LtJG Gila Sadar - Healing is Not done by Force
Gila Sadar
(( Recovery Wing – Deck 7, USS Artemis-A ))
Hopper: Oh! Gil– ::Correcting herself:: Doctor Sadar. Nice to see you again.
Gila felt a brief surge of gratitude as the ever friendly and colloquial Lt. Commander managed to rectify her standard greeting to a more appropriate one. Not for the first time, Gila considered whether it was at all possible for the comely Lt. Commander to inspire such respect for decorum in the Artemis’ First Officer prior to her departure back to the Delta Quadrant. It was probably a doomed cause, but Gila couldn’t help but dream of a day where she’d eradicated the first name basis from the entirety of the Ship...
Sadar: H-Hello, Lt. Commander. How are you doing today?
Hopper: I am.. ::gently singing:: ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh, staying alive–
Gila’s brow ridges vibrated with dismay as she heard the violent coughing the Lt. Commander’s frivolous attempt at levity had caused. Gila understood that an outgoing and active individual such as Lt. Commander Hopper might be going stir-crazy with such a prolonged period of bedrest, but considering that her malady was pulmonary in nature, Gila couldn’t understand why she would do something as taxing on the airways as singing.
Hopper: ::Strained:: Okaaayyy… The lungs still do not like singing. ::Shrug:: But generally I’m feeling better, thank you.
oO No thanks to yourself, I’m certain... You must’ve accrued quite the universal goodwill over your life, Lt. Commander. Oo
Gila turned towards the PADD, eager to get to the therapy so the struggling Lt. Commander could get ever closer to full pulmonary capability.
Sadar: Good news: we’re entering the final stretch of your treatment plan before you can be cleared for travel. ::slight smile:: You and LT Richards will be back with familiar faces soon.
Gila blinked - confused - when that comment didn’t elicit a wide smile from the usually cheerful Centauran.
Hopper: ::Matter-of-factly:: That is good news. Though there’ll still be another six weeks on the starliner, so I guess “soon” is relative. But it’d be good to stretch my leg off the ship. I’ve been writing a letter to my grandparents. I’m thinking of joining them in Minne–
The chatty woman must’ve seen something in Gila’s expression, for she soon interrupted her own sentence to turn the talk onto Gila’s task at hand.
Hopper: Anyways, what’ll it be today? More of the same?
Sadar: ::awkward clearing of throat:: Well, uhh... I-I’ll be in charge of your treatment today. We’ll be doing another round of PEP, Kinetic Regeneration and Incentive Spirometry. ::looks up:: Uhh... D-Do you need me to run through the therapies again?
Hopper: ::Shaking her head, slightly amused:: No. No, I don’t think so. Just put me where you want me and I’ll try to behave.
Sadar: If you could sit up straight and take a couple of deep breaths, we’ll start with the PEP therapy, make sure your airways are cleared out. ::turns to medical chart and mumbles to herself:: Lung function is up by 13.6 percent, so we could up the concentration of the tissue regeneration a tad...
Gila collected the necessary equipment to conduct the therapy regimens, while Lt. Commander Hopper - to no one’s surprise - started talking to her once more. Perhaps ‘take some deep breaths’ meant something quite different on Velestus?
Hopper: How is, umm… How are Captain MacKenzie and Commander Dakora managing things? How’s the ship looking? I read some of the reports now and then, but they don’t really paint much of a picture.
Gila felt her shoulders sag as she realized she didn’t have a proper answer to give. Between her own volunteering and her work back on the Artemis, she’d had precious little time to really look into how command was handling the current situation on board. She was certain it was all within acceptable parameters - Commander Adea didn’t seem to type to shirk his duties of checking in with the senior officer’s mental state - but when questioned so openly, Gila still felt like a failure for not having a proper answer.
Sadar: Captain MacKenzie and Commander Dakora are... W-Well, as could be expected, I suppose. I know that the Captain has been assisting with mortuary operations on Earth Spacedock, but beyond that... ::approaches the sickbed and prepares hypo:: Excuse me.
Lt. Commander Hopper tilted her head to the side, allowing Gila the necessary room to administer a hypo full of guaifenizine, a medication designed to hydrate the mucus that inevitably built up within the airways of people with subpar airway clearing capabilities. It wasn’t strictly necessary for PEP Therapy to administer guaifenizine, but as a general rule, it made the therapy less taxing on the patient’s usually limited energy reserves.
Hopper: And how are you? Have you had any chance to, you know, rest? Recuperate? See any friends?
oO What is it with senior officers and damning questions!? Oo
Sadar: Thank you. Now, deep breaths. ::follows the pulmonary readings on the display:: I’m fine… ::gnaws at the inside of her cheek:: I’ve been volunteering on Earth. Crisis response and trauma care. I-It’s starting to get back to normal, at least aesthetically, but... It’ll, uhh, take a while before the people forget.
Hopper: Response
Sadar: They will have to... Moving past the trauma is necessary. ::eyes the Lt. Commander:: F-For all of us.
Hopper: Response
Sadar: A-All right, time for the mask. P-Please follow the procedure as before.
Gila watched as the Lt. Commander took a large, steady breath through the PEP mask, before holding her breath. It was a wondrous respite from the increasingly personal manner of the conversation that much of Lt. Commander Hopper’s therapy required her to concentrate on her breathing, thus not allowing her much room for unnecessary chatting. Watching the display on the PEP mask, Gila nodded with relief when she saw that Lt. Commander Hopper was able to take larger and steadier breaths now than she had been previously. She still wasn’t quite back to standard lung pressure levels, but it was only a matter of time.
Gila waited until Lt. Commander Hopper had performed the necessary fifteen deep breaths, before removing the mask. The mask was replaced with a surgical cloth that Gila handed the Centauran woman.
Sadar: As before, don’t try and force it. Cough three times, max, and if you still feel blockage, it’ll come loose in the next mask cycles. Trying to force it out will only tire your airways out prematurely.
Hopper: Response
Tags/TBC
LtJG Gila Sadar
Medical Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240006GS1