Arriving in Medical

Posted on Tue Dec 3rd, 2024 @ 4:12pm by Captain Malcom Llwyedd & Cadet Senior Grade Abigail Gordon & Chief Petty Officer Zenne Beddite

2,088 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Interlude 1 Gamma Quadrant
Location: USS Firebird, Deck Five, Main Sickbay

[ON]

Medical! Abigail was excited as she walked down the corridor leading there. It wasn't going to take long to get there, She had a spring in her step, as she went, along with a cheery smile.

Captain Llwyedd had recommended that she report in to Nurse Beddite. And that was exactly what she was doing. When the sensor noticed her arrival, it opened with a quiet swoosh and she stepped through. "Woah, so lovely!" she exclaimed.

Zene looked up to see the young woman make her way into sickbay. She did a quick visual survey of the newcomer and saw no obvious injury. She walked over a smile on her face.

"Hello, Cadet, I am Chief Petty Officer and Chief Nurse, Zene Beddite. How can I help you?"

"Hi there! I am Cadet Senior Grade Abigail Gordon, and I am a nurse. Well fledgling Nurse that is." grinning ear to ear. "And you are just the person I am supposed to meet. Plus the CMO. Captain Llywedd, when I had met with him, assigned me to the Firebird. "

Zene nodded as the cadet introduced herself. "Welcome to the ship the, cadet. Why don't we step over to the biobed and I can do your initial medical intake? If the CMO is around, they will likely want to chat with you as well. Why don't we start with a description of any medical care that you will require or medical history that might be important for us to know?" Zene helped get the cadet situated on the bed and began a baseline sensor reading.

Abigail scrunched up her face as she thought over any possible life-changing medical issues. Other than bumps and bruises from tripping on different occasions. "Well besides my being a little bit clumsy from time to time, I've not really had any medical issues. Skinned knees, uh, I did sprain my ankle during a dance rehearsal. I turned left when I should have turned right. Most times when I dance, I don't seem to be clumsy. I try to make certain I concentrate on hearing some music to keep my movement in some form of rhythm. It keeps me from tripping."

"Every detail helps," came the synthesized feminine voice of the Chief Medical Officer, entering the Sickbay with a package of freshly collected samples in thin vials. Clanking loudly was the towering Tholian, in a metal environmental suit that made them look even bulkier than they would otherwise. A glowing red crystalline tower within stared over at Abigail with sharp orange eyes, and the six-legged alien skittered lazily closer.

"However," Kataxes continued, "we are mostly looking for what is important to remember. In an emergency, it would be better to have memorized your allergies and medical conditions rather than your dance rehearsal accidents." As the doctor approached, the muffled screeches, clicks, and whines of their native crystalline speech could be heard within their suit, too alien for the universal translator to handle. They handed off their sample box to another nurse. "I am Lieutenant Commander Kataxes. You must be Cadet Gordon. Welcome."

Abigail watched with fascination as the CMO made her way to where she was. "Thank you I am looking forward to working with you. As for my being a klutz, I think though my clumsiness is me getting distracted from time to time. " giving a slight nod with her head, she did feel a slight wave of dizziness when she nodded. "Woah."

"I am looking forward to working with you as well," Kataxes concurred, clanking up to Abigail and folding their hands in front of them. "As the Chief Nurse suggested, this is just an initial medical intake. Unless you are feeling sick, I would consider this a formality." They reached out, pulling the biobed's diagnostics cover over Abigail's middle. "Tell me, is this your first assignment aboard a Starfleet vessel? You have not yet graduated, is that correct?"

"This is my first assignment." Abi gave a nod and felt a little bit dizzy. "And I've not graduated as of yet. " she waited until the minor dizziness subsided. "Though right now, I am feeling just a wee bit dizzy." Frowning slightly. "at times my equilibrium can be a little bit off. It's been one of those things that happens off and on. I've had it checked several times but every time I have had that checked, the results come up inconclusive."

=^=Commander Kataxes, this is Captain Llwyedd. We have a medical emergency in engineering and you are needed there immediately=^=

Kataxes deftly tapped his combadge. "Confirmed, Captain. On my way," he said. His head tilted as he gazed at his patient. "Please excuse me, Cadet. I will need to leave you in Chief Petty Officer Beddite's capable hands." And with that, the CMO skittered towards the door, moving with surprising speed.

Nurse Beddite took the sudden change in stride. Things like that were commonplace on board the Firebird.

"Let me get Lieutenant Green. He's our resident surgeon and a fine officer," Zene said. She turned, spotted the tall, lanky officer and waved him over.

The doctor looked surprised to be summoned but took a deep breath and made his way across sickbay to the patient on the biobed.

"Dr. Green, this is Cadet Abigail Gordon. She is newly arrived to the ship. Dr. Kataxes was performing her intake physical but was called away. Perhaps you could finish up?"

"Oh. Yeah. Sure," Mark said. "So... I hate to have you repeat yourself but, can we start from the beginning? Do you have any medical conditions I should know about? Sorry, I'm not familiar with your case file."

"Well, before the doctor had been called away, I was experiencing a little bit of dizziness. This happens from time to time. I've gone to medical before, but they hadn't found anything wrong. Perhaps you can figure out just what is causing me to lose my equilibrium." Abi with a concerned expression.

Mark nodded and pulled a medical tricorder from his pocket. As he ran it over her head, he started asking questions. "When you say from time to time, how often is that? Once a week? Once a month? Daily? How does the dizziness present? Is it sudden or does it come on slowly? How long does it last?"

While he waited for Abigail to answer, he looked at the Chief Nurse. "Nurse Beddite, could you bring the holographic array online and center it on the patient's head and shoulders?"

Zene nodded and moved to a nearby wall console. The EMH never used the holographic arrays. He had some sort of aversion to them after the Firebird's mishap with them during a previous mission. She tapped at the options, centering the medical sensors on the cadet's head and shoulders as asked.

"A few moments ago I had shaken my head in answer to the CMO's question and I felt a wave of dizziness." Abi's forehead crinkled up as she gave thought to his questions. "Maybe once a week. It hasn't been a regular occurrence, though. I had thought at first it could be swimmer's ear as I do like to swim. I do, though, wear earplugs to keep the water out."

Mark took in the information, combining it with what he knew about the human ear.

"Computer, activate holographic display, current patient Abigail," he said.

=^=Holographic Diagnostic Engaged=^= the computer replied.

A bubble of light blue energy formed around Abigail's head. It was transparent, which allowed her to see out. From the outside, it allowed the doctor to run hyper-focused tests, diagnostics and peel away systems that weren't necessary. Mark used two fingers to focus on Abigail's head. He then walked to once side as he examined the data coming in from the diagnostics.

"Abigail, I want you to try to recreate the exact things you did when you had your last bout of dizziness," Mark said. He'd tucked his arm against his chest and was leaning his chin on his hand.

"Well, when I was talking with the CMO, I just did this." shaking her head from side to side. Of which she felt a little bit of a spin there. "Oh and I just remembered when the station had been attacked, I was trying to get away running as fast as I could, and I stumbled, but I also felt a little bit dizzy before that happened."

"How interesting. Medically speaking I mean," he said. "Computer, please overlay all previous matching scans the patient has on record."

The hologram shimmered, and then new layers, five in total, each a different color, appeared hanging in the air. The doctor walked from side to side, getting an overall view, blocking out all of the other activity in the busy sickbay.

He stepped forward and, using his finger, drew a large circle around Abigail's right ear. "Computer enhance this segment."

The hologram shifted, telescoping outward and enlarging the smaller section he'd circled.

"Cadet, I think that your dizziness has something to do with your inner ear. I can see a small segment of the vestibulocochlear nerve that appears to have some damage to it," Mark said.

Abigail's eyes widened in shock upon hearing the news. "Oh my gosh! I wonder how long I've had that. Most of the time it's been presumed that I was naturally clumsy. I managed to work around that but... " she went silent just looking at the doctor. "Nerve damage. Never thought to have looked that intensive or in-depth before," she said, a small frown appearing.

Mark shook his head. "I actually think that your tests show you should have outstanding balance and dexterity. You have a few treatment options. We could fit you with a neuro-stimulation device that might repair the nerve damage over time. We could do surgery, which is what I'm best at, or we could just let you continue to exist as you are. What do you think?"

The cadet was astounded at what was happening and when the doctor delivered his diagnosis she sucked air between her teeth. This was a problem. Abigail pondered over the choices and the knowledge of having nerve damage just living with the condition that was out of the question. After weighing the factors and where she was at, Abigail needed to be in tip-top condition. There was only one direction she could go.

"I will have the surgery. Time is of the essence and I don't want things to get any worse especially when working in medical." Abigail said decisively.

Mark smiled. "Sounds like solid reasoning. I will get you put on the schedule as soon as I have an opening. We are still working through a backlog of injuries from DS18. I'll have nurse Beddite contact you when we know your surgery date. Do you have any other questions for me?"

"Actually yes," Abigail hoping the answer would be yes. "Will you let me work and help out despite the discovered condition I have? I really don't want to be benched when there is a lot of work to be done."

"Oh yes. You are still fit for duty. I would just avoid anything where you have to make sudden movements. If you've managed to make it through the Academy with this condition, you'll be fine," Mark said.

Nurse Beddite nodded and pointed towards a new patient being brought it. The woman was wearing a civilian uniform but clearly had a badly broken leg. Her screams drew eyes.

"I can finish up here, doctor," Zene said. Dr. Green bolted. Zene turned towards Abigail. "He's a good doctor. As long as I keep him on task. It shouldn't be too long for your surgery. A week or so. I'll make sure that you have plenty of notice."

"Okay, thank you." Abigail looked over in the direction the doctor ran to and slid off the biobed. "You know, I think now would be a good time to start," she said, smiling at Zene,

"Off you go, Cadet," Zene said. "Focus on your duties until the surgery."

[OFF]

Cadet Senior Grade Abigail Gordon
Nurse
USS Firebird NCC-88298

Chief Petty Officer Zenne Beddite (NPC by Llwyedd)
Head Nurse
USS Firebird NCC-88298

Lieutenant Marc Greene (NPC by Rees) Stolen by Llwyedd
Surgeon
USS Firebird NCC-88298

 

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