Breaking the news...

Posted on 20 Aug 2014 @ 3:45pm by Lieutenant Olsam Mott & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D.
Edited on on 21 Aug 2014 @ 10:04am

3,016 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3, Sickbay: CMO's Office
Timeline: MD07, 1500 hrs

[ ON ]

Olsam always felt very awkward sitting in Allyndra's chair. Of course they generally shared the office, so it wasn't like he was trespassing or anything. But it wasn't his office. Someone decided he didn't need one, which was preposterous, of course. Saving lives should guarantee someone an office. Dammit.

"So," Olsam began, wobbling unsteadily as he tried to lean the chair back for comfort. He couldn't find a balance that didn't make him feel like he was going to fall out of the chair, so he settled on sitting forward and folding his hands on the desk. "You're here to do your residency."

The long pause made it unclear if that was a question or a statement. He would have ordinarily walked into his meeting with more information about the resident and not immediately following a surgery with said resident, but he'd been in quarantine.

He'd just wing it.

"Yes," replied Tuula, breaking the awkward pause with her voice and slowly wheeling herself forward to the desk. "This would be my second year of residency; I did my first on Starbase 173."

"Uh, and your specialty or specialties will be...what?" Olsam asked, glancing down at the desk. He felt like there should be some PADDs there that he could shuffle around, something to make him look a little more like an attending physician and a little less like a bumbling Bolian. But it was completely empty. Even the computer console had been depressed into the desk, leaving a smooth blank surface. This was exactly why he needed his own office.

"Surgery," replied Tuula. "My bachelor's was in exobiology, so I've studied the anatomy of various alien species from across the known galaxy. Plus, there's just something about getting in there and getting your hands dirty that has always attracted me to surgery." Olsam's fumbling around, looking for something to do with his hands was contagious, and soon Tuula was twirling an errant dread around her fingers with one hand, her other gripping one of her wheels.

"I think the best thing to do is come up with a comprehensive plan for the coming year that will provide you with training in various shipboard disciplines - emergency medicine and the like - while leaving plenty of room for specialized training in surgery," Olsam said smoothly, finally finding his footing despite the lack of preparation.

He'd trained several residents during his time on the Tranquility. It had always been an enjoyable experience for him, though many seemed to be surprised when they found their jovial shipmate turning into a hard-nosed instructor.

"I should forewarn you that people find a big difference between regular old Olsam and Professor Mott," he began, unfolding his hands to lay them flat on the desk. His big blue face, usually plastered with a warm smile, suddenly seemed very serious, and there was a surprising amount of clarity in his eyes. It almost gave the disturbing impression that his cheery personality was something that could be switched on and off. "I'm fully aware that people find my joviality borders on stupidity and at times it may seem like I embrace informality at all occasions. But I want to assure you that as a supervising physician I take my responsibilities for the care and training of the Fleet's doctors very, very seriously. Our decisions are life and death decisions, and if we are ill-prepared then the entire ship suffers for it. Training will be brutal, but rewarding."

"Professor Mott," started Tuula, her eyes narrowing as she stared up into Olsam's suddenly serious face. Her right hand stopped twirling her dread and rested on her other wheel, gripping it tightly. "I'm ready for it. Being a doctor has been my dream since I was a child. I could have given up many times, and after my accident, I had to fight the academy to even be allowed to continue in med school. I'll do whatever it takes to complete my training."

With that out of the way, Tuula cleared her throat and let out a deep breath. Her voice returned to its usual tone. "I have notes on my training from Starbase 173 in my quarters if you wish to review them."

"Yes, of course," Olsam nodded, "and I'll speak with your supervising physicians there directly. They may have some insight into a helpful training regimen."

Their conversation was interrupted by one of the nurses sticking her head into their office in an effort to get their attention. "Doctors, your patient is coming to."

"Oh, good," Olsam said, suddenly cheery again as he stood up from the desk. He grabbed a PADD off a storage container near the door and motioned with it toward main sickbay. "Postoperative care is an excellent place to start. I'd bet you're a natural at it."

"Telling someone about a spinal injury?" Tuula waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "Please." With that, she turned and propelled herself towards the recovery ward.

Entering the ward, she went straight for Abbey. She hadn't quite recovered full consciousness, but her eyelids were twitching. Abbey Wyatt, thought Tuula. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but try as she might, she couldn't put her finger on why. She positioned herself next to the bed and reached for the monitor, adjusting its position so she could read Abbey's biosigns. Heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, all was normal. Tuula could see the patient's eyes start to flicker; she held her hand in a delicate grip, trying to comfort her in this difficult moment.

"Abbey?" she asked, to see if there was any response. The young woman turned her head towards Tuula. "Don't try to move. I'm Dr. Voutilainen. How are you feeling?"

Abbey doing the opposite of what the doctor had said, tried moving but she did not sit up and she did not move her head. Trying to tense her arms she found she could clench her fist and move her fingers and toes. A tear began to role down Abbeys cheek as the little pain she could feel and the little amount of movement woke her into the situation she was in. "Whats happened... to me" She said between exhausted breaths with a voice that did not sound like her own.

Olsam stood slightly to the side and back from Tuula, looking from her to Abbey and making observations on the PADD where appropriate. He noted with satisfaction that she checked the patient's biosigns and waited quietly while she began chatting with their groggy ward. He glanced down at the postoperative rubric he'd brought up from his personal files - pain control, checking the wound site, updating the patient's personnel file with specific commentary on the operation, discussing the prevention of complications with the patient, reviewing postoperative care with the nurse, so on and so forth. It was a long list with room for him to make notations not only on her technical competency but also her bedside manner and interaction with other Sickbay personnel.

For now, Olsam folded his arms and tucked the PADD securely between forearm and chest while rocking gently back and forth on his heels. He had the urge to hum but figured that would just interfere with Dr. Voutilainen, so he stuck with smiling and looking particularly pleased. It felt good to be training again. It gave him something to do. Kept him out of trouble. Provided him with paperwork and all manner of other things to keep him busy and out of others' hair. Teth and M'Ressa would probably be pleased that he'd picked up another project aside from tormenting them.

"There was an accident on the planet. You're safe now; you're in sickbay," Tuula's voice was calm and serene. "Just lie down and try to relax. You had some pretty bad injuries and you don't want to aggravate them." Seeing Abbey offer a slight nod of acknowledgement, Tuula continued. "How are you feeling? Would you like me to get you something for pain?"

"What accident? Is everyone ok? Where is my dad?" She asked in quick concession before calming herself down and thought about the questions "No, I think i'd like to sit here in pain" She said and surprising herself.

"There was an accident on the planet. I've been told an elevator cable snapped." Tuula cleared her throat; this was the hard part. "You were the only one seriously injured, but I've managed to repair most of your internal injuries." She paused, reasoning it might be better to break the bad news to her with her dad at her side. "Who is your father; I can get one of the nurses to summon him for you."

Abbey tried to think about what had happened on the lift but she couldn't really remember the whole situation and what form Tuula was describing she was somewhat happy for it. "I... I don't think I could see my dad in this state" She mumbled. "I'm thirsty" she said between her dry cracking lips.

"I'll get you some water," replied Tuula as she waved at a nurse to get her attention and made the drinking motion with her other hand. As the nurse nodded back, Tuula reached for a medical tricorder. "I'm just going to run a few scans," she said. "Standard procedure after an operation," she added, waving the tricorder over her abdomen. Detecting nothing out of order, she decided now was the time to break the news to Abbey. Tuula watched the patient take a sip of her water. "I have good news and bad news, Ms. Wyatt. The good news is that I've repaired your internal bleeding and most of your organ damage. "

Abbey nodded, taking in the information however she held her breath for the inevitable 'bad news' knowing that whenever anyone started a sentence with 'the good news' bad news was quick to follow. "And the bad?" She asked, surprising herself. If she could move she would have clasped her hand over her mouth.

"The bad news," started Tuula. This reminded her of when she was on the other side of this conversation. The only difference was that they left her lying on a hospital bed for hours before telling her why she couldn't feel her legs. They thought it would be easier for her, but it only made it more traumatic. She resolved from then on out to always be honest with her patients, no matter how bad the news is. "The bad news is that you suffered an injury to the vertebrae in your lower spine. I expect you to make a nearly full recovery, but it will take multiple surgeries and weeks, if not months, of rehabilitation and physiotherapy."

"Nearly full?" She asked trying to look around the room frantically "Am... Am I going to end up in a wheel chair" she said as another shed load of tears began to trickle down her cheek. She could feel where her hair had stuck to her face and as she tried to lick her dry lips she could taste the salt. Sniffling she slowly went still and quiet and thought of one person she could see right now. "Can you get Lieutenant Pendleton" She asked.

Tuula stifled a chuckle at the reference to a wheelchair as looked up at the nurse and, silently exchanging nods, confirmed that she knew what to do. "Of course, not," replied Tuula, smiling at her patient. "I anticipate you'll recover at least 90% of your motor function. Not that wheelchairs aren't fun," she added, rolling herself back and forth slightly emphasize the little joke.

Olsam lifted an eyebrow and furiously set about taking a few notes. It was an unorthodox but straight-forward way of delivering the news - not the route he would have taken - but he appreciated doctors who could effectively relay information to their patients. The more information the patient received, the more likely they were to have good outcomes for recovery and in making health decisions later down the road.

Abbey broke a smile as she coughed a laugh "I didn't mean any disrespect" She admitted slowly calming, "How long will it be till I can at least sit up and do things?" she asked curiously.

"I'll schedule your first surgery within the next couple of days," replied Tuula. "Until then, if you want to sit up, use this." Tuula handed Abbey a remote to adjust the position of the bed. "I don't want to risk you aggravating your injury."

Abbey took the remote and instantly pressed the button to elevate the bed so she could see the legs and body "I want to see it" She said looking down to her stomach "I want to see how bad it is with my own eyes."

"All right," replied Tuula, "Just lie back against the bed; don't try to lean forward. I've closed all your wounds, but we've yet to do the dermal regeneration, so try to look past the scars," she added in a lighthearted voice.

Abbey gave a shy nod "Its better this way" Said taking in a breath of air as she laid back ready for the doctor to reveal her wounds. "I'm ready" She said simply.

"Okay," replied Tuula, lifting the patient's robes. "As you can see there is still some bruising where the cable hit your abdomen, and the skin around the scar from the incision still needs to be regenerated. You're lucky you were wearing a nanofiber armoured EV suit."

Abbey gasped as she saw the bruising and scaring, holding back a scream and reminded herself that it was indeed her body she was looking at "I wouldn't have even known if I hadn't been wearing the suit... Maybe it would have been better that way" She said looking away with a sigh.

"No," said Tuula as she placed the robe back over Abbey. Her voice had suddenly turned stern. "Don't talk like that." She let out a sigh. "Abbey, I've heard it all from my patients, and I've said most of it myself. You've got a full life ahead of you, even if you don't make a full recovery. Now, I won't have any more of that kind of talk in my sickbay, understood, solider?" Tuula delivered the last line in a joking impersonation of a drill sergeant, trying to get the message across while at the same time trying to elicit a giggle to improve her patient's attitude.

Abbey didn't respond with a giggle but instead just sighed as she pushed the remote to lower herself back down. She wasn't sure if Tuula knew who her father was but she sounded just like him in that instant and she was no soldier. Closing her eyes she held back further tears as she tensed her fists. "You should have just let me go" She mumbled into the pillow as she looked away from the doctor."

Olsam looked plainly sympathetic but remained silent, making the occasional note on the PADD and trying to avoid Abbey's eyes.

"No, I shouldn't have," Tuula replied, wheeling herself over to the other side of the bed to come face to face with Abbey again. "Believe me, I know better than anyone on this ship what you're going through. I know it's hard for you right now, but I need you to promise me that you won't give up hope, okay?"

"I'm sorry Doc but you may have had found the courage to get through it but I left my hope down in the mine which is where I should still be, you don't need me anyway I'm not even really in Starfleet" She argued and faked a yawn "I'm tired; I should probably get some sleep" she lied.

Tuula sighed. Abbey would have a long road ahead for her emotional healing. "I know that's not true, and I think deep down you know that as well." She glanced over at Abbey's biofunction monitors, checking them one more time. "But if you would like to take a nap, I'll leave you alone. If you need anything, just press the red button on your remote to ring the nurses."

Abbey let out a disgruntled 'thanks' she hated the idea of her being bedded down and more so that she looked like some kind of experiment gone wrong. No matter what Tuula said Abbey knew what she wanted.

Olsam turned and moved out of earshot, speaking quietly to one of the nurses while gesturing to the patient. There were few things that needed to be tended to in the near-term, but relaying them to the nursing staff now would save Tuula some time and give her a chance to speak privately to her patient without Olsam hovering over her shoulder.

Catering to the patient's wishes, Tuula turned to leave. She'd continue monitoring her, of course, from the video feed in her office. Just in case. As she was about to make her way through the door, she had an epiphany. "Wyatt," she muttered, before turning back to the patient. "Is Luke Wyatt your father?"

Hearing her fathers voice she turned her head "You know him then" She said sharply through gritted teeth "Yes he's my father and I'd like him not to know I am in here or that I'm a freak" She said turning back over.

Tuula cringed at the word "freak." That word... she hated that word, quite possibly more than she hated lutefisk and Zuwtt combined. "I met him in the mess hall this morning. He's... really great," replied Tuula, conscious to avoid mentioning any details, which would have been the last thing that her patient needed to hear about right now.

"Oh, and one more thing," she added before turning again to leave. "You're not a freak. Because if you're a freak, then that makes me an absolute freak."

[ OFF ]

Lieutenant Olsam Mott, M.D.
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

&

Crewman Apprentice Abbey Wyatt
Scientists Mate
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Wyatt]

&

Lieutenant (J.G.) Tuula Voutilainen
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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