Check Up

Posted on Thu Nov 3rd, 2011 @ 8:40am by 1st Lieutenant Noelle Ghassan & Lieutenant Commander Leanne Bowen & Master Chief Petty Officer Barbara Tarango & Lieutenant JG Wesley Valdez

1,288 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Race for the Lost Treasure
Location: Sickbay

::ON::

Noelle woke from her nap and headed for Sickbay and the check up that she had missed over the last few weeks. She knew that it was an important thing but she had neglected to follow up and had refused to be seen after the explosion that injured Leo. She had been standing right next to him when it exploded. That had been almost a week ago. She walked into Sickbay and looked around from the CMO.

"Can I help you?" The head nurse asked, holding the PADD to her chest.

Noelle nodded "I needed to get a check up with the CMO." She said "Just to make sure that there are no injuries." Noelle said somewhat vaguely, not sure what the nurse knew or didn't know about her condition.

Nurse Tarango gave her a sympathetic smile and a nod. "Let's get you set up and I will notify the doctor. Follow me," she guided the black hair lady to an empty biobed. "Have a seat here. What is your name?"

"2nd Lt Noelle Ghassan." SHe said sitting down on the bed.

"Okay. Sit tight...I will be right back," Barbara Tarango said. She walked to the CMO's office and grabbed the doctor's attention.

Doctor Bowen nodded at her nurse and left the office with a tricorder in her hand. She followed the nurse back to the female marine. "What seems to be the problem, Lieutenant?"

Noelle looked at Bowen "I suppose I should get checked out since I was next to the Captain when that bomb exploded." She said "I didn't get looked at that day because there were other things going on." She said as a means of explaination.

"You should have at the time," Leanne said as she opened her tricorder. She started the scans from Noelle's head all the way to her legs and arms. "Did you have any pain or symptoms?"

Noelle choked back a laugh "No pain..never have any pain. But I have a multitude of bruises and cuts." She said as she raised her tunic to show the good doctor her left side that was solid black and blue from the middle of her back wrapping around her side and down to her waist. Along with some fairly deep cuts that she had cleaned and bandaged.

With a more serious tone "I know I should have at the time Commander. But there were a few other things that were more pressing, like getting the Captain back to the ship to have his injuries treated since he was right on top of the device. And of course there were the civilians and riots." She said "I've been tired but I attributed that to being on the go constantly for the majority of the last few days."

"Hmm. From the look of that," the doctor said as she observed the bruises and took a glance at her tricorder. She gave her head a "no" shake. Leanne didn't like what she saw and she looked at her nurse. "Call Doctor Wesley to sickbay, STAT!"

"Yes, ma'am," Barbara said, knowing that the look of the bruises is not good.

"Noelle, you have ruptured your spleen and the infection has spread around the intestines near it. Your pancreas doesn't look good either. We have to do surgery as there might be more damage that might not show up on this scanner..."

Noelle looked at Leanne "Hmm..that would explain why I'm tired." She said "Sorry Doc. I honestly didn't think it was that bad." She said looking at Leanne, honestly sorry that she had not sought medical attention sooner. She looked at the bruising, it was some of the worst that she'd had in her life "What do you want me to do?" She asked "I didn't take the direct blunt of the blast." She said.

"Your insides can be affected by the blast; even though, your outside was not affected. Many things can cause the damage like microwave burst or space radiation or any kind of phenomenum from the explosion and you don't feel it. I need you to be still."

Nurse Tarango approached them. "He's on his way. I've brought some things to prep her," she said to the doctor. She laid the surgical gown on the end of the patient's feet and turned to pull the curtains around her, creating privacy.

Doctor Bowen nodded her head at the nurse before she looked down at Noelle. "Don't move. The nurse is going to change your clothes to this gown. As soon as the surgeon gets here, we will move you to the O.R. room." She picked up a hypospray from a tray and injected it into her neck. "Just gave you a sedative to relax...not to sleep yet. Any questions?"

"Why can't I move. I've been moving for the better part of a week." She said as the sedative took effect, she was definitely relaxed "Or is that part of the problem?" She asked "Is this going to affect my career?" She asked as the nurse started to help her change. The thoughts started tripping over each other and she fell silent, this explained the low grade fever that she'd had for the last day or two. Noelle sighed, yet again her inability to feel pain had caused problems "Let Captain Magalia know what's going on." She said simply and then looked at Leanne "I guess it's a blessing in disguise that I can't feel pain. Something tells me that this should be excruciating."

"It looks like you are slowly bleeding internally and the more you move, the more you bleed. It will not affect your career if your spleen was removed. As for the pain not being exruciating, your endorphins has been released from your brain to control pain." She looked up, seeing the surgeon coming through the opening of the curtains, and looked back down at her. "I will let Magalia know. This is your surgeon, Doctor Valdez."

Wesley Valdez smiled at her to give her confidence. "Did someone used you as a punching bag?" He usually jokes a little to his patients to release any fear they have. He puts on his surgical mask and pats her shoulder. "Let's get you patch up. You will be good as new in a few days." He picked up the tricorder to study the scans for a few minutes. "Nasty spleen...too many bruises. A possibility of bleeding internally. Nurse, give her 2 cc's of antibotics of Cefalin and 4 cc's of Xephathax."

"A small explosive device." She said as she listened to the surgeon "As for the endorphins, I don't feel pain as it is." She said looking at Leanne and shrugged "I've missed a few check ups since coming aboard, but haven't done anything physical." She sighed.

Nurse Tarango nodded and walked away, disappearing through the curtains. She came back quickly with a hypospray. She injected the medication into Noelle's neck.

"That's your beauty sleep," Wesley said.

"Noelle, I will see you when you wake up from the surgery." Doctor Bowen removed herself to head back to the office.

Noelle nodded as she fell asleep, she would have to explain how she let things get to this point. Bleeding and an infection...not a good combination. She left the repairs to the surgeon and medical staff. In the back of her mind, she wondered if this would be the event that would let her feel pain.

To be continued...

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Lieutenant Commander Leanne Bowen, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
USS Calypso

2nd Lt Noelle Ghassan
Marine XO
USS Calypso

Lieutenant J.G. Wesley Valdez, M.D.
Surgeon
USS Calypso

MCPO Barbara Tarango, R.N.
Head Nurse
USS Calypso

 

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