Posted by Lieutenant Solal Segal (Oncology and Immunology) in Side sim: The Things We Don’t Tell Our Loved Ones

Posted by Lieutenant Achilleas Petrakos (Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: The Things We Don’t Tell Our Loved Ones

Posted by Lieutenant Solal Segal (Oncology and Immunology) in Side sim: The Things We Don’t Tell Our Loved Ones
Posted by… suppressed (10) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
“There is no logic in that train of thought.” Solal commented, shielding his eyes just before the light brightened. “You need to take care of yourself before you attempt to take care of others. I would tell any patient that.” He continued as Achilleas began picking things up. He didn’t have the energy to do much more than attempt to talk Achilleas out of cleaning up after him.

~ Solal

“Would you tell your patients to come in for a check-up if they had shortness of breath, decreased appetite, lethargy, headaches, and trouble focusing?” Achilleas countered while he continued to clean up Solal’s quarters.

CSO Petrakos

“I would. And I’ve been in for those things.” Solal replied simply. “Those on that desk are my nebuliser treatments, for use when the shortness of breath gets too bad, the headaches are treated with OTC pain medication, and the trouble focusing can’t be resolved until an effective treatment can be found. The lack of appetite is to be monitored.” He yawned and lay his head back on the pillow. “The lethargy also cannot be solved until it can be treated. You could go clean your own quarters instead of mine.”

~ Solal

“You’ve been in for those things now perhaps.” Achilleas said as he moved about picking up, sorting, wiping down and generally cleaning in an efficient and brisk manner. “What would be illogical is for me to stop now when I’ve already made a lot of progress. I’m half-ish done with the living and dining area and your bedroom is certainly smaller. I’ll be done in just a jiffy. While I finish this up why don’t you tell me about how you haven’t contacted your parents in months?”

CSO Petrakos

“I’ve been in now whereas you still haven’t seen a psych.” Solal commented. He glanced at Achilleas at the mention of his parents, and then looked back to the ceiling. There was a short silence. “You saw my letter?”

~ Solal

“I did see a psych though, Doctor Grayson actually.” Achilleas said. Solal didn’t think he’d be reinstated as CSO with his boarding evaluation completed did he? Not that he was completely forthright with her. “I didn’t mean to read it but my memory is good and my reading is fast. A glance was all it took.”

CSO Petrakos

“Grayson is supposed to be good.” Solal said with a shrug. “Huh. Reading that fast is a remarkable talent.” He was trying to deflect away from the question of his contact with his parents. “Your quarters look about how you said Kane’s office did yet you’d rather clean my room.”

~ Solal

“Reading that fast is decent especially when science journals need to be consumed on a regular basis.” Achilleas said as he poked his head back into the bedroom. “And your quarters are looking much better now. Why have you not contacted your parents?”

CSO Petrakos

“I haven’t had the energy nor focus to write a letter.” Solal said, hoping that would be a good enough answer. Then he began to pull himself out of bed. He wasn’t going to let someone else do all the cleaning in his space. It seemed wrong somehow to let Achilleas do that. He sat on the edge of the bed a moment. Just dragging his sorry behind out of bed felt like a herculean task.

~ Solal

“And subspace calls aren’t a thing at all.” Achilleas responded with his face and voice deadpan. He went back to cleaning before Solal started to get out of bed. “I’m sure you could record a short video message in a way that masks most of your symptoms. You know that not contacting them will end up making things worse in the long run right?”

CSO Petrakos

“They’re both doctors, Achilleas. And the two of them might as well be telepathic. They’d know.” Solal replied. He could never get away with anything with those two. It was a wonder they weren’t part Betazoid. “I’ll get better and then contact them and tell them I was extraordinarily busy.” He said as if it were the most logical solution in the world. He hadn’t told them about V’alura either and that gave him more time to find a way to cross that bridge too.

~ Solal

“So, better to completely lie about it after the fact, when they’re overwrought with worry from not hearing from you in who knows how long it’ll take until you’re better, than to let them know now where they’ll be aware of why you aren’t as communicative. Yes, that seems like such a splendid plan.” Achilleas said with as much sarcasm as he could pack into his voice. He wanted to have no misunderstandings about how he thought it was a terrible idea without outright calling Solal a baffoon.

CSO Petrakos

Heaving himself off the bed with a sigh and a grunt, Solal gave Achilleas a look. He steadied himself with the end table and then stooped to pick up a pile of dirty laundry. “How many times did you contact your family..” he took a breath, “from Starfleet Medical?” He set the laundry in the overfull hamper and then took a seat in a nearby chair. “They would only worry. They have other things to focus on.” Or worse, they’d do something illogical like drop everything and rush out here to see him.

~ Solal

“I was not allowed to contact my family until the 8th month of my… stay.” Achilleas responded with a bit of irritableness in his voice. “Once I was able to we talked weekly. My mother sometimes called more often. I recognize now why letting me call anyone earlier on would have been a bad idea but it did not help my early rehabilitation. Among other chaotic feelings and thoughts running through me at the time, I had a very deep sense of resentment.” He picked up the hamper and brought it to the cleaning unit. “I’m not going to speculate on the likelihood of your treatment but think about this because it was on my mind often, how much time do we have left with our loved ones? Wouldn’t it be better to maximize the time you have left? Illness or not your parents won’t be around forever and neither will you.”

CSO Petrakos