Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side-sim: The Study of Kelmao

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side-sim: The Study of Kelmao

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side-sim: The Study of Kelmao
Posted by… suppressed (9) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Rand blinked and grinned. He was so enthusiastic. Franks got a good chuckle out of it, quietly of course. Alden was very different down here than on the ship. Always serious about his work, his enthusiasm was more obvious. Rand had an ice pack on her ankle and casually passed Roman a couple for his leg. Able to walk around or not, it probably could use the ice anyway. Everyone else settled in, ate, and waited.

Roman put the ice packs against his leg as he settled in, going over the notes with her. Waiting for the ship seemed to take forever, and at last, the communicator beeped.

=C=Sentinel to Landing Party.=C=

Franks flipped open his communicator =C=This is Lt Franks. It’s good to hear you Sentinel=C= The connection was strong but a bit of static so Franks stepped outside with Morgan. About 3 minutes later Rand’s personal communicator went off. =C=Miranda Arabella Blair Elizabeth Scarlett Farquharson! What did you do?=C=

=C=Randy I did…=C=

=C=And don’t you dare ‘But Randy I didn’t’ tae me, girly. Ya did or didn’t do somethin’ Haul your butt out of there so we can get you back on the ship. Cmdr Alden too.=C= and then there was quite a bit of Gaelic swearing going on before the comm went dead. Rand was grinning. She loved Randy, but her only response was to look at Franks and go “Told you he’d yell at me.” Using the cave wall she stood slowly and Morgan helped her outside, Franks helping Alden.

Roman was grinning as well. He was enjoying Randy’s tirade about Rand’s injury. With Franks’ help, he stood and went outside, keeping the walking stick.

In Transporter Room 1 Randy was in full take charge mode. When the pair materialized on the pad he glared daggers at them both, took one look at the swollen ankle and swollen leg and shook his head. He looked the other nurse with him, “We’ll take ‘em tae our quarters down the hall. Not as far as sickbay and I can check ‘em both out there.” Once in the room Randy glared at them, pointed at the beds, “Sit.”

Yeoman Rand

They rematerialized on the transporter pad. By the look Randy was giving them, he was glad Randy hadn’t seen them before the swelling had gone down. He had never heard any better words than Randy saying he’d take them to the yeoman quarters rather than Sickbay. It was as if he’d let go of a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

Turning back into his usual stubborn self, he refused help making it down the hall. Instead he used the stick he’d kept from the planet to support himself with. He didn’t say anything as he sat down. Randy’s glares, which Roman hadn’t seen since Randy had been his yeoman, told Roman he was probably angry enough.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand plopped down on her bed, laid back, and groaned. The bed was SO much better than the hard ground. She didn’t even care that her stuffed Kelpie was plainly visible. She was just really glad to be back on the ship.

Randy stood there hands on hips, in that short skirt uniform, tall black boots, and tapped his foot while glaring at them. “What. Happened?” Rand opened her mouth and Randy dashed a hand in front of himself with the skill of a musketeer. “Consider very carefully, sister mine. You look like you’ve been wrestling Cousin Liam’s prized ram in the mud again. And if that isn’t enough, always perfectly put together Cmdr Alden over there, is wearing sport shorts, while on duty and has replaced his hair with mud.” It wasn’t condemnation but astute observation and he was calling them out on it.

Roman glanced down at himself. “The shorts were necessary.” He said, an attempt to defend himself. “And there weren’t exactly showers on the planet surface.”

Randy was not oblivious to the fact the swollen leg was the one Alden had hurt three years ago. He knew that paired with reinjury and sickbay was a bad combination so he had opted for in here. And everyone would blame it on him playing favorites for his sister, and allow him to keep his patient’s confidentiality. He moved over toward Alden tricorder out and scanning. What he found made him pause and then turn to glare at Rand. “Tha fios agam gu bheil thu ga thoirt dha, ach chan eil sin idir na leisgeul!”

Even away from Sickbay Roman would not be the most compliant patient. He started to pull away from the tricorder, but stopped. Randy could, after all, still march them both down to Sickbay. Something on the scan appeared to make Randy very unhappy… but instead he turned to his sister and spoke in their native language. Roman picked up a few of the words. Something about them dating, maybe?

“Randy, Chan eil dad aig Us dating ri mar a chaidh ar goirteachadh.” Randy glared from one to the other. “You couldn’t convince him to tell me, at least? Keeping his secret is more important than his health? Really Miranda?” The whole while he was berating his sister he was grabbing different items out of his med kit and was slowly working on doing a small repair to the damaged muscles and gave them both a stronger anti-inflamitory than they had on the landing party. He didn’t ask, he just did it. His glare daring them to protest.

Nurse Practitioner Randy
Yeoman Rand

He caught that Rand was talking about how they hurt themselves. And it confirmed that them dating had been mentioned, but the specific context was lost on him. Could Randy tell from the scan that he’d been hiding his trouble with his leg? That was exactly the sort of thing that made him dislike Sickbay. Too many questions he didn’t want to answer. As Randy treated them, Roman was his usual difficult self. Randy’s glares apparently were not strong enough a deterrent to stop Roman’s protests. “It will be fine on its own, it’s been getting better,” he protested, trying to pull away from the anti-inflammatory hypo. But in the end, Randy succeeded in giving it to him.

Randy turned to him, crossed his arms over his chest and stared Alden down. Rand knew Randy was using berating her to get Roman to talk and comply. He was irritated with her, but not as angry as he was making it seem. But when he turned that stubborn self righteous look on Roman she knew something was really wrong. She pushed herself up to sit straighter, “What do you mean?” Randy looked from one to the other, spun on his heel and walked around past the lattice wall. He picked up a chair and put it inside the bathroom in the shower. Then he returned and unceremoniously, to Rand’s total embarrassment, went through her dresser, getting her clean clothes, including her ‘unmentionables’ and then placed them in the bathroom as well. The whole time he was ranting at Rand about both of them getting hurt, that they should both know better, that if she really cared about Roman she would have at least told Randy that something was wrong.

He had been about to proceed as if Randy did not know, and relate the story of the sinkhole, but before he could get the words out, Randy switched to English. His angry questions confirmed to Roman that he knew. He couldn’t let Randy be angry at her for something he did. “She didn’t know either. I told no one.” He looked at Randy as he said it.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Randy pointed a finger at him, “That I believe.” He walked over to Rand, gave her the anti-inflammatory, then grabbing her by the arm he hauled her up to her good foot. He draped her arm over his shoulder, put one arm around her waist and literally lifted her up and carried more than supported her to the bathroom. “Shower. Use the chair. Put on clean clothes and then hollar. Shrine will be here. After that you’ll be in bed 12 hours off that foot. You’re lucky.” Rand looked at him, “Randy what is…?” Depositing her on the chair and leaving her spoke over his shoulder. “I can’t tell you. Doctor/patient confidentiality.” And he shut the door and returned.

“Fantastic, glad we’re on the same page,” said Roman sarcastically, quietly as if to himself. He watched as Randy hauled Rand off to the bathroom. Was he that angry or was something wrong? Twelve hours off her foot, at least that sounded like good news. Roman did not want to be there without Rand. Before Randy had dragged her off to the bathroom, he got the impression she thought something was wrong. Her expression had changed, he was sure of it. Randy’s demeanor was also unusually serious. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, hands in his lap, as if not wanting to touch anything in the room. “Confidentiality doesn’t apply if I give permission for her to hear. I want her here,” Roman argued, but the door banged shut regardless. The atmosphere of the room was not making him particularly comfortable. He shifted slightly as he watched Randy sit down.

Randy shook his head, “No you really don’t.” He said it sadly. He knew Rand, and after endless hours of therapy he knew Alden pretty well. He did not want Rand here right at this moment. “You or I can tell her later if that’s what you want.”

Randy sat down on the bed opposite Alden. “You’ve got a serious problem Cmdr. And not with your avoidance of sickbay. You’re leg has been hurting for awhile, a long while. Tricorder tells me that much. It’s not left over pain or strained muscles. It’s called rhabdomyolysis. Rhabdomyolysis can be a life-threatening condition caused by muscle breakdown and muscle death. This dangerous muscle damage can result from overexertion, trauma, toxic substances or disease. As muscle cells disintegrate, they release a protein called myoglobin into the blood. The kidneys are responsible for removing this myoglobin from the blood so urine can flush it out of the body. In large quantities, myoglobin can damage the kidneys. If the kidneys cannot get rid of the waste fast enough, your looking at not just loosing muscle but also kidney failure and death can occur.”

The tricorder had told Randy it had been a while. No point in hiding something Randy clearly already knew. “It’s been a few weeks, that’s all. It wouldn’t have been a problem if it hadn’t given out on the mission.” Roman interjected into Randy’s speech. Roman had assumed it was simply strained, or the normal leftover pain he occasionally experienced. Certainly nothing as major as Randy’s demeanor was beginning to make Roman suspect it may be. But Randy said it wasn’t either of those things. As Randy’s explanation continued, Roman was beginning to get more and more worried. As a biologist, he did know the basics of anatomy, for most commonly run into species. He also knew about the functions of organ systems, though as a zoologist, most of his knowledge was more specialized towards animals. Roman’s face would clearly show he fully understood the implications of what Randy was saying, the seriousness of the condition.

He leaned forward, elbows on knees hands clasped. All pretense of sass gone. “Like it or not you have to deal with this. You can’t ignore it or it will kill you.”

Randy

Randy leaned forward, and Roman met his eyes. There was none of Randy’s usual playful sass present. Dealing with this meant time in Sickbay. Maybe a lot of time. There was no way Roman could do that. Not for this, not for his leg. Not again. His mind went straight to denial. “No, that can’t be right. It would’ve hurt more, I’m sure. Before this mission I was doing fine hiding it, it hurt, but it was fully functional.” Proven, in Roman’s mind, by the fact that not even either of the Farquharsons noticed until either he told them, or a medical scan gave it away. “The only problem is the pain, there must be another explanation.” Unlike normal for Roman, he could not hide the worried strain to his voice. He trusted Randy’s opinion, he’d always respected Randy as an officer and a medical professional. Part of him knew even though Randy was a nurse, not a doctor, the diagnosis would turn out correct. But Roman appeared to be stubbornly against accepting it.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

He knew Roman was going to fight about it. He understood why. Roman’s strong aversion could have been avoided if he’d received mental health treatments during or after the Ardent had been recovered. “Cmdr…we’ve talked about this, at length. Looking at the reality of the cause of the symptoms. That dealing with them directly will make things better a lot faster than ignoring them. The pain in your leg, it being ‘fine’ and hiding it…that’s just like you and the lack of sleep. You hid it, very well, until you didn’t. And then Rand was forced to make a decision for you. Your body dealt with it until it couldn’t anymore. I can call Dr. Haadok up here and you can get a second opinion. If you let me I can even tell the Dr about your aversion to sickbay, convince them to let you do your recovery in your quarters. Limiting you to the procedure and immediately afterward, unless there are complications. But you are going to have to deal with this.” Randy was precise, clear, and compassionate to his dilemma, but not pitying nor did he waver.

Randy

Randy was right, again. If not for Rand pushing him into the arrangement he presently had with Randy, the lack of sleep would have affected his duties and it would have been dealt with considerably less favourably. He wanted to say ‘this is different,’ but it wasn’t, not really. Roman shook his head immediately. “No, no one is to be told about that.” He said firmly. In his mind it made him look weak as an officer to have such a childish and irrational fear. Randy’s answers were firm and unwavering, putting his options out there clearly. Or rather lack of options. It was either do something, get reported and be forced to do something, or eventually die what would be a painful death. His face paled at the word procedure. “What.. what procedure? What exactly needs to be done? I have work, especially after a planetside mission, I can’t be off duty for long.” The excuses were another way to avoid the problem. He turned to look at the bathroom door. Half of him wished Rand was here, the other half was glad she wasn’t. The news would cause her so much stress… but he wished she was there, holding his hand.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Randy nodded, “I won’t say anything. I will be in sickbay if you need anything.” The stay in sickbay would be longer but if it eased his trepidation Randy would go along with it. He glanced toward the bathroom door. Rand could be such a girl about a shower and her hair, only rivaled by Randy himself. But the girl could move when needs be.

Roman didn’t want to stay in Sickbay, certainly not a long stay. But he couldn’t have anyone else know. And there wasn’t another good reason to recover in his quarters. That was if the doctors even let him do that, even with Randy’s urging. Roman was known to not be the most compliant patient. In Sickbay an eye could be kept on him to make sure he didn’t make himself worse. Outside of Sickbay it would be impossible to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid.

“That depends on how severe the damage is. The more you use the leg the faster the muscle death spreads. Because of that you won’t be working. You can’t risk it spreading. It could just be time with a neural and dermal regenerator to heal the nerves and tissue. If the damage is more severe the treatment becomes more complicated and could require surgery. But” Randy was hasty to stress, “that depends on how bad it is. I won’t lie to you, the worst cases require amputation.” Now Randy didn’t want to berate him, but Alden needed to know what his behavior had done. “If we had caught it sooner, we could have prevented it. A localized numbing agent to calm the damaged nerves and protein and fat infusions to help the muscle tissue heal, and you would have been fine. It’s not that simple anymore. I’m sorry, Alden.”

Inside the bathroom Rand covered her mouth and stifled a sob. And then as she continued to listen she became angry, not just frustrated, but angry-scared. She also knew it did no good to storm in there and start yelling. She turned on the water and took her shower, in record time. She dressed quickly and stood up moving toward the door, but unsure if she should go in.

Rand and Randy

Despite the heaviness of the information, Roman appreciated Randy’s forwardness. Getting it cold was better than listening to some doctor trying to sugar coat, make it sound better. “It’s hurt on and off all these years. You understand why I wouldn’t except something like this, surely.” The possibilities were anything from rest and treatment to amputation, the idea of which would be terrifying to anyone. But if it came to that… What if he was medically discharged? Dismissed from Starfleet? He’d have no idea what to do with himself. Starfleet was all he’d ever wanted. Even if it only needed surgery, the recovery would be long. How long would he be off duty? What exactly would the surgery be? If the extreme end of the scale was amputation, would surgery mean a full recovery? Or would there be problems either way? He could hope it just needed time to heal, but the way Randy talked about it, he wasn’t sure how likely Randy though that was. He seemed unwilling to make the necessary decision. He looked away. As he began to accept what was happening, it made sense. This would cause the weakness that caused his leg to give out at the sink hole. He’d wondered what could’ve been wrong to cause that.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

The bathroom door opened suddenly, and Rand just stood there a moment staring at them through the lattice work. Randy pinched the bridge of his nose. “Rand I didn’t send you in there to ease drop.” Rand didn’t look at him at all, she just looked at Roman. Then, very slowly, she started making her way across the room. Randy got up and helped her, and it was obvious she was angry and didn’t want help. But she kept her mouth shut. Until she sat down next to Roman and grabbed his hand. “That’s not true. You said the pain comes and goes, a few hours, a day at the most. You told me it was two weeks and nothing helped. You had to know something was different.” Her voice was tight, strained, but quiet. She didn’t really look at either of them. One because she might lose her temper if she thought they weren’t taking this seriously. Two, and most importantly, she didn’t want them to know she’d been crying. “So which treatment is it Randy?”

Roman looked up as the bathroom door opened. “You were supposed to be having a shower.” He said. He’d been planning on telling her, but in his words, not in the very, very matter-of-fact way Randy had delivered the news. She looked upset. Angry. But of course she was angry, after what they’d talked about on Kelmao. Rand took his hand and he squeezed hers lightly. With all the attention on the pain in his leg, it felt more apparent than it had before and he found himself rubbing it with his free hand again. “It’s like I told you yesterday, I thought it just needed rest. I was trying too hard not to see it.” He had known something was different, but he’d been pushing the idea away, clinging to the hope it would resolve itself. “It’ll be fine, if it were too advanced I’m sure I wouldn’t be walking.” He was not nearly as sure as he hoped he sounded.

“I did.” She was so quiet, but clipped as well. Then she shook her head. “It is not fine, and it’s won’t be. Not on its own.”

Randy knew how much Star Fleet meant to Alden, and from years of experience was able to deduce at least one concern Alden had. “First, none of these treatments would qualify you for medical discharge. I can’t say for sure. We need detailed imaging to see how bad the damage is first. I can say, that right now, as the leg is now, amputation is not likely. If it was, Cmdr, you would already be in a coma from the Rhabdomyolysis.”

Rand and Randy

Randy’s correct deduction of one of the big worries on Roman’s mind seemed to relax him somewhat. But he still looked stiff as a board. “Then what is the most likely?” Roman didn’t want to go down to sickbay with this. The moment he did, it was ‘official’ in a way, everyone would know about it and there’d be no way out of it. But of course there was no way out of it. Neither Rand nor Randy would let him get away without doing anything. It surprised him just a little, that with such serious consequences on the table his mind was still searching for any way to get out of it. Or for it to be wrong somehow. Another question occurred to him, and though he wasn’t sure it could be answered without more information in sickbay, it made it out anyway: “You said the chemical process of the muscle death releases a substance toxic to the kidneys. Could there already be damage?”

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

“Based on the scans…” Randy looked back at the readings, “Understand I can’t make the final call, and we need imaging. But given the previous issue, the additional injury” he looked from their interlaced hands to each of their faces, “Don’t think I’ve forgotten you have told me what happened yet. But given everything, probably microscopic surgery to directly treat the area and stimulate new tissue growth. Then physical therapy to make the new tissue as strong as the rest of your leg.” It wasn’t the answer Alden would want but it was truthful. Randy considered his last question. He picked up the tricorder and probe and moved around Roman’s back and scanned directly over the kidneys.

Rand and Randy

Last time the recovery from his injury and physical therapy had taken two months before he was back to full duty. And that was after the ship had been recovered and the crew rescued. Roman hoped it wouldn’t be so long this time. He shook his head. His palm was sweaty in Rand’s. Trying to distract himself, as well as making sure there wasn’t anything relevant in the story, Roman told the story of the sink hole and everything while Randy was scanning him. Everything looked okay, but myoglobin levels were critically high. Any longer and there would be problems.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO