Brittle Bones and Shaky Treatments

Posted on Tue Jun 7th, 2022 @ 2:37am by Commander Victor Delling MD & Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair

1,250 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Trade Troubles
Location: Sickbay

The USS Myogi had been underway for a few days now, and life was starting to get into a routine. For Jane Sinclair, that meant duty shifts on the bridge, time spent managing the flight control department, maintenance work on the shuttles, meals, reading, time spent with Alisha, time spent with other friends, and perhaps less sleep than she actually needs.

She was in her office doing paperwork when the pain suddenly hit. It manifested first as sudden, intense cramping in her stomach. She tried to stand but ended up bent over in pain. She could move though, if terribly uncomfortably, so she made her way as quickly as she could to the turbolift and then onward into sickbay.

Victor was in the middle of several reports on his personnel when he heard the tiny alarm he had set at the doorway, to notify him when someone entered. It was useful mostly when he was the only doctor on duty- as he was at this early morning hour. The bell tinkled in his office and he unfolded himself from the office chair to meet his patient. His legs were asleep and he muttered grumpily as he shook out the right one. "Remind me to requisition a new chair."

Jane stumbled into the sickbay and found a biobed, which she immediately used to support her body weight. The relief was instant, though mild, as her insides were still in agony. "Please help," she said between ragged breaths, hoping a doctor or nurse on duty would hear.

Victors demeanor shifted from cheerful to professional, in the space of an eye link, as he heard the call for help. Here was a woman, visibly in pain. The scanner was in his hand without him thinking about it. "Doctor Victor Delling... Lieutenant..." He paused waiting for her name.

"Jane Sinclair," she answered. "I've been having bad cramps on and off for the past three days. At first I thought they were the normal ones I've come to live with, but today it came suddenly and worse than ever before."

"It is my opinion that you should not have to be used to such a thing at all". His voice was tight, as he flicked the scanner expertly over her body. His fingers flicked at the screen to display her information so that he could compare.

Jane couldn't help but laugh a little, which helped break the pain a little. "I just meant that I know my body well enough that it isn't period cramps, doctor." She winced. "The only new thing I've come across in the past week has been the new treatment Doctor F'Rell wanted to try. But she didn't say it would hurt like this."

"Tell me about the treatment, while I try to figure out what's going on here" he said quietly, gratified that she could laugh in the situation she was in. Most people couldn't when they were in as much pain as this woman was, however that was easily enough fixed. The scanner had been running the whole time, and he filled a hypo spray coding it specifically to her body chemistry. They could start with pain relief, then work on getting to the core of the problem.

Jane climbed onto the biobed and lay down. “It was something to build muscle mass and bone density. I’m from Proxima Centauri II. Lower gravity. She thought there was a treatment that might help keep me from exhausting myself sooner than Earthers do. I thought it was just nutritional supplements taken by hypo, but now I’m not so sure.”

"I doubt that it was just a nutritional supplement. Let me find the treatment information." He was quiet for a moment, as he had to go through her treatment information, with a fine toothed comb, considering how her charting was done in such an odd fashion. "Ah, here it is." he muttered and pulled it up to read it. His eyebrows went up slightly, as he saw what the previous doctor had been doing. Forehead creasing he made an interested sound, then pulled out a hypospray. He programmed it with a muscle relaxant, and pressed it to her throat, to end the cramps and pain. "There, for starters..."

Jane breathed a sigh of relief as the pain subsided. "Ugh, thank you." She took a deep breath. "So what went wrong?"

"In theory, this would be sound. It's quite clever actually, it combines a supplement that increases calcium absorption in the bones, along with a chemical that increases the natural breakdown of bone to create new stronger bone. The evening dose would easily increase your muscle density by simulating weight bearing exercises and tricking your body into exercising itself with the spasmodic activity. Unfortunately it acts on all of your muscles, including cardiac and digestive musculature. "

"That would explain a lot," Jane said. "If I stop taking it, I'll stop having the reactions? I'm absolutely fine with that, by the way. Adapting to normal G like that...it almost felt...wrong, you know?"

"You stop taking it immediately, and we're going to filter it from your system. This is why, when you do your initial medical training on another planet...normally you have to go through an accreditation so that you understand the differences between the common federation species and your own medical knowledge." He was indignant on her behalf. He was also looking at her blood work numbers, something about it didn't read right to him. "Have you had any other symptoms besides the cramping? Itching, rash, nausea, odd feelings in your mouth?"

“Now that I think about it,” Jane answered, “my mouth has been a bit uncomfortable. I just thought I’d scratched my tongue. My back has been a bit itchy too.” She rolled over and lifted the jacket and shirt of her uniform up so the doctor could see.

Victor whistled through his teeth at the brilliant pictures of raw red skin in between pale normal colored flesh. "You, have a spectacular set of hives. Do you have a duty shift today?"

"I'm technically on it now," she said. "I was taking a break from bridge duty to do department paperwork when this all got worse. I can inform my relief that he'll need to finish my shift though."

"Exactly so. You will need to stay in sickbay probably overnight, but we will see how you react to the anti-histamines and steroids we'll be giving you to calm down your body's reaction. I will do some antibody testing while you are here to ensure that your allergy is documented down to the specific chemical." It was on the whole- easier to avoid one chemical than it was to avoid a mixture of things, and he could simulate the response easily enough if she was sensitive enough to break out in hives everywhere.

“Understood.” She let out a sigh as she relaxed into the biobed, confident that she’d be feeling better soon. The painkillers were truly beginning to do their job, and the relief was actually making her sleepy. “Could I ask you to notify the bridge, please?” she asked after a yawn. “And could you please also send a quick note to Lieutenant Reno, just telling her where I am? We were supposed to have dinner tonight.”

"Of course, consider it done."

"In that case, I think I'll just lie here and let the healing begin," Jane said. She yawned, and quickly let sleep overtake her.

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