Posted by Captain Chris Taggart (Captain) in Side SIM: The Captain in Sickbay

Posted by Ensign Kastarak (Doctor) in Side SIM: The Captain in Sickbay

Posted by Captain Chris Taggart (Captain) in Side SIM: The Captain in Sickbay
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
After the Romulan encounter Chris felt very weak and could barely stand and walk. He didn’t suffer from blood loss.....too much anyway but his cybernetic arm was completely destroyed by Romulan disrupter fore and it was torn clean off. It was leaking fluids but Chris didn’t know what kind. He should given that he is.. was a surgeon and he is wearing two of them. So he should know what they’re about, in general anyway.

Kane always helped him and he was a master at cybernetics. Now besides Kane’s hand and Chris’s memories, this was the only physical thing left of his best friend, literally. Kane was atomized right before his eyes and it was damnest thing Chris had ever seen. Not wanting to get extremely depressed and angry, Chris tried to hold back his tears, it was time to get fixed. Fixed like a dang robot.

Opening the door to Sickbay with his severed arm, Chris thought that was funny, he went up to the receptionist and slammed his arm down on the desk. While looking pale and sweating he spoke in a raspy voice and labored breathing. “I need a new of those and some more blood, and, and......an....” Then Chris collapsed into the floor.

Captain Chris Taggart CO

It was Ensign Sutalo – the clean-shaved soft-spoken Efrosian nurse – who was manning the reception on this shift. Upon seeing the captain enter, he rose to attention, only to see the captain collapse on to the floor. He ran to the captain, called for help, “I need help!”. While waiting for help, he scanned the captain for vitals. Thankfully there was still a pulse, blood pressure was running a little low. Captain was breathing fine, though he was unresponsive.

Kastarak was the first responder, along with Crewman Lisa Livett – a medic –, and upon seeing the captain on the floor, Kastarak asked for status.

“He’s breathing fine, heartrate at 50 beats per minute. Blood oxygen saturation at 92%. Blood pressure at 85 over 50”, replied Sutalo quickly.

Kastarak was a bit concerned with the numbers. Heartrate was acceptable, though maybe it needed to be quicker now that the captain had, for all intents and purposes, fainted.

“Captain?” Kastarak was kneeling beside his commanding officer, shook his torso gently. “Christopher Taggart! Wake up!”

The captain was unresponsive.

“Let’s get him to a biobed for examination,” ordered Kastarak, and the three of them – Kastarak, Sutalo and Livett – lifted up the 100 kg of captain and carried him to a biobed for preliminary examinations.

The biobed diagnostic showed a slight fever (38.5 degrees). Perhaps an infection at the injury site where the artificial arm had been cut off, Kastarak hypothesised in his head.

“Nurse Sutalo, 5 cc of cortropin,” ordered Kastarak, while lifting up the captain’s legs. It was a low dose, but hopefully it would be enough.

Ensign Sutalo did as he was ordered, returning with a hypospray, handing it over to Kastarak. Kastarak applied the hypospray on the captain, waiting to see whether this would be sufficient for the captain’s blood pressure to stabilize and bring the captain back to consciousness.

– Ensign Kastarak (physician)

Chris was dreaming or delirious.... he didn’t know which one. He was unsure but when he was coming to, he saw blury darken images of people or something close to it before him. His eyes were not adjusting as fast as he’d like. But he saw the image of a man before him and with his muted hearing knew that person was trying to say something.

He moved back and forth on the biobed and spoke. “Kane? Is that you? Please forgive me my friend. I’m sorry that I couldn’t help you. I tried my best! I really did!”

Tears began to flow freely from his eyes. “I missed you so much! I’m sorry!” With that Chris sat up as best he could and put one arm around Doctor Kastarak and hugged him. “Please forgive me!” He yelled again and held the Doctor tightly.

Captain Chris Taggart CO

During the time of being hugged, Kastarak did his best to appear non-bothered by it. On one hand, in Vulcan culture, most forms of touch were considered intimate, reserved for familial relations, and even then, rather rare, except for infants and parents, and between spouses (where touching each other’s hands would be for a Vulcan couple what kissing on the lips would be for a human one). As such, under normal circumstances, Kastarak would be taken aback by such a display of affection. However, this was not a normal circumstance. Kastarak’s patient – he saw the captain now as a patient under his care rather than his superior officer – was undergoing distress of severe psychological nature.

“Captain, I understand you are distressed. We are here to help you,” said Kastarak softly while being hugged and scanning the captain. He tried sounding calm and empathetic, but he knew that it was not always the case that when he spoke, his intentions came through to patients, especially non-Vulcans. He still needed to work on his bedside manner.

The tricorder beeped.

“Luckily, there appears to be no organic trauma on the brain, nor any arrhythmia in your heart. It appears, from my clinical assessment, that you are reexperiencing distressful memories. Sickbay is always open to discussion of them, and Ensign Dran is particularly trained in psychological treatment. This is something we can arrange when the acute phase is over. There is also leakage from your prosthetic arm. It is a non-standard prosthesis. With your permission, I should like to get an engineer to look at it to try fix it for you. My assessment is that the experience of leakage from the prosthetic arm, in combination with distressful psychological experiences, combined into triggering the parasympathic neural system, causing a quick lowering of your heartrate and bloodpressure, culminating in a temporary loss of consciousness – fainting.”

After overflowing the captain with clinical assessments, Kastarak realized that humans would probably not respond well to this immediately after waking up. It was standard Vulcan procedure, as it was logical for the patient to quickly understand their situation in order to regain their senses and find a way to put aside their emotions and appear socially and culturally adequate. Though the captain was not Vulcan, he was human.

Perhaps a human touch would help Kastarak save face, and, more importantly, help his patient.

“How are you feeling right now?”

– Ensign Kastarak (physician).

Chris slowly regained himself after sobbing on the Vulcans back and hugging him. When Chris was finally aware he released Kastarak. Wiping the tears from his eyes and sniffing, “Sorry about that. I was delirious. I would not have intruded your personal space that way. Again. Forgive me.” Chris was looking around and knew he was in Sickbay but he did not remember coming here.

Kastarak breathed calmly, attempting to mirror a serene state that the captain could model off.

“There is nothing for you to apologize for. You have not harmed me. All is well,” he replied.

“How did I get here?” He said looking around. “The last thing I remember was looking at my armless form in the mirror in my quarters. ” Looking around some more he found his cybernetic arm laying beside him. “Oh. There it is.” Chris finally remembered what the doctor said about his arm. “My arm is not a standard prosthetic. It’s cybernetic. And an Engineer would be be fine. But it will need to be either replaced or fixed since it sustained major damage.”

“And I.......I would like to do psychological therapy please. It will be better for the Chernov and myself to seek help. Thank you doctor.”

Captain Chris Taggart CO

“I understand, captain,” said Kastarak. “I will send a referral to both Counsellor Dran for psychological treatment and Engineer Blaze for prosthetic repair assessment.”

Kastarak paused. He understood that the captain was suffering from post-tramatic stress, something that Kastarak had in common with the captain. A sense of grief came over Kastarak, though he gave no indication whatsoever of it occurring. He noticed the emotion, registered it, and pushed it aside, as per his usual routine.

Kastarak also understood that Kane was a lost friend of the captain, and someone who was dear to the captain. Kastarak had heard members of the Sickbay speaking of a medic Kane who they missed and had been fond of. He regretted never having met this Kane, but regretted the pain in his captain even more. The captain was clearly suffering.

Kastarak found the captain’s agreement to undergo psychotherapy an indication of genuine desire to do so. Taggart would need to use this motivation. Psychotherapy is hard, especially when one must face one’s fears and traumas, exposing oneself to them. As the Klingons say, there is no battle more honourable than fighting the tireless foe occupying one’s own mind. Kastarak experienced a sense of respect for the captain, embarking now on this long-dragged war, and felt honoured, himself, that the captain had shown Kastarak these parts of his soul. The captain may not have chosen this, but Kastarak hoped that Taggart understood the confidence placed in him.

“In the meantime, allow me, as your physician, to give a word of advice. The shock of seeing your body armless triggered the parasympathetic nervous system, causing you to faint. This kind of anxiety attack is unusual – usually anxiety triggers the sympathetic nervous system, with increased blood pressure, heart activity, the flight/freeze/fawn response. The normal treatment for that is calming and relaxation exercises. “

Kastarak felt that the captain probably needed a take-home message, hoping that it was not too complex for the captain. Taggart was a physician by training, but perhaps in this state of mind, and with many years since practising, Taggart might not have the psychoeducation close to his conscious attention. A primer might help.

“However, if you feel the parasympathetic nervous system being triggered by your anxiety, calming and relazation exercises will likely lead to further decrease of your blood pressure, and thereby an increase of loss of consciousness. Instead, if you feel this happening again, I want you to lie down as soon as you can, if you can to help blood be evenly distributed to the body and to the head, and then bring tension to all your muscles. Even if you cannot lie down, flex your muscles wherever you are, sitting or standing. Keeping your consciousness is important, if you faint, you might injure yourself. This tension will help you stay conscious. “

“Try practise the tension and flexion of your muscles whenever you have a quiet time, perhaps when cleaning your teeth or in the shower, so that when you need this exercise, it will mentally be easily accessible to you. All of this information will be sent to your pad privately as well, and until you see Ensigns Dran or Blaze, you are always welcome to speak with me or the other staff here in Sickbay.”

“Might I now suggest you take the rest of the day off? Consider it my prescription to you. Make sure you do something enjoyable, and ensure that you eat. Something rich in carbohydrates is advisable. Then come here first thing tomorrow for a quick assessment to ensure you are fit to serve. I am quite confident it will only be a formality.”

“Do you have any questions, captain?”

– Ens. Dr. Kastarak