Checkup

Posted on 28 Nov 2013 @ 3:13pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Giada Basile M.D., Ph.D.
Edited on on 28 Nov 2013 @ 7:45pm

1,959 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 04 - Exodus
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Sickbay
Timeline: MD 07 - 1840 hrs

[ON]

Giada sat in the chief medical officer's office with two of the nurses. They had just finished rounds and were grabbing a quick bite to eat together while they discussed their cases. The one-way audio filter over the door let them blow talk and indulge in the slightly twisted humour of the medical world without disturbing or offending their patients.

It had been a good day and as a group they were in a justifiably good mood. Getting their crew back was the best news they had since the rescue mission began. The surgeries had been going well and even though it was painful to see people wake up to confront their experiences, it was still the medical profession at its finest; this was healing at its most magical.

With her green hands clasped professionally behind her back, Lirha stepped into sickbay with a swish of the gray doors, then slowly made her way deeper into the room and paused to look around. It appeared to be quite a busy day for the medical staff, especially following the rescue and retrieval of several assimilated crew members. On some of the biobeds rested those sleeping personnel who were in the process of recovering, and she spotted both her XO and Lieutenant Peers sleeping comfortably...at least, they appeared to be.

Stifling a yawn, the captain moved to a vacant biobed and took a seat on the corner, then unclipped her PADD from her belt and began to browse through it while she waited for one of the staff to greet her.

Giada noticed the flashing light on the desk after a moment and glanced into Sickbay. Seeing the captain in a biobed, Giada quickly put her hair back up, then excused herself and walked out into Sickbay.

"Good evening, Captain," Giada said. "How can I help you?"

Lirha watched the blue-collared woman approach her, then gave her a small smile when she came close. She was not one of Galileo's official medical personnel, but her sharp green eyes and long dark hair were nonetheless familiar.

"Hello, Doctor Basile," she replied. "I see sickbay is keeping you busy nowadays," she mused to the molecular biologist. "If you have a few moments, I would like a quick check up. I...have not been feeling too well since my incident during the attack."

"I'm not surprised," Giada said sympathetically. She put her hands into the pockets of her white lab coat. "Can you tell me what has been going on for you?"

What had been going on? Nothing. Everything. Voices from the Collective in her head throughout the day, nightmares, cold sweats...Lirha didn't know where to begin. "I have been experiencing headaches and pains in my neck where I was injected. And...I have not been sleeping well," she quietly stated, trying to avert mentioning the psychological issues she was having while only focusing on the physical ones.

Giada listened attentively and nodded gently as many doctors do, while Lirha spoke. When Lirha finished, the nodding stopped but the attentiveness and slight querying tilt of the head did not. Giada just kept quiet, waiting.

Lirha gave the doctor a tiny but nervous smile, hoping she had explained her symptoms properly. She waited for a moment for Basile to begin diagnosing her, but instead the doctor seemed to be waiting for something else. Lirha remained quiet a little while longer, finally deciding to reiterate what she had just mentioned. "Yes...so, headaches, a sore neck, and sleep deprivation..."

"Alright," Giada said and pulled out her medical tricorder. "Let me just look you over. I heard you've been back on duty since you were discharged. How has that been for you?"

"Stressful," the captain admitted. "Perhaps I returned prematurely, but there were also several circumstances which required my presence." She was, of course, referring to the rescue missions she had planned which had successfully been able to retrieve several assimilated crew members.

"The joys of command," Giada smiled as she finished her scans. "Do you mind?" she asked first, then felt the muscles along the side of Lirha's neck and down across her shoulders. Then she leaned back to a more comfortable distance and glanced around to be sure nobody else was within earshot.

"Well, Captain, what I see is a lot of muscle tension through the neck and shoulders, very elevated cortisol levels and a lot of activity in the amygdala, which is an arousal and emotional processing center in the brain. That would be consistent with experiencing extremely high stress and some trauma. You're also showing some odd activity in your language centers, that the computer tells me is not consistent with your past scans," Giada finished, letting the Captain absorb everything she said.

Lirha listened to Basile's diagnosis while not fully understanding the implications of what was being to told her. She was not the most medically-gifted captain in the fleet, and often times the jargon went right over her head. "Muscle tension...arousal...and odd activity?" she asked, hoping the doctor could elaborate in simplified terms for her. Did she need another pheromone suppressant? It had been quite a while since her last injection, well over the standard week.

Giada nodded and put her hands back into her lab coat. "What I mean to say is you are under a lot of stress, and you are still coming to grips with what you've been through. That's completely normal, and that's probably where the headaches, neck pain and trouble sleeping are coming from. I can give you something to help you sleep, and something for the headaches. But ultimately, the real cure you need is to find a way to process what has happened. Do you understand how trauma works, Captain?"

"More or less," Lirha answered with a slight shrug. "I have dealt with it before, several missions ago when I was held in captivity for a few days." She didn't really want to explain the details of the gruesome torture she had endured at the hands of a certain Klingon captain and general. "It has been an ongoing process to cope with it over the past months," she added, "so yes, I am familiar with it. Unfortunately."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Giada said. "The standard recommendation is counseling, which I'll note on your file. The CMO will probably follow up, but the important thing is that whether it's counseling, a spiritual practice or some other method, you work this through. If you're interested, you could also try a course of an ayahuasca derivative. Ayahuasca is a Sol plant, and it has some pretty unique properties. It stimulates the amygdala and the right hemisphere of the brain. Normally, it's just the left hemisphere that processes memories, and when it gets overloaded by something intense, you get trauma, which is really just unprocessed memory. The ayahuasca derivative brings the right brain in to help out. But it's a very, very intense hallucinatory experience while your brain works it out."

A halucinogen? Lirha wondered to herself somewhat incredulously. She had never heard of that particular method of therapy and was slightly skeptical, but if the molecular biologist was vouching for it, then it couldn't be all that bad. Sadly, in her current state and with much at risk for both herself and her crew, she could ill afford to not be sober for the remainder of the mission.

"Interesting," she commented to Basile. "I have never been informed of such a substance and am not opposed to the idea...however, for now I think it would be best for me to remain as capable as possible while on duty. Perhaps once we return to space dock." She gave the dark-haired woman a friendly smile of acknowledgement, one which conveyed her openness to the idea.

"As for working through this experience...I am afraid that that, too, will also have to wait. At least until I can find some uninterrupted time away from my ship and crew. Please understand, there are many duties I must to attend to, especially with the ship in pieces and our crew struggling to cope with our current situation. But, I do understand the counseling requirement. I will do my best to see to them." she added.

Giada nodded. "I'll let the CMO follow up with you about requirements, I just make suggestions in my role," she said with a smile. "And I'll send you some information about neural overload, or trauma, ayahuasca, and EMDR, which is a counseling technique that uses bilateral stimulation to help resolve the overload," She said. "Before you go though, I need to run a couple more tests to see about that unusual activity in your language centres."

"Of course, doctor." Lirha scooted herself backwards on the biobed and leaned back to rest herself on her elbows, then patiently waited for Basile to gather all the necessary information she required. "How are you finding life in sickbay? More interesting than the Science department?" she asked, striking up casual conversation while also trying to get a feel for her job preference.

"It's been a crazy few days, but the team here is incredible. It's really made me remember why I got into medicine in the first place," Giada replied. "I don't know if it's more interesting than my research, but it's pretty fulfilling."

Lirha was pleased to hear she was enjoying herself and the new role. "I think Lieutenant Warraquim can use all the help she can get at the moment," she commented with a slow nod of understanding. "She is quite interested in medical science as well, and I imagine the two of you would get along well together....if you are not already."

"I think we are; She has been great about integrating me into the team, and even getting me involved with her DNA scissors project," Giada said while she ran a couple more detailed scans on Lirha. "It's been a really good experience." She noted an alert on Lirha's chart as she linked the brain scans "Excuse me for a moment, Captain, it looks like you're overdue for a shot. I'll just get it from the medical replicator."

Giada walked away to the replicator to fetch a dose of hormone suppressant and was back in a couple of minutes. "If you'll just... Perfect," she said as she administered the hypospray. "Well, I think that does it, Captain. I'll run the scans I just did past Lieutenant Warraquim, but if you aren't having any unusual experiences, it's probably nothing to worry about. I'll make sure I get back to you after I talk with her."

Lirha tilted her head and accepted the hypospray as she always did when she received her pheromone suppressants. "Thank you, doctor. You mentioned being able to give me something for my headaches and to help me sleep?" she asked, hoping to be able to procure a few doses of medicine for her private use at a later time.

"Absolutely," Giada said and punched a few buttons on her PADD. "I've authorized the appropriate dosages for your replicator privileges. Just make sure you give yourself a good eight or nine hours though between taking the sleep aid and the next time you need to be really alert."

"Of course," the captain replied, then sat upright and edged herself off of the biobed into a standing position. "I hope my scans show nothing too out of the ordinary." She gave the doctor an appreciative smile, then turned on her heels and headed towards the exit and out of sickbay.

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Giada Basile, MD, PhD
Molecular Biologist
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Vess]

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