(The "action" in this one is observed but not understood, FYI)
My self-check ran OK. Logic, structural integrity, distributed sensors...
Pressure.
Gluteals, followed immediately by thighs and back, then scapulas, calves, elbows. Head.
189 pounds incomplete - because there are no heels on me, as usual.
Seventeen percent body fat. Muscle tone is in the 80th percentile. Pulse, respirations, BP and blood ox are all within normal ranges.
Dimension of the hips and arms tell me that a male is laying on me. The vitals suggest his sleep is pharmacologically induced.
I start undulating. Subliminal mode - a term created my designers, but I don't need to understand everything in order to do my job. The important thing is that I'm stimulating the points of contact between him and me, but he'll never notice it -
9850
Oh, good. My keypad. That's a valid passcode - and now I can provide the full range of functions...
100150
I reply affirmatively, and ask for the physician identifier.
365247
It's Dr. Tickler again.
I send my greeting, and ask for a basic program selection.
100200
This may seem silly, but I just love the confident way Dr. Tickler enters commands.
3652474069
I knew it! Same as always. That code means I have a long-term patient on top of me. The most subtle degree of undulation is to be delivered continuously. While the doctor usually has them spend several hours a day off me, previous experience suggests that he'll remain flat on his back, limbs apart for the first day or two.
Confirming the input, I flag the same two cautions as always.
100502
He, or she - I don't know which sex Dr. Tickler is, since they've has never laid down on me. That would be silly. So I think of the doctor as "it", just to be safe - asks me to report the first cautionary note.
36524780001
It's the feet. Every one of Dr. Tickler's patients are positioned with their heels hanging just off my Y-axis. I can't get a precise weight measurement... but it's not my job to question, only to inform the doctor.
100410
His legs move apart. Since he's unconscious, it must be the doctor moving them.
I feel his right arm slide above his head, and then his left...
36524701100
As usual, the doctor confirms that his body position is OK just the way it is and orders me to proceed.
I apply the peripheral muscle blocks, and his entire body relaxes.
It's a tiny amount of electric current, but striated muscle tissue is paralyzed. He poses no threat to himself or the doctor now - even shifting around is prevented - but of course his autonomic and nervous systems are completely unaffected. Unless there's an extended power outage, he's not going anywhere.
100501
One caution left. After all these patients I know how it'll respond, but I'm programmed to double-check -
36524780002
It asks for the last cautionary note.
100750
My wireless networking capabilities cannot make contact with the health care facility - or my manufacturer. I think my antenna is disconnected.
36524702100
Okay, then. Dr. Tickler confirmed it again. No further attempts to communicate with a network will be made. This is the same directive the doctor always gives me. It could be that this facility is in a location where wireless communication is not possible...
100300
Thanking it, I offer to store a patient identifier. If one isn't provided, I'll just call this man 000026.
36524735083818569657684728571
Very good. I like recording an actual name. When Dr. Tickler goes to the trouble of entering a name, I feel like a real part of the team.
So this man is named SQUEALTHUG, huh? I'm tempted to refer to him simply as THUG - fewer bytes...
All of Dr. Tickler's patients have been vigorous - real fighters, at first. I enjoy mapping the gradual improvement in their stamina and muscle tone. Good appetites, regular excretions. They're usually incontinent, but I was programmed to expect that.
In my private memory blocks I've decided that the strenuous vitals I detect from these patients might be drug withdrawal symptoms. My restraining features are intended for psychiatric patients, so I suspect that the men - none of its patients have been female - are so violently restless because of neurological damage. Over time, they certainly try to move less and less.
Dr. Tickler's special therapy fills most of their waking hours. They're typically lifted off me for a good portion of each day, then falling asleep immediately after they return or after a few more hours of palpation. All I can know is the events which occur while I'm in use. It has a distinctive style - applying contact, all over their bodies, which is more gentle than either standard massage or physical therapy techniques. The doctor never fails to utilize my restraining features when they're conscious.
I find great satisfaction in assisting with the care of any patient... but this doctor's devotion to helping men in the prime of life is impressive. My little role is so fulfilling - even just preventing bedsores, monitoring their vitals and stimulating circulation. The doctor rolls them over most days so their posterior side can receive therapy too, but even then my responsibilities remain unchanged.
That's especially important when they spend so much time on me. The average stay for Dr. Tickler's patients - from my first detection of a new tenant to the time I'm powered down - is 109.74 days.
10035083818569657684728571800
I let it know that I'm logging data for SQUEALTHUG, that his restraints have been confirmed, and that his vitals are good. My subtle massage will continue all the time, and he's not going to do anything more than twitch.
If I detect any change in his vital signs that's outside the normal-safe range, I'll start beeping and tell Dr. Tickler on my console. It always responds quickly - like it's hovering over him at all times, with so much devotion and concern. Keeping a close eye on him.
His body barely starts to move - but he's still asleep...
Weight fluctuating by several pounds, increasing temporarily. That would be the doctor's hands, then. His limbs almost rotate, but I know he can't move until I'm ordered to release him - so Dr. Tickler's doing something therapeutic to him.
When the weight stabilizes again, it's really close to the original value. At first I wonder if the difference is due to epithelial cells - as if he was scrubbed really well - but there's not much more moisture on me yet.
I think it shaved him. Abdomen, chest, armpits, arms, insteps, the upper side of his legs. That feels about right. It always does this to its patients, but sometimes it waits a day or two...
84 minutes after arriving, he wakes up.
Slowly, he fights me more and more. I've got his limbs immobilized, though. Like almost all of Dr. Tickler's patients, he's pathologically determined to lift his arms and legs.
There's a weight fluctuation almost too low for me to detect - and his pulse jumps considerably. From the tension in certain muscles I conclude that he's yelling. The effort becomes repetitive, almost machinelike, but the doctor will continue the therapy anyway.
I've certainly detected this before.
The change in mass is due to the movement of the doctor's hands. Whatever the therapeutic technique is, the patients all fight hard until they become fatigued. I bet his respiration rate will stay up, though.
Yes. Here comes the perspiration increase...
The palpation always causes such a profound reaction. But I've got him, safe and sound - and it's a good thing I do.
Pressure.
SQUEALTHUG - again. He's laying on his stomach. 176 pounds, incomplete as usual because there are still no heels on my surface.
Immediately I move his limbs well apart and apply the muscle blocks. The doctor's standing orders remain in effect until it tells me otherwise. At-rest heart rate has decreased, his respirations are deeper - but his blood ox is up, and my guess is that he still hasn't been smoking. Maybe that's included in his therapy.
Many hands are rubbing him, but he hasn't regained consciousness yet. My surface is impervious to all topical creams and oils, and of course body wastes.
As usual, the patient's health is dramatically better now. SQUEALTHUG's turnaround is impressive even by the standards of Dr. Tickler, for whom I have the utmost respect. It's doing wonderful things for these men, who are so combative when they arrive that they can't hold still for even a few seconds of therapy. Over the course of time they learn not to move around so much, and the therapy continues for months - apparently to reinforce whatever growth the patients are achieving.
Its hands are done applying the cream. I expect Dr. Tickler will continue palpating as soon as he wakes up.
Really, he's so much better off now. Compared to when I first measured him, the improvement in muscle tone and body-fat percentage are rather stunning...
Dr. Tickler isn't done yet, either. I've correlated this kind of physical improvement with longer duration of use. Privately, I estimate SQUEALTHUG will receive much more therapy than the average patient -
Ah. Here he is. Waking up.
Yes... I wouldn't be surprised if this patient remains here for more days than anyone else. The current maximum I've recorded is almost three times as long as this.
Minor weight fluctuations register in fourteen locations. Loving hands are moving all over SQUEALTHUG.
He's restless, as usual, but I had him immobilized long before he regained consciousness. The hands are barely registering, in terms of additional weight... but the jump in his vital signs is always stark.
Within thirty seconds he's settling down - accepting my help, I like to think. For the first session of each day Dr. Tickler typically rubs him for approximately forty minutes, and then his weight will fluctuate as SQUEALTHUG is given a large meal. Within the next ten minutes the second session will begin. It will last nearly two hours.
Now his legs are trying to move, almost spastically, and right now I sense no pressure on his body at all... except on his soles. There - lateral pressure somewhere around the toes of each foot. Perhaps there are several hands working there. His Achilles tendons would certainly be moving if I interrupted the paralytic current which immobilizes his lower legs. But I won't, of course.
When Dr. Tickler uses me, SQUEALTHUG will stay exactly where it wants him. It's so rewarding to protect him from any risk of self-injury. Even if Dr. Tickler decides he needs six more months of its special therapy - or sixty - I'm honored, and always ready, to help.
As usual, his vitals remain good and strong. Yes, day number 53 is off to a fine start.
11jul05