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Gabriel may be working again -- may have hit a plateau in his recovery, and Regan hopes that's temporary (and fears it's not) -- but he still gets check-ups. More often than he'd like, but this at least he knows better than to resist.

When the check-up's over, Regan has her own appointment, sometimes. Briefer, and just to talk.

She trusts Gabriel about many, many things. Accurate reporting of his own health is not necessarily one of them.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

walk_ins

"Mrs. Tam."

For all that Dr. Vincent Navarro, chief of pulmonary medicine at the prestigious Geraci Medical Center on Londinium, has been Gabriel Tam's primary specialist physician for some time now, he's still a stickler for formalities.

He meets her at the door, offering his hand.

"It's good to see you."

From:

regan_tam

Regan clasps his hand with hers, her smile easy and warm.

"Likewise, doctor."

Not that she wouldn't prefer this appointment, all of these appointments, to be utterly unnecessary; not that she wouldn't prefer to have never had to meet him outside a charity dinner or fundraiser.

But, if Gabriel must have a primary specialist physician, a primary and secondaries and so many people watching his scarred lungs and strained heart -- well, Dr. Vincent Navarro's a good one to have.

From:

walk_ins

"Please, make it Vincent."

It's almost habit, by now. Still, his warm smile is unfeigned. Navarro gestures to a seat in silent invitation.

"How have you been?"

From:

regan_tam

"Then it's Regan, please."

Regan takes the offered chair with a small nod of thanks, and another smile.

"I've been well, thank you. Busy, of course. And you?"

From:

walk_ins

"Much the same," he admits. "But then, that's fairly normal, wouldn't you agree?"

From:

regan_tam

"It does seem to be." This is said with a certain self-deprecating ruefulness which suggests that perhaps Regan wouldn't be happy without a certain level of busyness in her life.

This is accurate.

From:

walk_ins

"True, true."

He walks around to his own chair and sits down.

Regan Tam's not his patient, but she's married to a man who is. Conversations like these with friends and family of his patients, Navarro's found, are invaluable.

"So. I assume there's nothing unusual going on that might affect Gabriel's treatment?"

From:

regan_tam

"Just the cold. I assume he told you about that? He's not bouncing back very fast -- I know that's a danger, of course, but..." She trails off, with a small shrug.

But she wants to check. To get someone's opinion other than Gabriel's and her own.

(But she hates that it is.)

"Other than that, only the usual." Which is to say: work, against doctor's recommendations. But that's an old argument, talked to a standstill, and Gabriel is stubborn.

From:

walk_ins

"Yes, the cold."

His lips press together in distaste, giving a grim cast to his expression.

"I presume he's still taking the breathing treatments on a regular basis?"

From:

regan_tam

"He's missed one or two for meetings." Regan's opinion of this should be clear. Especially since the only way Gabriel usually manages that kind of thing is when Regan doesn't find out about it until afterwards.

"But as a rule, yes."

From:

walk_ins

If possible, Navarro looks even more grim on hearing this.

"Regan. I can't stress enough how important it is that he keep to his treatment schedule, no matter what."

From:

regan_tam

"I'm well aware."

Any frustration in that is well-hidden, and not directed at Dr. Navarro in any case. (She's well aware -- but the grimness on his face doesn't help.)

"Mark and I do our best to make sure of it. And to schedule in enough rest for him, all of that. And Gabriel complies without trouble, almost all the time -- I don't mean to say he doesn't."

"But," and here the frustration does leak out around the edges, the frustration and the worry, "he does -- well, you know him, Vincent. It's important work, I know, but he hates backing down from anything, even for his health. There've been a few times he's gone ahead with a meeting or appointment he felt was vital, and managed to get away with it."

They were vital; that's the problem. Gabriel's hard to convince of anything he doesn't want to be convinced of, and his priorities on this subject aren't the same as his wife's.

From:

walk_ins

"I understand." Navarro sighs. "Well, I'll go over it with him again. After what I told him before, he should realize--"

He cuts himself off there, leaving an awkward break in the conversation before he finishes crisply,

"Anyway, it certainly can't hurt to remind him."

From:

regan_tam

"No."

She allows herself one exhalation: controlled resignation, not quite a sigh.

"He does listen most of the time, at least."

Most of the time isn't good enough, and she knows it; even Gabriel knows it, whether or not he'll admit it. But it's something, anyway.

From:

walk_ins

"At least there's that."

Navarro hesitates.

"Regan... how are you holding up?"

From:

regan_tam

Regan looks faintly startled, just for a moment.

It's a reasonable question, of course -- a sensible question, a doctor's question, a good doctor's question -- but it's the kind of thing she tries not to stop and think about. Because there's too much to be done, too much to worry about. Too many thoughts that could consume her if she let them, and there's nothing to be done but what they're all doing. She's no miracle worker.

They've already had miracles worked, anyway.

"I'm holding up," she says, with a small self-deprecating smile. It's automatic; but for Dr Navarro, she doesn't deflect in the same way she would for a stranger, or the press.

"It's hard for everyone. But I'm coping."