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

Posted by Commander Brad Walker (Chief Of Staff/Second Officer) in Primary Sickbay- Private Consultations

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Zoi Haven (Chief of Security) in Primary Sickbay- Private Consultations
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
Both the tests for Encephalopathy and encephalitis were negative.

The deep cellular scans, however, showed something unexpected, something their pervious scans would not have been able to detect: embedded in the walls of many (but not all cells), was a stealth pathogen. This particular pathogen took the form of a fungus. In this semi-dormant state, the fungus seemed inactive and wasn’t growing, but was secreting toxins in minute amounts. It’s small enough that a person’s immune system doesn’t register the threat and doesn’t know to attack it.

“Huh,” Brad said idly.

Alexis’ brow went up.

Over time, stealth toxins like the one this fungus was releasing into the patient’s system kill the healthy cells they attack and force the liver to work harder resulting in a condition called toxic overload. Some of the early symptoms of toxic overload were headache, insomnia, fatigue, dizziness, tingling, malaise, joint pain and brain fog.

This state causes extra cortisol production as the body is now under stress it can’t do anything about, triggering a vicious cycle that can go on for a long time and eventually affects all organs and can lead to organ failure, usually with the liver being compromised first.

Interestingly, when the fungus was investigated it was the same fungus they had encountered at Starbase 157 when many people had thought they were in Alice and Wonderland. Since everyone exposed was treated, there were a couple possibilities: either the patient’s physiology made the treatment less effective, or perhaps they encountered minute amounts of the fungus after the initial treatment. Either way, the fungus lay dormant and undetected in her body until it was triggered to be more active and start releasing toxins. It was a known fact that stealth illnesses could be triggered by extreme stress (and thus a weakened immune system).

“Oh for crying out loud,” Brad moaned. “Not that bloody thing again!”

Captain Myqian, CO

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

“Well it appears your patient will need another round of the anti-fungal. I am assuming the patient has given several blood samples. We will need to start the medical lab on developing an anti-toxin to clear the patient’s system. And we need to sweep the ship to make sure there is none of that fungus left on board this time.”

“At least one more round,” Brad agreed. “And if it’s still there after that, I’m going to do my damndest to find a genetic sample of hers from before that infection and running her through a transporter.”

Alexis looked over, “I would strongly recommend that your patient report to Psychiatric. Obviously they have experienced some sort of extreme stress or trauma that triggered this.”

Lt. Cmdr. Kane, AMO

Brad snorted.

“It’s a good suggestion, Doctor, don’t get me wrong, but the patient being who she is, I doubt there’s a damn thing even our excellent Psych staff can do about her stress levels. Her partner, on the other hand…”

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

((OOC: hahaha))

“Well on the chance this becomes a chronic issue and can’t be removed from her system, she will need to learn to handle her stress. Or she will have constant relapses.” Alexis shrugged. However the patient found a way to deal with their stress in a healthy manner would be beneficial. That wasn’t her area to decide on treatment.

Lt. Cmdr. Kane, AMO

“True,” Brad said. “Thank you, Dr. Kane, I have some news to deliver,” Brad said, transferring the results onto a PaDD and heading across the ward to the private rooms where Dira should be just about ready to wake up.

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

The sedative had been wearing off for a little while now and Dira was slowly coming to. She was aware of the people in the vicinity and if she focused for a moment, their thoughts could be quite loud. But she wasn’t awake enough to raise her mental shields fully, so settled on letting the voices be background noise. A social hum, if you will.

Captain Myqian, CO

“You know you can’t fool a biobed just by keeping your eyes closed,” Brad’s voice rang through her ears with an amused tone.

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff

She drew in a deeper breath, letting it expand her chest fully. “I wasn’t trying.” Dira let her eyes slip open and take in the form of her Chief of Staff. “There’s an in between space where I can’t filter people’s thoughts out. Sometimes that’s hard, but right now it just reminded me I’m alive. I’ll take it.” She was keenly aware of Zoi’s absence though, and while she was glad her beloved took her advice to get some proper rest, it was strange to wake up without her there.

Captain Myqian, CO

“How are you feeling?” Brad asked. “Did the sleep help?”

He asked, curious if the rest had given her body a chance to deal with some of the fungus’ effects.

Cmdr. Dr. Brad Walker
Chief of Staff