Posted by Lieutenant Commander Alexis Bonner (Assistant Chief Medical Officer) in side - sim: A Desperate Consultation (Tag Walker)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Dr. Solomon Kane (Chief Science Officer/Research & Development) in side - sim: A Desperate Consultation (Tag Walker)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Alexis Bonner (Assistant Chief Medical Officer) in side - sim: A Desperate Consultation (Tag Walker)
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
Alexis pulled up the the genetic mappings he requested. “Already at your console. I’ll get a tissue sample and have it brought down immediately.” A quick kiss in return and she nodded. “That’s the plan. We’ll be down in a couple of days. Sooner if you’re ready.” The door opened and then closed behind him and she stared at the medical records for a very long moment. Then she got up, and went into the maternity ward for the tissue sample. She sent the sample immediately down to R&D and then took the trip up to primary sickbay and knocked on Walkers office door.

Bonner, AMO

“Come,” Brad answered, surprise on his face when the door slid open to reveal Alexis.

“Dr. Bonner, I wasn’t expecting to see you until after the Ambassador’s party arrives.”

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

Alexis nodded, sending him the names for the Amvassador’s care team could have been a simple memo, but the other topic could not. “You asked for recommendations for the ambassador. I was considering Dr Marshall and Dr Solal. Marshall is trained in emergency medicine and has worked in ERs. If we allow him to do the intake and process her like anyone else arriving to the ER he may catch something, and at least get a clean medical history. And Dr Solal because given what little history we know from the meeting, I feel his expertise in Immunology would be beneficial.”

“I can certainly see the benefit in that,” Brad agreed. “I think we should also consider running our initial diagnostics twice: once in our Sickbay, under Earth-normal conditions, and once in their quarters, in normal conditions for them, to see if it could be something about Earth that is causing her issues.”

Alexis nodded, “I agree. Their respiratory device may help them breath in other atmospheres but it could also not be healthy in the long term.”

“I also wanted to update you about Lt. Damu.” Damu was a Denobulian science officer who was pregnant and having severe complications. “She is nit doing well and neither is her child. I consulted with Dr. Kane because we simply don’t have the technology to do better for her. He has suggested a fetal life support unit. Not monitoring the mother and supporting the baby through her, but to monitor and support the fetus directly. It would be quite invasive, but would take the strain off of Damu. Cmdr Kane said he would have something for us to look at tomorrow.”

Bonner, AMO

“It’s a bit radical,” Brad hedged, pulling up Damu’s chart on his wall monitor to see the latest developments. “How far along is she?”

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

“7 months. It is radical. She’s not doing well though. I can stabilize her but then the baby goes into distress and vice-versa. I considered a surrogate, but no one is compatible. We discussed an artificial womb as well, but Cmdr Kane didn’t think he could complete something like that in time. She’s getting worse every day. There was some improvement after the cardiac valve surgery, but it didn’t hold steady.”

Bonner, AMO

“28 weeks…” Brad mused. He’d received the required training in obstetrics and gynecology in medical school, years ago, but hadn’t had much opportunity to practice on the knowledge over the years. “Have you considered simply delivering the baby premature? It’s not ideal, but the baby should be able to survive outside the womb at this point, and we would certainly be able to provide more direct support.”

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

Alexis shook her head, “If she was human maybe, but Denobulian gestation is almost a year, and the fetus is half Trill. Half Trill pregnancies are notoriously difficult and very high risk. I would like Damu to be able to carry the baby as close to term as possible. If bot we won’t have a choice but to deliver.”

Bonner, AMO

Brad nodded, studying the chart further while considering the options. “I presume this implant will be a temporary measure, and will come out after delivery?” he asked. Obviously, if the lieutenant sought another child in the future, she would likely choose a different method, as fraught as this natural gestation had been. Or, perhaps, a different father for the child that would be less complicated.

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

“That would be my presumption. Once the baby is born there would be no need to continue to support the womb seperately. Cmdr Kane will have the specs ready for review the day after tomorrow. I have not mentioned this to Lt Damu, yet on the possibility it won’t work or Cmdr Kane can’t fabricate the system.” Alexis highly doubted that though. “Of course she always has the option of refusing.” Alexis doubted Damu would do that either. She was already quite bonded with the fetus.

Bonner, AMO

“Of course,” Brad said. “Let me know when it’s time to review it.”

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

Alexis nodded, “Of course. Is there any brief you would like to give Marshall and Solal? Or call them in blind when the ambassador arrives?”

Bonner, AMO

“Well, it won’t be wholly blind. Marshall was with us in the briefing, and I saw he’s logged in to read the history they sent us, but yes, I’d prefer to keep at least Dr. Solal blind as to our patient’s history.”

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

Alexis nodded, “I haven’t read it yet either. I wasn’t planning to, in order to keep my perspective as unbiased as possible. Would you prefer me to continue that way?” Alexis felt that if they were going to try and discover what had been missed, she needed to be unbiased as possible. She had been there for the briefing but being unaware of the specifics of the Ambassador’s condition, would have to do.

Bonner, AMO

“Yes,” Brad replied. “I think that’ll keep this as even and clear as possible.” One senior staff in the know, one not, and one team member in the know and one not. Seemed fair to him, anyway.

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

Alexis nodded, “Let me know when she’s settled and ready to start her intake.” Alexis had to stop herself from making a snarky comment about being accused of not caring for the woman’s mental health. “I will let you know when Cmdr Kane has something ready for us.”

Bonner, AMO

---

It was almost a full two days later when Walker and Bonner were paged to the R&D lab.

The room was filled with activity, but in the center of it all stood the wild-haired, tattooed CSO. Kane was standing next to a work bench looking at a small… very small… device. So small, in fact, that Kane had set up magnifiers around the bench. A large holo of the device floated in the air above the bench, and Kane manipulated the image, turning it around on its x and y axis and glaring in his typical fashion.

Kane, CSO / R&D

Brad held back his initial reaction, to compare Kane to a mad scientist, and instead said “Well, that’s certainly… a thing.”

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

Bonner entered a half second after Walker and stopped in front of the table and looked up at the holographic model. It was a thing, a tiny thing that was going to save a life. Or try to anyway. Alexis could technically say Damu and her baby were stable but that changed frequently every day. When she left secondary sickbay they were both stable for the moment.

Bonner, AMO

OOC: Fixing split

“In utero fetal life support device.” Kane said without actually looking at Waljer or Bonner. “Sorry for lack of a clever acronym. Blew the budget on actually making the damn thing. Take a look.” He expanded the holo and began explaining. “So this a conglomeration of various technologies modified and miniaturized for in utero surgical placement onto a developing fetus. It is a full suite of scanners and monitors, like in a biobed, and will report to a secondary monitor on the mother’s biobed. The device will help stimulate bone, organ, and tissue development by utilizing the amniotic fluid and nutrients supplied by the mother as a primary source, but this here-” and he enlarged the holo to focus on a particular part, “- is the port attachment. A full port will be connected to the exterior of the mother and connected internally to the device, allowing us to add whatever the fetus needs that they aren’t getting from the mother. Or, in a pinch, we can bypass the mother supplying anything entirely to take the strain off of her and provide all the needs of the fetus.” He then pointed to an adjacent bench to a large aquarium-looking apparatus. “This is the fail safe. If mom or fetus starts crashing, we have a medical transporter pad built into the bottom of the artifical womb. The device on the fetus registers like a comm badge, so we can transport it from mom to here if need be. You will just have to duplicate the amniotic fluid and fill the chamber before transporting. Now, that will be really dangerous for fetus and mother, so I’d only do it if everything else is failing. Questions so far?” Kane asked and then looked at Walker and Bonner.

Kane, CSO / R&D

Bonner looked at the artificial womb. He’d made both. In two days. Yes, she was impressed. Alexis reached up and turned the image to get a better view of one of the sensors. “Will it have to be surgically removed after? Will the tissue and organs grow beneath it?” Babies grew quickly, she was sure Kane accounted for that on the device, but better to ask instead of assume. They could surgically remove it after if necessary.

Bonner, AMO

“Either surgery or beam it out.” Kane said flatly. “But it can stay in for at least the first two years with no complications. Its in an amnio-protein sheathe that will make sure as the fetus grows, the device isn’t incorporated into any organ. It’ll probably actually just be some sort of cyst that can be removed reactively easily.”

Kane, CSO/R&D

Alexis nodded, made sense and should be easy enough to remove. “Any special considerations concerning that if the port is connected? Obviously a cesarean section will have to be peeformed.”

Bonner, AMO

“You can release the port connection remotely. Did that for emergencies, but if the patient has a need for a natural birth,I don’t see why it couldn’t be done at that time.” Kane said.

Kane, CSO / R&D