Don't Panic!

Posted on Wed Sep 20th, 2017 @ 11:41pm by Captain Brady Dering M.D., PhD & Commander Zoe Eckhardt M.D. & Cadet Freshman Grade Rachel Gallagher
Edited on on Wed Sep 12th, 2018 @ 7:17pm

Mission: My Place In This Universe
Location: ZuluBase Sickbay
Timeline: 2388/08/17 2010 (August 17 2388 2010)

ON:

Medical personnel were ready when the two medics transported into the Zulubase main sickbay with Kelly. In seconds she was on a biobed, and readings of her vital signs appeared on the biofunction monitor at the head of the bed.

"What have we got?" Zoe asked as she came back into sickbay from the bathroom where another wave of morning sickness, or rather random any time of the day sickness had just reared its ugly head.

One of the medics handed her the medical tricorder with the readings he had gotten before transporting, while in the background Brady transported in with Rachel, and handed another medic the brownie with quick instructions as he lead Rachel over to a biobed. "Stay here." he said quietly to her, then nodded at a nurse, who had her sit on the bed.

Rachel nodded to Brady, and at the nurse's instruction, sat quietly on a biobed. She hoped that Kelly would be alright ...and that nothing was wrong with her either.

Kelly looked at the doctors from the biobed, wondering what was wrong with her. The look on the Doctor's face wasn't exactly reassuring when she came into the room, and Kelly wondered what was wrong with her. "Is this going to get me sent back to Earth?"

"Slow down there." Zoe smiled reassuringly at Kelly, "Now why don't you start by telling me who you are and what happened huh?"

Kelly blushed and swallowed. "Er...My name is Kelly Khan. I'm a Cadet here for Flight Control. I was talking to a couple of the other cadets and eating a brownie." She paused, trying to remember exactly what happened. "I went to take a bite and dropped it; when I went to pick it up, I nearly fell over and then I started to slur my words."

A nurse had handed Brady Kelly's medical file which he quickly looked over before walking up and stopping a few feet away. He smiled at Kelly before saying, "Doctor Eckhardt, a moment please." giving Zoe a suttle look that all doctors recognized when one did not want to discuss something urgent in front of a patient.

"Of course." Zoe smiled as she turned to look at Brady and smiled at him. It was good to see him again and she shot Kelly an 'I'll be right back' look before walking away with him. "What's up?" she asked once they were out of earshot.

"She was showing signs and symptoms of a transient ishemic attack." Brady answered, and then indicated to the medical tricorder in her hands "And there are more indicators of atherosclerosis, which I find hard to accept considering her file shows she was in perfect health just a few weeks ago." He handed her the file, and intently watched her.

Meanwhile, Kelly lay on the biobed and her level of anxiety went up as she watched the silent exchange between the doctor and nurse. Silence in front of a patient usually meant there was bad news and her mind started to race. What was wrong with her? Would this end her Starfleet career? How would her Papa handle the news of his little girl being sick? How did she get it? Was whatever she had treatable? The seconds ticked by as more thoughts filled her mind until she felt as if she were going to jump off the biobed and start demanding answers. Restraining herself mentally, she tried to calm her racing mind, and tried even harder to hide the fact that her eyes were beginning to overflow with moisture.

"Atherosclerosis?" Zoe's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "In one so young?" she looked at Brady with concern, "And how can it appear within a month?" her mind began to work overtime as she added "Something tells me that something isn't right here, wanna stick around and find out?" she looked at him, the medic in her already intrigued and what was more the distraction seemed to be a marvelous cure for morning sickness.

Brady nodded, "I think that would be a good idea..." His eyes going to Kelly, he recognized what was going on inside of her, and placed a hand on Zoe's arm, "excuse me.." and headed over to her. Looking concerned as he approached, he placed a hand on the side of the bed as he looked down on her, leaning forward a little. "Hi," he gave a small understanding smile, "you seem pretty nervous."

"Me, nervous?" Kelly gave a nervous laugh. "Why would I be nervous? Oh! I know!" Her voice got higher. "I'm eighteen and I have no idea what's wrong with me and you step away with the Doctor and keep casting looks my way, that's why I'm nervous. People don't do that unless something is wrong." Now she sat up on the biobed and faced him, tears starting to spill out of her eyes. "So spit it out and tell me, fix it, or whatever you medical people do. If it's that bad...if my career is over before it begins...tell me. I can't stand not knowing."

Brady nodded in understanding, "If I were you I would feel the same way." He held up a finger as if to tell her to wait a sec, and turned away to grab a stool and brought it over to sit before her. And then breathing in deeply, he locked eyes with her. "You have the signs and symptoms of a condition called Atherosclerosis, but we don't believe that's what you have. Something else is going on, and that's what we're going to explore. We need your help, Kelly."

As Brady talked to Kelly, Zoe began to review the scans that had started coming through from the biobed and frowned as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

As Rachel sat on a nearby biobed, she couldn't help but wonder if Kelly would be alright. She was the first friend Rachel had made since she began this journey to the Magellan Campus and she knew she'd really hate to see anything happen to her....or to herself for that matter. She couldn't really make out what Brady and the doctors were saying but just sat patiently on the biobed for the time being, giving Kelly a comforting smile.

Kelly kept her gaze on Brady. "Atherowhat? What's that? How can I help if I don't even know what it is?" She sniffled and reached up a hand to angrily wipe the tears away.

"Atherosclerosis is a slow disease in which your arteries become clogged and hardened." Brady replied when a nurse came over with a tissue box, handing it to Brady and he offered Kelly one.

"But...that's imposs...." Kelly started, then stopped and took the tissue. "Can eating lots of brownies cause it? I was eating a brownie when I started....does that mean I can't have brownies?"

"No." he shook his head, "You can still eat brownies. If Atherosclerosis were the case," Brady continued, "it would of showed up in your pre-entrance exam physical. I would like to ask you a few questions, and you can help by answering them the best you can."

"So if it isn't that, what is it?" Kelly asked. "You can ask me questions...but I doubt I'll have answers if you have no idea what it is. You're the trained professional, right?"

"That's right." Brady smiled inwardly, regarding her. He felt she was tough, alot tougher than she probably realized. "I am, and I am going to do everything that I possibly can to help you. But there are questions that only you can answer...such as, have you felt dizzy or had difficulty speaking before this episode tonight?"

Kelly thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No." Now her voice was calmer, but she sniffled again before taking another tissue. "What is it if it isn't what you said? I've never been sick and I passed my physical."

"I don't know," he admitted, and then motioned to Zoe, "Kelly, this is Doctor Zoe Eckhardt, the CMO of Starbase Zulu. She's one of the best," he smiled, "and I have every confidence in her that she'll figure out what's going on."

Kelly looked over at the Doctor and offered a faint smile. "Kelly Khan...but I already said my name, didn't I? Any idea what's wrong with me, Doctor Eckhardt?"

Zoe answered that with another question as she turned from her work to face the pair and asked "Kelly...before you came here, had you traveled anywhere? Come into contact with anything unusual?" Her gaze shifted momentarily and she flashed Brady with a 'bear with me' smile.

A nurse that had been with Rachel, keeping an eye on her vitals, had finished up with some scans. After giving Rachel a reassuring smile, she headed towards Brady, and handed those readings, along with the lab results on the brownie, to him just as he nodded a gentle affirmation to Zoe. He started looking through them as Kelly answered.

"Umm...just places on Earth. I was taken to Utopia Planitia before we made the jump here," Kelly said, thinking. "I was shuffled around with a lot of other Cadets. Could I have caught something from one of them?"

"Perhaps." Zoe replied, "I'm reading traces of viral RNA in your cells which has integrated with your DNA but what I can't work out is how long it's been there." she replied with another glance in Brady's direction.

Kelly looked at the Doctor as she rattled off medical terminology. "What does that mean in Standard, Doctor Eckhardt?" She wanted to understand, but at the same time she wanted to crawl into a hole. Anger rose in her chest, but she suppressed it instead of ranting at the woman as she had basically done with the man. She sighed. "What is causing this...this...Atherosclerosis if whatever I have isn't actually that? Can it be cured?"

"Kelly," Brady said gently yet firmly, to grab her attention, "Atherosclerosis-like symptoms are treatable and I'm pretty optimistic that whatever this is can be cured. But we need to find out exactly what the cause is." He looked over at Zoe with certainty, and then back to her. "We need to do some research, so meanwhile I want you to do your part by trying your best to relax, and hold on to what I have told you."

Kelly took several deep breaths before she remembered her basic high school knowledge of some of the terminology. Looking up at Brady, she nodded. "Do I have a choice? I'm not trying to be difficult...I just don't understand why this is happening to me."

"Don't worry Kelly, we'll find out I promise." Zoe said softly and reached out to touch the young woman's arm reassuringly, "And in the meantime we can work to get the atherosclerosis under control with a series of treatments."

Kelly nodded but didn't flinch away from the older woman's touch on her arm. She took another deep breath. "What do the treatments entail?"

"A series of injections to reverse the process that is causing your blood vessels to clog up...think of it as something that will dissolve it away over time." Zoe smiled, figuring that Kelly would appreciate a more basic explanation after her previous comments.

"Does that mean I'll get to eat brownies again?" Kelly asked, trying to relieve the stress was feeling. She didn't want to go through the process, but if she had to, she would have brownies.

Brady looked between Kelly and Zoe, and smiled, "Yes it does." before sliding off the stool, lifting the padd he was holding, "I need to talk to our other guest here," he looked over at Rachel sitting patiently on the other biobed.

"We'll talk again in a little while, Kelly." he said turning back to her, "Meanwhile.." and tilted his head downward, his voice gentle and reassuring, "I would like you to do your best to get some rest, and remember you're in good hands."

A dozen snarky comments filled Kelly's mind, but she simply nodded. "I'll try."

"We'll be back later." Zoe rested a reassuring hand over Kelly's and gave it a squeeze, "And we'll find a solution for this illness of yours I promise."

Kelly nodded again, starting to feel like a bobblehead figure and as yet, she had no idea what was wrong with her. It didn't help that she kept getting reassured and that neither the doctor nor the man had even hinted at what the actual cause may be. Symptoms were one thing, but she wanted an actual diagnosis. Frustrated, she lay back down on the biobed and looked up at the ceiling.


End



Kelly Khan
Cadet Initiate
Magellan Campus

Rachel Gallagher
Cadet Initiate
Magellan Campus

Lieutenant Commander Zoe Eckhardt
Chief Medical Officer
Starbase Zulu

Lt Commander Brady Dering
Zulu Fleet Psychiatrist
Temp assign - Magellan campus