Check Up, part II

Posted on Thu Nov 3rd, 2011 @ 9:48pm by Lieutenant Commander Leanne Bowen & 1st Lieutenant Noelle Ghassan & Master Chief Petty Officer Barbara Tarango & Lieutenant JG Wesley Valdez

1,101 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Race for the Lost Treasure
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: After "Check Up"

[OLD]

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.

[NEW]

The patient was taken to the O.R. area with a monitor hooked up. Nurse Tarango slipped on a surgical gown and placed the mask on her face. Barbara pulled the tray of sterilized instruments to her side, after she stepped to the other side of the patient to face the doctor. "Ready when you are, doctor."

Doctor Wesley Valdez glanced at the older nurse, knowing that she has a lot of credentials and skills to make the surgery to go well. It was a fact that he has done two surgeries with Barbara after arriving on USS Calypso a month ago. He put the thoughts of the nurse away to get his mind set on this major surgery that is about to begin. He put his gloved hand out with the palm side up, "I'm ready."

Barbara handed him the necessary instruments after he made the first cut on the patient's left side of her body. She watched his careful hands as he digged into the flesh.

It took awhile before he spoke. "Hand me a basin."

She handed him the kidney shapped bowl, knowing that he was going to place something in it.

"Her spleen has been damaged...", he said as he placed the grayish organ into the bowl. He went back into the open area with his hands. "Suction, nurse."

The surgery went on for while as the surgeon discovered some other problems besides the spleen. It took nearly two hours to complete the task before a technician came to transfer the patient's body onto a moving gurney.

Nurse Tarango removed her surgical gown, mask, and gloves into a biohazard container. She left the O.R. to attend to Noelle's biobed. Her task is to monitor her for 12 hours before the shift changes.

Doctor Valdez removed his surgical clothing and left the O.R. area to Doctor Bowen's office.

Leanne looked up with a surprised face. "How is she?"

Wesley took a seat, feeling his tired feet needed some rest. "She's fine now. I had to removed her spleen as it was badly damaged. She was bleeding slowly internally from a leaking vein around her colon...she had too much blood collected on that side of her body. Part of her pancreas had a tear...I fixed that. That's about it."

"Wow. Lucky that she didn't keep going without getting it looked at...could be more damaged."

"Yeah," he said. He rubbed his eyes and let out a yawn.

"You better go get some rest. Nurse Tarango and I will be here to watch her," she said with a short smile. "Good work. You are dismissed."

"Yes, ma'am." Wesley removed himself from the chair and left the CMO's office. He went over to check on Noelle again before he headed out of sickbay to his quarters for sleep.

Three hours went by, Barbara heard a moan and she approached Noelle's biobed to check on her vitals. She stood by to watch her, wondering if she is going to open her eyes or just to fall back into deep sleep.

Noelle opened her eyes and looked around "What?" She looked confused and then remembered why she was in Sickbay. There was no pain, but she did feel feverish "What did the surgeon find?" She asked trying to not move too much fearing causing more bleeding. She still felt very tired as the medications worked their way out of her system.

Noelle tried to sit up, she didn't like lying flat, but as she tried to move the room started to spin.

"I suggest you don't get up," Barbara said as she placed both hands on Noelle's shoulders, gently pushing her back down. "You just came out of surgery three hours ago. Doctor Valdez removed a badly damaged spleen. He fixed a tear in the pancreas and small tears in the veins around the colon. You've lost a lot of blood and you are dehydrated." The nurse placed her hand on her forehead. She turned and picked up a hypospray, injecting more antibodies into her system and an analgesic.

Noelle laid back down "I don't feel any pain." She said as she closed her eyes as the nurse gave her the medications "Guess that explains a few things. So I buggered myself up good this time, huh?" She looked at Barbara "No spleen, torn pancrease and torn vessels. How long do I have to stay here?" She asked "And can I get something to drink?"

Barbara tapped her combadge to get the chief medical officer's attention. "I've called the doctor to come."

Doctor Bowen approached them and took the PADD from her head nurse. "What's going on? How you feeling?" She looked at the chart and back at the patient. "Noelle?"

"Tired and thirsty." She said "And a bit warm." Noelle looked at Leanne "I did it up good this time huh?" She asked groggily "Can I rest in my quarters instead of here?" She asked, not really feeling like going anywhere but back to sleep for a while longer.

Noelle blinked for a moment "Thank you." She said simply and sincerely.

"Not your fault for the injury...you have to remain in sickbay for a few days." Leanne didn't say anymore, seeing Noelle went back to sleep. She turned to the nurse, "continue vitals and give her ice chips if she is thirsty again. Any more problems, let me know."

"Yes, ma'am."

Doctor Bowen went to her office and sat down. She was discouraged that she was unable to reach Captain Leo Magalia. She looked down at her PADD to do some paperwork to make the time go by, instead of staring at the wall or start daydreaming.

::OFF::


------------------------------

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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