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 (48) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
In another few days, the specialist arrived on board for Sisnil’s surgery. The first thing he did was check in with Tessan. Then he wanted to see his patient.

~ Zoi

Dradvia was ordered to page Zoi to sickbay for Cmdr Elbbirt. He’d grilled her thoroughly about what had happened and why he had chosen this options, and gone over everything that was in Sisnil’s file. =/\=Dradvia to Zoi. Report to sickbay.=/\=

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil arrived a short while later. He wasn’t using a support frame anymore, but he was struggling with being blind. Simon was with him, on his shoulder. “What’s up, Dee?”

~ Zoi

Dradvia smiled. She was happy to see him, but the joy was edged with timidity. There was also excitement tempered by worry.

Before she could say anything a human man, older with an air of absolute confidence approached him. “I am Cmdr. Elbbirt Mr. Zoi. I’m here to give you new eyes.” He paused. “The cat has to go. Please give it to En. Dradvia, and we will talk before we get started.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil smiled as he sensed Dee. There was another, unfamiliar presence. He gave Simon to Dee and turned towards Elbbirt. Dee could tell he was nervous, but he was hiding it well. He always did. “What is there to talk about?”

~ Zoi

Dradvia thought hard at Sisnil. She would take Simon to his quarters and be right back.

Elbbirt looked ar him curiously, “I assumed you had questions. How the procedure is done, success rate, rehab, etc.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil shrugged. “I won’t understand how it’s done, and the rest of it you’re likely going to tell me anyway, and either way, I can’t keep being blind, so I don’t have a choice.”

~ Zoi

Elbbirt nodded, “Alright then. I want to do my own exam and double check the measurements. So if you will, up on the biobed please.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil sat on the biobed obediently and waited expectantly for the doctor.

~ Zoi

Elbbirt ran all the same tests and scans that Dradvia had over the last weeks. He came up to the same conclusions.

While he did all of that, Dradvia returned and stood out of the way watching.

When Elbbirt finished he flipped his tricorder closed. “Alright. Ensign,” he looked at Dradvia, “How long will it take to ready the bay for surgery?”

“Half on hour, Sir.”

“Good. I’m going to eat. Get everything ready. We’ll begin in 30 minutes. I suppose,” he said, “you want to observe?”

“Yes, Cmdr. If it’s not a problem,” she tried to sound confident and not intimidated.

Elbbirt nodded and turned to Sisnil, “I will see you in 30 minutes.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil nodded. “Thirty minutes, then...... Sir.” The word sounded so unusual and unnatural coming from Sisnil. He clearly had to force it.

~ Zoi

Elbbirt chuckled. “Just Dr., Mr. Zoi.” He left and the whole medical staff got to work, setting the space up for surgery. Kgnan took Sisnil to change and go through the scrubber. Then he was on the biobed waiting. Dradvia walked over. “How are you feeling?”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“I’m okay,” Sisnil said, not wanting to worry her again. “It’ll be fine, Dee, promise.” He said and smiled.

~ Zoi

“Of course. Cmdr. Elbbirt is an expert in his field. You’ll be fine.” No one else was in the room at the moment. The staff had converted one of the VIP quarters to a temp sickbay and had left. The other surgical staff were scrubbing. Dradvia leaned down and kissed his cheek. “I love you.”

Sisnil smiled. “I love you, too, Dee.”

Kgnan entered shortly after with the nurse that Elbbirt had brought with him. “I have to go scrub and then I’ll be back.” Dradvia was only gone a few minutes, but she felt better knowing Kgnan was with him. Sisnil didn’t trust anyone, but at least Kgnan was familiar.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil was glad there was someone he was familiar with. He waited quietly and patiently.

~ Zoi

Dradvia was back, in her red scrubs, covered from head to toe. She stood by the bed and helped Kgnan place the surgical frame around it. “Cmdr. Elbbirt is scrubbing. He will be in in just…” the doors opened and she looked up. Cmdr Elbbirt walked in. He too was covered from head to toe in red scrubs. “Alright, you all are welcome to observe, but stay out of the way.” He nodded to his nurse who took up a place beside him near Sisnil’s legs. He looked down at Sisnil. “Any last minute concerns or questions before we get started?”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

They were like weird red aliens, all covered up like that. It was unsettling. But Sisnil pushed that away. “No, I’m good.” He said. Empathically he was reaching for Dee, as if holding her hand with telepathy.

~ Zoi

Elbbirt nodded. “Ensign Dradvia, if you would administer the anesthesia.” He set a hand on Sisnil’s shoulder, “You’ll see me in a few hours, Mr. Zoi.” Dradvia squeezed his hand before reaching for the hypo and pressing it gently to his neck. “Count back from 10.”

Sisnil began to count back. He barely reached seven before he was out.

Once Sisnil was out, Dradiva stood across from Cmdr Elbbirt to monitor Sisnil’s vitals and anesthesia medications. He’d never shown any adverse affects to them. She was grateful that Elbbirt had assigned the task to her. It gave her something to focus on.

The nursing staff was a bit put off by Elbbirt bringing his own nurse. As the procedure progressed though, they were grateful. It was extremely complicated. “This part can be disturbing to even the most experienced medical staff. If you think you might become nauseated please step away.”

Elbbirt wasn’t wrong. Minutes later his nurse was holding a sterile tray and Elbbirt was laying one and then the other eye and nerve onto the tray. Elbbirt paused to look at them, and Dradvia did as well. “You said he was poisoned?”

“Yes, Cmdr.” They were… well the imaging didn’t prepare Dradvia for the extent of the damage that was there. It was gruesome.

“By what? I’ve never seen a poison do that.”

Dradvia looked up, “It’s classified, Cmdr. I don’t have permission to say.” Elbbirt nodded with a grunt. “Shrine, left ocular implant please.” The nurse picked up one and handed it over. The rest of the surgery proceeded at a steady pace. Dradvia was grateful that Sisnil didn’t insist she do it. She never would have been able to. Elbbirt was efficient, but even so, the surgery took a while, making sure everything was connected correctly.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

His vitals remained even. Elbbirt had to work around a little remaining damage within the brain, but the healing from the psilosynine procedure was remarkable.

Elbbirt could tell from the way his body reacted that it had been through a lot. He had to be careful, the brain and body seemed overly ready to react to the smallest thing. But he was able to continue and overall the surgery seemed to be going well.

~ Zoi

The proceedure was not more difficult because of the trauma Sisnil had been through, but it did make it longer as Elbbirt had to go slower to make sure he didn’t over load Zoi’s system. He was also afraid to take too long and that trigger a response as well. However the new eyes were attached and the ocipital lobe was recieving nerve impulses sent along the new prosthetic occular nerve. “Nurse Shrine. Administer Basal Tears.”

“Yes, Dr.” The woman picked up a glass bottle and walked around across from Elbbirt and used a dropper to release several drops into the eye cavity before Elbbirt slid the prosthetic eye into place. Then Shrine administered several more around the outside of the eye. Then they repeated the procedure to the left second eye. “Vitals?”

“Within normal ranges and stead, Cmdr.” Dradvia reported. Elbbirt nodded. “Alright, I’m going to make a temporary closure, we’ll test the eyes. If it goes well, we’ll close and then allow him to wake up.” He pointed to the tray holding Sisnil’s biological eyes and looked at Kgnan, “Lt. put those under bioseal and store them.” “Yes, Cmdr.” Kgnan answered. He took the tray and moved over to the table to place the seal around them.

Elbbirt first made sure his tear ducts were still producing their own Basal Tears. Those were made to keep the eye lubricated. Even prosthetics needed those.

Then he triggered the prosthetics to think they had dust on them to ensure the tear ducts would produce reflex tears to protect the new eyes. Emotional tears, well, he could test that, but given the trauma the man had been through, he didn’t want to do that.

Then he sent several impulses through the eye to the ocular nerve to the occipital lobe. Like Dradvia had done to test the lobe when Sisnil was awake, Elbbirt was doing the same. Except he was stimulating the eyes directly to make sure the whole connection was working.

He tested pupil dilation and movement of the eye to track objects. These tests were preliminary of course. Sisnil would need to be able to do these things when he was conscious, but it gave Elbbirt a base line to make sure everything was connected correctly.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Everything seemed to be working well. His natural tears were tinged red with blood, but that was typical during and after a surgery like this. The tests showed the prosthetics should be working perfectly. Elbbirt had chosen well, the eyes looked Betazoid. It was actually pretty cool, they could look however Sisnil wanted them to.

A nurse dried the excess tears running down his face, leaving the areas around the new eyes wet. So far, everything looked good.

~ Zoi

“Alright, Shrine, we’ll close. There isn’t more I can test until he wakes up.” Closing was simple and quick, especially with modern technology. The auto suture did the majority of the work and then the tissue migrator and dermal regenerator healed the incisions within minutes. “Alright Ensign,” he said to Dradvia, “give him 2 mls Terakine for the pain and let him wake up naturally.”

“Yes, Cmdr.” Dradvia administered the Terakine and waited beside the bed while Elbbirt and his nurse went to change. The other medical staff began to clear the surgical equipment and slowly the rest of the staff began to appear. When Elbbirt came back, Dradvia went and changed out of her scrubs and then returned to assist with everything else that was going on in sickbay, but she was never far from his biobed.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

They were done cleaning up by the time the anesthesia wore off and he woke up. He was slow and groggy, and though his eyes opened briefly, he closed them again. “Dee,” he said, able to sense she was near. His voice was quiet and slow. “Did it work?”

~ Zoi

Kgnan took what she had in her hand and nudged her towards Sisnil. “Hey, I’m here.” She slipped her hand into his. “Yeah, the preliminary tests were all good. Cmdr. Elbbirt needs to evaluate you. Keep your eyes closed for now, okay? Kgnan went to get him, and he will be here soon.”

Soon was an understatement. Elbbirt was there half a second past immediately. “Mr. Zoi, you’re awake. I’m sure you are eager to experience the results. Let’s lower the lights to 30% around the whole bay,” he said to a passing nurse. The lights lowered. “Alright, do you want to stay lying down or sit up? Any pain or nausea?”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil nodded. “Headache. Stomach’s queazy.” Sisnil squeezed Dee’s hand. “My eyes feel.... Weird.”

~ Zoi

“Weird how? Too big, too small, too dry, too wer, moving too much, not enough? Weird texture?” Elbbirt asked. He nodded to Dradvia who gave Sisnil a hypo for the queasiness and the pain.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

It took Sisnil several moments to respond. “…I don’t know yet.” He said at last.

~ Zoi

“That’s alright. It’s normal to feel off after the surgery.” Elbbirt patted his shoulder. “I’m going to raise you slightly, just keep your eyes closed.” He didn’t raise him too much, just enough that being flat on his back would not disorient him. “Alright, take your time, once you’re settled from moving open your eyes.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

It was another several moments before he felt well enough. Then his eyes opened. Things looked.... Normal-ish? But weird in a way he couldn’t put his finger on. Though the lights were lowered, they seemed fully bright to him. “I can see,” he said tentatively. He looked at Elbbirt, studying the older man’s face, happy to finally put a face to what felt like a disembodied presence.

~ Zoi

“Hello Mr. Zoi,” Elbert said with a jovial smile. “In a moment, you will probably notice that everything is sharper. Colors, edges, movements. If I turn the lights off, you’ll be able to see perfectly in the dark, and see in full color. Your prosthetic eyes pick up millions of details. Your biological eyes do this, but they filter it, just like your ears do sound. This is usually intense the first few days as the prosthetic learns what your mind is focusing on and what is extra.”

He picked up a head band, “I’m going to set this over your head and monitor the impulses your eyes are relaying. Just look around the room slowly.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Human eyes definitely couldn’t do this. Sisnil was a little disoriented by it all. He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again. There was a moment before his response. “....Okay.”

~ Zoi

“It can be disorienting. It will settle as your brain get used to it.” He held up a single finger. “Follow my finger with your eyes.” He moved on up, down, left and right, then in and out to make sure they were moving correctly.

Sisnil did and the eyes moved smoothly and naturally, well settled into the ocular musculature and brain’s nerves.

“Good. There will be other tests, but for now I just want you to adjust and get used to it. Rest.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil nodded again, a slow and careful movement. He remembered Dee said it was an extensive brain surgery. “Did it...... go well?”

~ Zoi

Elbbirt nodded, “It went extremely well. We had to go a bit slower because of all the recent physical trauma, but I do not foresee any problems. The integration went quite smoothly.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Another long silence. “Hmm. Good.” He took a slow breath, and then, “yeah, echtallin’s like acid. Eats everything away till there’s nothing left.” He elongated the word nothing a little bit.

~ Zoi

The biological eyes, or what was left, had proven that. Elbbirt was amazed Zoi could see even light and bloby shapes. “Well these will certainly help. The eyes are very advanced, but I am keeping them within normal visual ranges right now. Alright, I’m going to let you relax. You may eat if you like. I’ll be back in an hour, unless you need me sooner.” Elbbirt stepped away and then Dradvia stepped closer where he could see her for the first time.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil smiled immediately when he saw her. He was looking right at her, and somehow, she looked familiar yet entirely foreign. Long blonde hair he’d seen a hundred times, now seemed to have more volume, as if he could discerne every last strand as it moved along with her. Deep blue eyes in which he could make out every little fleck of the irises.

And soft, smooth skin, covered by dark lines he’d never noticed before. Or, perhaps, couldn’t see before. He recognized them, though: old scars. He didn’t mention them, nor even make it known they were visible. Instead he just reached for her. “I can see you, Dee.”

~ Zoi

Dradvia’s hand reached for his and she sat on the stool beside him. He could watch the flush rush up her skin, turning it pink. Except he hadn’t done anything to make her blush. All he could feel from her was relief and happiness. Apparently everything he did made her flush. He just couldn’t see it before. “Hi. If I had known I’d be seen, I would have dressed better.” She was teasing him.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil smiled. His speech was still slow like it was hard. “You’re beautiful… Like you are, Dee.”

~ Zoi

Now the flush really hit her. His eyes caught every shade as it raced up her neck and settled hotly on her cheeks. He was talking too slowly. She picked up her tricorder and ran it over him. She waved to Kgnan. “Get Cmdr. Elbbirt.”

She set a hand over his, “There is some swelling that I want him to look at. Are the meds helping the pain and nausea?”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

The tricorder showed swelling in his brain, a reaction to the surgery. It was bad enough to cause symptoms, but there was no sign of bleeding or other complications. “Yeah, it helps.” He said. He seemed tired, and well, drugged. “There’s a purplish color in your blush…” He gave her a weird look. “It’s hard to describe.”

~ Zoi

Elbbirt walked over as Sisnil made that statement. Dradvia’s face flamed even more. The Cmdr had the grace to act like he didn’t notice. “That’s because your eyes pick up more shades along the color spectrum. Your brain is capable of processing them, but the humanoid eye doesn’t detect them.” Dradvia handed him the tricorder. He did another scan himself and then looked at the readings above his biobed. “There is some swelling, but after the prolonged nature of the surgery and his very recent trauma it’s not unexpected. It will go down on its own. Will give you an anti-inflammatory to help. Until then, just take it easy.” Elbbirt prepared a hypo and administered it. “There, anything else I can do?”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil shook his head. He closed his eyes. The headache was getting worse, overwhelmed by sensory input it had grown used to not having. “I’m okay,” he said after a few moments.

~ Zoi

Elbbirt left quietly. Unfortunately, he couldn’t turn the input down anymore than it already was. That was the lowest setting. Rest was what he needed, and giving himself time to adjust.

Dradvia sat beside him. She squeezed his hand. “You will be. You just need to recover. Rest some more, Sisnil. I’ll be here.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil squeezed her hand back. “Okay.” He looked up at her, focusing on her face. “These eyes make things look different. …I think I just got used to being blind.”

~ Zoi

“It will be an adjustment. You got used to being blind. That was only a couple of weeks. You’ve had sight your whole life. Your body will adjust again.” She squeezed his hand assuringly. She knew it was true; she wasn’t worried about that. The way he said things looked different as he looked at her though, scared her. It was what it was. She wouldn’t change him having his sight back.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“My telepathy still feels stronger than usual.” Sisnil commented. He smiled at her, “There’s nothing scary about it. It’s like the doctor said, these eyes just pick up more.”

~ Zoi

“It might always be that way,” Dradvia said of his telepathy. “You’ve learned to rely on just that for a lot since you got hurt. You won’t lose that.” Rather than commenting on how she felt, she deflected. “Just think, that’s on the normal setting. Imagine what you can see if you change it.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil grinned. “That’ll have to wait a little bit.” He said. “You okay, Dee?” He asked.

~ Zoi

She smiled, “Yeah,” and she was. Her constant fear and worry over things was normal for her, so it didn’t really register. “I think, maybe I’m just tired. It’s awful.of me to say, you’ve been through so much recently. But the relief is making me crash a bit, I think.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil smiled again, closing his eyes. “It’s okay, Dee. You care and it’s worrying you. You need to rest, too.” He said gently.

~ Zoi

“I will when you are out of here. You have to promise no more daring do’s for a week.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer