Posted Dec. 29, 2019, 8:48 p.m. by Lieutenant Drake Marshall (Emergency Medicine/Chief of Surgery) (Sage Pennington)
Posted by Lieutenant Commander Pilar O’Keefe (Head Nurse) in Otana visits Dr. Marshall
Posted by Lieutenant Drake Marshall (Emergency Medicine/Chief of Surgery) in Otana visits Dr. Marshall
Posted by Lieutenant Commander Pilar O’Keefe (Head Nurse) in Otana visits Dr. Marshall
Posted by… suppressed (9) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Pilar held her daughter’s hand as they walked back into Sickbay, she had scheduled this appointment to see if they had other options to work with besides the therapy. Pilar would do what she could for her daughter and her inner rage just simmered at the thought of what had happened to her.Head Nurse
When the Head Nurse arrived, Drake greeted her and her daughter at the door to his office. “Nurse Pilar. Otana.” He had set up some toys for Otana while he and Pilar talked. Paediatric neurology wasn’t his specialty but a traumatic brain injury like this, he couldn’t let go untreated.
-Dr Drake Marshall, Chief of Surgery
Otana reluctantly sat down at the table to play with the toys. She was in one of her moods where she was vascilating between angry and crying. She was easily frustrated and didn’t really want to listen to Pilar’s directions, but reluctantly did so. Pilar sat down with her coworker “Well, welcome to my world.” She said “Have you had a chance to read through the files from the pediatrician?” She asked thinking about the notes that Ally had made prior to leaving the ship.
Head Nurse
“I have.” Drake said. “I don’t know if she went through the file with you and your husband, or if you read it yourself. The diagnosis is lesions on the temporal lobe as a result of TBI.” Drake was using as much medical speak as he could. Better, in his mind, for Otana to not understand than to be frightened. “I’ve been considering possibilities within my specialty. I have a possibility in mind. I could excise the lesions, and use a regenerator to restore healthy tissue to those areas. Using a tissue regenerator on grey matter is somewhat… experimental. But it could work.”
-Dr Drake Marshall, Chief of Surgery
“And if it doesn’t?” She asked “What are the complications from that?” She asked
Head Nurse
“She could continue down the road she’s on.” Drake said. “The possibility is that the tissue I regenerate won’t function properly. The same way the tissue damaged by the lesions do. If the cells are not as… open to new growth as I hope, it might leave us back here. What I’m relying on is that her brain is so young. It’s still growing anyway. A little nudge from a tissue regenerator to grow healthy cells, might not be a problem. A warning; the person who goes into the OR, and the person who leaves will be different. I’m confident that this will work.”
-Dr Drake Marshall, Chief of Surgery
Pilar sighed “I know that Dr. Marshall. It’s just different when it’s your own child.” She said “I’m hoping you can understand that. I will need to talk to my husband as well.” She said.
Head Nurse
“Of course. But Nurse Pilar, I highly recommend proceeding with treatment.” Drake stood up and rounded his desk. “There’s no way to be certain how symptoms will progress as she gets older.”
-Dr Drake Marshall, Chief of Surgery
Pilar nodded “I understand Dr. Marshall. I’ll speak with my husband this evening and get his input.” She said looking out at her daughter sitting at the small table coloring. She sighed, since her diagnosis, Pilar had not slept well. She kept dreaming and thinking about what had happened to her daughter and blaming herself because it was her actions in the first place all those years ago that had led to that moment.
Head nurse
“What would be the other options that we have?” She asked wanting to know all of her options.
Head Nurse
“Medication. Extensive therapy. There are a few medications that might stimulate her frontal lobe to function normally. Or closer to it. The thing is, as she gets older, it’s going to get harder for her to empathise with others. This, to her, is normal. She is going to start wondering why everyone is acting like she’s different. It’s up to the shrinks to guess what she’ll do.’
Pilar looked at Marshall, she trusted him, however, she also didn’t want to expose her daughter to surgery if it was possible for her to avoid it. “Let’s start with medication and therapy.” She said “I’ll discuss the surgical options with my husband tonight after I get home from work.” She said already thinking how she was going to present it to Derrick without freaking him out.
Head Nurse
Drake walked over to his office replicator. He produced a two bottles. He handed them one by one to Pilar. “A diuretic, to clear any fluid out of the tissue. Next, clobazam. She’s at risk of seizure, and it should help with mood control too. Dr Darren should be able to set her up with therapy.”
-Dr Drake Marshall, Chief of Surgery
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