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 Ensign Dradvia (Medical Officer) in So… This Is It
Posted by… suppressed (49) 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

Sisnil squeezed it gently. Then he tugged her towards him and hugged her. “It’s not your fault.” He said gently. Without his sight, his hearing and his telepathy and empathy felt heightened. Yet, he’d been more nervous and didn’t like being left on his own.

~ Zoi

Dradvia hugged him. “Do you want me to walk back with you first?” she asked softly. She knew he was uncomfortable, but she didn’t figure he would want to sit with her and be bored in the office.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil nodded. Even after the hug ended he kept hold of her hand. “Yeah.” He could do that, but he didn’t think she needed him distracting her all day.

~ Zoi

Sisnil would distract her all day no matter what. She found it hard to concentrate as her mind constantly found reasons to think about him. She kind of wanted him to stay, but she figured he would just be bored. She stood up, still holding his hand. “Simon will be happy for the company,” she said as they left.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“He’s bored of my quarters.” Sisnil said. “Do you… Have an office or something?” He had that mischievous look in his eye.

~ Zoi

That look made her flush like a Risian Scarlett Pansy. What… what was he thinking? “Ummm… just the shared office in sickbay.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Space for Simon and I with a PaDD?” He asked. He could use a PaDD with headphones and voice to text. He was grinning. He couldn’t see the flush, but he could feel the emotion behind it.

~ Zoi

“Yes, but it’s small. No where for Simon to climb or play. But there is room to just sit.m,” Dradvia said his grin making her feel flustered and hot.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Oh, fine, my room will do I guess,” he said, shrugging playfully, waiting for her reaction.

~ Zoi

“Oh,” her voice went really soft and her disappointment was palpable. “Okay, whatever you want to do.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Well, Dee,” Sisnil said, elbowing her, “You made it sound like there’s not really space for me.” He grinned, “I want to be there.”

~ Zoi

He could feel her shock and disappointment and distress. She would never want to make Sisnil feel not wanted. She was awful for making him think that. “No! No. No, I just was thinking Simon would get bored if you didn’t bring a toy. I,” she turned red again, “I always have space for you.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil laughed and tugged her toward him again for another hug. “It’s okay, Dee. Let’s get Simon and come back, okay?”

~ Zoi

“Okay.” They went up to deck 4 and got Simon. They didn’t go back to deck 6 though. Instead they got off on deck 5 and made their way to an out of the way, small office. It was designated for the CNS, but since Tessan did both jobs, the medical officers used it when they needed to get files and charts finished.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil found an out of the way spot and sat down with Simon, entertaining the energetic cat with toys, games, and basic commands.

~ Zoi

Dradvia sat down at the desk. It was hard to work because Sisnil playing with Simon was adorable and she just wanted to watch. Harsh discipline had taught her how to focus though. It took a few hours and several calls, but eventually Dradvia was able to arrange for a specialist to come out to the Wolverine to perform the surgery. She leaned back in her seat and arched her back to stretch as she raised her hands up over her head and let out a sigh.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

When she leaned back, he heard the chair move. “What’s up, Dee?” He said as Simon swatted a replicated rubber mouse.

~ Zoi

“Just been sitting at a desk too long for too many days.” She arched her neck from side to side and reached back to rub the tightness out of her shoulder. “Well the good news is there is a specialist, Cmdr Elbbirt, who is willing to come to Wolverine and do the surgery. He needs some very specific measurements though, so we need to head back to sickbay so I can get them and send them off. It’s a 3 day journey out here from where he is. He can’t leave until he gets the measurements.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Okay, let’s go,” Sisnil said eagerly. “Uhm.... We could tie Simon’s leash to something, maybe?”

~ Zoi