Posted by Lieutenant Lauren Shan (Doctor) in The Harshest of Reality Checks

Posted by Lieutenant Revna Edman (Counselor) in The Harshest of Reality Checks

Posted by Lieutenant Lauren Shan (Doctor) in The Harshest of Reality Checks

SNIP

Revna waited, she was pretty sure she already knew what was coming. Jameson had warned her, given her the symptoms to look for, now, like she’d told Nash, she had a choice to make.
Lt. Edman, Counselor

Runa glanced at Revna, catching her gaze and then looked at Lauren and nodded. “Bad news first. Let’s get to the heart of the issue so we can do something about it.” Edman’s never hid from what needed to be done, and Runa wasn’t going to let Revna start now.
Runa Edman, Teacher

“Your O2 saturation levels are lower than I like and have been recently more than I am comfortable with. You were asleep when this attack happened which unless you were doing night aerobics or having a nightmare, your heart rate should have been lower than normal. That means this spell wasn’t caused by exertion.” Lauren did pause for a moment waiting for any kind of response. There was a chance the woman was not curled up in some fluffy flannel PJ’s snoring like a baby when it hit. Lauren had spent too much time over the years not in fluffy flannel PJ’s to judge anyone. If Revna’s response was that she had not been alone, it might change the urgency to part two of the conversation but not the outcome.

Lt. Lauren Shan Medical

Revna shook her head, there was nothing else. But it was Runa who spoke, “Don’t you think, Dr. if my sister was doing late night aerobics with someone, they would have been with her when Danica arrived? She can’t walk down the corridor at a normal pace, or laugh for Freya’s sake.” She turned her gaze on Revna, “You were alone weren’t you?” Revan eyed her sister, really, they’d had this talk. She just nodded, the question not deserving a verbal response. Runa was getting agitated, “You said you were fine. You said the treatments were progressing and you knew they weren’t. You told me there was no more trouble at night. Revna Freya Edman, I’m mad at you!” There wasn’t a lot Revna could say to that. Well there was a lot she could say but not now. She looked at Lauren, a bit impatiently, just get it over with, and then she’d move forward.
Lt. Edman, Counselor
Runa Edman, Teacher

Lauren checked off a box on the PaDD and set the stylus down with a clink. “You need a full lung transplant. It can no longer be a certainty that you are able to perform your job responsibilities.” Raising her hand Lauren did not pause waiting for Revna to protest or comment. “Yes you know what you are capable of but I can only go on your test results and it would be negligent on my part to take your word about your abilities when every test says different. While I can do everything under the sun here I would like to talk to the Captain about meeting up with a colleague on Starbase 212. She is somewhat an authority on organ transplant and cloning.” Taking a seat Lauren clicked a few buttons on her PaDD activating a monitor on the wall.

Lauren’s efforts to shush her were needless. Revna, nor Runa, had no desire to interrupt. Revna had simply been waiting for the doctors to tell her what she could already feel happening. Jameson had told her, and Runa when he spoke to her, this might happen. Revna also felt it would be greatly irresponsible of her to try and convince Lauren she was capable of doing her job. She was sitting in a force field with a higher, purer, oxygen content, and was still unable to take a deep breath. Oh she was breathing without strain at the moment but let her laugh, or caught, or try to talk, right at that moment.

“So organ cloning has come a long way. Years ago we used to just try to force it but bodies could reject them and there were many complications. Then we moved to replicating but it can only be on small things and not complex systems. Now we are entering the world of SCNT or somatic cell neuron transfer. Basically, SCNT involves removing the nucleus from one cell and replacing it with DNA from another. This forces the cell to now replicate into the type of cell we are looking to clone. By removing the nucleus from the stem cell it is never going to become an embyro which was what stalled this technology for years. Many people got hung up on the ethics of stem cells but I can assure you a stem cell is not an embryo. Think of stem cells as the replicator of the body. They had all the knowledge to make what we need and what we need is new lungs for you.” Lauren paused to let the news sink in.

Lt. Lauren Shan

Revna nodded, making a ‘continue’ motion with her hand. The doctors on Centurion had used that method many times. Revna was familiar with it. She’d been too injured at the time to wait for that method. If Centurion was close enough she could even go there to have to procedure done. Runa was quiet, listening to what Lauren told them, and was grateful to know there was not only a solution, but that someone was making Revna stop, instead of continuing to push forward.
Lt Edman, Counselor

“If all goes as planned I can have Kelly set a course for the starbase this morning. While I am confident we can do the procedure I have a colleague that is now studying a new and cutting edge form of SCNT. She was in the Delta quadrant where she discovered a new medium to use for organ cloning. I have reached out to her to meet us there; however, for right now I am going to suggest you stay in sick bay until we arrive at the starbase. While it is not something I expect to happen if you have another issue we can intubate you to stabilize you.”

Lt. Lauren Shan

Revna shook her head. She breathed slowly for a moment to gather her thoughts. “Centurion. I choose my doctor.” They had an expert on board and she had a right to choose her doctor. If she was going to do this, she wanted to be where she knew who was going to do the cutting. She looked at Runa. “Call Jameson.” If she couldn’t get a shuttle from Atlantis to take her, Jameson would send a shuttle for her.

“You mean Jameson the same doc that wasn’t able to do the surgery the first time so his suggestion was every seventy-two hours send you to sickbay for dermal regeneration and tissue migration?” Lauren didn’t care how sarcastic she sounded because she was slightly agog at the situation. “You yourself have commented that some days you can’t tell a difference and I have seen faster progress in a snail crossing a road than I have with your cells being repaired. Are you talking about the same Dr. Jameson that fed you the medical advice that since your lungs were salvageable to just use the treatments in the meantime?” All the notes in the chart based on this Jameson made Lauren wonder where he had received his medical degree. What he had done to Revna bordered on negligence. Even if there had been someone in more need at that moment with one set of organs, it didn’t mean that Revna shouldn’t have been sent immediately back to Starfleet Medical for treatment. She could have gotten the surgery long ago instead of having to live this way. “You are looking to put your medical care back into his hands simply because you worked with him once?”

Lt. Lauren Shan medical

Revna’s smile was wolfish. Jameson had saved her life and made the hard choice to save two lives instead of one. He’d also, once her body was healed enough, tried to get her to undergo the surgery. Revna had refused, and Jameson did the best he could. The doctors did the best they could. It was all in her file. What she didn’t know what that Jameson had her transferred in the hope that a change of scenery would help her rethink her choice. She had signed the forms and refused the surgery before. He could send her anywhere but no one could make her consent to the procedure. It was all in her file to be read if someone took the time. Revna pushed herself up to sitting, taking her name sake, Freya, a little too seriously at the moment. She reached into a drawer on the biobed and pulled out a PaDD. She’d worked too long on a hospital ship to not know exactly what she was doing. These pampered doctors on regular star ships had no idea the choices made on a hospital combat ship. Like the old Earth Army MASH units, they did amazing things, and often regular doctors didn’t understand. They had this vision this ideal about medicine and had no idea what it was like to work on the edge of the fighting. And right now, that’s how Revna saw Lauren, as one of those pampered pansy doctors. Revna didn’t think she’d last a week on a ship like Centurion. “Don’t ever presume to judge another, Lauren. You were not there.” Her speech was slow, but no less firm for all that.

She turned her attention back to the PaDD. She signed and placed her thumb print to the document and thrust it at Lauren. On the PaDD was her signed Discharge Against Medical Advice (AMA). Revna knew that once she passed through the force field it would get harder to breath, but right now she didn’t care. Revna had a high standard she held of any medical professional. She might disagree, and Revna was okay with that, but she wasn’t okay with the attitude.

Runa debated with the doctor for awhile, but finally convinced them to confine Revna to bed rest in her quarters. There would be no one coming in and out. She wouldn’t be tempted to ‘work’ and it would be quiet and she could rest. Runa would move herself into Revna’s quarters until arrangements were made.
Lt. Edman, Counselor

She looked at Runa, taking her sister’s arm. “Take me home, Runa.” She slid off the bio bed, the forms signed she took a slow breath and stepped through the field, knowing it would be harder, but forced herself to adjust. Now Lauren would know the difficulty Jameson had faced in dealing with Revna. From sickbay on deck 12 to Revna’s quarters on deck 17 didn’t seem that far, but Runa worried the whole way. She would get Revna settled and call Cpt Jameson to find out what he thought she should do.
Lt. Edman, Counselor
Runa Edman, Teacher