Chapter 57 Blood work
“Serena, I got the lab results back for the annual physicals,” Adriana said, dropping a pile of folder in front of Serena at the Nurse’s station. “Thanks?” Serena asked, looking up at her boss and raising an eyebrow. Adriana chuckled. “Can you go through them and make sure everything is normal?” she asked. “Sure,” Serena said. “You can use my office is you want some privacy,” Adriana offered. Serena left the nurse’s station, a large stack of files in her arms. Going over the bloodwork numbers was necessary work, but it was monotonous all the same. “I’ll bring the next batch in when the lab finishes them,” Adriana called after her. Serena waved a hand over her shoulder in acknowledgement.
Annual blood panels would test for any potential diseases or health concerns that pack members had to be aware of. It also covered pregnancy in females. Serena took a seat at Adriana’s new desk. She had gotten an entirely remodeled office with the rest of the hospital renovations. She got right to work going over the blood panels. Pen in hand, Serena made small marks next to any of the results that had come back with levels that warranted further investigation. Most were small, just little deficiencies here and there, or low or high blood pressure, cholesterol, and sodium levels.
If there was anything more concerning, Serena would circle it and put a sticky note on the page with her notes on the test. Of course, she had to go back and compare each result with the medical history of each pack member to make sure the results aligned with any pre-existing conditions they might have.
After a while, Serena had her legs up on Adriana’s desk. She was leaning back in her chair, chewing on her pen cap as she went over another file of medical history and new lab results.
Her eyes were starting to blur a little, all the results bleeding together.
“How’s it going?” Adriana asked, coming in with another stack of files. “I think I’d read this one already.” Serena mumbled, tossing the page on the desk. She rubbed her eyes and stretched. “I know, it is a lot
to go through,” Adriana said. “I’m here to help for a few hours, though.”
“Thanks,” Serena said with a smile. She stretched her arms over her head. “I’m not giving you your chair back.”
Adriana laughed and pulled another chair up to the opposite side of the desk.
“You seem like you are due for a break,” Adriana said, handing Serena a small bag of chips. “Yes, please!” Serena said, popping the bag open and indulging in the snack. “Are the kids settling back into the house alright?” Adriana asked, getting comfortable with a file. “They are,” Serena said. “They keep pestering me about seeing Logan again.” “Oh, they miss him?” Adriana asked, looking up from the paper in her hands. “They think he is fun, more fun than my other friends,” Serena said with a sigh. “What other friends?” Adriana asked, raising an eyebrow. Serena sighed. She hadn’t talked about it much with anyone, because she didn’t want word to get back to Logan before she really knew what was going on. She wanted to
talk to someone though, someone closer to her age than her mother. “Beta Carson and I have spent a little time together, socially,” Serena explained. “Like, you’re dating him?” Adriana asked. “No, no!” Serena insisted, shaking her head. “Nothing like that. I mean, I think that is what he wants, but things are..complicated.” “Complicated how?” Adriana pressed. Serena sighed, finishing off her chips. “With the kids and everything,” she said vaguely. “Carson doesn’t like them?” she asked. “No, he likes them a lot,” she said. “They think he is a little boring. Besides, I didn’t come here to date. Sure, I’d like to settle down, eventually, but my focus right now is my career and my kids.” Adriana laughed, shuffling some files around. “Well, at least you are making connections within the pack,” Adriana said. “Beta Carson is a good man.” “Yes, he is,” Serena agreed, picking up another folder to get working on. She scanned over the bloodwork, and something didn’t look quite right. Tilting her head to the side, Serena hummed.
“Something wrong?” Adriana asked. “Maybe, I don’t know,” she said. “There was another file I was looking at.” “Whose?” Adriana asked.
“Holly’s” she said. Adriana raised an eyebrow and shifted some of the folders around.
“Here it is,” she said, handing Serena Holly’s file.
Serena took out the most recent blood panel results from Holly’s annual physical and compared it with the other one she had in her hand. “This female,” Serena said, handing over the blood panel she was reviewing. “Does it look identical to Holly’s?” She passed Adriana both sheets. Adriana hummed as she looked them over. “They do look very similar. You better have them both in again to make sure the samples were run correctly,” she said.
Serena picked up the phone and called both Holly and the other female. The first female was easy and compliant. She was concerned that something could be wrong and scheduled her workup that afternoon. “What do you want?” Holly asked when Serena called her, letting her know who it was. “There are some concerns about your recent bloodwork,” Serena said. “I think you should come in so we can take another sample and run the tests again.” “Concerns, what kind of concerns?” Holly asked snidely. “Like the results are identical to another female,” Serena said. “The samples might have gotten mislabeled. Can you come in so we can run the tests again?” “No!” Holly snapped. “Why would I do that? You messed up at your job, and now | have to rearrange my whole schedule just so you can fix the mistake?” Serena blinked several times, surprised by Holly’s hostile reaction. Most expecting mothers were more concerned about their health and the health of their babies if anything came up as a possible problem. “This is a matter of health, your health and the health of your baby.” Serena pointed out. “It would be best to confirm that everything is okay.” “Look, I know my body,” Holly insisted. “I am fine, my baby is fine. I don’t need to be poked and prodded. More blood draws would just be stressful and cause the baby distress.” “A blood draw is perfectly safe for a fetus and expecting mother,” Serena assured. “I’m not doing it!” Holly snapped before hanging up. “That sounded like it went well” Adriana said with a chuckle. Serena shook her head. “Yea, it was great” she muttered. “I don’t know why she was getting so defensive. It seems like she isn’t that concerned about getting the right results, or learning whether or not her baby is healthy.”
“She is high maintenance,” Adriana agreed.
“Should I tell Logan?” Serena asked. Adriana scoffed.
“That is drama I don’t want to get involved in,” she admitted. “But it is a little suspicious.”
“Yea, it is,” Serena agreed. When she had been pregnant, she knew she couldn’t be too careful. If a doctor had told her she needed her blood drawn again, she wouldn’t have hesitated, just like the other female that was coming in that afternoon! “You look like you’re thinking hard,” Adriana said. Serena sighed. “I got the sense that she was hiding something,” Serena admitted. “Like she was mad at me for discovering her lie. I don’t know what she could be hiding though! Without the follow up bloodwork there is nothing I could know.” “You think she is trying to keep a secret from getting out?” Adriana asked. Serena shrugged. She wouldn’t put it past Holly to try something nefarious, but she didn’t know what a female like Holly would need to lie about. She had pack status, she had a strong bloodline, and she was with the Alpha. Serena shook her head, breaking up her thoughts. “I don’t know” she admitted. “I should tell Logan. If Holly is endangering their baby for any reason, he ahs the right to know.” “That is a dangerous line to cross,” Adriana warned. “I’m telling him as a doctor, not as a friend or gossip,” Serena pointed out. “Just, be careful” Adriana warned. “Holly isn’t the forgiving type. I wouldn’t want to get tangled in her mess, especially if she is lying and desperate to cover that up.” Serena shrugged.
“I’m worried about her baby, and that is something that Logan has an interest in too,” Serena said. “There is no reason she should be hiding anything from him, no reason that she should be denying herself or her child healthcare right now. The Alpha has the right to know and intervene if need be.”| “Lagree, but I’m not making the call,” Adriana said with a smirk. Serena rolled her eyes and picked up the phone again to call Logan.