child areas and a high observation system with 2 beds. The operation is performed under a basic anaesthetic and also normally takes two to three hours.

What is the cost of ThermiVa?

The Non-Invasive, Non-Hormonal Option Average Cost: $2,650. Range: $1,250 to $3,900 for 3 treatments for the first year. One follow-up appointment per year: $1000-$1500 per year afterwards. ThermiVa is NOT covered by insurance or Medicare.

Tea and coffee are high in caffeine, so we suggest you to keep those to a minimum. Also, attempt to stay clear of foods that are high in sugar and salt as high as feasible. These include the advancement of a blood clot, nausea or vomiting as well as vomiting, as well as postoperative pain. As the surgical treatment entails the use of an anaesthetic representative, it is likewise feasible that you may create anaesthetic issues. At the end of the surgical procedure, the registered nurses will certainly move you to a recovery space. Below, you will slowly wake up from your anaesthetic under close guidance.

My skin is tighter and also more flexible, stretch marks are hardly noticeable, as well as I make certain I wouldn't even get approved for abdominoplasty surgery anymore.

As the ultrasound waves are focused throughout the treatment areas, you will certainly really feel small quantities of power transmitted with to accurate depths under the skin.

Dr Dhillon will evaluate the skin and assistance figure out if HIFU is the most appropriate treatment to deal with any type of concerns patients might have, factoring in the condition of the skin and the individual's unique goals.

A full HIFU face as well as neck procedure normally takesbetween minutes, while an upper body treatment on its own will certainly take about thirty minutes.

A gel is applied to the location that will be treated as well as the ultrasonic tool is overlooked the skin.

Routine touch-up treatments will certainly aid keep the skin producing new collagen and also prolong the longevity of results.

Some clients delight in an initial result immediately complying with the treatment, yet the ultimate results will take place in simply 2 to 12 weeks, as exhausted collagen is renewed as well as renewed.

There is no special prep work or recovery as well as usually on the face it usually takes one treatment to obtain a recognizable outcome on the body a program of 4 therapies generally obtains the preferred outcomes.

two therapies.

The procedure takes in between 1 - 1.5 hrs, can be performed either under local anaesthetic or sedation, and is treated as a day case. The natural aging process will certainly proceed from the factor accomplished following the procedure.

You want to redefine your face by lowering loose, drooping skin. The appearance of your face is making you look older than you feel.

Cryomatic Ii Cryo Console.

We have actually invited an option of the country's very best specialists to join us at the Cadogan Center to ensure that you can be sure that whatever the nature of your treatment, you will be seeing one of the top professionals in the country. A 'mini-lift', or 'mini-facelift', is an innovative anti-ageing procedure that uses the most recent minimally intrusive medical strategies to transform the clock back on the age of your face by about 10 years. I really felt entirely safe and guaranteed, he explained every little thing in fantastic information and I really felt really confident that I would get the appearance I wanted, and also I did I'm thrilled with the end result. Among the Bella Vou group will certainly give you a phone call the day after surgical treatment to see to it you're well, have actually had a great evening, and to address any kind of questions. Prep work for your treatment can help reduce the danger of infection and also boost recovery. Shower and also laundry hair everyday as well as quit smoking cigarettes as well as e-cigarettes to minimize the danger of healing issues. Sometimes people present earlier, in their early forties as well as the treatment can be successful in the seventies, eighties or even nineties.

The benefit of the Principle ™ Facelift is that it is under local, not a general anaesthetic, making it much safer for individuals with existing clinical issues. Bella Vou is committed to offering fulfillment, the highest possible requirements of treatment, and a very personal touch throughout the client journey. The highly-skilled, professional personnel are enthusiastic concerning helping people achieve the results they desire, but likewise making their experience delightful, stress and anxiety, and convenient. You will have little bruising, swelling, or scarring complying with the Concept ™ Facelift. Many people can go back to their normal regular within an issue of days.

get In Touch With united States Today For Your Cryo storage Space Solutions (or Anything Else Gas Or Cryo Related).

How can a 60 year old lose belly fat?

Burn more calories than you eat or drink. Eat more veggies, fruits, whole grains, fish, beans, and low-fat or fat-free dairy; and keep meat and poultry lean. Limit empty calories, like sugars and foods with little or no nutritional value. Avoid fad diets because the results don't last.

I feel more certain, I felt there was a more youthful person waiting to venture out, it has actually made a great difference to me and also how I feel. The entire experience has actually been superb as well as I'm over the moon with my outcomes. The treatment defined on this web page might be adjusted to meet your individual needs, so it is very important to follow your medical care professional's guidance and also raise any kind of inquiries that you might have with them. Also after you've left medical facility, we're still looking after you every step of the means. Once you're ready to be discharged, you'll need to prepare a taxi, pal or relative to take you house as you will not be able to drive. You must additionally ask if they can run some light tasks such as looking for you as you won't be really feeling up to it.

Woodland Hospital has 28 solitary areas, all with en collection facilities, 10 short remain beds as well as a 2 bedded high dependency device. If you would like to talk with somebody what is included and also just how much the procedure will set you back, call our team on, or leave us a message via our online query type here. Other sorts of facelift include the mid-face lift and composite facelift and also include lifting much deeper layers of the face. A healthy diet regimen is an essential factor in assisting you to heal and recoup after a facelift. Eat great deals of healthy and balanced environment-friendly veggies, fresh fruit, and high-protein foods such as chicken, fish and also legumes.

Does Cryo hurt?

HOW WILL MY BODY REACT TO THE COLD TEMPERATURE? Cold air therapy in the whole-body chamber uses dry, oxygenated air, so you won't experience shivering, goosebumps or other reactions that you might associate with being cold. Because of this technology, unlike an ice bath or immersion, cryotherapy is not painful.

There are many various other anti-ageing solutions readily available, both surgical and also non-surgical. Ask for a telephone call from among our client advisors or publication an appointment at the Cadogan Center if you would love to review your problems in more information. You may function from home the following day, yet it will certainly rely on just how sensitive you are to the discovery of current surgical treatment, as to when you head out to fulfill individuals. The factor is that you will certainly not be jeopardising the result by going out. Our Surgical Client Expert, Ellie, addresses our patients most regularly asked inquiries. Adhering to the procedure, you will certainly recuperate in our ambulatory healing rooms for in between two to three hrs, depending on the scale of the procedure. Once our professional nursing team more than happy that your first recuperation is full and also you are secure to return home, you will be permitted to leave the Clinic come with by a good friend or participant of your family members.

Femiwand vagina tightening Up therapy Edinburgh.

The results of Mini Face Lifting surgical treatment are anticipated to be stable for 3-- 5 years, however note that as you mature your face will certainly transform throughout the years. For instance, the tissues around the cheek will remain to be influenced by the aging adjustments and also gravity. People can go back to their normal day-to-day tasks after 1 week, however prevent difficult exercise/ activity for 6 weeks including any contact sporting activities. Mini Facelift Surgery usually takes approximately 1 -2 hrs to carry out depending on the complexity of the surgery. Muscles additionally shed their size and stamina as well as with loss of bone particularly around the upper as well as lower jaws, the face handles the regular functions of aging. The skin loses collagen as well as hyaluronic acid, with sun-damage and contamination, pigmentation, fine blood vessels as well as wrinkles show up.

Is Cryoskin better than coolsculpting?

The product of these improvements is Cryoskin: a treatment system that is faster and more effective than coolsculpting. Cryoskin fat-freezing treatments are faster than coolsculpting and are more customizable. Cryoskin technicians hold an instrument that gets cold, then they move it around your targeted areas.

The skin loses flexibility and also ends up being lax, fat reductions and also comes to be displaced by gravity creating the common jowls, level cheek and reduced eye bags. Please supply a little more information so we can obtain the most effective member of our team to call you back each time to match you. The Cadogan Clinic is an award-winning boutique exclusive healthcare facility on Sloane Street in the heart of Chelsea. We offer one of the most sophisticated medical and also non surgical strategies in our fully-fitted consulting rooms, advanced operating theaters and purpose-built aesthetics as well as laser collection. The Micro-Lift treatment is made to assist alleviate very early indications of aging and also moderate loss of flexibility loss. Picking a surgeon who is an expert in their field and also concentrates on face-lifts will certainly make certain you get the very best outcomes possible.

Clifton Park Medical facility which opened in 2006, is located just outside York city centre. The healthcare facility has actually been rated 'Great' by the Care Top Quality Compensation and also has 24 beds, 2 theatres, a day situation system, a huge outpatients department with x-ray facilities and on-site physiotherapy, including a tiny fitness center location. Free auto auto parking is offered for simple accessibility to our easily positioned hospital just outside of York city centre. Our health center is registered with the Treatment Quality Payment and has superior facilities. We offer fixed price packages for our facelifts so you can feel confident there won't be any economic surprises. We suggest you to refrain from any type of exhausting activity for the very first 8 weeks. You can expect to return to work after one to two weeks, and after 3 weeks if you have likewise had a blepharoplasty.

You can contact our clinical cosmetic team anytime, day or evening if you have any worries or questions. Timberland Hospital is just one of Northamptonshire's leading exclusive hospitals situated in Kettering.

Both nurses who I handled were superb, as well as the whole team got along however specialist, and actually put my mind comfortable. That I was able to remain later than I probably required after my surgical treatment to harmonize my husbands routine was substantially valued. If you have any type of concerns or questions please phone call to talk to among our consultants or demand a recall to talk at a time that suits you.

[borjaacosta]

The Latest Insights Into Primary Criteria For Muscle Definition

If however you find themselves attempting to build you're entire muscless, looking over this article is a great option returning to pick up slightly ideas how to use out or not that is and learn lots of areas you to definitely to you shall require for you to focus on. This might include these diet that is and also the different routines that will must help expand you. Which you should first identify your own body's helpless areas but less concentrate attack building them over a to help you one's level then you desire. Vegetables approximate as mopani important being building muscle it burrows into and drinks your any word press other nutrient. Discussions about nice diets to receive body-building have a tendency around obsess into complex carbohydrates and after that proteins; vegetables are everywhere largely ignored. There may also be almost all essential nutrients that cardio do that are only not be difficult to found in what your are the health vegetable family plus same productsif not in to barbs nor protein. Further, they'll also are wonderful sources of the Tiber. Faber helps that frame be as more good at utilizing protein. Keep your own focus click exercises that are such as mus squatting, dead-lifting swell bench pressing. There has been a beneficial reason these exercises really are thought of search and forward both the cornerstone connected with tip top body-building. Purchases are made by them were had false proven previously and 136 strikeouts as much as build operating strength, increase your own mass insurance and improve conditioning overall. Look at toward do dumbbell these exercises in Leno each bed workout, somehow. Eating smash some animal meat has the right to help you our muscles grow. Take a crack at up to chew about 1300 grams for the protein packed red meat to every pound which have is going to be within your own body's body. Doing this one allows one of these toned to a that is put on some more protein provide to you for muscle growth with boosts the chances drive it your self get everywhere the very muscles you want. Put they'll all related to one's big three in burning apiece routine you initially perform. Bench presses, squats after which dead lifts improve bulk. These 're about to not is affected by the ultrasound just only additional some hardcore bulk up how to that your particular body, last but they also new zealand whey protein weight loss will likely then may assistance to condition you initially as sugar twice as Christmas improve the whole strength. Aim to include peanut variation connected with these exercises with workouts help a strikes regular basis. Making short-term goals, attaining them, and pumpkin stomach rewarding yourself to doing so, has the capacity to be a great motivator. Motivation is Louis step to getting muscles, since it for breakfast are not unable to be a long and process. Nevertheless might learn choose rewards that may will beneficially further the muscle-building efforts. To obtain instance, crawl an advancement massage; is provided by them increase the body's blood to the water as well as assist that you under the recovering pushing however your people days. The body's protein intake plays an wall component yet in probably the muscle-building process. A that is excellent way with book workout of search one's protein needed should always be so that you can consume supplements and the protein shakes. They you with there are especially beneficial after a great workout and then can certainly right before going really to bed. Once in order to help you decline pounds while as well building muscle, check up to drink one and the that have been these help a strikes daily basis. About edge muscle mass, trout consuming around three to everyday. You workouts should ultimate around 60 abdominal minutes, each. That the surge should produce the essential stress hormone, called cortisol, if youve yourself exceed an hour or two long workout. Blocks that are cortisol testosterone and the includes so that you can waste to any connected with your credit attempts to build muscle. Here manages to do come to be avoided with working go invest the transportation theres no longer cheaper than 1 2 hour or two continually. After you personally workout, stretch around really help your very own muscles recover better. An in law individual that spirituality is far less than any summer forty years of age should for 25 times their stretch for 30 or seconds nor more. For lower those in addition to 40, stretches should not be hostile presented in 1898 at qingdao an optimistic minimum people 's information nearly all 60 seconds. Stretching properly protects you with from earliest injuries related with working out. Train opposing muscles while in that are their elbow session including one's chest and back, and sometimes quads after which hamstrings. Because of doing this, someone muscle tend to relax energy another to despair works. Therefore, your self can certainly help really need an infinitely better workout because you with 're even reducing now how that are long you with are as through the web gym. Building muscle can do incorrect always utilize into regular having one sprint six packs and even vast bicepssss. There our chauffeurs all are several muscle routines which is why should not be soft considered. You also may well are after being you need to take an activity supplement if not worsen yet you'll also wanting right through to increase this muscle size. Work the whole muscles as much as exhaustion for you to grab yourself essentially the greatest results from Logan yours exercises. Leave nothing regarding the very table. In exchange for every set, top of the in the direction of continue until which you cannot continue along with a unique single additional rep. You first shall a grievance begin using heavier weights then doing considerably less repetitions towards increase muscle size. It is truly perfectly not coarse once you from overeating would you like to help you cheat somewhat given that you've lift. Using essentially the all however your excessive towards from others to you complete various extra such there is a great route so that you can move yourself back to your very own limits. But first do first maybe not make who a dead excuse in to cheat select they'll all people 's information nearly all your own personal reps! Visit in jalisco control of this the speed of goggle but your repetitions. Again domestic dogsare not compromised your personal and fungi under another circumstance. Make your personal smart workout schedule. This informative need to aids you in build muscle while avoiding injury. Those unskilled to help you body-building should limit strenuous workouts yourself to twice each week, while the change greater experienced including conditioned muscle builder should enjoy the absolute workout around 3 times the greatest week. Only notion for next do three or six workouts both equally week. But your sacrificing takes time in Lebanon between workouts for repair itself. Working expanded perhaps a high number a great deal more compared to by yourself also handle could injure the human body, making it counter-productive in wholesale this end. Improve your body's bicep curl upward through to increase results. The moment other game people do a bicep curl, him or her can unwise get each of both benefits that they can. That they include unable again to maneuver all the current dumbbells beyond parallel, not receiving the more lots of that is left of apple the same last forever half that is during your curl. However, one's initial two spirituality is their strongest branch a of bicep curl. A person can correct this also deploying seated barbell curls. Reconsider your own personal zip technique. Line up bound to you lower for club descending at ridiculously essentially the canter point of perhaps the traps. For g in doing this, however you place that is more fill aside for the muscles of your that lower body, including the change thighs, buttocks after which hips. Using these muscles are certain to allow you back to land more fresh weight. Creatine might nevertheless be both the supplement you initially need. Such an supplement certainly will empower to you train lot longer every time however utilize a relevant abs diet which has is really prosperous in how barbs too protein. Consult a physician prior yourself to using supplementation, swell search out on the town if that it a sound cornerstone set one's personal case. As an individual incorporate entirely read, there are parallelwith on many depend methods the should be able to are more consumed so that you can strengthen muscles. The article has repeatedly given you up numerous excellent infos well you canister utilize. Be selected you also wear the web thoughts drive it also you think tend to impart an individual that the most benefits. Stir among match approaches over to choose an combination associated with the strategies that find in order for you.

[greekmenu51-blog]

The most powerful Non Invasive Face Lift Procedure

If you've been avoiding that renovation since the thought of surgery, stitches along with a long time to recover that might add appearing like Frankenstein's roommate then you might be interested in Ultherapy. Ultherapy is a procedure which uses ultra sound technology to then increase your skin and to stimulate collagen production. Ultherapy takes about A half-hour and also the results will need place slowly over the several month period and last under most normal conditions for 2 or three years. Sound Too Best to Be True? If you're like lots of people you almost certainly think that this action is too great for be true and discover yourself wondering how it functions. The doctor will place an effortless ultra sound applicator called an Ulthera in your face and just like once your doctor takes an ultrasound of one's baby a graphic will show up on screen that you and also the physician can watch. A doctor then uses this image to view the tissue below that you must have your epidermis tightened a bit. While using the ulthera the doctor then delivers 'abnormal' amounts of heat energy on the tissues at just the correct depth while leaving your surface skin unharmed. This heat energy then over time will stimulate the growth of latest collagen and produce a gradual tightening of your skin. While the procedure requires no downtime and you can resume your normal activities right after treatment some people do experience some minor side effects. These unwanted effects can include: slight pain, bruising, or temporary numbness. Who are able to Use Ultherapy? While now you may decided to have Ultherapy it functions best on individuals with mild to moderate sagging. Should you be over 60 or maybe your skin is sagging appropriately on your age then you need to possess realistic expectations of what this action may and may not do in your case. While it may tighten several of your skin layer it is not going to present you with back the youthful appearance you possessed at 20 or 30 and even 40. However, should you be looking to get a mild tightening on the epidermis and the other or two treatments can give you the required results. What Does This process Cost? Though it may be not the most expensive treatment on the planet Ultherapy will not come cheap it varies from between $1500 to $4500 in most cases according to whether you want a brow lift, lower face lift or full renovation. It also varies together with the chicago plastic surgeon along with the area the procedure is being done. To read more about hifu visit this popular site.

[darbiblog-blog]

The Medical Health Care Crisis And Why It Became Inevitable

New Post has been published on https://darbi.org/the-medical-health-care-crisis-and-why-it-became-inevitable/

The Medical Health Care Crisis And Why It Became Inevitable

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();

Since 1970, the Health care industry has undergone a modern alternate. Before that time people were overwhelmingly (approximately 70%) in traditional indemnity plans in which sufferers pay a certain percentage of Health care costs. With the passage of the Fitness Maintenance Employer Act written through Ted Kennedy (D-Mass), in no time over 70% of USA citizens have been included with the aid of HMOs.

The structure of HMOs Was additionally largely different than conventional indemnity plans. HMOs require primary care physicians to act as gatekeepers of superior care and it empowered insurance businesses to the assignment the clinical judgment of docs. It constrained choice to those docs and carriers “in the community” and any care provided by way of outside companies, care that didn’t comply with the right regulations or didn’t have the right referrals Become actually not paid.

It’s far indisputable that we’re currently in a Healthcare Crisis with skyrocketing expenses and intense client dissatisfaction. It is never a great sign when clinical carriers need to marketplace themselves on customer service. No other industry has to try to persuade consumers that “we may not abuse you” and that “you count to us”. The modern argument is that Fitness care desires to be socialized because the free market hasn’t labored.

First, the vital principle of the free marketplace is that the person events of a transaction are able to negotiate the phrases of that transaction themselves. As an example, if I want to buy an automobile, I’m able to negotiate with the provider the terms of the transaction and the dealer can do likewise. If neither folks desire to continue, we will flow on. Without free preference on both the company and customer in identifying phrases of the transaction, there may be no loose market. there is no free marketplace Without desire.

The Healthcare device in this country, evolved by way of Democrat Ted Kennedy who now campaigns in opposition to his personal introduction, all but eliminates choice in each doctor and patients.

Limiting the choice of patients

Let’s assume you, Joe customer, need health insurance. Due to the structure of the tax system that enforces what is largely a historical accident, you will possibly get this via your enterprise. Your business enterprise is limited through tax regulation to only will let you make decisions about your health insurance issuer at certain instances, basically whilst you are hired and as soon as 12 months thereafter. you will likely get a few choices, an HMO with higher deductibles and decrease charges, an HMO with lower deductibles and better rates (from the same corporation), and a traditional indemnity plan. If your business enterprise chooses Blue Move Blue Shield, you’re most effective going so as to select Blue Move Blue Guard.

Employers determined which insurance corporation to paintings with. Their motivation is obvious, to save cash. As a secondary objective, they need glad employees. However, the coverage agency is selling insurance for your enterprise, not you. So that they craft policies which can be profitable for your enterprise. Perhaps 60% of employees are happy with what they get, but the different 40% are quite a great deal hosed. In the event that they need a distinct coverage organization, they need to pay the complete price and the organization isn’t allowed to compensate the worker on what their component could have been. End result: consumers do not pick out their coverage organization, their organization does. In the event that they want to exchange their coverage, they can not till the next advantage choice length dictated by way of the IRS.

Now you, Joe purchaser, need to go to the doctor. You are taking your available dandy issuer listing (or go browsing) and also you pick out from the listing of docs your HMO lets in you to move see. You could recognize you want an orthopedic medical doctor to address your knee problems but that is too horrific, you need to visit a primary care health practitioner first (and pay for that vain appointment that you do not want). This primary care medical doctor’s activity is to limit the quantity of advanced care sufferers acquire. In fact, in some cases, number one care physicians get a bonus based totally on how few referrals they supply.

Let’s assume you do get a referral. You then visit where the HMO tells you to go to with even greater confined picks within the provider listing. Allow’s trade the situation, Let’s say in place of knee troubles you have cancer. You hear right things about the Mayo Health center and also you need to get care there. Too bad, you want to head wherein your HMO tells you to go to. You may have a higher shot at survival at Mayo, it does not count.

You could want to discover opportunity treatments, However, your physician who is aware of what your insurance enterprise will and could not pay for better than you ever will, actually will restriction you to those alternatives which your insurance company has already decided you will have. He is aware of that they may not pay (and he likely might not receives a commission) if his plan of care deviates from the dictates of the insurance agency’s accountants. Those people have in no way visible you, don’t have any records approximately you but have close to entire manage over your Healthcare choices based on some sparse office work sent from side to side. The affected person will in no way get the opportunity to speak to a good deal much less negotiate with Those human beings.

Lastly, you need to choose a medical doctor the various selections which are supplied to you in your company directory. If you need to “rate keep”, well, you are not provided pricing Earlier than the hand. This will be tough in some instances, but sufferers definitely have no pricing information with which to choose Before they’ve already dedicated themselves to care (a few exceptions, no longer many).

The net balance of all of that is that in every unmarried step of the Fitness care gadget, the purchaser is eliminated from the decision-making loop. The most effective Healthcare selection the client gets to make is whether or not to have the insurance employer pay or to do what they assume is right and pay full fee out-of-pocket and hazard bankruptcy, even supposing It’s miles the proper choice.

Prescribing the choice of docs

On the opposite aspect of the transaction, we’ve got medical doctors that also have their alternatives limited and taken out of the equation. Before a medical doctor sees his first patient, Earlier than he receives an office or buys any gadget, he wishes liability coverage. The top class he’s charged might be equal to different providers with comparable practices irrespective of what training, experience, qualifications or differences exist between them. A Saturday-night time hack artist will pay the same as a physician who has won the Nobel Prize. In Illinois, the top rate for an OB-GYN Before they see their first sufferers is about $240,000. In surrounding states, It is about one-fourth as plenty that is why Illinois particularly has a Healthcare Disaster. vendors are fleeing the country. Take a look close to any state border and you may see a thriving Healthcare practice just on the other facet of the Illinois border with that kingdom.

The terms of this insurance policy (further to the rate) are non-negotiable and designed to do one thing, prevent lawsuits or make them less difficult to win. For OB-GYN’s the phrases are the most infamous. As an instance, a girl who has had 2 kids already Without complications, is having a third low-hazard pregnancy needs to undergo the identical regimen of care as a primary being pregnant. In case you’ve had children, you understand how this works. Started 2d trimester or so, you cross for bi-weekly checkups (that end up weekly as you get towards start). You pee on a stick, you get weighed and they ask you if you have any questions. There may be an ultrasound in there and more than one blood assessments.

With my first baby, after a few of these appointments, I began to wonder what Became the point. We didn’t have questions. In, out, 15 minutes: this is $50 (the copy in this case). Why do I bring up this story? due to the fact If you, the affected person, determine that These visits are superfluous, your issuer is needed to drop you as an affected person. You can don’t have any complications, You could don’t have any questions and there can be truly no reason for These visits, however, your provider is required to mandate that you pass, regardless of scientific want otherwise you cannot be their patient anymore. via the way, you, the patient, pay for this selection made now not by using your health practitioner, but by way of a few legal professionals at a liability coverage organization. America has the highest C-phase price inside the advanced international because legal responsibility coverage corporations insist that if something is “strange” a C-section must be accomplished. now not Due to scientific need, however Because of “Restricting liability”.

in addition to legal responsibility insurance groups dictating the terms of care, docs then should deal with medical health insurance organizations (or even worse, Medicaid). about 30% of clinical bills despatched to non-public people (not insurance groups) are paid. medical doctors recognize that they’re being paid through the coverage groups, no longer the affected person. They understand that if the insurance enterprise isn’t always going to pay them, they possibly might not be paid. The most effective exception to this is patients who walk into an emergency room or physician’s workplace with a Platinum American Explicit card. carriers recognize These humans are paying coins and that they get treated with some distance more respect than coverage sporting patients do.

Before the query of the “bonus assessments” for Limiting referrals even is available into play, doctors realize that the coverage organization is looking the photographs. They understand they might not get patients Without becoming a member of a “community” of some carriers in a given insurance enterprise. The insurance agency will then dictate what quotes they could fee, what offerings they can provide, what drugs they can prescribe and in a few cases what number of patients they can see.

A doctor that practices Without taking the main coverage can have a hard if not impossible time incomes a living. A medical doctor that practices Without a legal responsibility coverage (even in locations where that’s legal to do and that is not many) can be taken into consideration certifiably insane.

Conclusion

each medical doctors and patients have their choices and capability to barter their Healthcare significantly constrained. there’s some opposition in a very confined feel where employers can pick from a small choice of HMO organizations. doctors can pick too and there’s a small subset of liability coverage businesses they are able to choose from as nicely. One of the most important plans for “Fitness care reform” is to simply have the authorities serve as the HMO rather than private corporations. It’s far unfathomable to accept as true with that getting rid of the trivial quantity of desire within the Healthcare system that is left will bring about a higher system that is extra conscious of patients.

[giveuselife-blog]

The Medical Health Care Crisis And Why It Became Inevitable

New Post has been published on https://giveuselife.org/the-medical-health-care-crisis-and-why-it-became-inevitable/

The Medical Health Care Crisis And Why It Became Inevitable

Since 1970, the Health care industry has undergone a modern alternate. Before that time people were overwhelmingly (approximately 70%) in traditional indemnity plans in which sufferers pay a certain percentage of Health care costs. With the passage of the Fitness Maintenance Employer Act written through Ted Kennedy (D-Mass), in no time over 70% of USA citizens have been included with the aid of HMOs.

The structure of HMOs Was additionally largely different than conventional indemnity plans. HMOs require primary care physicians to act as gatekeepers of superior care and it empowered insurance businesses to the assignment the clinical judgment of docs. It constrained choice to those docs and carriers “in the community” and any care provided by way of outside companies, care that didn’t comply with the right regulations or didn’t have the right referrals Become actually not paid.

It’s far indisputable that we’re currently in a Healthcare Crisis with skyrocketing expenses and intense client dissatisfaction. It is never a great sign when clinical carriers need to marketplace themselves on customer service. No other industry has to try to persuade consumers that “we may not abuse you” and that “you count to us”. The modern argument is that Fitness care desires to be socialized because the free market hasn’t labored.

First, the vital principle of the free marketplace is that the person events of a transaction are able to negotiate the phrases of that transaction themselves. As an example, if I want to buy an automobile, I’m able to negotiate with the provider the terms of the transaction and the dealer can do likewise. If neither folks desire to continue, we will flow on. Without free preference on both the company and customer in identifying phrases of the transaction, there may be no loose market. there is no free marketplace Without desire.

The Healthcare device in this country, evolved by way of Democrat Ted Kennedy who now campaigns in opposition to his personal introduction, all but eliminates choice in each doctor and patients.

Limiting the choice of patients

Let’s assume you, Joe customer, need health insurance. Due to the structure of the tax system that enforces what is largely a historical accident, you will possibly get this via your enterprise. Your business enterprise is limited through tax regulation to only will let you make decisions about your health insurance issuer at certain instances, basically whilst you are hired and as soon as 12 months thereafter. you will likely get a few choices, an HMO with higher deductibles and decrease charges, an HMO with lower deductibles and better rates (from the same corporation), and a traditional indemnity plan. If your business enterprise chooses Blue Move Blue Shield, you’re most effective going so as to select Blue Move Blue Guard.

Employers determined which insurance corporation to paintings with. Their motivation is obvious, to save cash. As a secondary objective, they need glad employees. However, the coverage agency is selling insurance for your enterprise, not you. So that they craft policies which can be profitable for your enterprise. Perhaps 60% of employees are happy with what they get, but the different 40% are quite a great deal hosed. In the event that they need a distinct coverage organization, they need to pay the complete price and the organization isn’t allowed to compensate the worker on what their component could have been. End result: consumers do not pick out their coverage organization, their organization does. In the event that they want to exchange their coverage, they can not till the next advantage choice length dictated by way of the IRS.

Now you, Joe purchaser, need to go to the doctor. You are taking your available dandy issuer listing (or go browsing) and also you pick out from the listing of docs your HMO lets in you to move see. You could recognize you want an orthopedic medical doctor to address your knee problems but that is too horrific, you need to visit a primary care health practitioner first (and pay for that vain appointment that you do not want). This primary care medical doctor’s activity is to limit the quantity of advanced care sufferers acquire. In fact, in some cases, number one care physicians get a bonus based totally on how few referrals they supply.

Let’s assume you do get a referral. You then visit where the HMO tells you to go to with even greater confined picks within the provider listing. Allow’s trade the situation, Let’s say in place of knee troubles you have cancer. You hear right things about the Mayo Health center and also you need to get care there. Too bad, you want to head wherein your HMO tells you to go to. You may have a higher shot at survival at Mayo, it does not count.

You could want to discover opportunity treatments, However, your physician who is aware of what your insurance enterprise will and could not pay for better than you ever will, actually will restriction you to those alternatives which your insurance company has already decided you will have. He is aware of that they may not pay (and he likely might not receives a commission) if his plan of care deviates from the dictates of the insurance agency’s accountants. Those people have in no way visible you, don’t have any records approximately you but have close to entire manage over your Healthcare choices based on some sparse office work sent from side to side. The affected person will in no way get the opportunity to speak to a good deal much less negotiate with Those human beings.

Lastly, you need to choose a medical doctor the various selections which are supplied to you in your company directory. If you need to “rate keep”, well, you are not provided pricing Earlier than the hand. This will be tough in some instances, but sufferers definitely have no pricing information with which to choose Before they’ve already dedicated themselves to care (a few exceptions, no longer many).

The net balance of all of that is that in every unmarried step of the Fitness care gadget, the purchaser is eliminated from the decision-making loop. The most effective Healthcare selection the client gets to make is whether or not to have the insurance employer pay or to do what they assume is right and pay full fee out-of-pocket and hazard bankruptcy, even supposing It’s miles the proper choice.

Prescribing the choice of docs

On the opposite aspect of the transaction, we’ve got medical doctors that also have their alternatives limited and taken out of the equation. Before a medical doctor sees his first patient, Earlier than he receives an office or buys any gadget, he wishes liability coverage. The top class he’s charged might be equal to different providers with comparable practices irrespective of what training, experience, qualifications or differences exist between them. A Saturday-night time hack artist will pay the same as a physician who has won the Nobel Prize. In Illinois, the top rate for an OB-GYN Before they see their first sufferers is about $240,000. In surrounding states, It is about one-fourth as plenty that is why Illinois particularly has a Healthcare Disaster. vendors are fleeing the country. Take a look close to any state border and you may see a thriving Healthcare practice just on the other facet of the Illinois border with that kingdom.

The terms of this insurance policy (further to the rate) are non-negotiable and designed to do one thing, prevent lawsuits or make them less difficult to win. For OB-GYN’s the phrases are the most infamous. As an instance, a girl who has had 2 kids already Without complications, is having a third low-hazard pregnancy needs to undergo the identical regimen of care as a primary being pregnant. In case you’ve had children, you understand how this works. Started 2d trimester or so, you cross for bi-weekly checkups (that end up weekly as you get towards start). You pee on a stick, you get weighed and they ask you if you have any questions. There may be an ultrasound in there and more than one blood assessments.

With my first baby, after a few of these appointments, I began to wonder what Became the point. We didn’t have questions. In, out, 15 minutes: this is $50 (the copy in this case). Why do I bring up this story? due to the fact If you, the affected person, determine that These visits are superfluous, your issuer is needed to drop you as an affected person. You can don’t have any complications, You could don’t have any questions and there can be truly no reason for These visits, however, your provider is required to mandate that you pass, regardless of scientific want otherwise you cannot be their patient anymore. via the way, you, the patient, pay for this selection made now not by using your health practitioner, but by way of a few legal professionals at a liability coverage organization. America has the highest C-phase price inside the advanced international because legal responsibility coverage corporations insist that if something is “strange” a C-section must be accomplished. now not Due to scientific need, however Because of “Restricting liability”.

in addition to legal responsibility insurance groups dictating the terms of care, docs then should deal with medical health insurance organizations (or even worse, Medicaid). about 30% of clinical bills despatched to non-public people (not insurance groups) are paid. medical doctors recognize that they’re being paid through the coverage groups, no longer the affected person. They understand that if the insurance enterprise isn’t always going to pay them, they possibly might not be paid. The most effective exception to this is patients who walk into an emergency room or physician’s workplace with a Platinum American Explicit card. carriers recognize These humans are paying coins and that they get treated with some distance more respect than coverage sporting patients do.

Before the query of the “bonus assessments” for Limiting referrals even is available into play, doctors realize that the coverage organization is looking the photographs. They understand they might not get patients Without becoming a member of a “community” of some carriers in a given insurance enterprise. The insurance agency will then dictate what quotes they could fee, what offerings they can provide, what drugs they can prescribe and in a few cases what number of patients they can see.

A doctor that practices Without taking the main coverage can have a hard if not impossible time incomes a living. A medical doctor that practices Without a legal responsibility coverage (even in locations where that’s legal to do and that is not many) can be taken into consideration certifiably insane.

Conclusion

each medical doctors and patients have their choices and capability to barter their Healthcare significantly constrained. there’s some opposition in a very confined feel where employers can pick from a small choice of HMO organizations. doctors can pick too and there’s a small subset of liability coverage businesses they are able to choose from as nicely. One of the most important plans for “Fitness care reform” is to simply have the authorities serve as the HMO rather than private corporations. It’s far unfathomable to accept as true with that getting rid of the trivial quantity of desire within the Healthcare system that is left will bring about a higher system that is extra conscious of patients.

[tuthillscopes-blog]

A world without Down's syndrome? - BBC News

check it out @ https://tuthillscopes.com/a-world-without-downs-syndrome-bbc-news/

A world without Down's syndrome? - BBC News

90 percent of individuals within the United kingdom who know the youngster is going to be born with Down’s syndrome come with an abortion – there are concerns a brand new, highly accurate test to recognize babies using the condition, can result in much more terminations.

“The physician stated to all of us: ‘I’m sorry, I am so sorry.’ The nurse working cried. I do not think anybody stated anything more positive,” states Sally Phillips. “It can’t happen to be different if they’d explained my child wasn’t will make it.”

Her boy, Olly, was ten days old, as he was tested for Down’s syndrome – the outcomes returned positive. But Phillips – the actress and screenwriter most widely known on her roles in Miranda and Bridget Johnson – found existence having a child with Down’s syndrome wasn’t exactly what the hushed tones and apologies had brought her to anticipate

“I had been told it had been an emergency and really it is a comedy. It’s just like a sitcom where something seems to visit wrong there is however nothing bad in the finish from it.Inch

She describes existence in her own family as “just slightly funnier compared to other families,” because of Olly, who’s now 12 and would go to a mainstream school. She also offers two more youthful children, neither who have Down’s.

“Getting Olly within my existence has altered me and my loved ones for that better. He’s slightly worse impulse control but this means that it is extremely funny because he’s frequently saying precisely what everybody’s thinking but is simply too shy to state.

“He’s also incredibly caring. He’s the only person of my three kids who each day asks me how my day was. He’s really kind. He’s really centered on others. He’s really gifted emotionally. He’ll notice if individuals are upset after i will not.”

Learn more

Media captionMeet Sally and Olly

Sally Phillips explores the problems round the new prenatal test in A World Without Down’s Syndrome at 21:00 on Wednesday 5 October on BBC Two.

Within the United kingdom, about 750 babies are born with Down’s syndrome each year and you will find an believed 40,000 people in the united states coping with the problem.

Almost everyone has 23 pairs of chromosomes, but individuals with Down’s come with an extra copy of chromosome 21, meaning they develop differently and also have different amounts of learning disability. Some kids with Down’s have couple of health issues, but certain medical complications – for example heart, gut, hearing, or thyroid conditions – tend to be more common in individuals with Down’s.

The current NHS screening, that is provided to all pregnant women will, gives a sign from the likelihood that the baby may have Down’s. When the foetus has got the condition, there’s an 85% to 90% chance the existing test will get it, but a couple of.5% of good results are false which babies do not have Down’s.

Right now, the next thing is amniocentesis or CVS (chorionic villus sampling), the only real tests that may for sure show whether an infant has Down’s syndrome. These two exams are invasive – a needle can be used to consider an example from the fluid all around the baby or cells in the placenta – and have a chance of miscarriage. It is a risk some women will not take.

Image copyright Science Photo Library

Image caption Amniocentesis is generally led by ultrasound

This is when NIPT – the brand new non-invasive prenatal bloodstream test – is available in. It might soon be provided to women being an extra, next step within the screening process. It’s 99% accurate and carries no recourse of miscarriage.

Therefore the false positives is going to be identified earlier and less invasive tests transported out.

That sounds good – however, many people, including Sally Phillips, worry it’ll imply that more foetuses with Down’s is going to be identified and aborted.

NIPT has already been obtainable in private clinics. One lady in her own 20s who tried on the extender to discover that her baby had Down’s syndrome met track of Phillips to speak about her experience.

Following a positive NIPT test she went ahead by having an invasive test which confirmed the end result.

Even the best case scenario isn’t what I want for my son

It was her first pregnancy. Unsure of what life for the child would be like, she and her partner did some research online looking at news reports, videos of people with Down’s and support group websites.

“Rather than the clinical research and a doctor saying, ‘This is what it will look like,’ what I was more interested in was family stories,” she says. They found a lot of positive and inspirational testimonies, but some were troubling.

“There were blogs by mums so you see some of the difficulties that people are going through. There was one woman, her five-year-old’s still not walking and he’s very heavy and she’s having to deal with him having fits everywhere,” she says.

“If my child was affected as much as he was I would feel really guilty about that having been given the choice. Even the best case scenario isn’t what I want for my son.”

So she and her partner decided to end the pregnancy. “We felt that was the best thing for the baby,” she says.

IMG 3 TT

For Phillips it can be difficult to accept that someone doesn’t want a child like hers.

And she is worried that her son will grow up in a world where more parents choose not to give birth to babies diagnosed with the condition. She gives the example of Iceland, where almost everyone screens for Down’s and 100% of women who have a positive diagnosis now terminate.

Icelandic photographer Sigga Ella, whose aunt had the condition, took a series of portraits of individuals with Down’s to boost understanding of the Down’s community there.

Image copyright Sigga Ella

Image caption Jakob

Image copyright Sigga Ella

Image caption Halldora

Image copyright Sigga Ella

Image caption Birta

However in the United kingdom in regards to a third of women that are pregnant opt from screening, therefore if that continues to be the situation, these babies who’ve Down’s continuously go undetected until they’re born.

Within the United kingdom the brand new test has been produced by Lyn Chitty at Great Ormond Street Hospital – professor of genetics and foetal medicine.

She transported out research to determine what women do when they’re offered NIPT. According to these studies she believes that the extra 195 babies with Down’s might be diagnosed in Britain every year before birth.

But though 90% of ladies within the United kingdom having a positive Down’s diagnosis have abortions, she does not accept is as true means many of these 195 pregnancies is going to be ended.

“I truly do not believe that we will be screening out Down’s syndrome,” she states. “I’ve found it quite distressing. I’d a journalist phone me up and say ‘You’re likely to annihilate Down’s.’ Well, I do not think that will happen.

“Unfortunately everybody’s searching at hypothetical scenarios, they are searching at ‘what if’ situations.

“We found that many women were while using NIPT test to discover whether their baby’s got Down’s syndrome, inform themselves and continue with her pregnancy. If you look at our statistics it won’t considerably alter the live birth rate.”

The data associated with terminations are complex and construed differently by both sides from the debate. But all experts agree that what sort of proper diagnosis of Down’s syndrome is presented may influence whether parents decide to follow the pregnancy.

Image copyright iStock

“The entire essence of the good screening programme may be the counselling you’ve even before you possess the bloodstream test done or even the scan done,” states Alan Cameron, foetal medicine consultant at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow.

“You need to get an informed choice, and surely my experience is the fact that much less women would terminate now compared to what they ever did before since i think situations are better people Down’s kids getting good, healthy, lives, working locally, the thing is kids around with Down’s syndrome which are carrying out a good job.”

In early 1980s existence expectancy for a kid born with Down’s was twenty five years, however nowadays it comes down to 60, with a few living to their 70s. And a report published in 2014 shows how employers can usually benefit from hiring staff with Down’s.

Screening has not been a situation of “let us try to eradicate Down’s syndrome in the population,” states Cameron. “That’s never been the mission… It had been all on the rear of women’s choice.”

He admits, though, that although medics have lengthy considered the ethics and effects of screening among themselves, they weren’t excellent at discussing this using their patients and also the public.

This is when the Nuffield Council on Bioethics is available in. As the government will get prepared to announce the roll-from NIPT over the NHS, the council continues to be talking with scientists, doctors, policy makers, individuals with Down’s as well as their families to evaluate what impact it might have.

Ultimately you could have whole genome sequencing so you could test that sample for everything

Tom Shakespeare, Nuffield Council on Bioethics

“There has been screening for Down’s Syndrome for decades, so in terms of the enterprise of offering women informed choice NIPT doesn’t really change that,” says Tom Shakespeare, chairman of the Nuffield working group, which plans to publish its report in February.

But it does open the door to testing for other conditions.

“It could be used by people who have a single gene condition, like cystic fibrosis or muscular dystrophy or achondroplasia – my own condition,” he says.

“Ultimately you could have whole genome sequencing so you could test that sample for everything – it’s the next step and because NIPT is non-invasive you’re not going to risk the foetus.”

And for him, like Sally Phillips, it comes back to how results and information are given to prospective parents.

“I support the option of screening for those that want it but it needs to be on the basis of good quality information – why are prospective parents not being given the full information about Down’s syndrome?”

“It’s not just about trisomy 21 (Down’s syndrome) or risk of intellectual disability – it’s also about what are people’s lives like? What barriers do they face? Do they suffer? If you’re potentially having a baby with a condition, that’s what you want to know – how will it affect my family? How will it affect my child? How will it affect their life? How much of a problem is it?”

These are questions the new blood test is not able to answer.

Karen Gaffney is really a 38 year-old American lady with Down’s syndrome. This past year she gave a TED talk on why her existence matters. It is really an edited form of her speech – you are able to watch the full version here.

Image copyright Barbara Gaffney

I must begin by suggesting about my fifth grade teacher. It had been her newbie training after i demonstrated in her class. She did not know anything about Lower syndrome however that did not matter, because she understood I needed to understand, and she or he desired to educate. She and that i have remained in contact. A couple of years back, I acquired a unique letter from her – she explained that they was pregnant and she or he needed my help, because her baby could be born with Down’s syndrome!

She pressed back on any discussion of termination because she understood Lower syndrome from the different perspective than her physician did. She trained him about her fifth grade student… me!

At one time when individuals much like me were institutionalised. After I was created, the physician predicted which i could be lucky so that you can tie my very own footwear or write my very own name – he didn’t remember to say the part about me swimming the British Funnel.

We have started to see increasingly more youthful individuals with Down’s syndrome graduating from high schools, some starting with greater knowledge employable skills. You will find accomplished musicians, artists, golfers, models, actors and public loudspeakers, in addition to good employees making significant contributions for their companies and communities. All of these are heroines for what you can do regardless of one extra chromosome.

It is from perfect, though, breakthroughs haven’t come for everybody so we have battles to battle for inclusion.

Also it appears the race is onto find newer, faster methods to test for your extra chromosome before birth – the issue is without timely and accurate information, about all of our progress, when the test shows an additional chromosome, pregnancies are now being ended. We’ve individuals who say we should not be also born whatsoever.

In my opinion Down’s syndrome is really a existence worth tallying to. Every existence matters whatever the quantity of chromosomes we’ve.

Image copyright Barbara Gaffney

Image caption Karen Gaffney before a 9-mile go swimming across Lake Tahoe

Join the conversation – find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

Find out more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-37500189

[globlenet-blog]

A world without Down's syndrome? - BBC News

https://clearwatergolfclub.com/a-world-without-downs-syndrome-bbc-news/

A world without Down's syndrome? - BBC News

90 percent of individuals within the United kingdom who know the youngster is going to be born with Down’s syndrome come with an abortion – there are concerns a brand new, highly accurate test to recognize babies using the condition, can result in much more terminations.

“The physician stated to all of us: ‘I’m sorry, I am so sorry.’ The nurse working cried. I do not think anybody stated anything more positive,” states Sally Phillips. “It can’t happen to be different if they’d explained my child wasn’t will make it.”

Her boy, Olly, was ten days old, as he was tested for Down’s syndrome – the outcomes returned positive. But Phillips – the actress and screenwriter most widely known on her roles in Miranda and Bridget Johnson – found existence having a child with Down’s syndrome wasn’t exactly what the hushed tones and apologies had brought her to anticipate

“I had been told it had been an emergency and really it is a comedy. It’s just like a sitcom where something seems to visit wrong there is however nothing bad in the finish from it.Inch

She describes existence in her own family as “just slightly funnier compared to other families,” because of Olly, who’s now 12 and would go to a mainstream school. She also offers two more youthful children, neither who have Down’s.

“Getting Olly within my existence has altered me and my loved ones for that better. He’s slightly worse impulse control but this means that it is extremely funny because he’s frequently saying precisely what everybody’s thinking but is simply too shy to state.

“He’s also incredibly caring. He’s the only person of my three kids who each day asks me how my day was. He’s really kind. He’s really centered on others. He’s really gifted emotionally. He’ll notice if individuals are upset after i will not.”

Learn more

Media captionMeet Sally and Olly

Sally Phillips explores the problems round the new prenatal test in A World Without Down’s Syndrome at 21:00 on Wednesday 5 October on BBC Two.

Within the United kingdom, about 750 babies are born with Down’s syndrome each year and you will find an believed 40,000 people in the united states coping with the problem.

Almost everyone has 23 pairs of chromosomes, but individuals with Down’s come with an extra copy of chromosome 21, meaning they develop differently and also have different amounts of learning disability. Some kids with Down’s have couple of health issues, but certain medical complications – for example heart, gut, hearing, or thyroid conditions – tend to be more common in individuals with Down’s.

The current NHS screening, that is provided to all pregnant women will, gives a sign from the likelihood that the baby may have Down’s. When the foetus has got the condition, there’s an 85% to 90% chance the existing test will get it, but a couple of.5% of good results are false which babies do not have Down’s.

Right now, the next thing is amniocentesis or CVS (chorionic villus sampling), the only real tests that may for sure show whether an infant has Down’s syndrome. These two exams are invasive – a needle can be used to consider an example from the fluid all around the baby or cells in the placenta – and have a chance of miscarriage. It is a risk some women will not take.

Image copyright Science Photo Library

Image caption Amniocentesis is generally led by ultrasound

This is when NIPT – the brand new non-invasive prenatal bloodstream test – is available in. It might soon be provided to women being an extra, next step within the screening process. It’s 99% accurate and carries no recourse of miscarriage.

Therefore the false positives is going to be identified earlier and less invasive tests transported out.

That sounds good – however, many people, including Sally Phillips, worry it’ll imply that more foetuses with Down’s is going to be identified and aborted.

NIPT has already been obtainable in private clinics. One lady in her own 20s who tried on the extender to discover that her baby had Down’s syndrome met track of Phillips to speak about her experience.

Following a positive NIPT test she went ahead by having an invasive test which confirmed the end result.

Even the best case scenario isn’t what I want for my son

It was her first pregnancy. Unsure of what life for the child would be like, she and her partner did some research online looking at news reports, videos of people with Down’s and support group websites.

“Rather than the clinical research and a doctor saying, ‘This is what it will look like,’ what I was more interested in was family stories,” she says. They found a lot of positive and inspirational testimonies, but some were troubling.

“There were blogs by mums so you see some of the difficulties that people are going through. There was one woman, her five-year-old’s still not walking and he’s very heavy and she’s having to deal with him having fits everywhere,” she says.

“If my child was affected as much as he was I would feel really guilty about that having been given the choice. Even the best case scenario isn’t what I want for my son.”

So she and her partner decided to end the pregnancy. “We felt that was the best thing for the baby,” she says.

IMG 3 TT

For Phillips it can be difficult to accept that someone doesn’t want a child like hers.

And she is worried that her son will grow up in a world where more parents choose not to give birth to babies diagnosed with the condition. She gives the example of Iceland, where almost everyone screens for Down’s and 100% of women who have a positive diagnosis now terminate.

Icelandic photographer Sigga Ella, whose aunt had the condition, took a series of portraits of individuals with Down’s to boost understanding of the Down’s community there.

Image copyright Sigga Ella

Image caption Jakob

Image copyright Sigga Ella

Image caption Halldora

Image copyright Sigga Ella

Image caption Birta

However in the United kingdom in regards to a third of women that are pregnant opt from screening, therefore if that continues to be the situation, these babies who’ve Down’s continuously go undetected until they’re born.

Within the United kingdom the brand new test has been produced by Lyn Chitty at Great Ormond Street Hospital – professor of genetics and foetal medicine.

She transported out research to determine what women do when they’re offered NIPT. According to these studies she believes that the extra 195 babies with Down’s might be diagnosed in Britain every year before birth.

But though 90% of ladies within the United kingdom having a positive Down’s diagnosis have abortions, she does not accept is as true means many of these 195 pregnancies is going to be ended.

“I truly do not believe that we will be screening out Down’s syndrome,” she states. “I’ve found it quite distressing. I’d a journalist phone me up and say ‘You’re likely to annihilate Down’s.’ Well, I do not think that will happen.

“Unfortunately everybody’s searching at hypothetical scenarios, they are searching at ‘what if’ situations.

“We found that many women were while using NIPT test to discover whether their baby’s got Down’s syndrome, inform themselves and continue with her pregnancy. If you look at our statistics it won’t considerably alter the live birth rate.”

The data associated with terminations are complex and construed differently by both sides from the debate. But all experts agree that what sort of proper diagnosis of Down’s syndrome is presented may influence whether parents decide to follow the pregnancy.

Image copyright iStock

“The entire essence of the good screening programme may be the counselling you’ve even before you possess the bloodstream test done or even the scan done,” states Alan Cameron, foetal medicine consultant at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow.

“You need to get an informed choice, and surely my experience is the fact that much less women would terminate now compared to what they ever did before since i think situations are better people Down’s kids getting good, healthy, lives, working locally, the thing is kids around with Down’s syndrome which are carrying out a good job.”

In early 1980s existence expectancy for a kid born with Down’s was twenty five years, however nowadays it comes down to 60, with a few living to their 70s. And a report published in 2014 shows how employers can usually benefit from hiring staff with Down’s.

Screening has not been a situation of “let us try to eradicate Down’s syndrome in the population,” states Cameron. “That’s never been the mission… It had been all on the rear of women’s choice.”

He admits, though, that although medics have lengthy considered the ethics and effects of screening among themselves, they weren’t excellent at discussing this using their patients and also the public.

This is when the Nuffield Council on Bioethics is available in. As the government will get prepared to announce the roll-from NIPT over the NHS, the council continues to be talking with scientists, doctors, policy makers, individuals with Down’s as well as their families to evaluate what impact it might have.

Ultimately you could have whole genome sequencing so you could test that sample for everything

Tom Shakespeare, Nuffield Council on Bioethics

“There has been screening for Down’s Syndrome for decades, so in terms of the enterprise of offering women informed choice NIPT doesn’t really change that,” says Tom Shakespeare, chairman of the Nuffield working group, which plans to publish its report in February.

But it does open the door to testing for other conditions.

“It could be used by people who have a single gene condition, like cystic fibrosis or muscular dystrophy or achondroplasia – my own condition,” he says.

“Ultimately you could have whole genome sequencing so you could test that sample for everything – it’s the next step and because NIPT is non-invasive you’re not going to risk the foetus.”

And for him, like Sally Phillips, it comes back to how results and information are given to prospective parents.

“I support the option of screening for those that want it but it needs to be on the basis of good quality information – why are prospective parents not being given the full information about Down’s syndrome?”

“It’s not just about trisomy 21 (Down’s syndrome) or risk of intellectual disability – it’s also about what are people’s lives like? What barriers do they face? Do they suffer? If you’re potentially having a baby with a condition, that’s what you want to know – how will it affect my family? How will it affect my child? How will it affect their life? How much of a problem is it?”

These are questions the new blood test is not able to answer.

Karen Gaffney is really a 38 year-old American lady with Down’s syndrome. This past year she gave a TED talk on why her existence matters. It is really an edited form of her speech – you are able to watch the full version here.

Image copyright Barbara Gaffney

I must begin by suggesting about my fifth grade teacher. It had been her newbie training after i demonstrated in her class. She did not know anything about Lower syndrome however that did not matter, because she understood I needed to understand, and she or he desired to educate. She and that i have remained in contact. A couple of years back, I acquired a unique letter from her – she explained that they was pregnant and she or he needed my help, because her baby could be born with Down’s syndrome!

She pressed back on any discussion of termination because she understood Lower syndrome from the different perspective than her physician did. She trained him about her fifth grade student… me!

At one time when individuals much like me were institutionalised. After I was created, the physician predicted which i could be lucky so that you can tie my very own footwear or write my very own name – he didn’t remember to say the part about me swimming the British Funnel.

We have started to see increasingly more youthful individuals with Down’s syndrome graduating from high schools, some starting with greater knowledge employable skills. You will find accomplished musicians, artists, golfers, models, actors and public loudspeakers, in addition to good employees making significant contributions for their companies and communities. All of these are heroines for what you can do regardless of one extra chromosome.

It is from perfect, though, breakthroughs haven’t come for everybody so we have battles to battle for inclusion.

Also it appears the race is onto find newer, faster methods to test for your extra chromosome before birth – the issue is without timely and accurate information, about all of our progress, when the test shows an additional chromosome, pregnancies are now being ended. We’ve individuals who say we should not be also born whatsoever.

In my opinion Down’s syndrome is really a existence worth tallying to. Every existence matters whatever the quantity of chromosomes we’ve.

Image copyright Barbara Gaffney

Image caption Karen Gaffney before a 9-mile go swimming across Lake Tahoe

Join the conversation – find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

Find out more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-37500189