| Wading Through Blood - Part Two |
| Summary: | Lt. Duncan is rushed up to surgery, where his injuries are laboriously repaired and questions arise. |
| Date: | 17 Feb 2042 AE |
| Related Logs: | Takes place immediately after Wading Through Blood |
| Players: |
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| Sickbay - Deck 10 - Battlestar Cerberus |
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| Being able to accommodate combat casualties requires room, and the Sickbay has it. Beds line each side of the room with privacy curtains strung up and readily available. Large vaulted lockers hold access to the supplies at the far end of the area. Nearer the front, a Petty Officer sits ready to dispense simple items like ibuprofen and aspirin. Further to the rear is an area prepped twenty-four hours a day for emergency surgery. To the side are a set of double doors that lead to the Recovery Ward where patients can recuperate. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #356 |
The operating room is all ready prepped and waiting for them upon arrival. The gurney is passed over to the anesthesiologist, nurses, and surgical assistants who swallow Wade up like a flock of seagulls, calling out blood pressure levels, heart rates, attaching monitors and supportive devices to him as the door closes behind them. Turning to Circe, Cameron orders, "Get scrubbed up, I'll meet you in there…" and then Cameron turns to do the same, getting into a fresh pair of gloves and a new surgical gown before heading into the operating room to assess the damage.
And Wade…is knocked out. KTHX.
Marko dutifully escorts Wade down to Medical and finds a place to sit while the pilot's wheeled into surgery. A passing Corpsman notices the ECO's flight suit, face and neck has a fair amount of Drip's blood on it and tosses him a towel to clean himself up with.
The ominous feeling settles over her as Cameron turns directly to look at her. The EMT had never gone past those doors, there had never been a need. She moves off to the side and follows suit, pulling off the bloodied top and tossing it aside in exchange for the tank tops beneath. Circe draws a long breath and wets her lips as she scrubs up her arms and hands having deposited the old gloves she used on the deck.
She grabs a scrub top and pulls it on, mask on next and her hair is pulls down over her hair. She steps in after the doctor.
It's a tough call. The hand is a mess. Hades, it barely resembles a hand any more. But the arm is what concerns Cameron the most. That's the most likely source of Wade just bleeding out. The head wound has clearly already been treated and angrily Cameron rumbles, "What frakkin' idiot sent a pilot with a head wound out in a Viper?!" His eyes lift to the nurses, instructing, "Stabilize the hand as best you can, we're going to get the shrapnel out of his arm. I want to get the bleeding there stopped and make sure no major arteries are damaged before taking anything else on." The bandages are in the process of being removed, the wounds irrigated as Cameron asks, "What kind of shrapnel are we looking at here, Circe? Metal from the cockpit? Was he pinned at all?"
At his sudden yell of who cleared him, Circe is thankfully behind a mask. Otherwise he might have seen her pale just a little bit more. Her eyes watch what the nurses do and then clears her throat as she steps up and nods her head. "The pilot was not pinned in, it should be all metal shrapnel. The canopy was left untouched." The medic explains and she looks down at Drips. "Doctor what can I do to help?" She asks him, not wanting to get in the way of any of the staff.
Marko waits outside, pacing back and forth nervously until one of the corpsmen points him rather sternly in the direction of an out of the way chair. It isn't a request.
"Pay attention, answer my questions, I'll tell you when I need your help," is Cameron's directive, eyes narrowing as he instructs, "Get the saline, I need you to rinse the wound so I can see what I'm doing here…" Picking up a pair of surgical pliers, Cameron notes to Circe, "Pay attention," before he instructs the assistant next to him, "Clamp off those arteries there…." and once that's done he moves in to push aside muscles and tendons, finding the first bit of shrapnel and carefully removing it, a clatter hitting the pan that a nurse automatically places next to him without being asked. "We'll get all the shrapnel out first, then repair the damaged blood vessels and muscle tissue…"
Circe does that, she stands slightly behind the doctor and she lifts the pan, holding it out on her own accord closer for the Doctor to place the pieces in. From overtop her mask, tepid green eyes study the knocked out form of the pilot. Frakking idiot. She would slug him if he was awake, but at this point its not going to do much. She sighs and clears her throat, watching as they clamp off arteries and administer the saline drip to the IV she had inserted.
The process is slow and laborious, Cameron not taking any chances on leaving anything behind that might lead to a staff infection. Only once he's absolutely certain that the arm is clear does he start the careful process of repairing damaged muscle tissue and compromised blood vessels, taking the clamps off one at a time, making sure that there is no leaking before moving on to the next. Throughout the process he keeps Circe working the saline, letting her know when she needs to move and rinse. A nurse dabs at the seat on his brow as his eyes lift and he asks, "You think you feel confident enough that you can close his arm up?" It's just stitches, but still, she needs to be alert while she works to make sure nothing was missed and to do a good job to keep the flesh from scarring in a manner that would be binding.
Marko taps his foot impatiently as he watches the clock waiting for Wade to come out of surgery. Having nothing better to do and too wired on adrenalin to relax, he opens his kneeboard and starts going through his notes from the last CAP.
As she continues to do as he asks of her with the saline, Circe herself is sweating. She draws a long breath and keeps a close eye on what Cameron does. It's so long, it seems forever and Wade does not look right laying there like that. Finally the medic blinks, as if coming out of a heavy trance, feeling the weight of exhaustion.
She starts to answer but her throat is dry and she clears it. "Yes…yes I can." She says and looks at the stitches on his brow. "I can do it." she assures the doctor.
"Fine. Close him up then while I move on…" Course he gives one of the nurses a nod, the woman nodding in turn and standing close by Circe, should she get into any trouble. Next up? The hand. This… this will be tricky. Right now it looks more like a bloody pulp with digits than a proper hand. It doesn't take Cameron long to remove the shrapnel, but it does take him a long time to essentially rebuild muscles and nerves and flesh, pulling it all back together stitch by careful stitch, noting idly, "Well… at least he didn't lose any fingers. Damn lucky frakker…. I think the nerves will actually heal without too many complications…" But of course, time will tell. An hour goes by before Cameron lowers his tools and studies his work closely. He's done the very best he can to ensure that the pilot will regain full use of his hand, though it will always bear some heavy scarring. But if he follows through on the physical therapy, he should be able to negate any ill effects by keeping his hand well stretched. Cameron chooses to personally wrap the hand in turn, spacing the digits to keep them spread and straight to avoid any curling of the hand or shrinking of the muscle tissue. Wiping his brow again, he takes a deep breath and lets it out. "Alright everybody, good work. I think he's done for now. We'll see how he fares from here…" Drawing back as the nurses attend to getting Wade out of surgery and into recovery, Cameron turns to Circe and notes, "I want his charts now. I want to know why the hell he was in a viper instead of resting in sickbay."
Marko keeps going through plotted positions, double checking his math with the calculator he keeps with him. "Well, this is about as exciting as watching paint peel." he sighs grumpily. "No, don't send somebody out to let me know what his condition is…I mean, that'd just be sensible.."
Drawing a long breath, she reminds herself of how she took care of his head wounds, having stitched them the previous night. She gets the items ready, fingers curling around the needle as she starts at the top to allow the Doctor more room to work. Insert and tie off before she begins to carefully go down the lacerations.
Her hand trembles a moment and then she draws a breath, letting it out slowly - very slowly. Her hand starts to ease and her muscles relax enough that she can continue her work. Eyes narrow and she leans closer, leaning over her work as her other hand guides down, making sure to wipe and clean as she goes any fresh blood.
Glancing over at Circe, Cameron notes, "Looks good. Get him bandaged up. I want an IV on him and monitors running as well as another blood transfusion. His BP is still lower than I would like. I'll meet you in recovery…" Stepping out of the operating room, Cameron lowers his mask and looks around, somewhat surprised to see Marko still waiting. Drawing over to the man, Cameron notes, "He's out of surgery, but still in serious condition." One of the nurses passing by hands Cameron the chart he requested, which he skims over, frowning before asking, "Can you tell me, why was he flying today when he was suffering from a head wound only two days old? Who cleared him for anything more than light duty??"
"Because we're kind of up to our asses in snapping alligators, Doc." Marko replies, wincing a little as the subject of Wade's head wound comes up. "I guess he figured he could be of better use in a cockpit than in sick bay."
As she ties off the last stitch, Circe draws her hands back and she requests the gaze and bindings. She begins from the top again and is almost halfway done wrapping the stitched arm when she hears his question. The paperwork he has will eventually show her signature and Wade's as well. She clears her throat and offers this information up before he can find it himself. "Sir, I cleared Lieutenant Duncan for duty." She doesn't look up from her work, just keeps doing it but it is obvious the EMT is waiting for the reprimand.
Frowning, Cameron notes, "He could have gotten himself killed. He could have gotten his fellow pilots killed." Lifting his gaze to Marko, Cameron is surprisingly calm. But then he's had time to think about the matter while he rebuilt Wade's hand. And of course he can't help but remember a certain promise he made to a certain Lieutenant. "I understand that you need all the pilots you can muster, but when the medical staff assigns a patient to 'light duty', we're not doing it out of some whim. We're doing it because we prefer it if you stay alive so you can continue in turn to help all of us stay alive." He closes the file and notes, "I'm going to have to report this. Please let your fellow pilots know that Wade should be able to have visitors in a few hours after he recovers from the anesthesia, but that he is still in serious condition and is not to do anything other than rest. Understood?"
"Copy that, Doc. I'll pass the word." Marko says standing and wincing as the motion sets of some rather unsettling, if perfectly normal creaks and pops from his knees. You try sitting for half a day in a cramped ECO station and see how much your knees like it?
She moves then to bind the hand next, wrapping it carefully and finishing up. She steps back and lets the nurses take care of the rest before she steps out of the room after rolling off her gloves and tossing them into the trash can. She pushes outward and draws off her mask as she sees Cameron stand there. Circe lets the mask then hang against the scrub top she had chosen, some blood marring along her arms and against the cloth. She looks from the doctor then to Marko.
"Thank you for your assistance… and for staying to learn about Lieutenant Wade's condition. I’ll keep you posted on any changes." And with that Cameron turns and takes a closer look at the file in his hands. His eyes lift to find Circe standing there, one brow lifting as he raises the report and notes dryly, "Looks like you and I need to talk…"
Marko winces a little as Cameron turns to face Circe, giving the woman a sympathetic look and a discreet thumb's up before pivoting on his heel to go find the rest of the wing and pass the word
She has the scrubs off and over her head as she meets Cameron's stern gaze. She slows and gazes at the file, part of the name seen. "Yes.." She says without a flinch. She swallows though and moves to deposit the mask and top to be cleaned. Circe looks to Marko and gives a slow nod of her head before she waits for Cameron to direct her where he wants.
Gesturing with one hand, Cameron walks off into one of the empty exam rooms before turning around and facing Circe. "Explain," he all that he says, one brow lifting as if to say, 'And this better be good…'
Following after Cameron, she draws a deep breath and falls to the position of at east attention. Her hands clasped behind her, the corpsman looks at Cameron and answers him. "The Lieutenant took his leave while drugged. I hadn't checked the meds with the doctors on staff as they had their hands full with all the other pilots coming in. I gave him basic naproxen and he slept." She pauses, then continues. "He left while I was off duty. I came back to find him gone and no one else had noticed. I didn't send any MP's after him but instead saw him on the flight deck that night and had him come down to look at his paperwork." She keeps her eyes on the doctor. "I had him sign it and I released him. He was by all means fit to fly in the standards we have now, Doctor. This is warday." She intones.
"This is war, not warday," Cameron corrects mildly as he listens to Circe's report. Opening the file again, Cameron studies the information before noting, "You should have reported this to Dr. Ryder and gotten his okay. Personally I wouldn't have released him for duty, but he was not my patient at the time and it was not my call. However, as an EMT, it is also not your decision whether a patient is fit or not to be released from Sickbay. In the future, please consult with the doctor on duty before doing so." Closing the file, Cameron takes a breath and then shrugs. "That is all." Stepping past Circe, he pauses at the doorway and glances back. "You did good today. You were calm, focused. Keep it up."
"I noted what as known at the time." She explains. "I will amend the file and leave it for you to okay." She offers and as he turns to go, Circe slowly follows his path. Her green gaze follows with a slow span and study. "Thank you, I will get those texts you gave me." Hopefully most are on the Cerberus. "I look forward to seeing Elpis as well." She smiles softly and nods her head finally to Cameron. "Thank you, for taking the time to instruct me." The Corpsman remains standing where she is, easing out of her stance as she lets out some of her tension that had built up during the procedure.
"It isn't the data that is the problem. Next time remember that only the patient's qualifying surgeon can decide when they are or are not okay to be released from Sickbay." He doesn't offer Circe a smile in return, just a nod of his head and a low, "You're welcome," before he heads off to see if there are any other patients requiring his attention.