Dedicated Medical Assistance

Posted on Tue Jun 23rd, 2020 @ 5:05am by Lieutenant John Sandoval & Lieutenant Alexandra Alves MD & Chief Petty Officer Renora Jassim
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:30pm

Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: Sickbay

ON:

Lieutenant John Sandoval was relying on his cane a bit more than he normally did this morning. The previous day had been busy, and he spent all day on the Tellarite Freighter and on Paradise Station, much of that time on his feet. As a result, this morning his leg felt worse than it normally did.

He decided a trip to sickbay was in order.

He notified his staff he would be a bit late and identified a time when he knew the Chief Medical Officer was on duty, but specifically when the Assitant Chief was not. He loved seeing Aeryn, but he needed someone else this trip.

The sickbay doors parted and he slowly walked in. “Doctor Alves?” he called, looking around for the CMO.

Renora was checking some medical files, basically taking care of sickbay, while the 'top brass' was away. It was a pretty a boring job, but she never complained. She was rather whistling the tune of an ancient Bajoran song in herself, while going through all those files. Then, she heard someone walking in and asking for the CMO.

"Hello. Can I help you?", the nurse turned cordially to the man.

John saw the pretty Bajoran woman working at a console and smiled to her. "Good morning," he said, slowly stepping towards her, wincing in pain with every other step. He offered his hand for a handshake to the nurse. "I'm Lieutenant John Sandoval, Chief Diplomatic Officer. I don't have an appointment, but I was hoping to talk to Dr. Alves this morning, if she had a moment."

Renora looked at the man as she shook his hand, and noticed that he's in pain. But before she could grab a tricorder to examine him, he asked specifically for Doctor Alves. So, I'm not qualified enough? You require the CMO's assistance because a simple nurse can't attend you properly? That's rude. Or maybe there was something else going on? There were some rumors circulating about Sandoval, so who knows?

"Of course, I see if the doctor's available.", she simply said, and walked into Doctor Alves' office.

A few seconds later, Alexandra's voice could be heard from inside: "Ah, of course, I'll be there in a minute."

When he next saw Nurse Renora, John saw a slight bit of annoyance in her face. The consequence of learning to read people in negotiations was that you were essentially forced to notice when their attitudes changed. "If I said something to offend, I didn't mean to," John said. "This isn't just about my pain. I need to talk to her about something a bit more private." He shifted his stance and smiled. "When treatment begins, I'm sure I'll be needing your help, too."

"No worries.", the nurse shrugged, "I have plenty of work, anyways." She knew it was maybe not intentional from Mr. Sandoval's part to hurt her feelings. Anyways, she thought it'll be the best to leave this situation for now.

In the same moment, Alexandra appeared, walking towards the Lieutenant with a PADD in her hand. She's been working on the supplies list for hours now, happy to see a new face, someone to finally interrupt this awfully boring task. "Lieutenant.", she greeted him with a smile, "Glad to see you again." She then noticed the man's limp and apparent pain, and raised a worried eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

"Glad to see you, too," John said, smiling back. "I'm afraid this morning my leg is bothering me more than normal. And I actually wanted to talk with you about it. I've been offered further treatment, but there's a complication that I want to discuss with you privately."

The doctor looked at her guest curiously, then indicated her office. "Alright. We won't be bothered by anyone.", she said, "And honestly, I'm eternally grateful. You've just rescued me from an awfully long and boring desk work."

John let out a laugh. “I’m glad we could help each other out then!” he said, following her into her office.

He sat down and began explaining. “So I’ll start from the beginning. I took a severe injury to my left leg during the Dominion War. Lost a portion of my femur and surrounding muscles. I was given artificial material to restore functionality, but it causes pain. Most painkillers carry too much of a risk of addiction or dulls my senses, so all I have is an emergency hypo of Tri-Phen just in case. I don’t want surgery; it would leave me incapacitated for too long.”

"I see.", Alexandra nodded, as she listened through the story. The Lieutenant basically mentioned all the usual kinds of treatment she'd have advised him.

“So when Aeryn, or Dr. Jameson I should say, saw my leg when we first met, she told me she’d talk with one of the other doctors about improving my condition through things like massage therapy. We even tried it two nights ago and it worked pretty well!”

"I'm glad to hear it did.", Alexandra nodded with a smile. Then, coming to the obvious conclusion, seeing John's obviously not so splendid condition, she asked, "So... what happened, then?"

“Well...” John explained, “I’m relying on doctor-patient confidentiality here, but Aeryn and I have become...intimate.” He shifted in his seat. “Not in the context of our doctor-patient relationship, to be clear. It came later. But two nights ago she offered to show me some massage technique. And, well...” He hoped the doctor would make her own conclusions.

"Of course.", she nodded, assuring the Lieutenant that whatever they discuss, won't leave the confines of this office, "I understand.", she said with a smile, her look telling him that he won't have to finish the sentence. So, for some reason, the romantic connection between her assistant and Mr. Sandoval was not public. But it was not her business to interfere with other people's private lives. She was here to treat any patients who came to her.

"Alright.", she stood up and grabbed a tricorder, and indicated a seat, "Please, sit down, and pull up your trouser sleeves."

“The injury is a bit higher up, Doctor,” John said with a bit of a sheepish smile. He knew her could trust her professionalism though. He stood and unbuckled his pants and took them off completely. A significant portion of skin on his thigh, from the knee to about three quarters up the thigh, was a metallic grey colour. It was as soft and flexible as skin, and in theory more resilient, but at the time of its installation natural-looking artificial skin was in short supply. Underneath lay a large amount of artificial muscle. Much of his femur was man-made as well, especially around the knee joint, which was known to grind.

"Don't worry. I'm not thirteen. Besides, I'm a doctor, remember?", Alex said with a friendly grin, as the Lieutenant took off his pants, and seemed a bit shy about it. "Your surgeons did a good job. Especially, given the circumstances.", she said, as her eyes gazed through the man's leg, which was obviously surged together using whatever kind of artificial skin was available and during a war situation, not at some high-tech Starfleet hospital ward. The artificial skin had a strange colour, which made it kinda stand out, but neverthless, it was adequately meldt with the man's natural skin. "Let's we what can do here.", she added with a smile, as she run through the leg with her tricorder. "I can also recall your previous examination records from the computer."

“Thanks, Doctor,” John said, a bit relieved. He sat back down and let her examine and scan him. No longer nervous, he relaxed and let the medical professional work.

Alexandra read the tricorder's data, then, she leaned forward and extended her hand to gently touch the man's leg. "If I may.", she asked on a kind tone, "Tricorders can tell us many things, but sometimes the best diagnostic tools can be the most ancient ones."

“Of course,” John said. “I’ve been poked and prodded by doctors for years. I’m used to it by now.” He smiled widely.

"I hope you're not tired of all the poking.", the doctor joked, as she slowly swept through the man's leg with her hand. She then thought for a moment, and spoke up, "Well, I'd recommend surgery above all.", she said, "I guess, your other doctors said the same. But you're against the idea."

“I don’t want to be off my feet for too long,” he replied. “Every time a surgeon suggested surgery, they said I would need months of physiotherapy. I’d be in much less pain or even no pain, but I’d be spending half a year back on Earth.”

"Is that so bad?", she asked with an honest curiosity, "I haven't been back on Earth for years now. I don't even remember how it looks like."

“Oh, that part isn’t bad,” John said. “I’d actually like to spend more time with Katherine. What I don’t want is to be out of service. Out of action. I want to be on duty, on starships.”

"Ah, I know that feel. Probably the reason why I haven't been home for who knows how long.", Alex understandingly nodded, then, out of sheer curiousity, asked, "Katherine?"

John smiled. “My wife. I feel like I should explain. She lives on Earth, but I’m out here. We decided to allow each other some...liberties when we’re apart. I love her and miss her terribly, and would love to spend more time with her. But to be hospital bound while doing so isn’t in my interest.”

"Ah, alright.", she nodded. It sounded... well, interesting. But it was not her business to dig into other people's private lives. "You're lucky, I guess.", she said, "Me and my husband, well, former husband, we've separated many years ago. Our jobs took us elsewhere, and we weren't really into long distance stuff.", she sighed, then, return the subject to the medical matter at hand, "So, as you said, you've also dismissed painkillers and sedatives. How often do you use Tri-phen?"

“Long distance doesn’t work for everyone,” John said. “As for Tri-Phen, only when I absolutely need it. Last time was a week or so ago. I was running escape drills with my security attaché and I strained it.” He declined to tell her that it was because Emmanuelle hit his leg twice that day. He still feared getting her in trouble over that. “If there are painkillers that won’t dull my mind or risk getting me hooked, I’d try them.”

Alex nodded as she listened through these information, "If you don't experience any side effects, you won't need to give up Tri-Phen, given that you don't use it frequently.", she spoke up, "And of course, you won't need to give up on massages either.", she smiled, "But you and Aeryn should be more careful with it." She stopped for a moment, thinking about possible solutions. "I believe, there are some new experimental painkiller drugs which might provide a solution.", she said, "But I need to check up on them."

“I honestly don’t know if I should continue with massages with Aeryn,” said John. “At least not only with her. I want to continue that avenue of therapy, but understanding where the affected area is...” He paused a moment. “I’m thinking it might be best to separate business from pleasure.”

"It's up to you.", she smiled gently, "As for the current situation.", she said, "It seems, you have a minor spasm, as a result of... well, combining business and pleasure.", she explained with a grin, "Let me see what I can do to ease your discomfort."

“Thanks, Doctor,” John said, chuckling a bit at her returning his joke. He grabbed his pants from the floor and started dressing again.

The doctor looked around in search for the right medical tool to ease the Lieutenant's spasm. "By the way, I don't think we've ever had to chance to meet outside work."

“You’re right!” John said. “Well let’s fix that. Maybe a drink tonight? After your little one is in bed?”

"That can be.", she smiled, "I'm usually free every night. Except for reading through medical reports and stuff. But a drink is obviously a better program than that."

“So tonight, Luna Eclipse,” said John, “would 2100 be a good time? I’ll be honest, I don’t know when kids go to sleep.” He smiled.

"It depends.", Alex smiled, "Veronica loves to beg me to stay up past bedtime.", she explained with a grin, "But tonight, I'll be strict and cold-hearted. 2100 is fine."

John laughed. “Well don’t tell her that it’s because you’re going to see me! I don’t want her first impression of me to be the guy that made her go to bed on time so he could socialize with mom!”

"I promise.", the doctor replied, as she picked up a small medical tool and hovered over the Lieutenant's leg with it, making his muscles ease up. "I must admit, I'm not much of a night-owl myself."

John sighed as he felt his muscles relax and the pain dissipate. “Thank you, Doctor.” When she was finished, he stood, grabbing his cane for stability. Before leaving, he wanted to ask one more thing. “Do you mind explaining to Nurse Renora that I really did need your specific help? I didn’t mean to slight her earlier. I know she can normally help me. But if I say anything then I’m just being defensive.”

"Oh, the nurse.", Alex shook her head, "I'm sure you didn't want to offend her. I'll tell her that.", she assured the man. "If you need any more medical assistance with your leg, just let me know."

“Will do,” John said as he began to leave her office. “See you tonight, Dr. Alves!”

"See you.", the doctor smiled, as the man left.

OFF.