Entanglement | AMBW

Side Effects

Xia

Xia woke up in her bed with Chris at her side. She couldn't help but admire how cute he looks when he's sleeping. There was no way she could wake him up.

She reached over and grabbed her iPhone off the charger. She looked through her workgroup chat to see if anything interesting happened at the club. She stopped at Jaebeom's message before clicking on the group message.

Xia saw that Jaebeom sent her a video. She clicked on the video and saw G. Soul singing No way, and she couldn't help but smile.

"He's such a nice guy," she hummed to herself. That put a smile on her face, because she needed something to give her strength before visiting Chemin.

She quietly crawled out of bed and went into the living room. She sat down on the couch and dialed the nurse. "Yes, My name is Xianny Jones, and I am calling to check on Lee Chemin."

"Yes, give me one moment," the nurse said.

"Okay, thank you,"

"Yes, Mr. Lee is doing good. We realized he suffered lithium toxicity," she said.

"Lithium? What's that?"

"Mr. Lee has been taking lithium to manage his bipolar disorder for the last twenty years, and sometimes after taking it for a long period, these things can happen. We need to put him on a different medicine. I do need to tell you that it can cause him to be different."

"Bipolar disorder? He never told me about that, nor did he tell me he was taking any medicine," Xia sighed. She knew that Chemin didn't like talking much, but maybe it was because of the medicine.

"Yes, I am sure you are aware of the stigma of mental illness. We will work on getting him adjusted. The lithium toxicity took a lot out of him. Thankfully, he was brought in when he did. His kidneys failed, but they have recovered."

"Are you serious? Why didn't anyone tell me yesterday?" Xia almost dropped her phone. She tried to keep a friendly demeanor, but she didn't like what she heard. Why didn't anyone call her, and why is she just not hearing this?

"We didn't know what happened. We were still doing tests, and we have discovered today that it was lithium toxicity," the nurse explained.

"Okay, sorry, I just care about him so much. I just can't imagine losing him. He's like family to me. Blood couldn't make us any closer," Xia said.

"Well, he's going to pull through. The only thing we have to monitor is how he will react to this psychiatric medicine. It takes time to adjust, and we want to keep him here until he's stable. Do you consent to that?"

"What type of medicine? Is it in a pill form? What are the side effects?" Xia reached over a grabbed a pen and paper from the table. She started to write down what the nurse was telling her.

"We are going to try Depakote. It's not as good as lithium, but it will do. We will give it to him in pill form first, and if he refuses by mouth, then we will have to give it to him via injection. Injections are a last resort," the nurse explained.

"Okay, what are the side effects of the medicine?" Xia wrote down everything she said.

"Some common side effects may be hair loss, diarrhea, weight change, and tremors," she said.

"Ugh, he needs to take this medicine, huh?"

"Yes," she replied.

"Can I see him today?"

"Yes, he's been asking for you all morning," the nurse said.

Xia looked over at the clock on the wall, and it's only six-thirty. "Aww, I will be there soon. I just need to get ready. Thank you for all the information. Could you also have this in writing for me? I want to do my own research on this medicine."