ArchivedLogs:Sugar High

Sugar High
Dramatis Personae Iolaus, Jax	2014-05-04 '
Location <XS> Medical Lab - B1
Gleaming and sterile, the school's medical facility is all cool science in contrast to the mansion's old-world old-fashion. All stainless steel and antiseptic tinge, the room is filled with the quiet whir-click of the various implements that comprise its medical equipment -- all state-of the art. The hospital beds are curtained off for privacy when they have patients, and in one of the alcoves there is a small operating theatre visible. More heavy-duty equipment is visible in the lab in the back, where the securely locked cabinets keep sensitive equipment out of the reach of teenage fingers. Morning on Sunday finds Iolaus in the Xavier's medical bay, sitting behind a desk and making notes in the computer as he listens to a recording of what sounds like talking from someone's surgery. Unknown voices of nurses and doctors, and the quiet beeping of machines fill the air of the otherwise empty bay. "Yeah, well, how's that going to work for you, hmm? Not very well; your dose is short." Iolaus mutters, and sure enough, a few moments later the doctor on the recording orders a second round of medication. Jax has been to church and back, this morning; he's dressed, still, for church, in a pale green suit. He moves slowly as he enters the lab, eye fixed down towards the ground and his fingers trailing against the wall. "Sir?" His voice is quiet; he hangs back a bit away from Iolaus's desk, face a little flushed. "Um, hi. {Sorry}, um, is this an okay time I don't mean t'interrupt or nothin'?" "Oh, no interruption, Jax." Iolaus says as he stands up, smiling warmly at the other man. He hits the spacebar on the computer, cutting the recording off mid sentence. "Just catching up on some paperwork. The break is appreciated," he says with a little chuckle at his own joke. "Please, sit," he says, gesturing to one of the beds. "You said you weren't feeling well. Tell me what you mean?" "Thanks." Jax gives Iolaus a smile, quick, warm, walking slowly over to settle gingerly down onto the edge of the mattress. "See? Even off-duty m'still lookin' out for you." His tone is light, though his posture droops heavily, arm curled around his midsection as his other rests behind him to prop him up. "I -- gosh. I mean, it's all been real messed up, y'know? It's hard maybe t'separate what feels bad on account'a nothin' feels like it /should/ an' what -- actually jus' feels bad. But --" His brows furrow, fingers curling in against his side. "S'been a lotta things. Jus' been kinda queasy all the time an' -- so tired I can hardly do much'a anything an' -- an' --" He trails off, here, staring down at the ground with a somewhat vacant look. "I've been looking over your files and the work that Doctor McCoy sent over." Iolaus says, placing his hand supportively on Jax's shoulder. "I think I have something that can help... a bit. Just sit right there, and let me get some, alright?" Iolaus gives the other man a smile, then steps over into the back. He returns with an IV bag, a small bottle, and a palm sized device. "Just want to check your blood sugar levels, alright? It'll be a little pinch," Iolaus warns, as he takes Jax's hand and prick's is with a small needle on a fingertip. He holds the meter up against the artist's finger. "Hm?" Jax doesn't lift his eyes from the ground, hand tensing up slightly as Iolaus takes it. "Dr. McCoy -- sent. Oh." His brows wrinkle, finger twitching at the sudden prick. "Oh!" His eye widens in a faintly betrayed look at this brief pinch of pain, lip curling out in a very small pout. /Hmph/. He doesn't stop looking down at the floor, though. "Vampire," he accuses Iolaus. "Sorry," Iolaus says, lightly. "Us doctors, you know, we do love our blood." He squeezes Jax's shoulder, smiling down at him. "We did some research on the drug they hit you with, and we have some details. But first, what have you been eating the last few days, since you did the raid?" Jax shakes his head, lifting his hand to rub his knuckles against his eye. "Dusk likes blood," he answers Iolaus in a somewhat tired, somewhat distant voice. And then, "... food." "That he does, more than most doctors, even." Iolaus says, with a chuckle. "You've been eating what you normally eat, or something different?" Even as he speaks, he is tearing open an alcohol swab and sweeping it along the inside of Jax's arm. "Another little pinch," he warns, as he expertly slides a needle into the man's vein and removes it, leaving the small IV catheter in Jax's arm. "He's not doing well." Jax frowns, a worried note in his voice. "-- Oh." He tenses at the pinch, eye widening again. "What -- oh." He glances down at the needle in puzzlement, looking up at Iolaus a moment later. "I've been -- eating? Food? The same food. I don't know. I had chickpea curry and cupcakes. A lot of fruit. Spinach. Rice." "Your blood sugar is dangerously high. Do you have any family history of diabetes?" Iolaus asks, gently. "I looked back at your records, and it doesn't look like you have many risk factors. I'm guessing it's related to this drug they shot you with." The doctor takes a second syringe and extracts a carefully measured amount from the small vial and injects it into the bag of saline. He hangs the bag from a book on the ceiling and attaches it to the caterer. "This is insulin; it should bring your blood sugar down to normal levels." "Diabetes?" Jax looks puzzled at this, head shaking quickly. "Nosir. Nobody in my family's had nothin' like that." His breath is quickening as he looks down at the needle in his arm, posture tense and eye starting to skip restlessly around the medical lab. "My sugar does tend to run mad high sometimes? If I ain't been using my powers enough sometimes I don't burn off enough sugar. Or if I ain't had enough light at all it throws everything outta sorts? An' m'sugar runs high then too, I don't metabolize it right if I'm not -- photosynthesizing. Though that prob'ly is besides the point now," he says with an apologetic wrinkle of his nose, "'pologies, m'ramblin'." "Based on these levels, I'm not sure your body is metabolizing sugar much at all. If your powers usually are burning it directly, it may very well be that your body has adapted to that." Iolaus says, squeezing Jax's shoulder reassuringly. "Not that surprising, really. No apologies needed, Sunshine. It's good information to have." "Oh gosh." Jax's eye opens wide, though he seems, suddenly, to be stifling a giggle. "/Did/ I turn diabetic?" "You seem to, yes. We'll have to see how your body reacts to the insulin, but...." Iolaus tilts his head to one side, raising an eyebrow. "What's so funny?" "Nothin'. Oh gosh that's horrible really. What do I do I mean I basically live on sugar an' more sugar, I'm gonna die." Jax rubs his hand against his cheek, head shaking. "M'ma always said I was gonna turn myself diabetic mainlinin' sugar like I do is all an' just last night I was talking with Micah 'bout how it don't work like that only. Only now --" He breathes out a laugh, but he's pale, a little shaky. "... s'is bad, right." "Hold up, hold up, Sunshine." Iolaus says, squeezing his shoulder a little bit firmer. "I'm not saying that this drug made you diabetic; I'm saying your mutation usually handles that part of your body. Now that your mutations are being suppressed, your body needs something else to do that job. It has nothing to do with how you ate. I'd say you have drug induced diabetes. Alright?" "Your sayin' my mutation makes me diabetic," Jax says with a small wrinkle of his nose, "only jus' usually it /also/ gives me the cure for it." "Exactly. But since your mutation is being suppressed..." Iolaus trails off, straightening out the IV line. "This shouldn't take long to start to work. You should be feeling a bit better shortly. Sorry if it's a bit cold; the bag came right out of the closet." Jax's nose stays wrinkled. He looks very steadily away from the needle going into his arm, shoulders hunching inward. His quiet breath of laughter has died down, his eye closing after a moment. "So what," he finally asks, "do I. /Do/?" "Oh, that's easy." Iolaus says, eyes twinkling. "It just requires some work. And maybe a bit less sugar in your diet for now." Iolaus heads back towards his desk and pulls some papers off of it before returning to Jax's side. "Alright. It's like this."