[ussgeorgetown] Medical Matters by Rachelle Michaels and Julian Bashir
- From: Tesa16591@xxxxxxx
- To: ussgeorgetown@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 23:25:08 EDT
(Takes place after surgery and the post op log)
Sighing tiredly, Rachelle entered her now empty office. She knew there had
been people there recently but they had all gone their separate ways before
she'd finally gotten Josh settled into his usual space in sickbay. N'Ellie had
promised to come back as soon as she could to sit with him but until then
Merrie had volunteered to keep an eye on him and keep him as quiet as
possible.
Merrie was one of the orderlies who had followed her from the Eagle and she
had become accustomed to Josh during his last stay.
Following Rachelle, Julian could plainly see just how tired she was, from
the slight droop of her shoulders to the stiffness that was easily observed
when she finally went to sit down.
"Come over here and just relax for a minute. I'll get us some tea and we can
work up a quick report for the captain before I leave." Julian guided her
away from the uncomfortable looking desk chair and over to the small but much
better cushioned couch that took up one wall of the office. The opposite wall
was covered with large file cabinets, family pictures and assorted medical
instruments as well as a few personal items that held places of honor there. He
resisted the urge to examine them closer and returned to the couch, sinking
gratefully beside her. His day had not been nearly as hectic as hers he knew,
but he was rather tired himself.
"I just need to jot some notes for now, I think the captain will understand
if a more formal accounting of the situation waits until I can string
sentences together that might make sense." She took a sip of the tea and sighed
again, smiling. "Thank you, I needed this."
"How about if we just talk over what happened and record it? Between that
and the operating room recording we should be able to piece it all together
into a comprehensive accounting of what happened." As he spoke, he activated
the
recorder and settled back on a pillow that felt as if it were made from
clouds it was so soft.
"Sounds good to me. Let's see," Rachelle went on, smothering a yawn as she
spoke. "Josh was in pretty bad shape, the gash on his leg alone would have
been enough without all the internal injuries and the damage from whatever
they
used to "question" him."
Her eyes blazed as she thought about it, that a Starfleet officer, one who
was in a position of authority no less, could use that position to inflict
that kind of torture on another being drove all thought of sleep from her
mind.
She sat up straighter as she continued. "If he hadn't managed to escape when
he did, he might not have pulled through this one."
"They used a Klingon pain stick for one, I know the markings well." He
thought back to Worf's "bachelor party" and shuddered slightly. Klingons had a
strange idea of party games to be sure.
"Besides that, he had been hanging from the ceiling or wall with his arms
over his head. The muscle strain clearly shows that. Hard to say what they
might have injected him with to keep him conscious, I'm sure they were careful
to
keep it simple enough to be effective but undetectable after short periods
of time."
"Alright, let's recap the injuries. Muscle strain, torn ligaments, punctured
lung, bruised kidney, large gash beginning just below the waist and
continuing well into the thigh area, not to mention the heart irregularities
that
caused it to stop beating, which could have been a result of the drugs or the
injuries themselves. An analysis of the readings from the diagnostic bed
should
help pinpoint them more specifically." Julian paused. "But the important
thing is, he's alive and should recover in time. He's got a great physician
after all."
"Hey! I did have help you know, my staff is extremely efficient after all."
She grinned as she spoke, waiting for him to comment.
"I did play a small role in this too........" He began, then stopped as he
caught sight of the grin. "All right, you got me that time."
"Seriously, Julian, I couldn't have done it without your help. As wonderful
as they are, the nurses and doctors here are for the most part young, and
some are still in training or were not available at the time. I'm very glad
that
if something like this had to happen that you were here." Rachelle leaned
over and gave him a very quick, very unprofessional kiss on the cheek. "Thank
you."
He blushed, looking a little flustered. Rachelle couldn't help it, she burst
into laughter. After a few minutes, she composed herself enough to say, "I
never thought I'd see you reduced to speechlessness. Maybe I should let Kira
know just how well that works."
"Don't even think about it, or I won't volunteer to come back tomorrow and
take a look at those files you asked about before all this." He threatened.
"You know you'll come back, you can't resist a good medical mystery any more
than I can. Besides, you already promised."
"Damn you and that memory of yours." He said, knowing she would understand
that he wasn't serious about either the threat or the last remark. They had
been friends for too long.
"So, Doctor, I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked, smiling.
"Of course. May I walk you to your quarters, Doctor?" He replied.
"If I were going there you could. I'm not leaving though, it wouldn't do any
good. I'd only be called back in an hour or so, once the sedatives wear off
the rest of the way. Josh is not the best at staying put, so I'm sure he'll
be trying to return to his own quarters any time now."
"Tonight?" Julian looked surprised. He knew just how high the sedative
levels should still be. A normal patient would be sleeping or at least groggy
for
hours to come.
"Honestly I'm surprised he hasn't already tried. Luckily the FindMe will
sound an alert if he leaves the immediate area of his bed. I reset the
parameters when I reset the alarm on the patch."
"You really should try to get some rest before you end up in one of those
beds yourself." He looked at her, noting the dark circles appearing around her
eyes, the furrowing of her forehead as she thought about how to best speed up
the healing process, and what kind of therapy schedule they would have to
devise for her almost regular patient.
"Are you trying to tell me I look like hell?" She asked him, knowing full
well that she did.
"I'm trying not to tell you that actually." She hit him then with the pillow
she'd been leaning on and he stood up, laughing. "I'm going now before you
end up putting me into one of those beds instead. I'll be back after I check
in with the station and get some rest."
"Thank you again, Julian.' She smothered another yawn and smiled.
"It's never boring here, is it?" He returned the smile and left.
Commander Rachelle Michaels
CMO
USS Georgetown
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane
by those who could not hear the music.
--Friedrich Nietzsche
Doctor Julian Bashir, CMO, Deep Space Nine
"I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment,
but I will never use it to injure or wrong them." - From the Oath of
Hypocrates
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