A Little Trip to Medical
Posted on Sat Feb 13th, 2021 @ 5:08pm by Lieutenant Gunnar Arnason & Lieutenant Veaya Zai
1,278 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Frizzle
Location: Hospital
"He'll be fine," Gunnar said as he carried the puppy out of the exam room, stroking gently from head to back to calm the poor guy.
"Buddy!" the boy cried, reaching for his dog, who wiggled with excitement at being returned to 'his' human as Gunnar carefully transferred him to the boy's hold.
The boy's mother gave him a Look.
"Thank you for taking care of Buddy, Lt. Arnason," he told Gunnar dutifully.
Gunnar smiled. "My pleasure." It was the truth. He loved animals. In fact, among the reasons he hadn't followed his father into veterinary medicine was that so many animals were frightened of vets. Ironically, since coming to the colony here he'd wound up occasionally treating pets and livestock as well as sentient beings, but he had learned how to handle animals from the best (in a loyal son's opinion of course) and it was gratifying. "Now, I didn't completely close the wound because we want the dew claw to grow back, so you're going to have to keep it clean and keep him from tearing around so much for at least few days while it heals. Think you can do that?"
"Yes, sir."
The reply and nod were so solemn that Gunnar had to press his lips against an amused smile. "Good. Nurse Qasa will give you some bandages and instructions. Feel free to comm me if you have any questions."
Maybe he'd send home for one of Laika's puppies he thought as they left. The posting here was only supposed to be temporary, but they'd had three CMOs come and go in just the short time he'd been here, which had extended his stay each time. It was starting to feel like fate.
Putting the thought aside, he went back to his regular rounds.
Veaya was pretty sure it was nothing and she hated to bother medical when she saw that they had no one in the duty roster for the chief medical officer but she was sure she needed some help this time. Her run around the colony that morning had gone from good to bad in under a second after tripping over and knocking her shoulder.
A he saw the boy and his dog out, Gunnar saw someone come in. She had that hesitancy he was all too familiar with - someone who needed care but was lost as to who to ask and maybe a wee bit embarrassed at having to ask at all.
"Hello," he said, coming over. "Do you need a medic?"
Veaya nodded holding tightly to her shoulder to stop it moving. “I tripped.” She said hopelessly embarrassed that she had done that when she was the height of physical perfection. Her last fitness and medical tests had confirmed it.
"Happens to the best of us," Gunnar remarked with a smile, and gestured toward a biobed. "If you'll come over here, I can take a look at it."
The Security Chief nodded. "I do not know what I tripped over but it is not like me at all." Maybe she was coming down with something? Or maybe not enough sleep? She was never going to admit she was purely clumsy.
Gunnar suppressed a chuckle as he turned to set up the medical scan. People got so embarrassed about minor mishaps, which took nothing to fix, but never about serious injuries from things that were truly stupid. "I never judge a patient by a mishap," he assured. "I've had more than enough of them myself."
"Appreciate it," Veaya said with a strained smiled. "I do not think we have been introduced. I would shake your hand but..." She left the fact she was gripping her arms to her side unsaid. "I am Veaya Zai, the new Chief of Security."
"Pleased to meet you, and welcome." Gunnar nodded as ran a medscanner over her shoulder. "I'm Gunnar Arnason, the acting CMO. No worries about not shaking hands, it looks like you have a sprain affecting the ligaments near your acromion - the top part your shoulder blade," he explained as he picked up a dermaplaser to treat it, and smiled at her. "You'll be happy to know it's actually a common injury in athletes. I've had a couple of these myself from being ...less than graceful... in a sport. Not to mention having to have an entire shoulder reconstructed, basically for being an idiot."
“That is not as bad as I thought it might have been from a fall.” She admitted relaxing just a little if it was possible when someone was in as much pain as she was. She was sure that a phaser wound was easier.
"I'm glad," Gunnar said, checking his work with another scan before putting away his instruments. "Shoulder injuries can be painful even when they're minor. Now, you'll want to do some gentle stretches in the morning and avoid heavy lifting for the next few days, but otherwise you should be back to normal." He paused a moment, picking up his PaDD. "Since you're new, I took the liberty of running a baseline exam, so we can consider this your medical check in exam too. Before I sign off, are there any questions or concerns about your health?"
“Nothing other than my shoulder killing.” She assured quickly rolling her shoulder quickly before she remembered she needed to take thing gently. “Does rifle training count as training?” It was the only thing she potentially had in diary that could be counted as heavy lifting.
Arnason shook his head, containing a chuckle. It was his own fault for not specifying - he really should know better by now. "Phaser rifles don't have much of a kick but I've never fired one without bracing it on a shoulder, so I'm going to say, yes, that counts. So do jo sticks, bat'leths, axe throwing, grappling, hand-to-hand, and any other exercise involving force and/or rapid movement and that shoulder."
“Well that leaves me with nothing to do. How very boring of you temporary chief medical officer.” Veaya said with a bit of a smile to prove that she was joking. She only see bat'leths and axe throwing on weekends. It was would be very boring until she could do things again it seemed.
"I'm sure there's a ton of paperwork for a new CSO to catch up on - not that I blame you for looking for anything else at all to do," he replied with a chuckle. "Personally, I can't wait to go back to doing more medical work than paperwork. But if you want approved exercise, there are some decent hiking and jogging trails around the colony."
"Everyone keeps mentioning those jogging trails. It's actually where I was today." She admitted. She had not said how far she had come but it had been a good run before she had messed up.
"Ah. Sorry." Gunnar ducked his head, slightly embarrassed at having unknowingly suggested exactly the thing that had caused the injury. "There's a gym in the Starfleet housing complex," he suggested. "Plenty of options that should be safe - stationary bikes, stair-steppers, kick bags."
"Will have to have a look. The house I've got was Winslow's and it has a few options - he was definitely the kick bag type of man." She mused slowly standing up testing her shoulder for pain or lack of movements. It rolled okay slowly but time would tell how slowly she needed to take it all.
"Very good then. We do have facilities for physical therapy if you have any issues later," Gunnar said, closing out her chart. "I hope the rest of your time here goes more smoothly."
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