Medical Check in

Posted on Mon Jan 18th, 2010 @ 7:18am by Captain Anna Johnson & Commander Basil Hart

1,188 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: FORGING AHEAD
Location: Sick Bay

Anna finally managed to get away from her office though she had still not been to her quarters yet. She stepped into sickbay so she could get her check-up out of the way. The last thing she wanted was to be relieved of duty because she forgot to check into sickbay.

As she entered the facility, she noticed a large brass plaque on the bulkhead at eye level. It said, "Anyone wishing to see the doctor except in case of emergency can go straight to Helen Waite." Just beyond and to the right was a desk at which sat a young nurse.

Anna blinked a moment and moved to the desk, "I'm guessing you are Helen Waite." She said with a smile.

Helen looked up, grinning. "He's got a sense of humor, that one. He even made me this plaque just to avoid confusion." she pulled a small brass nameplate out of a drawer, and put it on her desk. "I presume you wish to see the doctor?"

Anna nodded, "I've just arrived and need to have my check-in physical." she answered.

"Well, He's due back from lunch in about five minutes. Would you like to wait? His next appointment isn't until 1400." Helen smiled again. "There's some reading material on PADDS over there."

"I can read through some of my reports while I wait." Anna said, "Thank you." She moved over to take a seat and pulled out the PADD with her latest reports on it to see what she could check off of the to do list and what she needed to send people on next.

She worked on the schedules for the next few days including making sure some of the cadets got paired up with some of her staff for the routine replacements that were constantly going on but never noticed. There was a schedule for each deck and section for replacing conduits to make sure the power continued to flow through the station. If you waited for them to actually go out it could cause a cascade and take much longer to fix. Though they did sometimes go out ahead of schedule. It made time pass quickly enough and would get her out of her officer that much sooner as she still needed to unpack.

Basil came rushing into sickbay after about seven minutes or so from the time that she had seated herself. Breezing past Helen with a hurried, "Hi, sorry I'm late...", he went straight into the exam room. After a few seconds, Anna heard the calm, professional, upper-class London accent of the doctor. "Next Patient, please..."

Anna looked up and did her best not to laugh as she put her PADD away and stood to go into the exam room.
"I've just arrived on the station and need to have my arrival check up." Anna said before holding out her hand, "Lieutenant Commander Anna Johnson."

He took it, smiling pleasantly. "Doctor Basil Hart, at your service, Mademoiselle. I'm pleased to meet you. Please take a seat on the biobed. You may remain in your uniform or disrobe if you wish, or anything in between. I've already had several patients choose the latter. It makes no difference to me."

"I think I would rather stay clothed if there is no need to disrobe." Anna said taking a seat on the bed.

He went over to a drawer next to the bed and pulled out an odd-looking device. It was made of metal and plastic, with two protrusions on the top which the doctor inserted into his ears, and a dangling one with a metallic disk or wheel on the end of its flexible tubing. He then turned to his patient. "Have you ever seen one of these outside a museum?" He grinned proudly as he placed the disk near the top of her anterior chest wall. It was cold. "Breathe normally." She noticed that he professionally kept his eyes averted as he placed the disk at various locations around her upper torso.

Anna did as he asked and answered, "I've heard of a few doctors keeping them around in case the power goes out." She looked over his shoulder more than watching what he was doing.

"Well, young lady, your heart appears to have excellent sinus rhythm, and your lungs are hale and healthy. Now let's see what the bio bed can add." He put the stethoscope away, and activated the biobed. Looking at the readings, he noticed several old injuries, places where the bones had been broken and healed. He frowned. He had seen this kind of thing before, and didn't like what it meant. "Were you injured as a child, Anna?"

Anna looked at the doctor, "I was but it is nothing to worry about anymore." She answered.

His gaze seemed to plumb the depths of her soul. "Are you sure you're over it, Anna? I don't want anything from your past to haunt you." He gently put a hand on her shoulder

"The person responsible is dead doctor. He continued the abuse mentally once I was out of his grasp but he's gone and now he can't oppress me any more. I'm fine and if I feel I do need to talk about it I assure you I will find the counselor and do so." Anna said. "I took more than my share because my oldest siblings were ten years younger than me so I protected them by making sure he continued taking it out on me and not them. The last time he tried I was old enough to fight back so he started the verbal abuse. It took me a long time to build my self esteem enough to make it to the position I have today I'm not going to back down from that easily doctor."

Basil nodded, but left his hand on her shoulder. "As you wish. I won't be pushy about it. Just know that I am concerned, and I want to make sure that you are taken care of."

"You are the first person to say anything about it without me bringing it up myself." Anna said, "When I need to discuss things I have no issues with finding a counselor or a friend once I've made one I can trust."

"Fair enough, Anna. If you need anything, just let me know, OK? You'll find me a good listener, and doctor/patient confidentiality would definitely not be a problem." He helped her off the bio bed. "I see no reason why you should not be declared fit for duty, young lady." He smiled pleasantly. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you."

"I will keep that in mind Doctor Hart." Anna said with a smile.

"All right. off you go, then." Basil grinned. He watched her leave the sick bay. He wondered if she were really as ok as she professed, but he supposed she would open up in her own due time, and to the person she trusted most.

Lieutenant Commander Basil Hart
Chief Medical Officer,
Star Base Typhon

Lieutenant Commander Anna Johnson
Chief Operations Officer,
Star Base Typhon

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