Storm Warning

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina had gotten the sternest advice to present herself to the new school nurse - And while she knew the truth in her mother's words, and it was only a matter of time before she had to meet the lady anyway, she always felt awkward with this conversation.

There was no use for it. Derecho at her side, she stood in front of the nurse's office and knocked at the door.

[Charlotte LeClerc]

"Hello, Blue Ridge, nurse's office... Yes, that's right. No, I'm not English." Lottie leaned back in her leather desk chair and rolled her eyes towards the ceiling which, not being in possession of a pair of eyes, did not reciprocate. She loved Americans and their open and friendly attitudes, but their tendency to want to know every single thing about you could be irritating when you just wanted to get to the bloody point... "Oh, I see. Well, never mind. Thank you anyway." The greying blonde replaced the phone on the rest and sighed. Why on earth did no one sell plaster of Paris around here? She turned back to her monitor and was just about to go back to her search when she heard a knock at the door. The woman raised an eyebrow at her reflection in the glass of the painting above her desk and spun to face the door. "Come in and know me better, man!" she called. Dickens, A Christmas Carol. Classic and very nearly seasonal.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina's lip twitched upward at the quote, although the nerves in her stomach still made it hard to smile outright as she pushed open the door. She walked into the office and looked at the woman who was sitting there, struggling to find her confidence. She pushed the door closed behind her and then forced herself to speak, "It was suggested to me that I should come and meet you, Ms. LeClerc. I'm Sina Aleardi." She wondered if the nurse had already been looking at files - Since Sina's would be one of those marked as having important medical information, that might solve some of the issues.

[Charlotte LeClerc]

Lottie glanced up, a friendly smile on her face, as the girl walked in, closing the door behind her. Hmm. Either it was something private or she intended to stay for a while; Lottie would probably plump for the former considering the girl was obviously in an agitated state of mind. "Lovely to meet you, Sina." the Frenchwoman replied with a gentle smile, sensing the girl's nerves and doing her best to put the teenager at ease. "Would you like to sit down? And please, dear, don't call me Ms. LeClerc. Charlotte, or Lottie, or Mlle. LeClerc if you must, but I simply cannot stand to be called 'Ms.'!" There were few things which Lottie disliked as much as that particular appellation. She was a single woman and proud of it; she had no intention of hiding behind a little word that could mean anythinpg.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina nodded at the niceties and then took the empty seat, Derecho settling underneath it with a hand cue. She listened to the listed options and considered them before she again nodded, "Yes, Charlotte." She had no issues calling Andie by her first name, and she'd at least make an effort with the nurse, even if the nickname seemed just a touch too informal for a first meeting. She would try later. Trying to gauge where to start, she waited, seeing what Charlotte would say next.

[Charlotte LeClerc]

Charlotte nodded briskly, watching patiently as the girl settled herself down. The temptation to sneak a glance at the girl's file was strong, but she resisted. It did not do to read people's personal information in their presence- odd, but just one of those things. She supposed it was because it implied that one hadn't taken the time to learn about the patient beforehand, although to be fair, she had only set foot in the office that morning, and half of her things were still in cardboard boxes, neatly lined up against the wall. Only once her visitor appeared to be comfortable did she begin again.
"Now then, Sina. You don't seem to have broken any bones, you're not bleeding from anywhere that I can see, you're not likely to be pregnant, but you do have a rather handsome dog there, so I'm assuming you're here to discuss a pre-existing condition, am I right?" Diagnosis had always been one of Lottie's favourite jobs, and she could be quite unnerving when, as one colleague had put it, she got her Holmes on.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina had to hand it to the lady - She at least had some logic. Not always a given with nurses, or doctors, that she'd found. "Something like that, yes." So Charlotte hadn't read her file yet, or hadn't put two and two together, "I have type one diabetes, Derecho is my alert dog." She indicated the dog as she said his name, in case it wasn't clear, "It's mostly under control, but I have had a few less than stellar incidents since starting here, so I figured I'd come and get to know you when I'm not hypoglycemic."

[Charlotte LeClerc]

The greying blonde nodded with a soft smile, making a brief note on a pad of paper in front of her to glance through Sina's file later. She ought to start getting to know some of those who she'd be seeing on a more regular basis, she supposed; she couldn't be having to look things up every time someone walked into her office. "That's probably a sensible idea." she agreed with a nod. If only everyone was sensible all the time, her job would be so much easier... "Do you tend to be able to recognise your incidents yourself, or do you rely solely on Derecho?" Was she asking stupid questions? It was a possibility. Her brain was still scrambled from all her travelling.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina nodded at the woman's response to her reasoning, and then considered the question, "I don't recognize them anymore - Hypoglycemia unawareness is a big thing. I do have a glucose monitoring system, but it's about fifteen to thirty minutes behind, so it's not great in the moment." It did help with tracking her blood sugar over longer time, though. "I can manage on my own if necessary - Testing regularly and lots of math - but he gives me more freedom to enjoy life without constantly pricking my finger." She grinned at that thought.

[Charlotte LeClerc]

"I see." the woman murmured, more to herself than to Sina, scribbling a quick note. "I absolutely agree, mathematics should be avoided wherever possible." Unfortunately, there was far too much of it in medicine, but this was a career that she loved and she was damned if she was going to let a few numbers beat her out of it. "So... You said, I think, that you've had a few incidents since starting here. How did that come about? Was Derecho not with you at the time- did he not warn you- did you not pay attention? Hmm?" Charlotte didn't want to drag this out too much longer than was necessary; she was aware that the girl probably had a life to get back to; but at the same time, she did want to understand the bigger picture and what she could expect.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina shrugged as the woman asked about incidents, "Two while in classes - He stays in the barn when I have equestrian classes because there's no way to keep him out of the way. I usually try to plan ahead to make sure I don't have issues but sometimes things happen. Once while he was sick - I don't work him when he's sick, and I got distracted during classes and forgot to check in the break." None of them were the dog's fault, "Usually he's on top of it, he knows he gets a party when he alerts properly. It's more human error than dog error. His mistakes, while rare, are incorrect alerts, not missed ones." And yet his rate was much better than anything else.

"He's pretty good at making me pay attention." She paused, thinking about how much to share, then decided to just be honest, "His trained alerts are a nudge-down for low and a nudge-paw for high, but if I ignore him, he's been known to poke, whine, and if I'm still not getting the picture, bark." That was really rare, but Sina hadn't extinguished the behavior - Sometimes it was necessary, and it wasn't uncontrolled. "He will also bark if he can't wake me at night." They'd managed to avoid that at the Academy, though!

[Charlotte LeClerc]

Lottie nodded rapidly as the girl spoke, rolling her pen thoughtfully between her fingers and watching her visitor's face. "C'est bon." she murmured, mostly to herself. Dogs were wonderful creatures, she had always thought, and though she'd never possessed one herself, she'd heard a lot about the wonderful things that they could do from her colleagues. All the stories which most people dismissed about loyal sheepdogs bringing doctors up to shepherds with broken legs... well, perhaps there was more truth in them than most would imagine. "So, Sina. What kind of symptoms do you usually experience?"

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina considered, "I've been told I get really grumpy, irritable when I'm starting to get low, but it's not something I catch on my own. Once it gets bad, I look like I'm drunk - clumsy, slurred speech, my vision goes blurry." She paused, "When I'm high, I get a headache, Der usually manages to catch that one before it turns into full ketoacidosis, which comes with a fruity breath and vomiting." That one was an easy tell, "I carry a glucagon kit and insulin at all times. They're usually in Der's vest if I don't have pockets on me."

[Charlotte LeClerc]

Lottie nodded. "Well, perhaps it's a good job I'm meeting you now then." she remarked with a smile. "And your friends... do they tend to point it out to you when your blood sugar starts to get low?" She was giving the girl rather more of a cross-examination than she'd imagine her visitor had been banking on, but she wanted to understand this thoroughly and she was sure that if Sina had somewhere else to be, she would tell her. The student struck her as being the kind of girl who would not hesitate to be outspoken, and that was in no way a bad thing.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina shrugged, "Some will." She snapped the heads of people who weren't her friends, but she knew Kall only had her interests at heart. She gave a slight grin, "I think I scare most of them off of doing that after a time or two, though." Because a grumpy diabetic being told to handle her blood sugar? Yeah. Even more grumpy!