A Matter of the Mind

Posted on 03 Oct 2012 @ 10:33pm by Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Ensign Im'er Mor'an

1,528 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Sickbay
Timeline: MD08 0430

ON:

The senior staff briefing was drawn to a close and Mor'an stood to leave. She grimaced slightly from the pain in her left arm but thought nothing of it as she followed everyone from the room, holding her arm protectively against her side.

Having seen Mor'an leaving the room, Pola hurriedly picked up all of her items having finished speaking to Jonathan, and rushed to try catch up with the Operations officer. She recalled seeing untreated injuries on the woman's arm and she was concerned enough to want to ensure that they were properly checked over. Seeing her about to step into an elevator, the Doctor ran a little faster, ignoring the pain in her ankle. "Mor'an! Wait up."

Hearing her named being called, Mor'an turned from the turbolift and saw Pola running to catch up with her. "I will wait," Mor'an said, "Please do not hurry." She noticed the doctor limping and stepped forward to meet her, wondering what Pola could possibly need from her.

Slowing down her speed, Pola smiling graciously at Mor'an as she reached her side. "Thanks for waiting on me. I just wanted a word with you before we both got sucked down into our roles and departments. How are you finding things?"

"Considering the circumstances?" Mor'an asked, "I find things normal. That is, as normal as things can be with crew mates dead and a captain gone. Why do you ask?"

Stepping into the turbolift with Mor'an, Pola gave her instruction for deck 4. "I couldn't help but notice that you seem to be favouring your left arm. Have you been to sickbay yet?"

Mor'an inadvertently looked down at her left arm, held against her stomach. "I assure you," she said, meeting Pola's eyes, "Nothing is wrong. It is nothing I cannot take care of." Thinking the matter closed, she leaned against the wall and waited for the lift to stop.

"Come on Mor'an. If it's not that bad than surely you've nothing to loose by letting me take a look just as reassurance?" Pola recalled from the medical she had preformed on the Cadet, only a few days ago, that the woman could be very hard headed when it came to injuries and would try to downplay them.

Mor'an eyed Pola with a look that bordered on suspicion. "I have duties to attend," she said finally, "Surely this can wait. I can function, as you can well see."

Casually taking a tricorder from her pocket, Pola quickly tossed it in the direction of Mor'an, waiting to see if the woman managed to catch it and how her reflexes and balance was.

Mor'an tried. Really, she did. But as good as her reflexes were, her injured left arm prevented her from catching the tricorder. It should have been a one-handed grab, but she was too focused on protecting her arm and keeping her balance to catch the instrument. The tricorder fell to the floor with a clatter and Mor'an looked up at Pola. "Touche," she said, inclining her head slightly. She bent to pick up the tricorder and handed it back to Pola.

Smiling softly, Pola took the offered tricorder and returned it other pocket. "Sorry about that but sometimes when my patients insist on being hardheaded, often the need demonstration to see they might need to give in. Will you come to sickbay with me now?"

"Very well," Mor'an said, in a voice that suggested she was going solely to please Pola. She ignored the fact that the woman had called her hardheaded. It wasn't the first time Mor'an had been described as such and it probably wasn't going to be the last. "It will need to be quick, though. As I said, I have duties."

Smiling to herself, Pola indicates for Mor'an to proceed her out of the turbolift as the doors opened out onto deck 4. "Well get you fixed up and back on duty as quick as possible. Why don't you tell me what happened to cause this damage, while we walk."

"One of the Klingons managed to ht me with a blaster," Mor'an said, gesturing to a spot on her upper left arm. "And I fell on my wrist before we were boarded. I do not believe it is broken, though I could not tell if it were. I do not feel pain the same way you do."

As they walked into sickbay, Pola tried to isolate a relatively quite area where they wouldn't be disturbed. After hearing about the fire arm wound, that was her biggest priority right now, especially if the burns where sever and Mor'ans pain treshold meant she wasn't seeing this. "Why don't you grab the temp biobed in the corner while I grab some equipment which I'll need?"

Mor'an, on silent feet, padded over to the biobed in question. After hoisting herself up, she watched Pola gather the needed items.

Walking back over with some regenerators and also dermal gel, Pola pulled over a chair using her foot, as she dumped the items on the side table. "Could you tell me approx how long ago this happened?" Picking up a pair of scissors, Pola started to cut through Mor'ans uniform sleeve so as she could view the wound itself. As she reached the wound site, she realised the uniform was stuck to the skin. Frowning slightly, she moved to the replicator to prepare a number of hyposprays.

"It happened when the Klingons boarded us," Mor'an said, "Remington was protecting my back, but one of them managed to hit me anyway."

Returning to the side of the biobed, Pola started to apply an aquatic solution t the sleve, aiding her in carefully removing the material with further damaging the wound and the surrounding healthy tissue. "How have you been able to function with this Mor'an? This is not just a simple scrap, you have to be in alot of pain."

Mor'an watched Pola as she worked. "Pain is..." she paused to think of the right way to say it, "Pain is a matter of the mind. I had duties to perform, with Remington being dead, and had no time to think about it. I feel pain, but simply as an extension of my present self. I am able to ignore it in a way that most people cannot."

Nodding her head, Pola moved her hand to grab a hypospray, using the 5cc's of tetracaine to numb the upper arm before preparing a narrow beamed excoscalpel. "Hum...every race has to have a pain threshold at some point. You've been going around for a number of hours now with your arm the way it is, raw, infected, blistering. You must be feeling pain."

"I do feel pain," Mor'an said, "I just told you that I did. But I ignore it in light of more important things. Of course, if I were to be terminally injured, there is only so much pain I can ignore."

Nodding her head, Pola concentrated her full focus an trimming away the dead and charred skin around the site of where the blaster weapon had hit. The impact area was three inches across and five inches in length. She could do repair with the dermal regenerator but she was starting to realise that she would need to grow a skin culture for a skin craft as there wasn't enough live tissue left for the dermal regenerator to completely work.

"How long until I can return to my duties?" Mor'an asked the question in a quite voice, but it was laced with impatience.

"Hum...I should be able to release you back, but I'll need to apply a temperory dressing to this wound and have you come back in a day or two. I'm going to need to preform a skin graft as there's no enough tissue there to be able to work with. Are you ok with this?" Pola kept her focus on the arm as started to use the dermal regenerator to create a sealed effect on the good skin, conserving it for when the graft would be ready.

"I shall have to be," Mor'an replied, resigned to the fact that she was injured and need attention. "Just as long as it will not impede me."

"Leave that bit of worrying to me." For the next while, Pola worked in silence as she completed the repair. Finally finishing, she looked up and smiled at Mor'an. "Ok..that should hold you together for the moment but you need to be back here in 48 hours so as I can apply the graft. The bandage will keep your arm steady, just change it 3-4 times a day to keep it and the wound clean."

Mor'an placed her hand over the now-bandaged wound and looked at Pola with gratitude. "As stubborn as I am about these thing, I have to admit that it feels better." She inclined her head in thanks.

Nodding her head back in acknowledgeable, Pola watched as Mor'an left sickbay before turning, she'd need the EMH's help with this.

OFF


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Lieutenant JG Pola Ni Dhuinn
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Cadet Senior Grade Im'er Mor'an
Red Squad Intern
USS Galileo

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