Jason's Blood Pressure

By Joe

Summary: Jason Seaver checks his blood pressure after being visited by an eccentric patient.

Author Notes: I do not own Growing Pains, its characters, or any other copyrighted material. I wrote this solely for entertainment purposes and not to make a profit.

Chapter 1

Late one sunny morning in Huntington, New York, Jason Seaver was speaking with a new patient in his wood paneled home office. Within a few minutes, it became clear to Jason that this was one of the most bizarre patients he ever had. It wasn't so much that the patient was constantly twitching – but as he would soon find, the patient had very unusual "hobbies" so to speak.

"So you're telling me, Ron, that you can't go more than five minutes without checking your BLOOD PRESSURE?" Jason asked – sounding as if he found the behavior a bit strange.

Ron Michaels, the lean, dark-haired patient twitched and snickered a little. "Th-that's right, Doc," Ron said. "I-I'm just so worried that I'm gonna get a heart attack or something."

"Now, you don't need to worry so much, Ron," Jason said calmly. "If you have any concerns about your blood pressure, just consult your regular physician."

Ron started shaking. "W-will y-you excuse me, Doc?" Before Jason could say a single word, Ron got off the black, leather couch and hurried out the office door. Jason sat in his armchair – bewildered for a few seconds – getting up only when he heard the front door open. However, before Jason could leave his office, Ron had already returned. Jason's eyes bulged in shock when he saw what his patient had brought into the office.

"I-i-is that a BLOOD PRESSURE KIOSK?" Jason asked incredulously.

Ron smiled and twitched a little. "Oh yeah! I should've told you – I'm also obsessed with pharmacy sit-down blood pressure machines! This one is the Vita-Stat 9000-S – my favorite model!" The wide, bizarre grin on Ron's face caused Jason to just stare with his eyes open and jaw dropped at both his patient and the gigantic kiosk he had rolled into his office.

"Y-you actually brought this thing with you to your appointment?" Jason asked in shock – standing up from his chair.

"Yeah, I take it with me everywhere!" Ron said as he sat at the kiosk. He almost pressed a button before Jason walked over and grabbed his wrist.

"Ron, it is my professional opinion that you should just see your physician or maybe even a cardiologist if you have concerns about your blood pressure," started Jason. "Also, you appear to have a very strong fixation with these kiosks. Now, besides that, I believe you have OCD and will write you a prescription. In the meantime, I think that you should try to avoid these blood pressure kiosks until you have your OCD under control."

Ron stood up and twitched. "Y-y-yes, Doc." As Jason wrote a prescription for his patient, Ron kept looking at the blood pressure kiosk. He acted as if he were about to try to take his blood pressure again until Jason handed him his prescription.

"Now, if there's nothing else, I'll see you in a few weeks." Jason then guided Ron out of his office and sighed when he heard the front door close. "Wow…he's a patient I'll never forget…actually bringing a whole blood pressure KIOSK into my office."

Jason turned his attention to the large blood pressure testing kiosk that his patient had rolled into the office. Most of the kiosks he had seen had a woodgrain finish and a large, square translucent display, but he had seen kiosks resembling Ron's fairly often. Ron's kiosk had an off-white color with light blue trim. Like most kiosks, this one had a black cuff mounted on the left, and just below it was an emergency manual cuff release switch. The top of the kiosk had a big, rectangular crimson-colored translucent sign with the white-colored caption "What's YOUR Blood Pressure?" Finally, just below the sign was a long, rectangular black display board. This board had a small image showing how to sit at the kiosk, and the board also had two dark red vacuum fluorescent displays and one dark green vacuum fluorescent display. On the right side of the black display board were three push-buttons with silver rings around them. The green button was to start a blood pressure test, the white button was to clear the display, and the red button was to stop a blood pressure test.

Jason stared at the kiosk – wondering at first how the machine was running – before realizing that it was hooked up to an inverter and battery. Jason sighed a little in disbelief before starting to roll the kiosk out of his office. However, just before he entered the living room, he stopped. It had been about three years since he last had a checkup, and on his last visit, his blood pressure was slightly on the high side. Jason hadn't had his blood pressure checked since.

"Hmm…" Jason said – staring at the guide to blood pressure levels on the sign. Although there was no need to panic, Jason realized that he still needed to check his own blood pressure. He had a big family who would miss him greatly if anything happened to him, so it was worth checking his blood pressure to prevent or treat any health problems.