Part 2: Episode 02: The Unwanted Partner

This update covers:

Gabriel Cunningham 2 - Signs of Anguish (Partial)

This is the first of the "adventure" segments of Trauma Team. They are quite a bit longer than the operations and have a lot more text, so they'll be mostly screenshots with dialogue edited for brevity. This will be especially true for Naomi's sections, since they repeat themselves constantly to make sure you're paying attention. They'll probably be in multiple parts, given their length.

Signs of Anguish: Intro (Be sure to watch this)




Naturally, Gabe's conferences don't have much to give you in terms of info. That's HIS job, after all.



Gabe: No need to be nervous. Just relax.

Nicole: Oh. Okay…

Gabe: Ready, Ms. Super-Robot?

RONI: Yes Doctor. But I am not a "super robot." I am a-

Gabe: Whatever, just stop talking. Let's start the consultation.



This is the exam room, where the bulk of Gabe's gameplay takes place. There are a bunch of options here, depending on the situation. Usually, you start by actually talking to the patient about their symptoms (See? Not House).

Gabe: Tell me, why did you come to the hospital?



In this screen, you'll listen to the patient's rambling and point to the parts you feel are symptoms. You can make the patient repeat themselves as much as you want if you feel like being the world's worst doctor. If you press on something vague, you'll be told to look for something more concrete. If you press on something totally useless, you'll probably lose one of the hearts off of Gabe's life bar. Losing all five means Game Over, but that just starts you back at the last save you made with full health and no other penalty. More on saving later. Let's just listen to Nicole. To play along, see what you can spot at home!

Nicole: But… my throat feels all weird for some reason. It's kind of hard to inhale, and I can't catch my breath between notes. Actually, I had to take a day off of school yesterday, too. I was getting short of breath just sitting still, and my heart would start pounding. …Sorry, thinking about this is a little depressing. Oh, but there's something good that happened! I've never been able to stick to a diet before, but lately I've been able to lose weight no matter what I eat. …Yikes! What am I talking about? Anyway, that's it. Doctor, am I sick with something?

You should have found three just then. The first two were the easiest, since she actually listed them as complaints. First, she was having difficulty breathing.



RONI: Congratulations, Doctor! You received the symptom, "Dynspnea."

Gabe: …Do you have to say it like that?

RONI: This is my default template and inflection. Would you prefer another?

Gabe: Change it.

RONI: Understood, Doctor. New Symptom observed: "Dyspnea".

Gabe: Ugh. Well, that'll do.



You get these nice little cards for each one you find.

Anyway, the second one was when she mentioned her reasons for taking a day off school.

Gabe: You've got palpitations and shortness of breath even while resting? Are you still experiencing these symptoms?

Nicole: Oh, yes. I've been feeling like this since yesterday.

Gabe: I see. I'll need to auscultate you later on.

That just means using the stethoscope. Technicially, this doesn't add a symptom yet, but we'll need it so we can confirm that complaint in a moment.

The last symptom wasn't hard, either, but it wasn't a direct complaint. Nicole said she was losing weight.

Gabe: Well, she seems rather happy about it, but losing weight without doing anything isn't normal. We should add that to the list.

RONI: Understood, Doctor. New symptom observed: "Decrease in weight."

Gabe: That should do it. There's no need for further consultation.

RONI: Certainly, Doctor. Please continue with the auscultation. Signs of palpitations and shortness of breath can be-

Gabe: Yeah, yeah. Sounds like you're the one giving ME orders.

I don't know if your doctor bickering with a robot would make for the best or the worst trip to the clinic you've ever had, but it's one of them.

Anyway, the "stethoscope" option gets added to the list, so we try it out immediately.

Gabe: Alright, I'm going to take a listen. Could you lift up your clothing for me?

Nicole: Oh, okay. This is a little embarrassing.

RONI: Doctor, please express more consideration when examining patients of the opposite gender. The social and legal intricacies of such interactions call for greater care to avoid unnecessary risks.

Gabe: It's just a stethoscope! How else am I supposed to examine her? Look, you just made the whole thing even more awkward for her!



Since these sections rely on sound, I'll be posting videos of them so you can play along. First, I'll just briefly explain:

Essentially you have four sections to listen to: Two lungs, the heart, and the abdomen. You can press up and down on the stick to change between the patients sounds, and "normal" sounds. Essentially, you just want to point out any differences between them. By default, the sound comes out of your Wii remote, but I hate the speakers on those things, so mine are muted. As such, the option doesn't even appear and it just comes out of the normal speakers for your listening pleasure.

Auscultation




There were two things to note there, in case you didn't watch. The heart and lungs were both making the normal sounds, but sped up. This confirms what Nicole told us earlier.

Gabe: RONI, make a note of it.

RONI: New symptoms observed: "Tachypnea" and "Tachicardia"

That's rapid breathing and rapid heartbeats. It can be a little difficult to remember what those are if you aren't up on your Greek or whatever, but you can easily remember that "cardia" is heart and go from there.

Gabe: Huh? The more I examine the patient, the more incongruities I'm finding.

It's as if she was sick..

Gabe: Time to check them out with a visual exam.

Now, and most of the time from here on out, we can click on the patient themselves during examination to take a closer look. For this, you basically just need to use your common sense to find problems. You can look at the abdomen, or any part of them that's visible in the normal examination screen. Let's take a look.



There are two more symptoms to find. You may have already noticed the first one, although I'm embarrassed to say it took me awhile. If you're like me, keep examining this screenshot until you notice it.



It's actually easier to see when questioning her, but the symptom we need is her red and swollen neck.

Gabe: There appears to be swelling on her neck… Alright, I'm sorry, but I need to touch it just a little. Does this hurt?

Nicole: A little.

Gabe: I think we should do a CT scan. RONI, make arrangements for image analysis.

RONI: Yes, Doctor. I am initiating the approval process now. Please designate a date for this procedure and any other pertinent details.

Gabe: It's for today. Immediately. Right now, capiche? There's got to be an open slot for her.

RONI: Doctor, are you aware of hospital regulations?

Gabe: No one ever got better following regulations. Now, hurry up and do it.

RONI: Yes, Doctor.

Okay, THAT was House-like.

Anyway, the swollen neck is a symptom, and we can check out the CT scan later on. First, though, there's another symptom in plain sight, although it's invisible as a still image.



There's a symptom here besides Gabe's questionable hygiene. Nicole's fingers are twitching slightly. It's easy to notice when you can actually see them move.

Gabe: Her hands are trembling. That's not a good sign. RONI, make a note.

RONI: New symptom observed: "Trembling fingertips."

Gabe: That's all the obvious symptoms. We can end the exam for now.

Nicole: Thank you very much.

Gabe: Don't thank me yet, the exam isn't over. You may have to come back here depending on the results, okay?

Nicole: Oh… yes, of course! I'll do just that.

Gabe: Now, then. Time to leave the exam room. I'll just come back if I need to.

He literally says that as a segue into a tutorial on how to click the "leave room" button. Ugh.



Here's our map screen. There are only three locations. The examination room is where we just came from, and where most of the work is done. The image analysis lab, where we'll be headed, is where most of the HARD work is done playing "spot-the-difference" with various kinds of images. Gabe's office is where you go to put it all together and make a diagnosis. More on the office later. For now, we have a CT scan to run.



The game reminds you how to leave the room again before letting you use the machine. Just in case you forgot.

RONI: Dr. Cunningham, I would like to explain the details of this exam. The CT scan is short for "Computer Tomography." An x-ray is applied to the human body, and tomographic images can be taken of the affected areas.

Gabe: You know I went to med school, right?

As with the stethoscope, your goal here is to compare images with a "normal" template and pick out differences. Not all images will have differences, though. Also, when switching between patient and sample images, the existing image is cleared completely from the screen before the new one comes up. In other words, you can't just flick between then repeatedly and see what moves. We have two images this time.

CT_01
Patient:


Sample:


CT_02
Patient:


Sample:


That one was pretty easy, so you probably got it for yourself without much difficulty. In image 2, the bright spot in the left-middle is bigger in the patient shot.



Gabe: This will help with the diagnosis. We should go back to my room and sort out these symptoms.

We'll be doing that in part 2, because this thing is too huge for one update.