Check up Pt3

Posted on Sat Nov 12th, 2011 @ 12:20pm by 1st Lieutenant Noelle Ghassan & Master Chief Petty Officer Barbara Tarango

1,003 words; about a 5 minute read

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

::ON::

Noelle slept for several more hours and upon waking looked around, her stomach nauseated. She was extremely thirsty as well. She laid quietly for a few minutes piecing together the last few hours or what she remembered of them. Seeing Tarango, she spoke up "May I have a drink?" She asked her voice cracking from dryness as her stomach churned again.

"Only ice chips," Barbara said as she picked up the cup and pulled out a spoon. She placed the tip of the spoon to Noelle's mouth, letting a few small pieces fall to her lips. "So, how you feeling?"

Noelle sucked on the ice chips and let the cool water run down her throat "Tired." She said "Hot and thirsty." She added "My stomach feels like its on a roller coaster." She said "Almost like I want to be sick." Noelle said as she shifted on the bed slightly "There's no pain, but I expected that." She said a bit sadly as her stomach rolled with the water hitting it.

"Can I get some crackers?" She asked "Something to settle my stomach." She said as she held back getting sick.

"You are under medications that prevent pain. I can only give you very little food." Barbara left and came back with broken up crackers. She put a few into her mouth. She sat back on a bar stool next to her bed.

Noelle looked at Barbara as she chewed the broken up crackers "No, you don't understand Chief...I don't feel pain period. I have a condition called Congenital Insensitivity to Pain. I don't know when I've hurt myself unless I see bruises or get a medical check up." She said "The medications are helping me sleep..." She said "I doubt they are doing anything for the pain." She looked at Barbara "If I hadn't noticed the bruising on my side, I would have just kept working until I collapsed or something."

The nurse picked up the PADD to glance through the patient's history. "Unfortunately, it is not listed under your medical records. I was wondering why you kept telling us that there is no pain when it should be there. I thought it could be the pain meds masking your sensation." She frowned as she set the PADD down and gave her more crackers. "When did you discovered this?"

"When I was a child." She said as her stomach rolled "I told Dr. Bowen about it, I know that there was some hesitation to put it in my medical file when I joined the Marines." She said taking a slow deep breath "I was five and fell off the roof of my home in Egypt and tried to get up and walk away, my leg was broken in three places and my brothers kept me still while my sister got my mother."

She paused to wait for a wave of nausea to pass "The doctors took several months to diagnosis the problem and then told my parents that I would have to be watched carefully. They were hard put to keep an active 5 year old from playing with her older brothers and sisters so it was a matter of teaching me to be careful." Noelle said "I've had a few other injuries but nothing serious to speak of."

She looked at Barbara "So that's why I waited for so long before coming in for this. I thought it was just another bruise that would go away. But when I kept getting more and more tired and couldn't drink enough...I thought there might be something else wrong. But I never felt any pain." She said finally losing the battle to be sick. She rolled to her side as her stomach churned.

"I'm surprised that Doctor Bowen didn't say anything about it...I can see the secrecy of it. In all my 24 to 25 years of being a nurse, I've never heard of it." Barbara grabbed a kidney shape bowel to place under her chin in case Noelle was going to vomit. "That explains why you think that your bruises are no big deal..."

Noelle did get sick, there wasn't much there, once she finished "Yeah...that's why the bruises were no big deal." She said looking at Barbara "She may have forgotten...or not remembered.." She said as she got sick again, mostly dry heaving. She sighed "So that's what's going on." She said looking down for a moment "I'm so hot." She said "Can I have some more ice?" Noelle asked as she swallowed trying to get the taste out of her mouth.

"Sure," the nurse said, giving her more ice. "This should help. You need to go back to sleep to get more rested. You will be here for a while...probably up to a week."

Noelle paused for a moment and nodded "Its a very rare condition, only a handful of people have it. Both parents have to be carriers of the gene and only one in five children in a family are likely to end up with the condition. At least that's what I remember vaguely from one of the specialists." She said as she laid on her side "I have a hard time diferentiating temperature or when I'm too hot or too cold." She shrugged slightly "I've learned to live with it. "

She yawned and started to drift back to sleep curled on her side, huddled under the blanket that was on the bed. She was so very tired. "Do you know if Dr. Bowen was able to contact Captain Mangalia and let him know?" She mumbled as she opened her eyes again for another moment.

"She has been unable to reach him," Barbara said as she put away the crackers, but left the cup of ice on the near-by tray.

Noelle nodded and fell back asleep, her stomach still churning but not as bad for the moment.

::OFF::

2nd Lt Noelle Ghassan
Marine XO
USS Calypso

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

 

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