Stepping into Bigger Shoes (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 16 Aug 2016 @ 7:11pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D.
Edited on on 16 Aug 2016 @ 7:12pm

1,576 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 12 - Recluse
Location: USS Galileo - Holodeck 2
Timeline: MD -05 Time 1125

[CONTINUED]

"Right here, doctor," replied the nurse, handing it towards Tuula, who quickly took it out of her hands and activated it.

Taking a deep breath, Tuula began her work on Jaana. "Don't move and you'll be just fine," she said, focusing intently on the vascular regenerator. "This is just like when we were kids and I would operate on your stuffed animals. I--"

[Patient has severe damage to the lung tissue........EMERGENCY!] The computer voice changed. [Patient's lung is collapsing].

"Shit!" exclaimed Tuula. She could have easily handled the aortic rupture by herself, but now that she had another issue to contend with, saving 'Jaana' would be a serious challenge. It was no wonder that medical residents feared this test; even without the emotional reaction of her twin sister on the table, the chances of saving the patient were quickly diminishing. "Get her a tri-ox compound, and an oxygen tube, now," she shouted. "And something to slow down the internal bleeding," Tuula thought for a second, "5 cc's of tricapaline!"

"Right on it," shot back the nurse, who darted towards the medical replicator.

With her lungs slowly filling up with blood, 'Jaana' looked up at Tuula, pleading at her with her eyes. "Please..." she whispered, her voice weak and raspy. "Tuula..."

"I'm not going to let you die on me!" exclaimed Tuula as she continued with the vascular regenerator. So long as the tri-ox compound was doing its thing, she knew she had a bit of time to deal with the internal bleeding. Blinking away tears, she managed a faint chuckle as she worked. "We'll be back at the sauna in no-"

[EMERGENCY! Patient is going into hypovolemic shock!]

"10 cc's of Karazine, stat!" exclaimed Tuula. Glancing over the readings on the biobed, she could see that her sister's internal hemorrhaging was getting worse due to her multitude of internal injuries. She was quickly losing consciousness. As the nurse injected 'Jaana' with Karazine, Tuula bit her lip then took a deep breath, knowing she was quickly running out of options. A whole team of the best doctors in Starfleet would struggle to save a patient as badly injured as Jaana. But Tuula was just one person.

"Laser scalpel," she called out. "I'm going to need to open her up."

"But--"

"NOW!" exclaimed Tuula, holding her hand out. "I'm sorry, Jaana, this is going to hurt," she said as she activated the scalpel. There was no time for proper anasthetic; she just had to start cutting and hope for the best. "Computer, activate restraining field."

As Tuula pressed the laser scalpel against Jaana's chest, cutting through skin and bone to get to the organs underneath, the hologram let out one last scream before passing out due to the pain.

Allyndra made a mental note. A burst anneurysim in the descending aorta was nigh impossible to repair in time. In most patients there were so many organs in the way and the heart pumped out the blood quickly. The best course of action would be to introduce large bore access to the area to drain and introduce large amounts of prepared blood replacement. She did note that Tuula did not use anesthesia which was correct, anesthesia was not indicated when dealing with hypovolemic shock. If the patient survived long enough a graft could be inserted. Ruptured abdominal annueryism was fatal in 95% of the patients.

After several minutes of desperate work, and shouting at her nurses, a bloody-handed Tuula was finally making some progress. It was still touch and go, but as she glanced over at the patient's readings, she couldn't help but smirk slightly. Here she was, in the holodeck, doing what she had trained for so many years to do. Now, she was facing her final test, and it was starting to look like she was going to pass on her first try. Not that she had any doubts in her abilities, of course, but--

[EMERGENCY!] blared the computer voice once again.

"What now!" exclaimed Tuula, her eyes darting towards the biobed readings.

[Intraparenchymal hemorrhage in the left hemisphere]

"That doesn't make sense," protested Tuula, surprised that all of the sudden her patient now had a brain injury for her to deal with. And not just any brain injury; one that needed to be dealt with right away. "Micro-regenerator, stat!"

[EMERGENCY! Blood oxygen level dropping!]

Gritting her teeth, Tuula continued with her desperate attempt to save her sister.

[EMERGENCY! Cerebral activity dropping!]

"Get a nerual--"

[EMERGENCY! Patient is going into cardiac arrest!]

"Damn it," shouted Tuula, juggling about three different medical tools. "30 cc's of Quadroline, now!"

As the doctor injected Jaana with the powerful drugs, her head snapped forward and her eyes opened wide, but only long enough for her to cough twice before losing consciousness again, her eyes rolling back in her head.

Hearing the beeping of the medical monitors one by one turn into a dull chime, Tuula tried one last desperate option. "Another 40 cc's!" she shouted.

"That'll kill her!"

"Do it!" exclaimed Tuula. "Jaana--"

As she looked up at the medical monitors, Tuula froze. All the readings were flat. There was no pulse, no breathing, no electrical activity in the brain. "It's too late," she said, her voice quivering and shaking. "Mark time of death as stardate (INSERT STARDATE HERE), 11:33 am."

Feeling like a failure, Tuula turned to face Lirha and Allyndra and pushed herself in their direction. She looked up at them for a moment, tears appearing in her eyes. But seeing the look on Allyndra's face was just too painful for her right now, and instead of approaching them, she pushed past them towards the door of the holodeck.

"Stop, the test is not over." Allyndra's voice was that neutral but not to be broached or questioned. "Computer reset the simulation," she said.

[Patient has an aneurysm located on the descending aorta in the abdominal area........EMERGENCY!] The computer voice changed. [Aneurysm has burst].

Lirha had watched and observed the first trial. It had been a bloody and intense endeavor for the young medical officer, no doubt. No one could really know how they would react to seeing their loved ones on the cusp of death -- until it actually happened. That the test was holographic meant little to the Orion. Tuula's reactions and intensity had been on par with any real-life situation Lirha'd observed, and the lieutenant's reaction following her failure led Lirha to believe that the consequences were hitting home.

The rear admiral watched Tuula's attempt to leave the holodeck and began to speak. "You heard the commander. Return to your post," she ordered, pointing back towards the biobed.

Clenching her teeth, Tuula spun around and stared intently at the biobed for a split second. The first attempt was torture, and now Allyndra and Lirha were making her watch her sister suffer again. She was angry. But, gripping her wheels tightly, she pushed hard and sent herself rolling towards the biobed.

"Give me a laser scalpel, now!" she shouted, knowing that she would have to be aggressive if she even stood a chance.

Allyndra watched the scenario restart. She noted mentally that Tuula was going about the scenario in a different manner. That was good, she thought about what had happened before and was going to approach this differently.

This time, Tuula went to work quickly, immediately restraining Jaana and opening her up to deal with the aortic rupture as quickly as possible. It was a bloody scene, but for a

[Blood pressure low but stabilizing.] Came the computer voice on the status of the patient. [EMERGENCY! Patient is having a reaction to blood transfusion. Anaphylatic shock is setting in!]

"Damn it!" exclaimed Tuula. For a brief moment she wondered how that was even possible with all the safeguards in sickbay. She knew that without additional blood, Jaana could go into shock and die, but that if she was having a reaction to the transfusion, there was only one option. "Stop the transfusion!" She quickly pulled up Jaana's blood information on the biobed and turned to the nurse. "Synthesize a match, and restart the transfusion ASAP!"

[EMERGENCY! Patient has vomitted into lungs!]

"No, this can't be..." Tuula was desperate; she was so close to saving Jaana and passing the test, but now everything was going wrong again. "Get her hooked up to an oxygenator, now," she shouted, knowing that Jaana could survive briefly without lung function with the right combination of oxygenation and tri-ox compounds, hopefully long enough to deal with this situation.

[EMERGENCY! Multiple organ failure detected..............Patient has lost cereberal activity.]

"No..." Staring at the readings, Tuula watched as the last flicker of life left the patient. "Time of death, 12:02 pm, (STARDATE)." She sighed deeply before turning towards Allyndra and Lirha.

Allyndra kept her face neutral but overall she was impressed on how hard Tuula had worked on saving the holographic patient. She never hesitated but pushed forward. As the patient was pronounced deceased Allyndra figured that Tuula needed time to think about everything.

"I am sorry, Tuula, but you have failed the test. Give it a rest and we can try again when you are ready."

"I was so close..." said Tuula, choking back tears, as she headed for the door, devastated by her failure.

OFF:

--

RADM Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

LCmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Tuula Voutilainen
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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