Posted by Lieutenant Solal Segal (Oncology and Immunology) in Primary Sickbay- Private Consultations

Posted by Captain Dira Myqian (Commanding Officer) in Primary Sickbay- Private Consultations

Posted by Lieutenant Solal Segal (Oncology and Immunology) in Primary Sickbay- Private Consultations
Posted by… suppressed (9) by the Post Ghost! 👻
It had been sitting in the back of her mind for a little while now. She could gather a certain number of details on her own, but even though she had a medical degree, it had been a long time since she had done rotations and diagnosed physical ailments beyond anything a first aid response would require. Simple inquiries were not working in her favour.

If she had thought personal privacy was hard to have as a first officer, being a captain was worse. Everything she did outside of her quarters was observed, and while people might not comment directly, Dira knew it was extremely important that she maintain an aura of, not invincibility, but extreme competence. She had been working very hard since everything with Franks to allay any worries her crew might have about her ability to captain the Ogawa. For the most part she felt like she had been successful and she did not want to mess that up.

With all this in mind, Myqian made an appointment with Dr. Segal. She didn’t give details others than she wanted a consultation. Arriving in Primary Sickbay at the scheduled time, she approached the reception desk and smiled. “Good morning. I have a meeting with Dr. Segal.”

Captain Myqian, CO

“Doctor Solal, yes.” Most of the staff that had worked with him, knew the half Vulcan rarely used his Human surname. “Please have a seat. He should be with you in a moment.”

Dira took a seat and waited with the patience she had cultivated in her decades of service and practice.

At precisely the time scheduled to meet, Solal came to greet her. “Captain, very good to see you. Please, come.” He led her further into sickbay, into a private room in which they could speak. “What sort of consultation are you looking for?”

~ Solal

Dira took a seat at the table and folded her hand on top. She was quiet for a moment before she met his gaze. “It’s a personal consultation. And as such, as you can imagine, it is more complicated for me than others on the ship. I required more than the usual discretion. I don’t want anyone else to know what we’re discussing. I have a right to have my medical needs kept private so long as I am still able to be cleared for duty. So before we go any further, I need some assurances that you won’t discuss my case with anyone, even other members of the medical staff. At least for now.”

Captain Myqian, CO

“Whatever assurances you require, I am willing to give. Your case will not be shared, as dictated by yourself as well as patient privacy laws and regulations.” Solal replied. “If, however, whatever you are experiencing requires testing more complex than a blood test, your name will have to go on some logs. I’m sure you’re aware of the relevant protocols, Captain.”

~ Solal

She nodded. “Yes. All I ask is that if anyone, including Dr. Walker asks about the tests or results, that you refer him to me. Whatever this might be, I need information first before I feel like I can bring anyone into this, if it is even necessary.” She cast her gaze to the side before she looked at him again. “Honestly, there’s enough gossip after the whole incident with Franks that I’m not sure I can handle more just now. My life is complicated enough.”

Captain Myqian, CO

“I understand, Captain.” He didn’t, really, but an order was an order. Myqian’s word outranked Doctor Walker’s anyway, and as far as he was concerned, she had ordered his silence. “Rest assured your case will be managed with utmost discretion.”

~ Solal

She nodded. “I appreciate your discretion.” Dira fell silent for a moment as she gathered her thoughts and tried to figure out the best way to approach this.

“So… I wanted to see you specifically because I’ve been having some issues lately. A lot of the time it’s subtle, but especially in my position any change in my health is something of note and should be addressed. I’ve scanned myself repeatedly with a tricroder but it’s not anything that it’s picking up at that level.”

Captain Myqian, CO

“Captain, my specialties include autoimmune dysfunction and cancer. Are you saying you think the cause of your symptoms is one of those?” He asked.

“Possibly,” she said, her voice unusually soft.

“You have yet to list actual symptoms. I need to know everything with as much detail as possible. If it is not detectible by tricorder, then you may have caught it very early.”

~ Solal

It was clear this was a struggle for her, and Dira understood why. Once she spoke it all aloud, it was real and something they’d have to deal with. She would now longer be able to brush it off, no matter how much she was being pulled in other directions. But at the end of the day she was responsible for too many lives to be casual about how she handled her own health.

Myqian drew in a deep breath. “It’s small things, mostly. Any one of them wouldn’t be a cause for concern, and could be easily explainable by numerous things, including being the commanding officer of a busy vessel. But as a list altogether?” She sighed. “Fatigue, sleep issues, umm brain fog. Sometimes I know the work I’m looking for but it’s really hard to find it all of a sudden. I’ve been having some aches. At first it was just the wrist and shoulder I dislocated, but other parts ache a bit too and I’m not working out any more strenuously than before. But I suppose I got concerned the other day when I had a brief bout of dizziness when I was having a shower.”

Captain Myqian, CO

Well, she was right. That list of symptoms was indicative of everything… and nothing. There was no sign of his thought process across his face. “I would like to start with a round of old style blood testing. I’ll be looking for common cancer markers. I need to ask a few more questions. Firstly, where are these aches occuring besides the joints that were dislocated?”

Dira took in a deep breath and braced herself for the gauntlet she knew was coming. “No one area, though it seems aggravated by sitting, so my lower back and hips. But I still work out regularly and I get up ad move frequently. I’m not sitting constantly or anything.”

“How often is the brain fog? What kind of things do you experience that make you feel you’re experiencing brain fog?”

“It seems intermittent. Definitely worse on days I don’t sleep as well. It’s like my brain can’t grab onto words when I need to, and I mix things up, forget things I know.” This one was in particularly frustrating and she was sure it would get frustrating for those around her. It was the one that would most affect her work.

“How often and how severe is the fatigue? Do you feel sleepy in the daytime frequently? And likewise, how are you sleeping at night? What kind of sleep issues are you experiencing?”

“I can push through the day for the most part, but by the evening sometimes I feel too tired to even eat dinner. I do get drowsy during the day if I’ve not slept, but sometimes it feels like even when I do get a good night’s sleep, I’m not nearly as rested as I should be. My sleep”-Dira shook her head-“is variable. Sometimes it’s hard to fall asleep, and usually I meditate before bed to help that. Clear my head and all that. But lately it’s been waking up in the middle of the night. It happens less so when my partner is beside me, but most of the time I can fall back asleep. It’s just that interrupted sleep issue seems to build up.”

“Finally, your newest symptom: the dizziness. How severe was it? Did you fall, faint, or otherwise lose consciousness? Did it feel like the room was spinning, or like you were lightheaded?”

As he asked his questions and listened to her responses, he wrote everything down on a PaDD. On the PaDD was an interesting jumble of neat looking notes.

~ Solal

“It was brief, but I didn’t fall. It was just like I was suddenly unsteady and my vision went fuzzy. So did my hands. They felt tingly. I just braced mt hand against the wall and it passed after a few seconds.”

Captain Myqian, CO

“Mmm.” Murmured Solal thoughtfully. It sounded like an orthostatic drop in BP. But he wouldn’t rule it out as a symptom. “I’m going to be completely transparent with you, Captain. There’s not a lot to work with in those symptoms. Even just in my fields of expertise that’s a wide range of possibilities.” He considered their options, writing on his PaDD. “Let’s start with preliminary testing. See if anything shows up in the results. I’d like to loop in one other person,” he looked at Myqian, “After ensuring their discretion, to assist with the testing.”

~ Solal

Dira sucked in a breath and nodded. “That’s fair. And I know it’s not a lot. Any other time I’d probably just ignore it all until I had something more… acute.” She looked away for a moment, gathering her thoughts, before she focused back on the Solal. “I don’t have the luxury of ignoring symptoms. I’m responsible for too many people lives. If we do testing and everything seems fine, then we chalk it up to stress and carry on. But on the small off-chance that it’s something, I appreciate you takign the time to help me figure out what it is. All I know if that lately I don’t feel… right. Something is off and I can’t pinpoint it.”

Captain Myqian, CO