Aegis Medical - Conversation in Sickbay

[Isabeau Delevan 0]

Nick frowned as he watched Jorahl and Rachel troop out of sickbay. He was a little confused. They had been beamed directly into sickbay, it was an emergency beam- out and yet neither of them had more than just a few scratches. Well, I suppose it's a good thing they're not hurt, he thought. Still, it was a strange.

 

She watched them leave Medical and turned to look at Nick. "They are going to be going out into the field again-I think it might be a good idea to see why they were beamed here and not the shuttle." She shrugged and added with a mutter, "Maybe the comm system needs tweaking." Having ascertained that Rachel was ok, Isabeau had returned to her workstation to complete her entry to Drankum's medical file. The Ambassador had slipped away before being officially released while Rachel and Jorahl were undergoing their post AT exams. Their conversation regarding current and past treatment of his leg injury had been interrupted and she felt it required a follow up to his exam.

 

Nick shrugged as he walked to another workstation to add a quick note in Rachel and Jorahl's files. "Well, I got some kind of explanation but from what Mr. Porter said I was expecting them to be half dead. I guess I should just be glad they were ok. How did things with Drankum go? He was unusually nice to me today."

 

"Maybe Porter thought there was more of an emergency than there was. Definitely better to err on the side of caution but if there's a problem with communications when out in the asteroid field it should be addressed." Isabeau turned in her seat to face Nick, watching as he tapped the screen in front of him. "I thought the Ambassador was charming. Is he usually rude to you? I've heard a lot of stories, but based on my experience with him today, I think they may have been grossly exaggerated."

 

For a second Nick thought Isabeau was joking. He looked at her and grinned. Her expression, however, indicated she was completely serious. As he realized that, Nick couldn't help but laugh. When he had calmed down a little, he looked back at her. "Drankum is the rudest and least diplomatic diplomat I've ever seen. Granted, I haven't met him often but today was the first time he was actually nice to me." He paused and shrugged. "Maybe it's me."

 

"Maybe it is you, Nicolas," she replied teasingly, "Or maybe it's just that the Ambassador no longer only represents the interests of Ferenginar and has to look at things from a different perspective." She glanced back at the still open file and frowned. "Whatever the reason for his pleasant demeanor today, I didn't like the results of the bone density scan or the microRNA scan of his muscle tissue."

 

"Let me take a look." Nick stepped over and glanced at the various parameters. "No wonder his leg is hurting. Did you give him something for the pain?"

 

She shook her head, answering, "No, I never got a chance to talk to him about palliative measures--Rachel and Jorahl were beamed in just as I was talking about the option of limb replacement." Looking up at Nick, she continued, "I never really got the chance to talk to him about beginning a course of meds or finding out how his other doctors have been treating it."

 

Nick nodded as he perused the file. "I have a feeling Drankum won't even think about limb replacement. We should definitely talk to him about doing something to ease his pain, though. I'd like you to talk to DJ about it. After all, she's his doctor. Maybe you two can work out a treatment that he can agree to."

 

"You're right about that, Nicolas. He's not interested in a prosthetic." Isabeau recalled her conversation with the Ambassador regarding replacement. He knew the leg was damaged beyond repair and had decided to live with the consequences to his mobility and the not insignificant amount of pain. That had become very clear to her as he'd made a joke about the 'profitability' of the damaged limb and the look in his eyes when he'd said '...and it's mine.' "I'm sending DJ notice to check his file and look at the scans and my notes. I'm going to leave the follow up entirely to her, as well as any meds that she prescribes and can get the Ambassador to agree to take. If his leg continues on the current progression, and there's no reason to assume it won't, DJ may, at some point, want to do a consult with me regarding a prosthetic bio-integration."

 

"I have a feeling he will not be very cooperative." Nick shrugged. "I might be wrong, who knows. Talking about being uncooperative, care to explain the note you left me about Lilly?"

 

"He decided a long time ago to live with the results of the Spore attack. The mind has a lot to do with treatment--if his mind is made up that he can never be free of what happened to his leg then you're right-he won't be cooperative." She closed Drankum's med file and sent the note to DJ before glancing back to Nick, responding quietly, "I didn't say Lilly was uncooperative."

 

"No, I said it. I tried to talk to her earlier but she was...let's say evasive. So, what happened?" Nick was a little concerned about Lillian. Somehow she took the temporary loss of her telepathy harder than all the others. Or was there something else?

 

"Just after Mimi left to join the away team, I found Lilly asleep in one of the storage rooms and it was clear that she'd cried herself to sleep. I woke her up and gave her a quick exam. She had a severe headache and I treated it and noted in her file that her psilosynine levels are starting to return." Isabeau stood from her workstation and turned to face Nick, the concern apparent in her expression and voice. "I told her the next two weeks would be difficult for her because her telepathic senses would begin behaving erratically as the psilosynine levels normalized and that she might want to think about using a chemical block to minimize the effects. She's decided against that for now."

 

"Hmm...I can understand, it's a difficult situation. I'm not sure what to do. I can't let her return to regular duty like that. Maybe I'll ask DJ to let her work in the VIP facilities. They have fewer patients over there. What do you think?"

 

"I don't think she should be treating any patients until she feels better physically and mentally, but I also think you're right that being at work would be beneficial to her. I guess a kind of restricted duty might be the best way to go. Between you and DJ, you should be able to find enough for her to do where she doesn't overtax herself."

 

Nick leaned against the desk, crossed his arms in front of his chest and sighed. "I just hope she will realize that it's necessary. Did she say anything? I mean something that would give you a clue as to why she's having such a hard time?"

 

Isabeau thought for a moment and then shook her head, responding slowly, "No, I don't think she said anything other than her head hurt. She was very hard hit by this virus, Nicolas and she hasn't been quick to verbalize what she's been going through."

 

"That's what worries me, Isabeau. She knew she had medical problems but didn't get any help. I can understand she didn't want to tell me but she didn't talk to anyone else either as far as I know. And now she's having such a hard time dealing with it. I wonder if there's not something else, you know?"

 

"Well, you can't force her to talk about it," she answered matter-of-factly. "Lilly has reacted very emotionally compared to the other Betazoid patients but we've only had twenty-three so it's not as if there's a huge statistical pool we can draw on for information."

 

"Yes, I realize that. If it didn't affect her duty I would leave it completely up to her to talk about it or not. Like this, I might have no choice but to tell her that she'll either see a counselor or consider a leave of absence. I'd hate to have it come to that. But we need to find a solution."

 

"We've never seen this virus before. Her psilosynine levels will be back to normal within the next two weeks. If you were asking me what I would do, I would say that she should be restricted from treating patients and assigned those tasks that won't put too much strain on her mentally or physically. Then, if she doesn't seem like her normal self once her telepathy is restored, I would have to say that a leave of absence might be considered." Isabeau gave him a faint smile. "It's her career, Nicolas. I'd ask her to see a counselor as an option for dealing with the emotional toll the temporary loss of her telepathic senses has taken but I would make it part of current treatment and not part of an ultimatum."

 

"It's a difficult situation," Nick said shaking his head. "I don't like this at all. I want to help her but what if she doesn't want it? What will I write in her next evaluation?"

 

"That's entirely up to you, mon ami, but as her Chief you will be evaluating her performance as a whole. Lilly's current behavior appears to stem from being ill. Perhaps another conversation where you aren't interrupted by the station CO and emergency transporting might be in order. You can tell her your concerns and maybe, she will tell you hers." Isabeau held his gaze and smiled. "At any rate, I hope she will."

 

Nick nodded. "Yeah, I was planning to talk to her again. And now I have to get back to my paperwork." With that he pushed himself off the desk and smiled. "Lots of fun."

 

"You make it look easy, Nicolas," she answered him with a grin. She watched him walk to his office before she retook her seat at the workstation. She hoped his upcoming conversation with Lilly would put his mind to rest. She hoped it would help Lilly, too.