Medical Wake up

Posted on Mon Jul 20th, 2020 @ 9:49pm by Ensign Alexandra 'Lexi' O'Connery & Lieutenant Avira zh'Kenarh M.D.

Mission: Mission 3 - 100
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 37 09:00
1484 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure

It was less a waking up than a slow clearing of her head. There was a bandage over everything she could not think clearly enough to analyze, but the words pop up from somewhere jogging her memory from the previous night: drugs, sickbay, Vrav boarding, hurt.

Lexi turned her head, pretending the blur of her vision was from movement and fatigue, not the pain that pulsed through her from her shoulder. It was not a sharp, aggressive attack that she could fight, but rather slow and heavy and passive, inexorable. It hurt and the lights were a lot higher than before. Where was Mattias? He had been there the night before?

"Good morning Ensign O'Connery," Avira had set a silent alarm on the bed for when the patient would regain consciousness. It was always a bit of a shock to wake up in an unfamiliar environment, "You're in sickbay, don't strain yourself. Just lay back and take a deep breath," She reached to the side of the bed and got a glass of water for the patient, "No need to talk just yet. Just nod your head if you can hear and understand me."

Lexi nodded and licked her lips trying to focus and talk a bit. "I remember. I woke up last night." The woman breathed blinking to see a little better. She wiggled a little bit to get comfortable before she looked at the doctor. "The nurse did not tell me anything before I fell back asleep." She admitted wondering how badly she was hurt.

"Easy does it, you might still be drowsy," The loss of blood had been quite severe and the medication to keep the pain within acceptable levels was also nothing to shake a stick at, "You were hit when the Vrav boarded the ship last night," Avira pointed at the wound on her shoulder, "we were able to get you to the sickbay in time," she grabbed the PADD next to the bed and looked over the check ins the staff had been doing overnight, "it seems like you stabilised quite nicely, there doesn't seem to be any indicators of extensive internal damage."

Lexi nodded and settled down a little more and looked at the woman. "Thank you." She said trying to see the wound but it was impossible to see it like that. She winced at the numb pain that she was feeling. "I am definitely drowsy." She agreed with a yawn and an attempt to rub her eyes free of that feeling. It was impossible but it was keeping her from the worst pain she suspected.

"That's not surprising," Avira smiled a bit and looked at some other read-outs on the PADD, "we've been giving you a steady supply of pain killers for the past two days. There was some rather extensive muscle damage that we've had to repair, and it's getting there but now your own body will have to do the rest." She put the device aside and looked a bit closer at the affected arm, "I'll assign you some physical therapy exercises to make sure it heals properly and you get the full range of your motion back."

"Hopefully my body is up to the task." Lexi mused. That was a relief to the young woman. She did not want to lose any motion in her arm, yes her job was not hard work but she wanted to be able to provide the support she needed in an emergency. It also did her no good to not be fully herself, she did not want to feel like Aurelius did at points unable to fulfil what he wanted. "Thank you, doctor. How long do I need to stay here?" She wondered knowing that she would have trouble finding her feet if the woman said soon.

"A day or two, depending on how well you're recovering," Avira responded, "Don't worry, we'll take good care of you while you're here." She didn't know if it was appropriate now to give the woman a pat on the shoulder, her good shoulder, of course. Her hand hovered for a moment of hesitation before she awkwardly tucked a strand of hair behind her antenna. Human customs were still rather foreign to her, better not practice on a drowzy patient, "If there is anything I, or any of the staff, can get for you, don't hesitate to let us know, alright?"

Lexi offered a sleepy smile to the woman seeing her hesitation and awkwardness. She reminded her of herself when she was first trying to talk to Andorian's and Vulcan's in real life. It had been awkward like a new born foal learning to walk, she blushed a little at her own memories. "Thank you. I will try and recover quickly to free up the bed." She looked around the silent sickbay and frowned. Had she slept through most people leaving. "How many people were hurt and... well what happened?" She wondered trying to think if Mattias had done her what had happened but he had not.

Avira swallowed an awkward lump in her throat, "most of the injuries were minor, there were some that didn't make it into sickbay." She shook her head, glad to have played a part in getting Lexi in there and patched back up. It could've ended a lot differently knowing where the woman had been hit, "kinetic weapons are so crude. Indiscriminate." The damage done by bullets and their fragments, especially their fragments, was so crude that some of the tools they had on the ship had trouble dealing with it. Even the most accomplished trauma surgeon would have trouble making sure all the holes they created were plugged, and no new leaks sprung elsewhere, "you should just worry about your recovery, you're not in the way, you're not a burden."

"Why earth banned them after everything that had happened." Phasers were not much better but at least they did have stun setting rather than straight-up kill. "I worry about everyone," Lexi said and attempted to shrug before realizing just how bad an idea that would be when pain scored through her and gave her a big reminder of what had happened. "Ohhh won't be doing that again." The woman admitted wincing.

"There's quite a few stitches in your wound, keeping it together. Normally we'd use more advanced technology to close you back up, but by the time we came to your outer layers you were stabilised and we could afford to take a slightly slower and less efficient approach. Unfortunately, it might result in visible scarring." Avira wasn't a fan of old fashion stitching but it had its place and it was less resource-heavy than some of the other available methods. Plus they could basically train everyone to do it, "a reminder not to step in front of speeding ballistic projectiles." She gave a smirk at that awkwardly placed joke.

"I am sure that I can live with a battle wound. I might get in with the Marines with it." Lexi was pretty sure that she could live with scars seeing she was alive. It was such a small price to pay for being alive and able to carry on with her life. Nothing mattered as long as you had a future. Lexi snorted at the ill place joke, it was amusing and she loved it. "I shall try my best next time to avoid it and any other ballistic projectiles." She assured.

"That's all I ask," Avira was relieved Lexi took it well, and gave a somewhat awkward smile as a result of it. Seong had always insisted she loosened up around patients, show a bit more bedside manner as they called it in Starfleet Medical. It was difficult for her, the more she viewed her patients as people, the more it would affect her if something went wrong. That hadn't really been beneficial in her history as a trauma surgeon, "let me or the staff know if you need anything, alright?"

The Communication officer nodded and snuggled back down to catch some more rest before Mattias or someone else came to check on her after shift finished. “I will Ma’am. Thank you.” Lexi normally would have gone into a lament over how the woman had saved her life but it would be just awkward and not what either of them probably needed or wanted. It would just remain a silent connection between them that one day Lexi hoped that she would have the opportunity to repay in kind.

Avira made a note in Lexi's medical record, updating her status with the new developments to her health. She quietly walked away towards her office area to allow the patient some privacy and quiet. Hopefully, there wouldn't be any more complications. A couple of quiet days would really help everyone around the ship, especially the people in the medical department.