Worms

Ivy makes her way to Edwards and the screaming patient, "All right. Edwards?"

Edwards tries to do an ultrasound, "Uh, Mary Parkman, 25. Complaining of gradual onset severe abdominal pain. History of previous appy. She's moving around so much, I couldn't really get a read."

"Hi. Mary, I'm Dr. Shepherd-Avery and I'm gonna gently palpate your abdomen to check for tenderness, okay?" As soon as Ivy touches her abdomen, Mary groans, "Yeah, abdomen distended."

She screams out before what seems to be her boyfriend says, "Hang in there, noodle. You're doing great."

Mary shakes her head, "I hate that you're seeing me like this."

He tells her, "You hurt, I hurt, sugarbear. I'm here for you."

Ivy looks to Edwards who rolls her eyes, "They do that a lot."

"Mary? Uh, Mary, can you tell me if the pain is localized in any part of your abdomen, or is it-"

"No, it's-its everywhere. Its-ow!"

"Okay. All right. You are doing great. Can you breathe?" Ivy takes out her stethoscope, "Deep breaths. In. Good. Out. In," Ivy coaches.

Mary explains, "Dennis made me breakfast in bed. It was...so sweet. Pancakes, bacon, a-" Mary then sits up and throws up right on Ivys shoulder, "Oh, my God. I am so sorry."

Ivy leans away, "No, it's fine."

Edwards hands her one of the throwup bags, "Here you go."

Taking off her stethoscope, Ivy gives Edwards directions, "Edwards, um, admit her, and, uh, page Dr. Webber. I'm just gonna go-"

"Go wash the puke out of your hair? Got it."

Ivy quickly walks away and heads to the showers, passing Jackson on her way, "Shut up."

Jackson holds his hands up, "I wasn't going to say anything."

She glares at him, he smiles, "I love you."

"I love you too."

○○○○

As Ivy is washing her hair in the sink, she finds a worm, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!"

She quickly runs to Mary's room and tells Webber, "Worms!"

"Its worms," he says at the same time.

"Its just- I, um- I just found a worm from her stomach in my hair. It was really long," Ivy has to keep herself from throwing up.

"And there's one in the suction canister, too," Webber looks over.

Mary looks at the canister, "A worm?!"

Edwards turns to the scans, "Wait. So that means that's..."

They look at it, "A whole lot of worms."

○○○○

Ivy and DeLuca walk into the scan room to see Edwards and Webber looking at the scans, "Do we know what they are?"

Webber says, "Ascaris lumbricoides, the intestinal roundworm. Can grow to the length of half a meter. It's rare in the US, but an estimated ⅙ of the human populations infected."

Edwards chuckles, "Yeah, and our patient has half of them."

They chuckle as DeLuca asks, "Is there a world record for these?"

"No. No, no, no. No," Mary says, back in her room.

"I don't understand. They're breeding in her stomach, like, right now?" Dennis asks them.

"Well,technically, they're not in her stomach," Webber tells them.

DeLuca continues, "The larvae travel through the bloodstream."

Edwards adds, "Where they go to the small intestine to mature and mate."

"Where they will deposit more eggs," DeLuca picks up.

"The worms, they-"

"Stop saying worms!" Mary shouts.

Dennis turns to them, "How long have they been in there?"

"Uh, we-we can't say. Um, the lar-um, they take at least a-a couple of months to mature into adults," Webber tells them.

"So...she's had these since we met?" Dennis asks.

"You-you could have ingested them from unwashed fruit or-"

Mary interrupts Edwards, "Ugh. Just get them out."

Webber smiles, "The surgery- it's extremely simple. Um, DeLuca, let's book an OR."

He nods, quickly leaving as Ivy smiles at Dennis, "Dennis, you can accompany her to the pre-op room."

"Dennis?"

"I can't. I, uh-I just have to, uh- I got to make a phone call and let your mom know that you're okay. And other people," Dennis is itching to leave.

"Who?"

He makes up an excuse, "Work. I have a work call- I mean, I have to call your work and family."

Webber looks to Ivy and Edwards, "Ub, let's see about these worms."

○○○○

As Ivy stops at a nurses station, Bailey comes up to her, "I see you're working with Dr. Webber. How does he seem?"

She takes a breath, "Oh, great. Yeah. We have a patient with a gut full of worms, so he's, you know, in his happy place. I, on the other hand, can't stop scratching my head, because a patient threw up in my hair, and now I'm convinced something might be crawling around in there, which is not a thing that I want."

"Yeah, good. Good. Do you think you could try to talk to him? Richard and Catherine need some help coming back together. I'm on a mission. And you're their daughter in law," Bailey pleads.

"Great. Okay, what's the plan?" Ivy asks.

"I don't have one, but we need to do something."

Ivy nods, "Okay. Uh, talk to Catherine while I scrub in with Richard and the worms, and I will talk to him. If that doesn't work, I'll talk to Catherine after."

Bailey studies Ivys hair, "Worms? Your patient threw up worms?"

She shakes her head, "There was only one."

"Thats one too many," and backs away.

"I agree, which is why I will be showering five times before I go to bed tonight. Or touch my children or husband."

○○○○

Mary jokes as Webber checks her breathing, "I bet Dennis is already on the train, headed to Capital Hill where he's gonna tell all his hipster friends over coffee what a bullet he dodged by getting away from wormy Mary."