Meet The New Counsellor

Posted on 30 Jun 2012 @ 7:38pm by Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D.

1,276 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Sickbay
Timeline: MD07 2130hours

[ON]

Sitting on a biobed, legs danging off the edge, Lainey Carlisle tried to resist the urge to swing them rapidly back and forth like a bored or impatient child as she waited for the obligatory boarding physical to begin.

Having received a call that their new Chief Counsellor was in sickbay, Pola left her office, trying to hide a yawn. It had been an extremely long day between all of the meetings, the star base personnell transfers and a number of medicals. There was still a number of hours left before her shift was over and then she had to go see Brayden. She was tempted to reschedule but the counsellor might just try track her down.

Shaking her head to clear it, Pola spotted the woman sitting on the bio bed and headed in that direction, briefly looking over at Dru to make sure the young woman was still sleeping. "Lieutenant Carilisle I assume?"

The blonde nodded. "You presume correctly."

Walking forward, Pola smiled as she held out her hand, "Well I for one am delighted to see you. It means I can drop the whole acting counsellor...it ain't easy juggling two major roles."

Lainey shook the other woman's hand, still unsure of the doctor's name. She had studied personnel files but was having trouble remembering the doctor's surname, only that it was unusual. "Forgive me, Doctor, but I'm having trouble recalling your name from my review of the ship's records. Would you indulge an enthusiastic but slightly tired Chief Counselor?"

Smiling gently, Pola understood that people had difficulty pronouncing her surname unless they heard it being said first, "I prefer to just be called Pola, especially where we are going to be working closely together. My surname is pronounced knee gu-in. And you?"

Delainey smiled. "Delainey Carlisle, but my friends call me Lainey. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm honored the CMO herself is taking care of my physical, and I promise to return the favor by alleviating some of your duties."

"Right well let's see what I can do and ah hell...I'm only CMO a few days now, we want nothing but the best for our new chief counsellor." Smiling gently, Pola picked up her tricorder and started to run the scans. "So is there anything you can tell me about yourself medical wise which will help me out here?"

Carlisle shrugged. "As far as I know, I'm healthy. I'm admittedly a caffeine addict and wish raktajino could be main-lined, but other than that, I don't think I'm doing too badly."

Nodding her head, Pola started to upload the scans to the monitor on the biobed, diverting her attention back to Carlisle while waiting for the images to appear, "Hum....How often is your consumption of caffeine?"

Delainey smirked, knowing she was about to get a lecture. "I've cut back to four cups a day. I know it's still a lot, but I'm hooked on the Klingon brew."

"Hum....any side effects such as agitation, restlessness or insomnia?" Grabbing a PADD, Pola read through the counsellor's previous notes to see if there was anything which would give her an indicator to any possible recurring issues she needed to be aware of.

"Ah...no more than usual?" she answered with a grin. "I'm a counselor, so I'm usually processing something I've been told. Some restlessness, agitation and sleep difficulty is normal for me."

Satisfying herself that nothing seemed out of order on the scan results, Pola brought up the woman's vitals in order to check them over, "Have you managed to meet your new people yet? Drusilla is here with us in sickbay at the moment but I know Brayden had been kept busy."

She was glad Pola had brought Drusilla up, as Carlisle wanted to show sensitivity by not using her exam time to discuss work but at the same time she was eager to hear the details from a person rather than a report. "I have a meeting with Brayden and Scarlet later this afternoon, but if it wouldn't be disclosing something inappropriate, would you mind clarifying what happened to Drusilla and how she is now?"

Biting her lip, Pola went over Drusilla's file in her mind. Of course she knew it inside out, especially after the puzzle the woman had presented them all with, but it paid to take her time. "Well from what we know, she banged her head off of a table, causing trauma to her brain in two locations. This trauma also aggravated a small brain bleed which had gone unnoticed. Drusilla then went into a coma for 4 days, of which she actually woke up in the last hour."

Consciously, Pola looked over at the bed Drusilla was lying in, "She is have difficulty both moving and speaking right now. The moving I suspect is her body trying to rebuild energy after days spent in a coma. The speech though will need work. I've been trying to figure out if I can find the specific problem but I've been busy with medicals and patients all evening."

"I'd be happy to take a look at her scans, if you like. I don''t want to step on your toes, of course, but I did take an interest in neuro-psych in medical school. At the very least, I would love to visit her. She doesn't know me, I know, but she's one of us, and she must be scared."

Nodding her head, Pola brought up Drusilla's scans on a near-by monitor, "I've arranged with one of your counsellors, Brayden, to come visit her. I've had alot of contact with him over the last few days and I must say he's made an impression. From what I know of him, I figured he would do well given her difficulties with speaking. I'm sure that there would be no harm in you visiting also, the more visitors the better. I'd only ask you do it while I'm on shift, she'd been having bad reactions to people she doesn't know, me included."

"Fair enough," Carlisle replied, hopping down from the biobed to get a closer look. "I don't want to take up any more of your time, but perhaps we can get together later to discuss these scans and your concerns about the crew?" Delainey figured as Acting Chief Counselor, Pola had observed more than was perhaps proper to discuss during a physical.

Nodding her head, Pola picked up a spare PADD to upload a copy of the scans and Drusilla's file before handing it to the counsellor, "That sounds good to me. I'm packed full of appointments for the rest of my shift this evening so how about we try schedule it in the next day or two? I'm sure you need to get settled yourself and get to know your new staff."

Carlisle accepted the PADD. "That works just fine. Contact me when you're ready and we'll get together," she added with a smile.

Holding out her hand, Pola shook Carlisle's and smiled, "I look forward to it. Good luck with the new position Counsellor. I look forward to working with you." Watching as she walked off, Pola turned to check on the woman they had been discussing, wondering if she'd get a break this evening at any stage. It seemed sickbay's revolving door policy was in full use tonight. Smiling, Pola admitted to herself, she was glad of the work, it made her feel useful at least.

[OFF]

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Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle M.D.
Chief Counsellor
USS Galileo

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