Posted by Lieutenant Sharah Fayth (Chief Star Fleet Medical Officer) in Sacred Heart Hospital- Lt. Gov’s Appt

Posted by Captain Eela Dasca (Lt. Governor) in Sacred Heart Hospital- Lt. Gov’s Appt

Posted by Lieutenant Sharah Fayth (Chief Star Fleet Medical Officer) in Sacred Heart Hospital- Lt. Gov’s Appt

(snip)

Fayth started to answer her questions when there was a knock on the door. With Dasca’s permission Fayth opened the door. Entering was a much older Tellarite man in a star fleet ops uniform. “This is Master Chief Trond. He’s the most incompetent engineer I’ve ever met and doesn’t know his foot from his snout.” Trond grunted and and fought with a quirk at the corner of his mouth.

Dasca turned her head again to study the newcomer, completely unfazed by the fact that she was lying on a biobed. Fyath had draped the sheet over her, after all, but even then, Eela was rarely self-conscious like that.

“And last week ya tried to use the dermal regenerator on that pumpkin spillin’ it’s guts,” he quipped. He turned his attention to Dasca, “I suppose yer wantin’ me to fix something?” Then began to laugh and actually ruffled Fayth’s hair and she tried not to grin or roll her eyes. The man was old enough to be her grandfather.

“My anti-grav brace for my spine. It’s not been working as well lately. Not as much lift on my spine and I’ve been finding it a bit sluggish in compensating for the transition to sitting or laying and upright. It’s minute, but I notice,” Dasca said.

“So let me look at this brace,” he picked it up from the end of the bio bed and flipped down the eye piece of the wearable tricorder and flipped and rotated and opened panels and then grunted. “Some of the servos are damaged. Give me 20 and I’ll be back with it all fixed.” And he was gone already digging in his tool belt for something.

Was it strange to be weirded out that the brace was elsewhere with someone else? Huh. Separation anxiety over a bit of equipment that had become an integral part of her life? Sounded pretty reasonable to her. Still, she was used to having the brace within reach or at least eye sight, ninety-nine percent of the time, so it was, well, weird.

“When the PT arrives he will arrange for the message therapist. They all work out of or in connection with Sacred Heart. Everyone has been vetted - Fleet, Civilian, Marines, CCDA, Police, all of them. We’ll do it again before they start. If you have a preference for their background we will do our best to accommodate.”

Fayth, SFCMO

That was a consideration, wasn’t it? “You know, I’m so used to just getting who I get that I don’t think anyone has ever asked me if I have a preference.” She sounded almost amused by the fact. “But now that I think of it, when it comes to body work, it’s often useful to have someone with a degree of psi-positivity. Not because it makes them better at it, but because I can drop my guard a little and we can bounce off each other a bit. Haliians are very… connection based and I don’t always get a chance to use that to my advantage, but if it’s an option, it would be nice. So long as it doesn’t put undue pressure on the practitioner, of course.”

~Eela Dasca, Lt. Gov.

Fayth wished she had the confidence to ask the same for herself at times, but this wasn’t about her. She gave a little smile. “I am sure we can work that out. We certainly have had requests for the opposite.” Yet another knock up n the door sounded. This time it was a Klingon woman who seemed to take up all the unused space. “I am Jal’na, the head of physical therapy. I understand you have chronic back difficulties.” She shook hands with Fayth and the offered the same to Dasca. Fayth explained her diagnosis, and Jal’na turned back to Dasca. “May I examine your back?”

“Of course,” Dasca said, returning her head to her folded arms. “And yes, I fully expect you to chastise me. I’ve been prepared for it.” Was the additional comment necessary? No. But in her significant experience with physical therapists, they were the most likely to chew you out for not doing your exercises and not taking care of yourself. Eela was a compliant patient but it didn’t mean she could always prioritize her exercises as much as she needed to.

The woman was surprisingly delicate. “Can you describe the type and intensity of the pain you have? How it limits your day to day activities?”

Dasca breathed slow and evenly as Jal’na examined her back, and it was obvious that a deeper breath caused her mild pain. “Aches mostly, though sometimes if I’ve been sitting a long time my legs and feet will feel tingly. By the end of a busy day though, pain can feel almost hot. Rarely will it be more acute and enough to take my breath away but it has happened, especially more recently. And honestly, I work through the pain. I can’t afford days in bed most of the time. But there are things I used to do that I no long can, like running. Part of why I have a medical discharge. I couldn’t pass a fitness test with a phaser to my head. But walking is okay, and I swim when I have facilities available to me. I used to dance a lot but I tend to avoid motions that will jar and compress my spine from heel impact. For the most part I do a lot of walking, but too much time upright can also hurt.”

“I understand Trond is repairing your brace. Are you able to sit up or stand at all without it?”

Fayth, SFCMO

Eela nodded and demonstrated this by pushing herself upright and swinging her legs at the same time so she was sitting. Her motions were strained. Then she slid off the biobed and stood, but it was clear as she straightened her spine that she had to tighten her upper back and shoulders in a bid to pull her posture more straight to relieve the pressure on her spine. It was not something she could do for any length of time without causing issues in her neck, shoulders and probably head as well.

~Eela Dasca, Lt. Gov.