PNPC LtJG Yesfir Meyers - No, it's stress.
LT Gila Sadar
(( Primary Sickbay - Deck 7, USS Artemis-A ))
Yesfir was a Medical Officer just like any other, but unlike some others, she had a specialist position within the department. Most of her work was limited to the discipline of Pharmacology, maintaining Sickbay’s supply of various medicines, cooperating with Operations to ensure the stock of medical components required of the medical replicators remained at levels appropriate for this point in their resupply cycle, and other such administrative tasks. There was, of course, also the study and approval of new experimental medicines, drug testing and more, and then, every once in a while, she also had patients to deal with.
Even if she was a Pharmacologist by designation, she was still a Doctor and more than capable of doing standard consultations with patients. She just tended to have a lower visitation rate than many others. Lieutenant Gnai, however, was an interesting case and not one she was opposed to inheriting from Sadar. Galadorans were a rarity since most never left their new homeworld, much like Sadar herself, and while Yesfir approached Lieutenant Gnai with the same brusque and practiced bedside manner that she did everyone else, there was an element of scientific curiosity involved as well that wouldn’t have been there if it was another Human or Betazoid patient.
Meyers: What adverse effects have you been experiencing?
Yesfir started attaching sensor nodes to the glass dome encasing the Galadoran Lieutenant’s physical form, as it started explaining its symptoms. She could get its physical symptoms from the data, obviously, but often, a patients’ own experience of their symptoms was as telling as the ones noticed by a computer.
Gnai: Well… there have been multiple, multiple things. The first that this noticed was an increased level of irritability. And distractibility. There might also be some physical side effects, but this isn’t completely certain it isn’t psychosomatic…
A very scientist-way of responding to the questions. As though ‘psychosomatic symptoms’ were less telling symptoms than physically apparent ones.
Meyers: Hm... And you believe these effects to be the results of stress from work? Any specific instances you feel these are more frequent?
Gnai: Oh well… generally during or after being on away teams. They aren’t as noticeable while onboard the Artemis.
That was no real surprise. Being on an Away Team was an inherently stressful experience, as it should be. Stress - when in healthy dosages - was your body’s way of telegraphing that you were encountering a challenge or a demand, and that you needed to compensate in a way to meet it. But Lieutenant Gnai was an accomplished scientist, so it knew this. They would only come to Sickbay if it believed that its symptoms were becoming a hindrance to its daily function aboard the vessel.
Yesfir finished attaching the final sensor node to the net, and after verifying that the computer understood what it was attached to, she looked back to Lieutenant Gnai.
Meyers: Could you please perform a single upwards movement so the sensors can get accurate information about your bell’s condition?
Gnai: Oh, sorry, yes. ::moves in its tank so she can get better readings:: Yes… most of the recent irritability has been planetside. But that could also just be because this most recent mission, this was pulled away from some… time-critical experiments to join an away team… Maybe it’s not stress?
Meyers: No, it’s stress.
‘Maybe it’s not stress’. Yesfir almost wanted to scoff. How many times had she heard those precise words uttered by workaholics or socially incompetent professionals, whose idea of a good time was working themselves to the bone rather than ensuring that they had a full and diverse experience of life.
Granted, some would consider her a workaholic as well, but she put in the effort to ensure that she never worked more or harder than her body and mind could actually handle.
Gnai: Are you certain? Can you take another reading? Just to be sure?
Yesfir raised a black eyebrow at the Galadoran, though she admittedly didn’t know how adept it was at interpreting humanoid expressions.
Meyers: It’s stress. ::gestures to the wall display:: Your mucus production has gone up by 11.7% and your energy expenditure for normal bodily functions has gone up as well. ::changes data:: Your tendrils also show an increased sensitivity in the photocytes responsible for displaying your emotional bioluminescence.
Gnai: This just… if that’s true, is it grounds for dismissal from duty?
This time, both black eyebrows shot up in surprise.
Meyers: ‘Dismissal’? As in a break?
Gnai: Response
The clear discomfort and panic the Lieutenant exhibited at the notion of being dismissed from the Artemis made Yesfir smile, in her best approximation of a comforting expression. She wasn’t the best at it, but she tried.
Meyers: Lieutenant Gnai, if a bit of stress was sufficient grounds to lose your commission, Starfleet would go through officers faster than any other organization in the history of civilization. ::checks with her PADD: But it’s clear to me that we need to make adjustments to your duties in order to allow your body time to recuperate. In my understanding, Cnidarian lifeforms have a longer recovery process to stress-related health issues than most humanoids, so it’s not as simple as just saying ‘take it easy this shoreleave’.
She looked to Lieutenant Gnai, not exactly looking for a confirmation to her presumption - as she had studied Galadoran physiognomy as quickly as she could upon being given notice that she was getting assigned to it as its primary caregiver - but to offer it the chance to correct any misconceptions she might have on that account.
Gnai: Response
Meyers: You said yourself that you’ve noticed a deterioration of your physical and mental well-being when removed from the Artemis, yes? I will want to run more tests in the coming days to verify my diagnosis, but if your observations are true, I will be making a medical recommendation that you are restricted to ship-board operations for the foreseeable future. At least until your body recovers. ::slow nod:: Does that sound agreeable to you? Or do you have any concerns about such an arrangement?
Gnai: Response
TAG/TBC
LtJG Yesfir Meyers
Pharmacologist
As simmed by
LT Gila Sadar
Assistant Chief of Medical
USS Artemis-A
A240006GS1