Engineers Delight

Posted on 22 Jun 2012 @ 3:36am by Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn

2,066 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Sickbay
Timeline: MD7 2030hours

[ON]


Sitting back in her chair, Pola rubbed both of her eyes with the palm if her hands. It had been a busier day then she could have every anticipated. Her foot was throbbing slightly from the time she'd spent on her feet but it was worth it as Drusilla had finally come around. She would need to go through rehabilitation and further tests to ensure there was no lasting damage from the brain trauma but all in all, things were looking up.

Picking up the files on her desk, the Doctor noted she still had two senior staff members who needed their medicals. Picking one file at random, she gave the crewman a call.

=^=Doctor Ni Dhuinn to Mr. Quinn; Would you have a moment to report to sickbay for your medical?=^=

Quinn was just putting his feet up as the doctor called. With a sigh, and a shake of his head he responded. =^= Aye, Doctor. I will be right there. =^= He looked about the quarters and found his boots. "Damn physicals. You can run, but you can't hide...especially on a Nova-Class." he quipped as he put his boots back on and left his shared quarters for Sickbay.

A few moments later and he was walking into the domain of the medical folks. He walked to the CMO's Office and rapped on the door jam. "Trick or teat, Doc!" Markum said with a sly smile. "I'm here to be violated by my friendly physician."

Looking up from the PADD on her desk, Pola raised an eyebrow at the man standing in her doorway. Pola pulled herself to her feet, moving to lean her hip against the edge, keeping the weight off of her ankle. "I'm afraid I packed away my probs. If you fancy giving me a few minutes, I'm sure I can find something I could suitable violate you with."

Markum laughed and shook his head. "No thank-you Doctor. I just get a little nervous around physicians. Nothing personal, just had a bad experience as a kid once. Went in for a sports physical, came out missing my tonsils and appendix."

Grinning at the man infront of her, Pola indicated for him to grab the nearest bio bed, "Well if your tonsils and appendix are already gone then you don't need to worry they'll go missing again. I can take a look and see if your tonsils have grown back enough for us to surgically remove them again if you like. In the meantime...I assume your Markum?"

Quinn walked to a bed and sat on top of it. "Yes, ma'am, I am the grumpy engineer on board." he replied with a smile.

Picking up her tricorder, Pola walked over to stand at Markum's side, starting a scan. "So aside from the tonsil and appendix removal, what else can you tell me about your medical history Grumpy ole Markum."

Markum laughed. "Nothing really. I'm in great shape, and good health. I did have a compund fracture of my left ulnar. It was a going away present from a Dominion warship." He rubbed the arm, though not because of any lingering pain, at least, not in the physical sense. "The Doc on the Thor said I was lucky that I didn't bleed out, or get a nasty infection."

Noticing how Markum had rubbed the site where the injury had occured, Pola reconfigured the tricorder to give her a more indepth scan of the engineer's left forearm. "Any lingering issues with pain or numbness in the arm or fingers?"

"Once in a great while my pinky goes numb," Markum replied, "I serves as a reminder of my voyage into Hell and returning alive. The Dominion didn't fight fair, so to say. It is nothing I'm sure, Doc"

Frowning, Pola put down the tricorder and picked up a nearby PADD, pulling up Markum's medical history. "Is this numbness something you have told your Doctor's about before?" Reading through the file, Pola tried to isolate the notes in relation to the original injury. If there had been nerve damage it may not have been repaired correctly or maybe there was a complication which caused this numbness in the long term.

"Umm....." Quinn looked up at the ceiling, then back to Pola, "well, I may have forgotten to mention it before. You know, it wasn't bother me at that particular moment, and it may have slipped my mind...or something." he finished with a poor attempt at an innocent face.

Sighly gently, Pola looked at Markum sceptically as she remembered what had happened to Lilou. "If there some rule with engineers having injuries which means they refuse to seek help when it is obvious they probable should?" Shaking her head with a small smile on her face, the Doctor picked back up her tricorder, programming it to give her a more in-depth scan of the engineer's left forearm and hand.

"Umm..." Markum replied with a mischievous grin as he stroked his beard, "...Yes? It's just that it never really bothered me...much."

"Well let's see if we can find the problem, fix it and give you reason not to tell Doctor's things as you will be back to normal." Smiling at Markum, Pola turned her attention back to the monitor and immediately found the issue. It was something that wouldn't show up in normal situations unless it was looked for, which explained why it had gone unseen for so long. There was a case of cubital tunnel syndrome occurring which means that whenever the engineer would flex his arm, at his elbow, the ulnar nerve, which controlled feeling in the little finger and base of the ring finger, was becoming compressed, severing feeling to the digits.

"Tell me, do you notice this more so happening when you bend your arm at your elbow?"

Markum raised his eyebrows as he pondered the question. "You know what, Doc? That's why I quite doing my morning pull-ups and limited my push-ups. It's hard to hold onto the bar with no feeling while gripping. After the third time falling, I thought why the hell bother."

Turning the monitor around, Pola had it placed so as Markum could see the scans. Using her fingers to enlarge the area around his elbow, she pointed out the nerve in question. "See how close this is to your bone? When you bend your elbow, the pressure between the muscle and bone is causing this nerve to be cut off, thus the numb feeling your experiencing. What I can do is a kinda key hole surgery. It'll be as non invasive as possible and I can release you once it's done. I propose moving the nerve to the front of your elbow, meaning it won't get continuously trapped. Over time, the numbness will completely disappear."

Markum nodded as he listened to the physician, and eyed the screen. He looked back to Pola, "Okay, Doc. Let's get it over with."

Indicating for Markum to lie up on the bio bed, Pola went to fetch an exoscalpel, autosuture and a pair of forceps. Bringing the equipment over to his side, she indicated for him to remove his jacket and his long sleeved undershirt, "So tell me, how's Lilou getting on?"

Once Markum removed his his ordered clothing he laid back and took a long deep breath. "On the record, she is a capable engineer with high potential, just in need of some more seasoning." The middle-aged engineer smiled broadly then, "Off the record, she is the brightest engineer I have ever had the privilege to work with. Her limitations are endless, and one day she will be a master shipbuilder.....she's that good. Hell, she may be an Admiral on day, running Starfleet R and D. I'm hard on her sometimes I think, but I think of her as one of my own kids. She has already taught me a few things. So yeah she's bright."

Pola applied 10cc's of ttetracaine to the arm she needed to operate on. Waiting a few moments, she used the end of the forceps to the area to ensure the local anastetic had taken proper effect. Seeing no reaction from Markum, she picked up the excoscalpel and made an incision through the skin and muscles layers in order to be able to reach the location of the nerve. "Has she been in any more accidents lately?"

Quinn tried not to laugh. "No, not that I'm aware of. Thankfully. I have no room to talk really. When I was her age I was lucky to survive the night out, let alone these many years."

Smiling softly, inwardly Pola was trying to figure out if the engineering department were going to be nothing but trouble for her. First Rothgra, then Lilou and now Markum...if anything she guessed that they would keep her hands full. Having finished the incision, Pola picked up the forceps and clamped the area open. Using the live feed on the monitor, she located the ulnar nerve, and started to maneuvered the forceps in order to bring the nerve to the front on the arm. "How are you feeling?"

Markum looked back at Pola, "I can't feel a damn thing Doc. I guess you would of known by now if I did."

Smiling softly, Pola kept her concentration on the task at hand. She was trying to tease out the nerve to sit at the front of the bone and it was more fiddly than anything else. She couldn't risk pulling hard on the nerve at this could result in damage and worst case scenario, permanent numbness in the fingers. Finally managing to complete the manoeuvre, the Doctor grabbed her tricorder and preformed a scan on the area, wanting to be sure no damage had been done. Happy with the results, Pola took an autosuture and applied to the area of the incision in order for it to start repairing over, "I need you to take it easy for the next 1-2hours. This area of the arm will still be numb and the nerve sensitive during this time so try not hit it off of anything, or lift anything, or you'll pay for it after." Moving back as the incision closed over, Pola took a dermal regenerator to ensure no scars would remain and smiled over at Markum.

Markum looked down at his arm, then back to Pola. "Thanks, Doc. You do pretty good work. Maybe next time I'll let you operate on my sixth toe." he said with a smile as he hopped of the table.

Laughing, Pola started to clear up the area, "I was wondering why your boots were so big. Any other concerns of queries you need to bring up with me while you have me here?"

With a shake of his head, and an almost childish grin, "Nope, I think you fixed the only thing I ever had an excuse to bitch about. Guess that means I'll be a little nicer to my engineers." he said with a chuckle."

Smiling softly, Pola turned back to Markum, leaning her hip against the biobed, "I'm sure that counselling will be delighted to hear they no longer need to worry about the psychological state of your engineering staff any longer."

"Yeah, and if they ever show up in here with wounds from a blunt hammer-like injury..." Quinn playfully looked around the room. "...It wasn't from me, and I don't know anything." he finished with a wink.

"Why am I suddenly starting to feel very worried about any injuries I'm about to start coming across which originated in the engineering department?" Pola smiled softly.

"Nah," replied Quinn, "They won't tell, trust me." smiled Quinn. "Thanks again Doc. You can operate on me anytime"

"Just don't leave it for so long next time to say something. And remember, if the numbness is still present or something doesn't feel right please give me a shout and take it easy on that arm for the next few hours." Pushing away from the biobed, Pola gathered up her tricorder.

Quinn nodded as he watched the doctor gather her tricorder. "Yes sir. I'm much too terrified of medical-type peeps to disobey them." Quinn grabbed his service jacket and began to walk towards the exit.


[OFF]

Chief Warrant Officer Markum Quinn
Chief Engineer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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