STF

Side sim: Matters of the Heart

Posted July 28, 2022, 8:06 p.m. by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) (Lucas Foxley)

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: Matters of the Heart

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: Matters of the Heart

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: Matters of the Heart
Posted by… suppressed (11) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
That really bothered Rand, that people weren’t being warned, but Randy would tell their dad. She would make sure though - if she remembered. Rand sighed, her head did hurt, but she didn’t want to tell him that. “No.” She didn’t want to go back, but she did really want to lay down. She’d pushed herself really hard that day and she was tired. She had just promised to behave herself though. “Yeah, okay.” She let Roman help her back to Sickbay. She wanted to stop, to not go in, but by the time they got to the door to sickbay the only thing she was worried about was getting to lay down in the dark and quiet.

Rand

Roman helped her back into bed and then sat down next to her in the chair. He was a little glad she’d decided to come back without a fight. Elbbirt had said he only needed one dose of the antibiotics, so he was hoping by tomorrow he felt better, but right now he was feeling feverish, cold and at the same time sweaty. It bothered Roman too, that the police wouldn’t do anything. His sister, he’d heard, had lost her protective detail, unless another threat was made or there was reasonable evidence someone might try again. But the police had nothing on the group and with LaCroix caught but not talking the investigation was at a dead end. Roman hadn’t been able to talk to Randy about it yet.

~ Roman

It didn’t take Rand long to fall asleep. When Shrine came to check on her, she also brought a small box, kind of like a care package and gave it to Roman. Inside was a note from Randy that he knew Roman didn’t want meds, but if he felt his fever making him uncomfortable to go wash with cool water, drink extra water, or use a cold compress (all things in the box), or better yet, all three. That he should feel a noticeable improvement by 2300. If he didn’t, Roman should page Randy.

Rand

Once Rand was asleep, Roman moved over to the other bed. There was still a spare bed for him so he could at least try to sleep instead of sitting in the chair all night. When Shrine brought him the box he looked at it questioningly and then opened it quietly. When he saw what was inside he cast a quick glance at Rand, making sure she was asleep. There was a note from Randy, the things needed to do a cold compress, and two cold water bottles. It was quite a nice little thing for Randy to do. He (for once) did what Randy suggested. He got up and washed with cool water, then opened a water bottle and prepared the cool compress, and then lay down.

Roman tried to sleep, but by 2100 the water bottle was empty and he was still awake. He got another water, and watched the time tick by. He was hoping he’d feel better, so he waited until 2330, and he still did not feel better. He’d replaced the cold compress once already, the new one was beginning to feel warm. So, at midnight, he slipped out of Rand’s room to page Randy.

~ Roman

In his room Randy heard his comm go off. Roman. Elbbirt or sickbay would page him over the ship. He grabbed it and flipped it open. =C=I’ll be right there.=C= Randy appeared a few minutes later, in shorts and a t-shirt. “Is everything okay?” He glanced towards Rand’s room and then back at Roman. Given how Roman looked, Randy didn’t think the problem was his twin.

Randy

Roman glanced in at Rand when Randy did. “She’s okay, she’s been sleeping since just after the galley.” He held up the note between two fingers. “You said to page you if there was no change by 2300.” He was flushed and sweaty, yet it looked like he was shivering a little. “She can’t notice this.”

~ Roman

Randy nodded, “Come on, we’ll go back here.” He led the way to a more private area of sickbay. Not as isolated as Rand’s room, but close enough. Randy turned on the biobed and pulled out the scanner. He raised the head of the bed so Roman could lean back comfortably and started taking a detailed scan.

Randy

Roman followed him back with one last uncertain glance toward Rand. He looked at the biobed for a minute and then sat down carefully like it might eat him. Then he leaned back against the raised back tiredly.

As they made their way over, Randy motioned to Shrine and spoke with her a moment. She nodded and headed back towards Rand’s room. “I asked Shrine to keep an eye on Rand. If she wakes up to tell her you went to check on Pipkin.”

The biobed began to read his vitals, showing heart rate and respiration a little high and blood pressure a little low. The scan showed his body was fighting the infection slower than expected even with the help of the antibiotics. The infection was still localized to the area of the burn, its spreading greatly slowed by the antibiotics, but it was still making its way deeper into his body. If it got into his bloodstream it could spread to his heart, brain, or lungs. Thankfully it hadn’t done that yet. The scan also showed his fever was higher than earlier. Before it was 100.4, now it was 102.8. The infection was probably something he picked up in the lab. Franks had caught him several times itching and playing with the bandaging.

~ Roman

Randy didn’t like where this was going. He grabbed a medic passing by and asked them to get Elbbirt. “The infection is spreading, not as fast, but still spreading. And your temperature has gone up over 2 degrees since earlier. I need to take a sample so we can run a test to determine what the infection is. It will hurt so I’m going to use some Ethyl Chloride, it’s a topical anesthetic spray, while I take the sample. I’ve called for Elbbirt.” A fever was both good because it meant that the body was fighting the infection, but also bad if it got too high. He grabbed an icepack and set it over Alden’s head, before he carefully lifted his shirt and cut the bandages away. He sprayed the burn with the Ethyl Chloride and then grabbed a special specimen tool.

“Sorry to wake you up,” Roman said while Randy was still scanning him. He listened while Randy spoke and then looked really stressed. “It’s not getting better? You said it would be one dose of antibiotics!” He readjusted the ice pack to get it to stay better. He winced while Randy was cutting the bandages away. The infection was amplifying the burn’s pain. “Do you have to use that?” He asked, on his usual anti-meds thing. But with the burn numbed getting the sample went much easier, it seemed like Roman barely noticed what Randy was doing.

Elbbirt waved away the apology. “It’s alright.” Elbbirt patted his foot where he was standing. “It is, it’s spread has slowed down, but not enough. So we sent to the lab to find out what it is.”

Elbbirt came in, looking disheveled and like he just woke up. He was sipping from a coffee mug that smelled strongly of black tea instead. He didn’t say anything but was staring at the monitor above the bed. He glanced at Randy who was taking a sample and nodded. He took the sample and grabbed a nurse. “Priority to the lab. I want the results ASAP.” Coming back over he took a deep breath. “Well Cmdr. you won’t be going anywhere for awhile. Your heart and BP are doing so well and too much activity will make the infection spread faster.” He pulled more gel out and the antibiotic again. “I’m going to mix this in a higher concentration and then when the lab results come back we’ll make up a special cocktail specifically for whatever infection you’ve caught.”

Randy | Elbbirt

“What do you mean, ‘Not going anywhere’? I can’t stay! Rand would wonder why and we certainly can’t tell her this!” He was trying, and failing to calm himself, and he was getting more and more nervous. “My heart…? Because my burn is infected?” He looked between Elbbirt and Randy.

“Yes your heart rate. When the body becomes infected the heart works harder to help pump fluid, oxygen, and antibodies through the body faster. So the heart rate goes up. Natural process, but your heart is still recovering and even with your meds is struggling with this infection. Not going anywhere means staying in bed. The more you move the faster the infection will spread. If it gets in your blood stream....and with the damaged tissue it’s likely to happen faster.” Elbbirt wasn’t trying to make it worse but Alden needed to understand the severity. They rewrapped the burn with the higher concentration of gel, after cleaning it again. The spray kept it numb so it didn’t hurt as they did. Randy stayed with him the whole time.

Roman reached out like he was looking for Rand’s hand but instead clamped it to the side of the bed. “I can’t stay in bed. Rand will notice that. She can’t know. I have to work. At least at my desk.” He was trying to cooperate with them as they re-cleaned and wrapped it. The burn was developing infected blisters, which was a result of staph infection. Even with it numbed Roman was stressed and he just wanted away. And he was NOT staying here alone.

“We will figure some arrangements out, Cmdr. First we have to figure out what’s wrong with you.” Elbbirt assured him.

The lab test, even priority with advanced, futuristic tech to make the sample grow faster, would take several hours at least. When it did come back it showed positive for staphylococcus aureus, a common but hardy bacteria known for causing sepsis, a life threatening reaction to infection spreading throughout the body, if untreated. It should be treatable with antibiotics, they just needed to keep an eye on it and make sure it was getting better not worse.

~ Roman

Elbbirt entered Roman’s room looking at the lab results. He passed it to Randy. “staphylococcus aureus. A very common bacteria but very robust and normally we wash it off our bodies outer defenses keep it in check, but with an open wound or if ingested can be devastating. I need to know everywhere you’ve been since you were shot. We have to find the source before it spreads.”

While waiting Roman stayed so long as Randy was there, in bed, trying to sleep. He couldn’t, and he looked up as soon as Elbbirt’ came in with the results. Roman frowned, if Elbbirt wanted to trace the bacteria, it was going to be hard work. “I’m the first officer. You’d have to search half the ship. I’ve been in most of the labs, engineering, security, the galley, here in medical, to see the quartermaster, up with the Captain, my quarters…” He listed a few other places.

Elbbirt nodded with a sigh. He really didn’t want to do this. “We’ll have to search the entire ship. Since we know what we are looking for I can have the biometrics for it input for internal sensors and scan that way. Hopefully we find it. Without a room to room search.”

Randy turned a sickly shade of colorless. “Rand…” his voice croaked out. She still had her own burns being healed. And no gaping wounds they still weren’t completely closed. If it was on Roman’s hands or clothes she could have it too. He turned in a rush to leave the room.

Randy | Elbbirt

Roman’s hand shot out and he grabbed Randy’s arm, a pathetic, “Don’t leave me here!” Escaping his mouth. He immediately let Randy go but it did not change how panicked he looked. “I can’t be here alone! I can’t…” Normally he’d be as worried as Randy was about Rand but he was so stressed he hadn’t made the connection that Rand might have caught it from him.

~ Roman

Randy paused, torn. He knew how phobic Roman was of Sickbay, but Rand....At that moment Randy almost hated Roman. 5 minutes just 5 minutes. “Roman she could have caught the infection from you. She still has open wounds from her own burns. 5 minutes. I just need to check on her. Make sure she’s okay.”

Randy

Roman already looked terrified. Being there without Rand was hard enough, even for the routine dermal regenerator sessions. Being there without her now was awful. Being there without anyone felt impossible. “If I’d known I had something she could catch…” He said, but he still didn’t want to let Randy go. In the end it was something Randy once said, after the projects from his previous ship Randy had called him selfish. Said Rand was getting hurt, not taking care of herself, because of him. It was that which made Roman say, “Then… Then go,” his voice shaky.

Randy nodded. “I know. It’s not your fault. It’s really common and we get exposed all the time. I ..just want to make sure she’s okay.” Randy headed out the door…

It would take less than five minutes of Randy being gone for Roman to lose it. Trying to control his breathing so he didn’t look as scared as he felt he was arguing with Elbbirt about staying here… For longer than the next two minutes.

~ Roman

And was back before he got out of earshot. He couldn’t do it. Rand would not want him to leave Roman alone. Elbbirt almost chuckled when Randy turned around and came back. Randy sighed, “Elbbirt would have to check her and order treatment anyway.”

Elbbirt stood, “Quite right, Mr Farquharson. Now I shall go do what they pay me for.” Elbbirt left, sending orders for the ship internal sensors to scan for staphylococcus aureus. Then he went to check on Rand.

Randy sat down, “I’m sorry.” He looked very much like Rand at the moment, contemplating his hands as he ‘cleaned under his nails.’ “It’s really hard having you both in here. I would be…” Randy knew Roman constantly thought he only helped, hung around, ‘approved’ because of Rand, but that wasn’t the case. “I would be devastated if anything happened to either of you.” Randy was not ashamed to say so.

Roman relaxed some when he came back through the door, barely a moment after he’d left. Then he sat down and the way he was fiddling with his hands reminded Roman of the way Rand wrung hers when she was anxious. It was hard for Roman to break himself free of that sort of thinking, it came from the way he was raised. The idea that no one really cared, and people would only help you if they had an ulterior motive, was a common belief in his family. Roman smiled a little at Randy, he really was touched by what Randy said, and then frowned and sighed. “I’m sorry. You should be with her. But I.. I can’t be here alone. I just can’t.” And Roman felt absolutely pathetic and embarrassed about that.

“The lab is mixing the antibiotics you need. I wish I could say it was one dose, but staphylococcus aureus can take a long time to get rid of.”

Randy

“We can still hide it from Rand, can’t we? She’ll panic for sure if she finds out. Or what if she convinces herself there’s no treatment or I won’t get treatment or something?” Roman didn’t know, Rand was really confused sometimes. “How long will it take?” He hated needing meds. And all meds had side effects, the antibiotics Roman was on and would be on could both cause nausea, vomiting, stomach and GI issues, and loss of appetite. Especially at the doses Roman needed.

~ Roman


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