Posted by Civilian Sisnil Zoi (Intelligence Consultant) in So… This Is It

Posted by Ensign Dradvia (Medical Officer) in So… This Is It

Posted by Civilian Sisnil Zoi (Intelligence Consultant) in So… This Is It
Posted by… suppressed (30) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
“Okay,” she yawned and put the half eaten cracker in her hand back down. She was awake for awhile longer. Once she finally did fall asleep it was well past the 24 hour mark. She slept alright for the first few hours. Too many memories intruded on her in her dreams to sleep all night.

The next few days were typical. Dradvia had a couple of days off which allowed her to feel more like herself before returning to work. It was the third day after Sisnil’s procedure, and she woke him to ask if he wanted to go with her. She figured he was eager to get the results.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil of course enthusiastically agreed. He was getting around without the support frame, if slowly, and he was having to be reminded not to start pushing too hard too quickly. His telepathy and empathy had returned. Functionally, his vision had not improved, so he was anxious to hear the results.

~ Zoi

Dradvia had Sisnil lay back on a biobed and rolled several pieces of equipment up to him. They took neurol synapsis images, did a complete exam of his ocular system, and brain imaging to begin with.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

The surgery had healed perfectly, his paracortex was flawless and his psilosynine production was normal. His ocular cortex had healed a lot because of the procedure, it still had damage, but was healed enough to facilitate sight.

The problem was the ocular nerve. While his physical eyes were fine, the ocular nerve had healed… As much as it was going to. Which was why his sight hadn’t improved. The brain could process the signals it received, but the signals it received were still the problem.

~ Zoi

“Sisnil, I want to try something before we go further and start discussing what’s going on. I just want all the information first, okay?” She knew he could read her thoughts. She wasn’t devistated, she was actually thrilled by the results, but also a bit disappointed and frustrated. She picked up a device and set it over his head like a pair of safety goggles. “Just a slight stick to the back of your head. Like having a single hair pulled out.” There was the sensation and then she tapped on the controls of her console. “Alright, open your eyes and tell me what you see.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

There was a little prick. He almost didn’t feel it. “Nothing,” he said at first. He peered harder. “What am I supposed to see?”

“Not anything in particular. I am just testing how the signals are sent and processed now.”

According to her test, the nerves weren’t functioning correctly, there was no correct signal to send to the ocular lobe. Everything was processed through a nerve too damaged to do its job.

~ Zoi

Dradvia adjusted the machine. It picked up the signal from his eyes and then transferred the signal through the device filament and directly into Sisnil’s occipital lobe.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Uh,” Sisnil said, and then stopped himself. “Wait, no. Nothing. What does that mean?”

~ Zoi

Dradvia made a few more adjustments with the same non-result. “Okay, so it appears that the signal isn’t getting through. I’m going to stimulate the occipital lobe. So you will think you are seeing an image, but it isn’t really there. It’s disorienting, but it will help me pinpoint where the problem is. Tell me what image you see.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Uh.. a cup.” He said. It was disorienting, but he needed to focus.

~ Zoi

Dradvia showed him a second picture.

“A ship.”

And then a third.

“A land vehicle.”

Then she cycled through them for a moment with a randomized pattern so he couldn’t guess.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

The test showed the psilosynine procedure had worked to repair his ocular lobe, and that was functional. He could answer what the pictures were.

~ Zoi

“Alright, no more pictures. I need to do one more scan.” She gently removed the ocular device and then did a deep scan of his eyes and ocular nerve. She needed to see where the impulses were being lost or she suspected, incorrectly formed from the eye. That would make his options much more limited.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

She was right. The poison had damaged his eyes. Internal structures of the eye looked almost eroded away in the same way as the ocular nerve.

~ Zoi

Dradvia took a breath and then came around to sit in front of him. “There is bad news and good news.” She was surprisingly calm inside and out. “The bad news is the damage to your optic nerve eroded away too much. The Psilosynine can only repair what is there. The echtallin ate away too much of it. Your eyes aren’t creating healthy signals, and the nerve is too damaged to send them.”

“The good news is, the Psilosynine completely repaired your occipital lobe. It can recieve and interpret the signals. So what we have to do, is get those signals to the lobe.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil frowned. “So what are we going to do?” He asked. There was a note of… Uncertainty, perhaps? in his voice he couldn’t hide. He was worried.

~ Zoi

“You have 2 options. The first option is a pair of glasses that pair with a receiver. The receiver is a small filament inserted into the lobe. The glasses have cameras and they send the images picked up by the cameras to the filament. It runs on radio signals. The downside is it isn’t intuitive. If you move your eyes, the image doesn’t change. You have to move your head and there is no Peripheral vision.”

“The second option is prosthetic eyes and nerves. Your vision would be greater than humanly possible. You could see things not possible with the naked eyes. We would remove your eyes and nerves and replace it with cybernetic parts. This requires intense brain surgery and the recovery and adaptation process is longer. The implants are also remotely programmed and maintained rather than directly.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“So either something that might allow me to work a tablet but my intel time would be over, fleet or otherwise, or intensive brain surgery and prosthetics.” Sisnil lifted his brows. “Some choice, huh?”

~ Zoi

Dradvia nodded even though he couldn’t see it. “The 3rd option is to do nothing. The path to either option isn’t great, but the results, I think, would be worth it.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Yeah, do nothing, that’ll be great,” he huffed sarcastically, and then reached for her hand. “Sorry.” He took a deep breath, “the only realistic choice is the prosthetics. I can’t use a flimsy medical device that’ll leave me largely unable to protect myself.” Or you, he thought without adding it aloud.

~ Zoi

“The first option really isn’t a great one, but for people who don’t want invasive surgery, it works for them. If you want the prosthetics, I will see who we can get. It isn’t a surgery I can perform. You need a specialist.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil nodded. He wished she could, but he understood the limitations of one doctor’s knowledge. “What will happen? They won’t send me away somewhere, will they?”

~ Zoi

She sighed, “I don’t know. The starbase we left has the facility and staff that can do it. The specialist might come here. Cmdr Morris could make the request to have rhem here if you ask him.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil chuckled. “Morris will love that.” He said. “Okay, let’s do it. It’s the only real choice.”

~ Zoi

Dradvia nodded. “Alright, you’re done.” She took his hand. “I’m sorry the news wasn’t better.” She felt like it was her fault. That she missed something or didn’t do something right. “I’ll get started on finding someone. I’ll let you know what I find out.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer