Posted by Lieutenant Commander Dr. Solomon Kane (Research & Development) in Dogs are People Too!

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Alexis Kane (Assistant Chief Medical Officer) in Dogs are People Too!

Posted by Commander Dr. Royal Sinclair (Executive Officer) in Dogs are People Too!
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Alexis and Kane appeared in the main bay secondary sickbay in a swirl of light kneeling over Frigga. Alexis silently thanked whomever was at the transporter controls that they sent her here rather than primary. She looked at Solomon, fear and worry buried deep behind her eyes. She slipped her hands under Frigga’s head and uninjured ribs, “Hip and shoulder. Lift on three.” It was important to keep her still and flat so the ribs didn’t move and puncture something else. “1…2…3.” Alexis pushed up to her feet smoothly as they lifted Frigga to the biobed. There were gasps of surprise and concern and “Frigga?” across the medical bay.

“Dr Bonner, what do you need?” Alexis glanced at Janna as she turned to pick up the medical kit she’d grabbed before they transported. “My office, bottom left drawer of my desk. Get me the surgical kit there. Xavier I need an aseptic sweep of the bay.”

“I’ll get the surgical frame.” “No they aren’t calibrated for veterinary needs. It has to be done manually.”

Alexis grabbed an osteo-regenerator and a tissue migrator and set them next to Solomon. “Take her chest. 18% power and you’ll have to adjust it to manually adjust for her metabolic rate.”

Alexis

Kane looked at Janna and said “Get the frame, too.” He looked at Alexis and said “You take care of stabilizing the fractures. I’ll calibrate the frame as we go. It’ll be safe for her and faster for us to get to the diaphragm tear and arterial bleed.”

Kane

Alexis held his gaze for a long moment. She’d never used a frame with a veterinary patient. She was sure she could do it, but what if she messed up? This was Frigga. Janna set the surgical kit down and left to get the frame. Alexis nodded once. If Solomon could calibrate it, then she could use it. “Janna bring the pediatric toddler frame.” The other was too big to be precise enough for Frigga’s size.

“Aseptic Sweep initialized,” Xavier called out and there was a static flash and tingle as the computer ran the sweep.

Alexis unrolled the surgical kit and pulled out a cone shaped breathing mask. “Xavier. Start her on 3 minutes of preoxygenation. Her O2 levels can’t fall below 90%. If she’s been sedated but if she starts to regain consciousness give her sevofluranef 0.5% vapor setting for 30-60 seconds and then 0.5 % until you reach 0.25 + 5 to effect.” Xavier took the mask and hooked it up to a low pressure line of oxygen. He set up a tricorder and slowly adjusted the flow and percentages for Frigga’s unique physiological needs. Another nurse brought him the indicated medication.

Alexis picked up the osteo-regenerator, checked the tricorder and adjusted the power. She started working on the sternum. She couldn’t do anything with the ribs until the frame was in place. If she tried to set the ribs before going in she could knick the artery more. Janna and another nurse returned carrying the surgical frame. Alexis side stepped out of the way and continued to work.

Alexis

As the set the frame in place, Kane began to work. “GALEN, download breed specific veterinary anatomy and standard biology to this workstation. Cross reference all available surgical notes available for mitigating trauma and upload to the surgical suite. Cross type patient’s blood and replicate synthetic blood volume expander, ten liters. Prep recovery bed for canine patient and prepare surgical frame for manual calibration.” At the last sentence, GALEN replied =/\= It is inadvisable to manually cali- =/\= and Kane said “Shut the hell up and do it.” and the frame began to cycle its power-up phase.

Kane

The entirety of sickbay was quiet. GALEN’s quirks not entertaining at all. Xavier was watching Frigga’s O2 levels and manually adjusting. Janna stood at the end of the bed ready to do whatever. Alexis continued to work on the sternum. There were several hairline fractures spiderwebbing across it. “Janna bring me a 7.5 cm foam support block.” Alexis took the block and carefully slid it under Frigga’s leg, supporting it and opening up her chest slightly to take the strain of the sternum from the shoulder. Two minutes later she set the osteo-regenerator down. She picked up the small tissue migrator. Alexis adjusted the power and output. “Janna.” “Yes Doctor?” Alexis handed the device to her. “See here,” Alexis pointed at the images from the microtome and tricorder and then indicated the area on Frigga, “the parietal pleura is torn. Watch the readings. When it’s at 90% stop or the machine will over compensate for her physiology. If you aren’t sure, ask.” “I will, Dr.” Janna took the device and got to work.

Alexis stepped out if the way and to the surgical interface. She looked eyes with Solomon for a moment. “Whenever you are ready.”

Alexis

Solomon had been tapping away furiously (both in speed and attitude) while Alexis had been working. “Get going.” was all he said. In truth, he was about ninety percent done with a job that should have taken three people three hours to do. But, being Kane, he also knew how to cheat the system. Frigga didn’t get transported often, but she did get transported. He had pulled the transporter logs for the past seven transports and created an average baseline physiology specific to Frigga and uploaded it to the surgical frame. He had also programmed the surgical suite to parameters for canines and directed it to the veterinary PDR library for meds and recovery monitoring. All that was left to do now was the surgery.

Kane

Alexis’ fingers flew across the screen, taking images and preparing the laser scalpel. She rotated the angle and began the incision and stopped. “Lower the thermal output 10%. The tissue is too damaged from the hematoma, it’s burning rather than just cauterizing.”

Alexis finished the incision and pulled the tissue back. It was a mess, appearing worse than expected because Frigga was small. Alexis reached in through the aseptic access and began to manipulate the ribs into place. She paused, removing one hand to rotate the image. A jagged edge was caught in the diaphragm tissue. She couldn’t remove it with out causing more damage. Manipulating her hand around out of the way, she slowly guided the laser scalpel to cut an incision behind the piece of rib. Two ribs were broken in several pieces and she had to stabilize them before she could go after the artery.

“Dr. Bonner she’s beginning to wheeze and her O2 has dropped from 95 to 91.” “Add 0.03 milligrams of Albuterol to the oxygen mix.”

Alexis paused, looking through the screen at the blood pumping from the tear in the artery. It wasn’t a simple matter of examining the damage and deciding what to do, it was just slightly too long for Kane to know it was emotional. And then she pulled her hands free and began with the microsuture along the arterial tear.

“Jt’nal, she needs a blood infusion. The packs are too big. We need a butterfly IV needle and tubbing.”

Alexis

“Cut the broken rib sections out, then remove the bones from the tears.” Kane said flatly. “Use the scalpel to cut the bones even, and I’ll make carbon nanotube plates to replace the rib pieces. Then we’ll pin them to the ends of the ribs to bridge the gap.” and he moved to the surgical appliance replicator and began working.

Kane

No ego or dismissal, just acknowledgement that he was right. Alexis nodded as she paused the suture to cut the one section of rib out causing the most damage. “Jana?”

“Almost finished, Dr. At 87%.”

“Xavier?”

“O2 dropped to 90 but is now 95 and still rising.” The nurse was gently running his hand over Frigga’s head and neck and ears as he monitored her breathing.

Alexis finished the sutures and cleared the area with suction. Her fingers tapped away as she repositioned the scalpel and began to cut the connecting tissue of the ribs. She pulled the damaged sections of ribs out and set them in a container that Jt’nal held for her. “Give this to Dr Kane in case he needs to see them for the nanotubes.”

Alexis peered through the screen her hands moving from panel to panel as she worked on the damaged diaphragm. “Xavier watch her lung function, in case the diaphragm begins to strain while I suture it.” The beeping as she tapped the controls was slow but precise as she sutured the tear along each criss-crossing layer of tissue. Suture first then the tissue migrator to speed the healing, then the next layer and so on.

Alexis