A Morning in Sickbay (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 06 Aug 2012 @ 5:14pm by Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Kiri Cho

2,106 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Medical Laboratory
Timeline: MD 08 - 0159 hours

Previously in "A Morning in Sickbay"...

Kiri felt a little more at easy with his words, medicine other than a short course in first aid at the academy and her biology studies that tended to be cell sized and smaller was an unknown to her. Very gratefully she took the seat as her legs started to feel like jelly. Her breath was starting to get shorter, as if she'd been running rather than walking. Still she tried to answer his question, "I identify sensor readings that the computer cannot, as well as interpret, its readings and discover new ones." Now she looked down at her chest, rather confused over it. Her breathing, matched with how tired she was. Looking to Kohl she seemed rather scared, "Some thing's wrong."

"What do you--" Kohl started to ask, but he was interrupted by an alarm on his tricorder. The operational controls for the nanites were pushed aside on the tricorder's display when it alerted him to Kiri's already-low blood pressure dropping dramatically, while her pulse was speeding up. That with the low body temperature, and it was looking like hypovolemic shock. Kohl cast a glance over his shoulder, but the ICU was still packed. He took Kiri's good hand to help her up and lead her away. "I'm going to find you that biobed after all!"

And now the conclusion...


[ON]

Kiri was starting to panic, something was very much not right as she got to her feet. Trying to force blood into her legs, getting them to move she followed his lead, her body was like lead though, she was really struggling.

As Kohl poured every drop of urgency towards getting Kiri into the laboratory in under ten seconds, he felt his arm stretching farther and farther behind him. Kiri's uncertain footsteps couldn't keep up with his own. Kohl slowed down enough to secure a better grip on her; he was ready to catch her should she fall. As they passed through the threshold into the lab, Kohl used his free hand to point to one of the emergency mobile biobeds along the wall. "Let's lay you down, yeah?" Kohl said, trying every so hard to sound positive. "You deserve the rest."

Her brain half shut down as she walked, one of them anyway. It was strange to have someone holding her hand. Even at the best of times they were cold, more so now feeling somewhat like ice to the touch. Her body moved on its own now, her brain releasing control. compliantly she slid onto the bed, her eyes half shut she couldn't quite put any words together or realise her situation, "Im,u'fine,gh."

"Yeah, you have every reason to feel fine, Kiri," he said optimistically. Kohl squeezed her hand once more before letting go. His fingers worked the LCARS panel on the side of the biobed until the surgical support frame rolled over her chest, and the biobed tilted her legs upwards about 12 inches to encourage circulation. He scrolled through the inventory of medicines already loaded into this emergency medical module, and he selected a dosage of norepinephrine to combat the low blood pressure. Kohl assured her, "I'm going to hook you up to a Trill saline solution, and then I'm going to go get you some more blood. How does that sound?"

With the fluid from her legs back into her torso, Kiri was starting to feel better already. Less confused with more oxygen in her blood she started to blink and look around her. Her breathing evened out a little but her sore throat still gave her trouble, "Okay." Trying to focus on him she zoned out for a moment, "Am I bleeding?"

"No, I don't see any bleeding," Kohl said, but he sounded slightly distracted as he checked her blood type with the medical scanners and cross-checked that against her medical records. "You have reduced blood volume, probably from the burn," he said, but then he studied the sensor readings again. Kiri's question stuck with him. Aside from the extensive burn, the sensor composite wasn't revealing any significant wounds to cause blood loss, and yet her body fluid was remarkably low. "You were properly hydrated when you went on duty, yeah? Eating and drinking regularly?" Kohl asked.

Laying as she did with her legs in the air Kiri felt rather compromised, if she was able to she would be blushing right now. Added to that was the feeling of stupidness that washed over her with the answer to his question, "Most likely not," She found it hard to look at him now, "I worked late, then I just went to bed," She tried hard to remember, "I ate a sandwich at lunch yesterday with a litre of water." Her internal clock at least was still working.

He stared at her. Kohl stared right at her in disbelief. His mouth may have even been gaping open, a little bit, with how dumbfounded he felt by her reply. "Uhm, okay," Kohl said evenly and he blinked twice. "Okay. Okay, we'll talk about that more later. Don't worry about it now. We can talk about that later, yeah?" He cast a glance at her vital signs on the surgical support frame, and then he quickly backed out of the lab.

If she hadn't of eaten breakfast with the others she'd have had a ration pack, if she'd have taken that she'd be fine. Because she'd broken her schedule she'd ended up like this. It was exactly why she did it in the first place, so she could work and and not worry about food. She wouldn't do it again, right now she couldn't do her job, that was terrible. Lost inside herself again she didn't respond to Kohl's words, looking straight up she answered, "Okay." Not even processing it.

Between his hands, Kohl was carrying a refrigerated storage unit filled with replicated blood. It was small enough to only hold a few litres. He scurried back into the laboratory and he immediately ducked under the biobed. Down on his hands and knees, he inserted the storage unit into the biobed's pedestal. Now that she had started to receive the saline solution and the medicinals, Kohl asked, "How are you feeling now, Kiri?" from beneath the biobed.

Her voice still worn she looked with green eyes at him, "I don't feel so tried," Her body remained perfectly motionless, quite pale and cold. Swallowing was still hard though, forcing it down she added, "Could I have some water? Will I be allowed stimulants?" She didn't want to take them, but there was still a lot of work to do. The entire sensor array was offline and needed her help to get it back. She was laying on her back while everyone else was working.

Once Kohl was standing beside the biobed and operating the LCARS controls, he answered, "I'm sorry, I'm not supposed to let you drink anything orally during this program of care. The intravenous fluids will rehydrate you." Kohl confirmed the levels for the saline solution and blood transfusion on the display set into the surgical support frame. With a final check, he focused the medical scanners on Kiri's arm, checking on the progress of the nanites and then examining the rest of the damage. He went on to answer, "I wouldn't recommend taking any other stimulants until you've given your body ample rest."

Looking slightly disappointed Kiri also looked to her arm again, watching him work. Now she looked and her body was starting to settle back to normal she felt rather itchy again. It was like her skin was starting to burn as it knitted, aggravating rather than truly painful. There was something that she felt she needed to explain though, "I don't have time to rest, I have to get back to work."

"That doesn't change my recommendation," Kohl said, a little distantly, a little lyrically. His attentions were narrowed on the controls for the surgical frame's vascular regenerator. He activated the non-invasive regnerative beams and he used them to repair the damaged blood vessels in Kiri's arm, one by one. "I'm providing you with recommendations," Kohl said, he spoke slowly to make his meaning clear. He maintained a friendly overtone to his words, even when the undertone was firm. "I'm not here to tell you what to do, nor to number your priorities. I make recommendations. We all have work, all the time, and we do it better when our bodies are well. Your department head is the one who is personally, individually responsible for your well-being in addition to your productivity. I will provide the same recommendation to her that I'm providing to you. She can decide how much work you have time to complete."

Kiri liked that, that he wasn't telling her what to do, it was unexpected. Her last visit to sickbay had the doctor demanding things from her, making her defensive. Right now, she felt much more receptive, maybe it was just her current brain chemical balance though. As her arm started to calm a little bit she felt she had to explain more. It wasn't that she didn't care about her well being, more than she felt she was far less important than the job ahead of her. Glancing at him, "The ship's sensors are offline, if we are attacked, we won't be able to fight back or even see them. I can rest when that is done."

While the nanites continued to work on Kiri's nervous sytems and the biobed worked on her vascular system, Kohl kept working to heal her from the inside out. He said mildly, "You're not the only one who can repair the sensors. We have engineering and operations officers. We have a crew filled to bursting with scientists, so many scientists. I'm not asking you to derelict your duties, but remember you're not the only one..." He trailed off faintly, and then he sighed. It was a losing sigh. Begrudgingly, Kohl asked, "Do me a favour. When you're working your double-shifts this week, can you drink a little water every hour? Add extra protein to all of your meals? And eat vegetables with high water content between your meals? For this week?"

Everyone was working hard, Kiri couldn't the only one resting if she could still move. She'd never let being ill slow her down before, she'd be fixed soon anyway right? Pursing her lips Kiri nodded her head slightly, "I drink two litres of water every day, I can add extra supplements to my energy intake as well." It was easy enough to add more to the ration bars she normally lived on, it wouldn't even change the taste. Pain of any sort was starting to fade, replaced with drowsiness.

Holding onto eye-contact with her, Kohl nodded at her assertions. "That's it, Kiri. That's exactly it," Kohl said. "Do all of that and you're going to heal up just fine." While the vascular regenerator continued its work towards rapid recovery, Kohl began programming the dermal regenerators to begin healing Kiri's skin.

Kiri shied away from him, keeping that much eye contact made her uncomfortable again. Her comfort levels in general had increased and she was starting to find herself relaxed for the first time since she came on-board. Looking back at her arm she watched her skin returning to normal, "Thank you." Her tone was soft, fatiguing into a whisper.

"You're very welcome, Kiri," Kohl said. He spoke softly, so softly, since he didn't want to risk interfering with Kiri getting the rest her body needed to recover.

Kiri could feel her eyes drooping, losing control of her body. Having gone so long without sleep, she couldn't keep going any more. Her eyes closed with she still faced her arm. Her breathing started to slow slightly, her arm dropping. Without food or rest, she'd pushed herself too far.

When Kiri closed her eyes and drifted away into unconsciousness, Kohl didn't react with anything like alarm or concern. He continued to manipulate the biobed's regenerative beams by way of the LCARS console. He only looked away from what he was doing long enough to confirm Kiri's vital signs. As soon as he returned his gaze to his work, he heard a doctor in the ICU calling for him. Someone was dying. It was long past time for Kiri to rest, but, for tonight, Kohl would have to keep moving.


[OFF]


ENS Kiri Cho
Science Officer/Sensor Specialist
USS Galileo

ENS Andreus Kohl
Nurse
USS Galileo

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