Doc Will Monitored...
 

DOC WILL MONITORED his patient for 24 hours. The room in which Lanon was confined recorded his pulse rate and temperature by the minute. Without his being aware, his emotional reactions were photographed, dissected and analyzed. His every move was studied.

It was amazing and noteworthy to the good doctor that anyone could be so easily entertained. The patient was exceptionally sensitive to stimuli. He seemed to find the mere act of elimination a wonderful experience. He studied a brussel sprout for a full minute before spending five minutes ingesting it. The patient manifested infinite patience. It didn't seem to bother him that he was confined a full day and night without human contact. He paid little attention to the mirror that was in the room and only after 17 hours of isolation did he take an interest in the dials, conspicuously placed to be used.

Once Lanon learned the significance of the dials, the music buttons did little to hold his attention but, after finding the sound effects dial, he listened to Wind in the Trees for an hour and a half. Doc Will was tempted during this time to interrupt the monitoring because the patient's electro-chemical levels dropped to a shocking low. Obviously, the patient had gone into some sort of delta meditation.

The doctor was relieved when the patient sat up and began again to examine the dials. He was clocked as listening to the all-talk program, the country-western channel, a rock and roll station and classical music for exactly four minutes each.

Lanon appeared to have never seen a television set before. He studied the visual device for a long time before realizing it was intended to communicate and entertain. He turned the channel often and at odd times, seeming to enjoy the commercials more than the feature. He paid particularly close attention to a toothpaste commercial and the only word the patient uttered aloud during the 24-hour period was 'fluoride'.

In all, the patient slept for two hours. At the end of the 24 hours, Doc Will unlocked the door and Lanon said, "Good morning."

Lanon liked Dr. Blackstone who had a large, bright Nucleus. And Doc Will enjoyed his patient, who did not smoke and did not object to the food that was brought to him. The patient was a happy man with a cheerful attitude.

The 24-hour monitoring comcluded, the real testing now began. The first series of tests were of a physical nature and, as was his custom, Dr. Blackstone would have called in a medical examiner but Lanon flatly refused to have any contact with anyone but Doc Will. Doc explained to him that a medical doctor was better suited to administer the medical exams but, yes, he had to admit that he did have the necessary equipment and, yes, he knew how, so in the end Lanon won and Doc Will, having no alternative, began.

It was all very interesting to Lanon, watching the mechanical devices determine his blood type, his heart rate, his brain waves, his chemical composition, the intricacies of the human body and the myriad peculiarities of the flesh.

The doctor didn’t overtly verbalize his findings but he mumbled constantly; Lanon soon learned to decipher the mumblings and learned that his teeth and bones were disarmingly perfect, his vision was a healthy 20/20, he had no impurities nor infections, his senses were somewhat exceptional.

All x-rays were clear. He had no broken bones, no fractures, sprains or bruises, no indication whatsoever of having been in an accident, much less having been ‘thrown free’ of an airplane that had crashed and disintegrated. His urinalysis was clear of drugs but showed minuscule traces of alcohol, which, if he had been around Audley, was understandable.

In short, Lanon Zenton was an exceptional physical specimen of manhood with one exception. The exception lay in the Priority Chemistry-Glucose: Random Examination. In the Electrolyte portion, Sodium was normal at 140; CO2 was normal at 29; Chloride was normal at 100; but Potassium, which normally should range between 3.5 and 5.0, registered 42.3! The doctor ran the Priority Chemistry-Glucose: Random Exam a second time and then a third time, unable to accept the results. Perhaps the equipment was faulty. But everything else on the chemistry test was fine! Calcium: 4.8; Phosphorous: 1.9; Magnesium: 2.2. All the entries were within the range of normalcy except Potassium. He ran the test a fourth time. 42.3.

Yet, through it all, Doc Will remained the scientist, taking notes and applying new gadgets, giving the EEG, the EKG, the EMG, the x-rays, reserving his comments until the entire barrage of medical testing was completed and the results were all in.

Another peculiarity arose when Doc Will, motivated by his paternal interests, thought to ascertain the man’s sperm count and Lanon would not cooperate. The patient endured all the other tests having to do with his sexual aspects – he had no communicable diseases – but he seemed to have no experience with masturbation. "Why would anyone want to do that?" he asked, when the doctor asked him to ejaculate into a jar.

"So I can determine your sperm count."

"What does that have to do with my identity?"

Doc Will flushed bright red, admitting "It has to do with the identity of your children!"

"You needn’t worry that I will father any children, doctor. I have no sperm count."

"How do you know that?

"I just know. I am not authorized to reproduce."

Doc Will asked, "Not authorized by whom?"

But Lanon replied, "I am not at liberty to say," almost apologetically.

Doc Will knew that Lanon had voluntarily divulged something very personal about himself. He let it go. When the physical testing was completed, with the exception of the Potassium count, which test must be repeated at another later time, and the sperm count, which he would accept at face value, Doc Will folded his coat and put it away with quiet resolution.

"I’m not a medical doctor by inclination," he said, his first conversational words in two days. "I find it hard work." He tapped himself on the temple. "My forte is here!"

Lanon observed the doctor sterilize and put away his equipment and responded, "Your reputation precedes you, Dr. Blackstone."

Doc Will accepted the compliment but filed the inconsistency as a strange statement for an amnesiac to make, unless Audley’s testimony counted for "reputation."

The psychiatric exams on this patient, scheduled to begin the following day, promised to be interesting, for when the testing changed from physical to mindal, Doc Will’s attitude changed also. He would open himself fully to the patient’s mental circuits and peer as deeply into the mind of the patient as the patient would allow. Compared to any of Doc Will’s previous patients, Lanon Zenton had already taken on new and unprecedented dimensions.