Pains from the past

Posted on Sun May 28th, 2023 @ 1:10am by Commander Victor Delling MD & Master Chief Petty Officer William Pitsenbarger

1,080 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Fast & The Fleet
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Prior to the Battle

Senior Chief Petty Officer William Pitsenbarger woke up in a sheen of sweat. He had another night terror from his PTSD. He was also having itching and pain located on his right abdomen from his scar. He decided perhaps he would go down to sickbay and get something to help with both his sleep and the itching. He made his way to sickbay and the doors slide open, "Hey, who has the unfortunate joy of being on the night shift." he inquired.

A yawn answered him from inside the office and Victor sat a the desk nursing a fresh cup of coffee. "Just myself" he answered looking at the Chief. "Sit down chief." The doctor shoved a chair out his direction, so that the CPO could seat himself in the dimly lit sickbay. It was quiet in the main bay, though there were murmurs of voices further in.

William sat down with a heavy sigh, there were bags under his eyes. "Say sir, you wouldn;t have anything for sleep and a persistant itch. Damn scarred regions are acting up, and well let's just say my night terrors seem to be returning."

"You're not the first tonight" he answered with a sigh and asked quietly "Where's the itching, and what do you mean by scarred regions?"

William chuckled "Take it you haven't had time to read my medical or personnel records." he said. Lifting his left arm he displayed a wicked looking scar on his inner forearm, he then lifted his shirt and showed the doctor a large, puckered scar on his right abdomen and then twisted to show him that there was a scar pucker exactly where a through and through wound would happen. "Received these little beauties at the Siege of AR-558 by a Jem'Hadar Kar'takin, and let me tell you they put some nasty poison on those blades."

He managed to keep his face from betraying his surprise, except for a slight raise of his eyebrows. Normally scars like this were preventable, unless the recipient wanted to keep them. He personally couldn't imagine wanting such a thing on his own body, but maybe this gentleman was different than he.

"Poison kept it from healing?" Victor asked professional curiosity mingling with his own sense of the morbid. Briefly he wondered if battle-field medicine was to blame. He was musing out loud mostly, and then he asked another "Have you ever had the scar revised?"

William chuckled and looked Doctor Delling in the eyes "I take it you do not or did not get much experience with Jem'Hadar wounded. They used plasma rifles and pistols that fired disruptor bursts with anti-coagulant poison. Some of the bastards, pardon the expression, also smeared the poison on their Kar'takin, combat knives, and bayonets. I found out the hard way when I was the IDMC for the 1st Battalion 14th Marines, 5th Division. I was running one of the casualty collection points for the Marine Rangers, which I was attached to at the Siege of AR-558. The Jem'Hadar constantly were assaulting our positions, between the assaults I treated the wounded, when we were assaulted, I fought to protect the wounded. It finally got to the point during the siege where we were engaging in hand-to-hand combat. I blocked a Jem'Hadar kar'takin, getting a nasty slash on my inner arm. We continued to fight, and he ran me through my right abdomen, I was lucky ot missed my vital organs. Downside was I was poisoned by an anti-coagulant poison. Needless to say, I was evacuated, barely survived that one. Turns out whatever the Jem'Hadar use as an anti-coagulant poison, the Federation medical and science teams have no cure for. If you're lucky to survive it, you gain a nice scar. Attempts to revise the scars, cause the individual to bleed uncontrollably, and increases the size of the scar tissue once the bleeding is brought under control. Worse part is the damn scars tended to burn and itch at random times." William sat back and sighed, "So, there you have it. Get in one little fight with a Jem'Hadar and they find a way to make you remember it."

"From a medical perspective it's fascinating, and terrible. I wonder....". Shaking his head he grinned and spoke again "problem at hand....your itching. Does it itch deep inside or on the surface?"

William smiled “Have you ever in your life had a deep down never to be reached burning and itching sensation. Well, this is about ten times worse. Like I said, those Jem’Hadar and Dominion folks play damn hard and not nicely. Usually, I can keep it under control through meditation, but on nights where my PTSD activates my night terrors, well seems the wounds become flaming hot pokers.” William sighed, "What I get for being a Starfleet IDMC capable of serving with Marine units."

"We might have to go with something a bit more...old school" he smiled and took up a PADD to quick scroll through medications.

William smiled "Willing to try anything at this point. Old school or not. So, what interesting 'old school' voodoo potion you are thinking of?" he inquired with a smile. William liked this doctor; he was not pretentious like a lot of the doctors he had encountered.

"There are medications that will slow the body's production of the chemicals that allow the brain to process pain signals. They are especially effective in the phantom and nerve pain that damage like you describe exhibits."

William thought for a minute, then asked “These medications will not cloud my mind, will they? I am the most senior medic and would not look good if I screw up because of medications.” He sat back and fought the urge to scratch.

"No, but they can make you drowsy for a few hours after taking them. It's best to take them before bed.". He smiled wryly to acknowledge the mans question. "I wouldn't give you something that would adversely affect your work."

William smiled, "Okay Doc, what do I have to loss. Give me your old fashioned medicine." he said with a chuckle and smile.

"If it isn't as effective as we like it to be, I can always find some other way. I've got a couple of ideas that might give us other options. Once I research the problem that is.". Victor was a gentle man but he was as tenacious with a problem as a dog with a bone.


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