Meatball Surgery
Posted on Mon Apr 9th, 2018 @ 9:25pm by Lieutenant Amelia Zano Psy.D.
Edited on on Thu May 31st, 2018 @ 9:30pm
2,194 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Episode 2 - The Enemy Within
Location: Sick Bay - Deck 5
Timeline: MD005 0930 hrs
Tags: SD 71381.0930
"Bring him over to biobed in that room," Ballston said as he met a trio of wounded at the doorway. he began scanning the one being carried as they walked towards the location where they could put him down. The two carrying the most severely injured took him off the tattered piece of corridor wall they had used to carry him between them. It was hard to even indicated from his darkened uniform that the man was from security. the charred mass of flesh that had been the left side of his face didn't make recognizing the man any easier. "Thanks, you two, "we'll get to your wounds in as soon as we can."
Richard had been expecting the influx of injured well before it actually happened. With flashing lights of red alert and the shutter of the ship from the incoming assault he dreaded seeing his first casualty.
It wasn't long before the wounded started arriving, some under their own power, others carried on antigravity gurneys and still others on make shift contraptions pulled by a fellow crew member.
The man on the biobed suddenly became aware and gasped for air as Richard pressed him down onto the bed with his fore arm while striking out against the opposite arm that was holding the phaser. Air came gushing in through the man’s sucking chest wound and his eyes were wide with fright. The weapon skidded across the sickbay floor spinning as it did but not discharging.
"Doctor Zano," Richard called out reaching for a hypospray on his utility belt, "I could use some assistance,"
Amelia had been dreading this moment from the second those lights turned red. In her current capacity as a Doctor she was assisting with the wounded and seeing to as many emergencies as she could whilst also trying to not get in the REAL medical staff’s way.
She was helping someone through the door when Richard called out for some help. Looking his way, she could see him struggling with a patient. Nodding to a nearby nurse they took over assisting the man into the room.
"What do you need me to do?" she asked plainly. In this type of situation, it was best to use that type of language, so instructions are easily understood.
"We have an open chest wound," wound as he fought to get the man sedated. As the hypospray released the medication he began again, "I will need your assistance to closing him up. Could you help me with the surgical support frame?"
Amelia spun round to find the support frame and passed it over the body, "No problem." she replied as the chest cavity seemed to grow a bit. "We need to close this fast!"
"I know," Richard replied as he reached to the controls ignoring the blood that stained his tunic, "Ok let's find the bleeder and close him up before we lose him," he glanced at the wall mounted display and then tapped the controls so that the image enlarged, "there, Right Brachiocephalic Vein branch, let us get that closed off and see what else we can find."
She nodded, there was a lot of blood and far more than she was used to seeing. Therefore, she chose people's heads instead of their bodies, much easier to clean up most of the time in her view. Definitely a lot less bodily fluid.
Assisting as best she could it was a marvel to see someone who did this kind of work with confidence. Her knowledge of the human body was not as 'up-to-date' as what she knew of the mind.
"Richard, I think I can see something down by his kidney?" she half-asked moving the image slightly and zooming in on a separate screen.
"Shrapnel," Ballston questioned, "ok let's get that taken care of and then address the tear in the right brachiocephalic Vein." He quickly maneuvered the controls to begin the extraction, "you would think they would come up with a way to teleport things like this out, so much cleaner than the removal processes."
With a steady control Richard had the piece out and sat aside, "bleeders," he announced, "left suprarenal artery most distal sliced nearly in half." he moved the vascular regenerator through the sterile field and began repairing the damage, "do you see any others while we are near the kidneys?"
"No just that one." she replied passing him some equipment to assist him in the repairs. "Must have been that piece that cut through the artery..." she paused as his heart rate changed, "There must be another bleed somewhere, his blood pressure is dropping." She began to search the monitor hoping to see something.
Richard nodded and looked at the female doctor, "so let's follow the path." He began moving the instrument back towards the major vein that had been severed and paused, "there's a blood pool here showing around his lungs." He began suctioning the pool revealing the cut to the pleura and the seeping red of blood coming back, "must be in here, the cephalic trunk."
"I'll handle the suction around the wound if you want to get in there and find it? Then we can work together to close this thing before this poor man disappears from us." she replied. "I'm not sure he has much time left."
"Alright," Richard said passing the suction device to the other doctor. He began looking for the bleed and then smiled as he spotted the cut pulmonary vein, "he has lost a great deal of blood, we'll have to get him a blood transfusion," the doctor noted as he closed the leaking vessel.
The ship rocked again causing Amelia's footing to falter although she remained standing. She could hear a faint buzzing and looked at Richard to see if he heard the same, alas he was focused on his patient, his dedication and unwavering concentration was impressive.
Again, the ship rocked, the buzzing intensified to a point of breaching the room. An EPS conduit in Sickbay ruptured causing debris to fly across the room. Amelia covered her face, but a piece caught her cheek, a superficial wound formed.
Nodding to Richard to let him know she was leaving his side she rushed over to the Nurse that had been over by the conduit to check on her.
Richard had ducked as the conduit went bending over the patient he had his hands in quickly closed the man up and popped the surgical frame off, "is everyone alright," he yelled, "I need two quarts of AB negative for this patient stat."
Most seemed to be alright but unfortunately the nurse had been killed in the explosion. Looking over at Richard she began shaking her head and talking to the nurse, "You'll be ok my friend, just try not to move. You've taken some shrapnel in the back near your spine and we need to make sure you're alright." she offered with her most sincere and gentle voice.
At the same time someone had approached Richard with the blood he had requested, "Here you go Doctor."
"Thanks nurse Richard," Richard replied, "set up the IV infusion then we'll need to move him to a critical care room."
The man nodded, "yes doctor I will get right on it.
"Good work." the CMO replied as he began to walk away and towards the other doctor, "let's get her to a bed," he said gently, "we'll do our best nurse Harris."
Amelia smiled gently at the woman they were helping, trying to project her feelings of calm onto her. "I suggest we lie her face down to get a good look at the damage." she whispered to Richard.
"Agreed," Richard said looking up at an Andorian nurse that had walked over. "we need a force field restraining device and an Anti-grav gurney." The man nodded and disappeared for a moment.
Richard looked at Amelia, "I wonder how the EMH is handling the overflow on the holodeck?"
"No doubt pulling his photonic hair out... does he have hair? What Mark is that one?" she asked going off topic for a second.
"Doesn't matter as long as he can handle the job," He stood as the nurse arrived with the gurney and the restraining device.
"Ok let's get the restraint on first," he said taking the rectangular hand sized object and placing it on the wounded woman's back and then activating the device with the press of a button and then tapping it twice to ensure the field covered enough area to keep her safe while moving.
Richard glanced over at Amelia and drew in a breath, "let's hope we don't have any more surprises."
"You said it doctor." she replied helping with the restraint. She gently whispered in the ear of her patient she would be alright. She had the ability to project feelings on people and as such could manipulate how others felt. All of a sudden she felt the woman relax, a wash of calm took over her.
Richard looked at Amelia and then looked at the nurses, "alright get her to surgery and make sure her back is facing up, be gentle."
The two men moved her carefully to the gurney while while Richard moved to the side and motioned for the the counselor to do the same, "you doctor are going great under pressure."
"Thank you Richard," she began with a smile, "I'm trying to appear at least a little bit in control. You are doing far better than I." Stepping aside she watched the nurse being carted off to the nearest free bed/space to receive treatment.
"Give yourself a few more years," Richard said with a faint smile, "remember I've served in a few wars." He waked briskly behind the gurney and waited for the patient to be placed in the prone position before turning back to Amelia, "I'm going to use 20cc of Anetrizine that should give us enough time to do the repairs."
Amelia nodded at Richards prediction, maybe he was right but she didn't want to wait those few years and with her lifespan she'd be waiting a long time. She headed to another section to grab the Anetrizine for him and passed it over, watching as it was administered. Again she whispered in El-Aurian, "Tulah sei mova, lo aran,", which translates to "It will be alright my friend.". (Sounds Elvish)
Richard smiled at the counselor as he sat the surgical frame back in place, "you have a gift Doctor. I don't know what you are saying but the patient seems more relaxed." He looked over at her, "it's really close to the spinal cord, I'll need a Exoscalpel to separate the dermas so the shrapnel can be more easily removed."
She passed him the implement, handle first as to not damage herself or Richard, and watched as he began to work.
The Azzian offered a nod as he took the tool and drew in a breath before brining the tool into the sterile field and making the tiny incision. When he was finished he pulled the tool away and breathed again. Richard looked over at the counselor and sat the tool down, "now to get it out," He looked up at the wall display image for a moment then back at Amelia, "forceps please, I want to get it out before I deal with the bleeders."
Amelia took the Exoscalpel from Richard and placed it back onto another tray to be properly cleaned later before handing him forceps so he could really get in to the damaged area. It was a sad sight to see, someone laid up with someone else deciding if they live let alone walk again.
Richard took the forceps and opened up the incision slightly and let a faint smile form on his lips, "the vertebrae is in tact, that's good new." He clamped the device closed and looked back up, "now I need the sterile tweezers to try and ease this thing out."
"Good." she added, she thanked her Gods that she wasn't too badly injured in respect to what had happened to her. Grabbing the tweezers she passed them to Richard as he began extracting the debris.
Ballston grinned and nodded at the woman, "See, you'll do just fine Doctor."
She smiled, almost forsaking the occasion to blush a little at the comment. A little bit of confidence was maybe all she needed to get through this day, and possibly the next. For now she had Dr. Ballston with her and she would take in as much as she could. As her mentor always told her, 'If you think learning stops the day you leave this place then you don't deserve to be out there!'. Not fairly inspiring words but it's words she has always remembered and tried to live by.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Richard Ballston M.D. PsyD
Chief Medical Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Junior Grade Amelia Zano PsyD
Chief Counselor, USS Pioneer
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