Ensign Leenaya Edrei - Crushing guilt

[TAma]

I've been so impressed with @Leenaya Edrei's writing and her first patient loss is no exception so I wanted to share this excellent medical sim from our newest doctor! (Also we found this guy in the rubble, so I'm sad he didn't make it.)

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((OOC: Warning - Discussion of injuries and death))

(( Level 42, Moon base, Paldor II ))

Edrei: This room’s safe. Maybe we should prepare it for patients while some make sure the surroundings are safe too? And that way we can start finding survivors, too.

Shepherd: We should divide into teams and check the surrounding hallways for unwanted visitors. While they don’t seem to appear on screen, ::Motioning to the cracked PADD she happened to be holding.:: there might be some cloaked individuals lingering about.

Kel:  ::mumbling::  Um No.  

Edrei: ::shrugging:: If needed, I can start to set up the equipment myself.

Is’Kah: Sir, Twenty-five seconds until I can beam that patient over.

Kel: Dr. Edrei when the patient arrives let's get a cortical stimulator on them right away.  I'll get some hypercoagulin ready.

Starlyn: Responses

Edrei: Understood.

She nodded and refrained from letting a long breath out. It was good to finally get into the action after the delay they’d taken. Lee just hoped that it wasn’t too late for their patient yet, and in her mind she started to go over the protocol for critical patients again. It was one she knew by heart at that point, but it was the only way she could find not to mark the seconds and feel the weight of waiting to settle in.

Shepherd: We should begin searching for survivors in upper levels, deactivate what remains of the security system and potentially find a way to download their database. We might find some answers to the attack there.

Kel:  ::looking at Shepherd, annoyed::  No.  

Is’Kah: Commander Kel, perhaps Ensign Shephard should finish setting up the medical equipment while Commander Starlyn and I start search and rescue operations on this floor. Also, do you want the system set to transport tagged wounded automatically?

Kel:  :: looking at Is'Kah::  I said No!

Focused, she had barely paid attention to the conversation, but Kel’s tone made her jump. It was the first time she saw him angry.

Starlyn: Responses

Shepherd: Let’s move.

She winced at the Science officer’s words. If Kel hadn’t liked their earlier comments, he might not like this one either.

Kel:  Ensign Shepherd stop!  We are not going anywhere. ::looking at each member of the group, calming his voice:: Our mission is to help the wounded, other people are doing search and rescue.  If we try to do two things at once we'll do both jobs poorly.

She couldn’t help but still feel a bit frustrated that there might be survivors they wouldn’t be able to reach in time. She knew however that he was right, and that their focus had to be entirely on the patients that did make it where they were.

Is’Kah: Commander Kel, are you ready for the wounded? The transporter is ready to begin operations.

Kel: ::looking at Is'Kah:: Yes get them here.  ::looking at Edrei::  Ready with the cortical monitor?

She nodded, and an instant later the blue haze of the transporter brought them the first survivor the other away team had found. Both doctors hurried at his side, Leenaya putting the neurocortical monitor on him while Kel was busy was the hypercoagulin.

Kel:  Edrei I'll be right back, make an assessment of our new friend.

Edrei: On it.

She barely saw him leaving, her eyes riveted on the brain waves patterns she was analyzing. The Betazoid didn’t need to wait for the whole analysis to notice they weren’t as strong as she would like, and spent no time in turning the cortical stimulator on. While it worked, she did a complete scan of the man with her tricorder, which showed several internal injuries. They definitely were the reason for his hemorrhage, even though his external injuries weren’t pretty to look at either.

Kel:  Commander Starlyn, let's get Khiray back to the Chin'toka.  Coordinate with Rox  ((OOC - feel free to tag Rox if desired.)).  ::looking at Shepherd and Is'Kah::  Get some cots set up and see what you can do to sanitize the area.

Edrei: ::quietly, to the man:: See, the bleeding has already slowed a little. Now, should we take care of the rest?

It was maybe weird to talk to an unconscious patient, but it was a way for her to stay focused while she worked. She got the anabolic protoplaser out to try and treat his internal hemorrhage, first focusing on his brain.

Shepherd/Starlyn: Response

Is’Kah: Aye, sir.

Kel:: Don't leave this room.

Edrei: ::quietly, to the man:: Come on, you’re doing great.

Shepherd/Edrei/Starlyn: Response

She was Kel coming back and kneeling next to her, starting a plasma drip into the survivor.

Kel:  What do we know?

Edrei:  Internal hemorrhage, primarily from the collapsed left lung due to rib fractures. He’s also bleeding from the spleen and cerebral hemorrhage. EEG readings show slight improvement but neurological function remains suboptimal.

“Suboptimal” was an understatement. The man was a mess. She wasn’t even sure the man would regain full neurological functions when she got the cerebral hemorrhage under control.

Kel:  Alright,  Inaprovaline and then keep an eye on him.  This synthetic plasma should help.

She nodded as thanks and focused back on the protoplaser, trying to stop the extensive bleeding. Holding it with one hand, she used the other to get a hypo of Inaprovaline which she quickly injected.

Kel:  Commander Starlyn, see to this woman and her children.  Is'Kah, Shepherd see to the others.

She peered up at Kel’s words, seeing the numerous injured people that had come in. By the Four, they were going to have lots of work to do. She turned her attention back to the man, who seemed to be growing paler by the second. Sweat was starting to run down her back and she looked at the plasma drip in anxiousness. It didn’t seem to be enough.

Is'Kah/Shepherd/Starlyn: Response

Kel:  Status?  Who needs help?

Is'Kah/Shepherd/Starlyn: Response

She barely registered someone’s calling for Kel’s assistance as she got another hypo of hypercoagulin into the officer again and worked to repair the internal bleeding as fast as she could.

Kel:  He's got severe internal injuries. ::sighing::  Let me see what I can do.

She gave another anxious glance at her tricorder. The patient’s clotting factors remained stubbornly low, and he was losing blood faster than plasma could compensate, causing his blood pressure to fall to dangerous levels.

Edrei: Someone get me some blood units!

Is'Kah/Shepherd/Starlyn: Response

Each second waiting for the blood felt stretched into minutes as she watched his condition decline before her eyes.

She barely got the much-needed units in her hands when the man’s shallow breaths stopped. She felt like the whole world stopped at this moment, and she tossed back the blood to whoever had handed it to her and tried to look for a pulse—nothing. She didn’t know who was next to her, and she didn’t care at that moment. She would not let him die on her, even though she felt her hope dwindle more and more.

Edrei: Hook up the blood! Now!

Is’Kah/Shepherd/Starlyn/Kel: Responses

She checked on the cortical stimulator and administered 10ccs of cordrazine before pressing on the blood unit to accelerate the transfusion. The seconds dragged on, and when she saw it had no effect, she felt helplessness rise within her. She wanted to scream, to tear something apart.

As a last resort, she started performing CPR, even though she knew it was useless when there was so much internal bleeding. She massaged his chest for what felt like hours, unwilling to give up, before seeing the EEG flatline. She collapsed back onto the floor, her head hanging low, her body numb with shock.

Edrei: No…

Is’Kah/Shepherd/Starlyn/Kel: Responses

It was the first time one of her patients died under her care. She was responsible for this. The guilt was already crushing Lee, making her replay every moment and every decision she’d taken. She was furious at herself and at the fact they’d arrived too late.

Edrei: ::angry:: We should’ve gotten here sooner. Had we done so, maybe he’d still be alive!

She tried to speak as quietly as she could despite her frustration, not to alarm the other patients who were in the room.

Is’Kah/Shepherd/Starlyn/Kel: Responses

She suddenly felt very hollow, and if she had listened to herself, she would have been curled up on the floor crying over the officer's death. But there were other people here, and she didn’t have the luxury of breaking down right now. She slowly got up and fought back against the tears in her eyes.

Edrei: Let’s transport him to the Chin’toka’s morgue and move on.

Is’Kah/Shepherd/Starlyn/Kel: Responses