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

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

(snip)

Rand nodded. She was sure Roman had given them problems. He didn’t seem to be able to help himself. It was going to be a very long rest of the week, but Roman wouldn’t be Roman if he wasn’t difficult. They would get through it, together, just like she said. She was happy to stay there with him until Elbbirt came back. “Oh I fed Nibbles and Mushu this morning.” Her voice perked up a little. Rand loved the animals. She wasn’t supposed to, but at the same time that was the point. “I think Nibbles is getting used to me being gone and then coming back. It only took her a few minutes to come get the food this time, rather than waiting until after I closed the cage. I think Mushu might be getting bored. He was catching his food and then letting it go. Like he was playing with it. I’ve never seen him do that.”

“Perhaps we should make something for him to play with. Animals need mental stimulation as much as people do,” Roman commented in response. He liked hearing about his animals. He’d wanted to get back to his lab since getting back aboard the ship.

It made sense to her, but what did a lizard play with? Mushu seemed to enjoy tracking and catching the bugs, maybe something more sturdy to climb on? He was getting bigger, or seemed to be, but that could just be that Rand hadn’t interacted with him in awhile. Roman always worked with Mushu. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t let her, but she knew how much he liked the little lizard. “Oh what about…fishing lures. Without the hooks of course. They’re made to look like bugs. We could hang some from the lid of his cage…maybe.” They weren’t natural..maybe not. “What if we just put the insects in his cage and let him eat when he wanted?”

Elbbirt and Randy appeared through the door. Elbbirt clapped his hands together, “Alright let’s take some pictures.” Rand got up off the bed and pulled her chair over and out of the way and sat down, holding Roman’s hand. Elbbirt kept giving Randy all kinds of instructions and it seemed to go on forever. Rand squeezed Roman’s hand every so often and grinned at him. It was tedious but necessary. Then finally Randy swung the lens back against the wall and disappeared. “Well Cmdr, good news. No more sessions with the neural regenerator. The nerves have reformed and are ready to go. It will be painful and I’m not exaggerating when the signals start. The blood vessels and blood flow are all excellent, so the shock of returning blood and oxygen to the area should have passed. So at least you won’t have to feel that. You will still need two sessions a day with the dermal regenerator for the next 3 days. I would have expected 5, but your body is healing incredibly well.” He stood up and walked to the door as Randy came in with a set of crutches, and he left.

Roman held Rand’s hand as they took the images. It seemed like they were taking a million of them. Elbbirt would say something to Randy and then Randy would adjust something and take another one. And another, from different angles and looking for different things, Roman assumed. But he just wanted them to be done. Finally they were, and he was happy to hear it was healed enough to get the neuro block off. No more regenerator sessions sounded better, but he supposed three days worth was better than five days worth. Then Randy came in with a set of crutches and Roman scowled.

“Hey Rand, I know it’s been awhile since I was on Yeoman duty, but aren’t you due to collect midday status from the bridge and deliver drinks? Like grown adults don’t know how to do that themselves.” She started to protest, “Girl, get your butt moving. We won’t start anything till you get back. Really.” He shooed her out and turned to Alden. “Elbbirt thought you might like to move around before we remove the nerve block. I know your leg is numb, that’s what the crutches are for. We’re going to try again with them. Plus if you don’t learn to use them you’ll be in a wheel chair back to your quarters or he might make you stay. So let’s master them. And I thought you might want to use the facilities and have fresh clothes after so many days.”

Randy shooed Rand out, which worried Roman. Normally they didn’t shoo Rand away unless there was something Randy didn’t want her to hear. But Randy had nothing so worrying to say. Roman gave the crutches another look. Being wheeled up to his quarters in a wheelchair was far more embarrassing than the crutches but he’d prefer neither. Of course, Elbbirt making him stay longer was essentially his worst nightmare. He hadn’t needed to use the facilities before because he hadn’t been eating or drinking much but now he was glad for the opportunity. Fresh clothes sounded good, too. But moving his leg while it was still numbed was going to be weird. He’d almost rather wait for the neuro block to come off. “Why move around before it’s removed?” He asked Randy.

Randy looked at him, “Because despite what you think, you’ll be in too much pain to move around for a bit. So we thought you could use a chance to move and stretch a bit. The goal is once the block is removed to slowly increase the amount of pain medication we give you. Elbbirt knows you don’t like medication, but as he said it’s non-negotiable. So we want to find the lowest possible dose that prevents your body from going into shock, but with the fewest side effects. This also gives you the chance to learn the crutches without risking hitting your leg and hurting it. You won’t be able to put weight on the leg till at least tomorrow. The new tissue isn’t strong enough yet, but almost.” Randy spent the next half hour helping Alden learn to balance on the crutches and letting him move around the room and when he was ready helped him get settled back on the biobed, reclined and his leg in as neutral a position as possible so the muscles wouldn’t feel like they had to work.

Roman looked ready to argue but then seemed to change his mind. A chance to stretch was welcome after so long of staying in bed. For a half an hour he moved around the room trying to get the hang of the crutches before Randy settled him back on the biobed, making sure his leg was relaxed. Roman was nervous, the biobed would show that. As much as he wanted the neuro block off he found the idea of the actual process worrying.

Rand wasn’t gone horribly wrong, but when she got back, Elbbirt stopped her and chatted with her until Randy came back out.

Rand and Randy

By the time Randy left, Roman wouldn’t consider himself to have ‘mastered’ the crutches but he was at least passable to make it up to his quarters with them. With no pain in his leg, his first reaction was to try and use it like normal but with it numbed it didn’t react like normal. It was just as weird as he’d expected to try and move with it like that and he didn’t like it.

~ Roman

Rand walked in and smiled, “How did it feel to get up and move?” She figured that’s what had happened since Randy had brought crutches and Roman was in fresh clothes. Elbbirt wasn’t far behind her. He had a tricorder and another handheld device she wasn’t familiar with. Randy moved Rand’s chair out of the way and had her stand more towards the head of the bed, out of the way. Removing a nerve block, on anyone, some times caused reflex reactions where the patient would lash out. And in others it was worse because they were in pain and the body responded by defending itself. No one there wanted Rand accidently hurt.

“It was good to finally stretch,” Roman replied as she came in. Elbbirt was just about right behind her, carrying a tricorder, a device he’d never seen before, and two hypos. Randy made Rand move up toward the head of the bed and dragged the chair out of the way and it made Roman more nervous. Was it expected to be that bad that they felt the need to move Rand out of the way?

Elbbirt sat down on the stool next to Alden’s leg with Randy across from him. He picked up the first of two hypos. “Anti-inflammatory,” was all he said before giving Alden the dose. He picked up the other, “This is pain medication. We’ll give it slowly starting with the lowest dose, after you get feeling back. Then we’ll gauge if you need more.” He set it down and turned on the tricorder and picked up the other device, used to remove the nerve block. “It’s a long tedious process, Cmdr. It has to be done carefully, and I won’t rush it and mess something up.”

Roman nodded to the doctor’s explanation. He wished it would be fast, like ripping a bandaid off. That would be easier. He did not protest the anti-inflammatory, not this time, but he shook his head to the pain meds. The last thing he wanted was pain and a foggy, out of it mind. “Can’t we try it without the pain meds?”

Then he got to work. Watching the bioelectric readings in his legs to make sure the nerves were working properly, as well as monitoring his body’s signs of stress. The first level of the block was removed and some feeling should have returned. More like slight pins and needles.

Then he continued and at the first actual twitch of muscle and leg Elbbirt gave him the low dose of the pain medication. It took just over an hour to completely remove the nerve block. Rand stood by the head of the bed, both hands resting on his shoulders, holding his hand when he wanted it.

Rand

Keeping watch of the readings of the tricorder, Elbbirt was using the device Roman hadn’t seen before to remove the neuro block. The first level was lifted, and through the whole leg he felt pins and needles. It was uncomfortable, that feeling over such a large area, but not painful. Roman seemed okay, if stressed, as he watched Elbbirt work.

As Elbbirt worked on removing the neuro block, slowly, feeling returned to the leg in higher intensity, and the pins and needles faded from his foot and lower leg, beginning to return to normal. His thigh still felt like pins and needles, and as that feeling wore off, the pain started. His leg twitched painfully and before he’d said anything Elbbirt had administered the first low dose of pain meds.

The pain grew in intensity and Roman reached up, grabbing Rand’s hand. The signs of stress increased, his face pinched, unintentionally squeezing Rand’s hand harder than he intended to. His other hand was clamped to the side of the biobed, the sheets crumpled in his fist. His breathing and heart rate had begun increasing. “How long is the pain supposed to last?” He forced the words out through clenched teeth, otherwise his jaw was clamped shut, as tense as the rest of him was. The pain was similar in kind to the pain he normally felt if one multiplied it by a thousand, as if someone were ripping it to bits with a dull knife. Maybe a rusty fork. The hour it took before the neuro block was fully removed and the pain stopped increasing felt like a full day. He almost wished someone would just lop the thing off already. That might just hurt less.

~ Roman