Posted by Commander Brad Walker (Chief Of Staff/Second Officer) in Side sim: Bump on the head

Posted by Lieutenant Achilleas Petrakos (Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: Bump on the head

Posted by Lieutenant John McCandless (Head Nurse) in Side sim: Bump on the head
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
The orderlies pressed on. They were used to using a stretcher and appeared unaware of the groaning CSO. John set a brisk pace towards Sickbay ushering passers-by out of the way, to make room for the orderlies. What felt like hours passed when they finally reached the entrance to Sickbay. John beckoned to the orderlies to follow him to ICU. He looked around Sickbay as they passed through trying to spot a Doctor, not seeing anyone immediately he continued on to ICU.

Stepping through to the ICU John spotted the first available biobed and gestured to the orderlies.
“We’ll take that one.” He said to them and gathered a couple of nurses to help with the transfer. Looking around at the group John gave the orders to slide the CSO over to the ICU bed on the count of three.
“1, 2, 3. Slide” The CSO quickly and effortlessly moved to the biobed.
“Let’s get his vital signs up on the screen, I want continuous monitoring for now. Someone page a Doctor he needs immediate attention. Possible traumatic brain injury.” The Nurse hurried off and sent out page to any available Doctor to come to the ICU asap.

Lt. John McCandless, Head Nurse

The initial vitals would show that his BP and heartrate were elevated though not at risk for stopping, his white blood cell count was slightly high, and he had a very obvious contusion on his forehead.

CSO Petrakos

John looked over the results and then looked around for a spare Doctor but no one was coming. He really didn’t want to have to make medical decisions, those laid with a Doctor. Think John, think. Indecision plagued him. He paused, trying not to panic too much, and took a breath. Treat the obvious injury. He thought to himself and grabbed an auto suture. He used it on the obvious contusion trying to heal that injury at least.
“Someone get a Doctor now!” He called out while he worked.

Lt John McCandless, Head Nurse

<Bump>

With Drake busy with the COS, it left Brad to handle the injury to the other department head in their care.

“Let’s get a head scan,” he ordered, keying the order into the biobed. With a possible TBI, seconds counted, and he needed to know if the bump to the head had knocked any blood vessels loose in Petrakos’ head. The way his BP and white count were looking, it was a distinct possibility in Brad’s mind.

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

John nodded trying to hid his relief that a Doctor had been found. He scanned the CSO’s head.

There was definitely an internal bleed going on in Achilleas’ right frontal lobe. It was a wonder he was on his feet as long as he had been but perhaps the physical exertion after the head injury worsened it.

CSO Petrakos

John turned to Brad.
“Looks like an internal bleed in the right frontal lobe.” He said showing Brad the scan results.

Lt John McCandless Head Nurse

Brad frowned. “That’s what I was worried about,” he said. “Thankfully that’s relatively simple to deal with, but we’ll also need to replenish all the blood he’s lost from having that going on for probably an hour or more.”

He grabbed the device that would heal the damaged vessels and set it up before activating it.

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

John nodded pulling up the medical record of Achilleas. He then motioned for a nurse to fetch the relevant blood they would need to replenish what was lost once Brad dealt with the bleed.

Lt John McCandless, Head Nurse

This was the second TBI Achilleas had been inflicted with in the last year. The previous one had been a fracture at the rear of the skull and heavy intercranial bleeding as well as a ruptured cervical vertebrae.

That elicited a wince. Two in a year? They might need to invest in a helmet for the CSO…

Brad checked to make sure the damaged blood vessels were healing.

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

The blood vessels were healing nicely and the brain bleed was slowing. “So uh, fancy seeing you again Doc.” Achilleas tried to make light of things as he still felt pretty horrible.

CSO Petrakos

“We really must stop meeting like this,” Brad dryly replied. “How’re you feeling?” he asked, slightly amazed the man was even conscious, much less reasonably coherent.

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

“Like a mallet is being banged into my forward while an ice pick is digging into my eyeball.” Achilleas said with a smile that had a heavy wince in it. “I’d much rather break a limb over head injuries if I’m being perfectly honest.”

CSO Petrakos

“To be honest, I’d also much rather you break a limb over a head injury,” Brad replied. “Try closing your eyes, the decreased sensory input should reduce the strain on the injured part of your brain. We’ve nearly got the bleeding stopped, then we’re going to replace the blood you lost to it. Then it’ll just be a matter of making sure your skull is back to 100% and getting plenty of rejuvenating rest.”

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

“And no falling over or head injuries from now on.” John chipped in with a grin.

Lt John McCandless, Head Nurse

Achilleas complied and closed his eyes. The decrease in stimuli did seem to help. “Well as long as the ship doesn’t throw me headfirst into my own desk again then I will do my best.”

CSO Petrakos

“Well, I’ve always been of the opinion that Engineers have a rather over-inflated belief in the effectiveness of the inertial dampeners in our ships,” Brad said. “And I’ve got one for a little brother, so it makes family dinners interesting, to put it mildly.”

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

“Can’t say I have a little brother or any brother who’s an engineer but I do know what interesting family dinners are like.” Achilleas said with a grin that turned into a wince. Reflexively trying to smile was not a good idea just yet.

CSO Petrakos