Posted by Lieutenant Commander Alexis Kane (Assistant Chief Medical Officer) in Winters’ boarding physical

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Alex Winters (Chief Engineer) in Winters’ boarding physical

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Alexis Kane (Assistant Chief Medical Officer) in Winters’ boarding physical
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

“Fine by me,” Alex said. “No time like the present. Where do you want me?”

~ Alex Winters, CE

Kane waved to the nurse. “Jt’nal. Get Lt Winters prepped and take her to the surgical suite. I’ll be right there.”

The Vulcan returned, “Right this way Lt.” He led her to a room to change into a gown and then into a surgical suite where he helped her onto the biobed and turned it on, calibrating it for her vitals.

Kane walked in minutes later. “Would you prefer a nerve block or full anesthesia?”

Lt. Cmdr. Kane, AMO

“Nerve block, please,” Alex said, as she settled down fully on the biobed. “Tell me what you’re doing as you’re doing it. That way, I might learn something. I thought I’d bee a doctor before I became an engineer.”

~ Alex Winters, CE

“You won’t feel pain, but in your upper arm and shoulder you will feel the pressure and movement from the connecting tissue. You must remain still.”

“Can do,” Alex said, and she made a point to relax into the biobed as much as she possibly could, taking deep breaths and deliberately feeling where her body was in relation to it. It was a basic meditation technique she’d learned a long time ago.

Dr Kane moved the surgical frame over the bed and activated it. “I am using dechtral beams to separate the neurons in the Musculocutaneous Nerve. You are lucky that the damage is only at the Ulnohumeral joint and not the Radio humeral and Proximal radioulnar as well. The damage is specifically called a malunion. The most common way to correct this is a surgical procedure called an osteotomy.”

So far, Alex wasn’t hearing anything that surprised her. The osteotomy was what every Doctor who had seen her since she’d decided she wanted to join Starfleet had told her she should have. Now that she was lying here about to have it done, she couldn’t really say why it had taken her this long to take one up on the offer, anymore.

I am separating the bone, removing the malformed section. Now, having oriented them to the correct position the bone knitter and osteo-generator will heal the bone and make all one piece. When that is finished, the tissue migrator will do some minor work on the ligaments.”

Three medical instruments in one sentence, that Alex was sure nobody on NIOL would have had in their possession, or even wanted anything to do with, back when this injury originally occurred.

“The jerking and shock you are experiencing is from pressure on the ulnar nerve that was compressed when the fracture healed incorrectly. A pinched nerve can become serious, causing chronic pain, or even lead to permanent nerve damage. It can also lead to fluid and swelling which can do irreversible damage to the nerves. I am cutting the medial collateral ligament. This will allow the medical nanites to lift and place the ulnar nerve back into place. This should relieve your symptoms and the tissue migrator will grow back the ligament with more space for the nerve to pass through.”

“Can you tell whether I’ve already done permanent, or even just long-lasting damage to my arm, Doctor? Now that I’m lying here finally having it done, I know I was stupid to postpone it for this long, but … some of the paranoia that people on my home world had regarding modern medicine must have gotten its fangs deeper into me than I had ever realized. Also, since it only hurts with rotating motion, I thought it was easy to avoid. Will you be able to fix this completely?”

“I will use the autosuture to seal up the small incision and then the dermal regenerator to finish healing it.” She was quiet for a moment. She pressed a hypo to her neck, “Anti-inflammatory to ease the post-surgical discomfort. Now I will remove the dechtral beams and your feeling will return.”

Lt. Cmdr. Kane, AMO

Yes indeed, as the Doctor had said, not even 30 seconds later, Alex felt the first pangs of feeling slowly returning to her arm. It had been quick.

“Anything I should look out for in the next few days?”, she asked.

~ Alex Winters, CE