Forty Love

Posted on Wed Aug 5th, 2020 @ 8:15am by Commander Elias Walker & Lieutenant Joshua Arras

1,203 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Mission 3.5 - Some R & R
Location: Sickbay

Eli had quickly made the short journey from deck 9’s recreation centre, where he’d been playing tennis with Crewman Bowman. The match had started well and he was serving with the score at forty love. But during a lengthy rally he jumped to hit the ball, landed badly and fell onto his arm. A audible crack could be heard as he landed on his elbow and the colour quickly drained from his face. The pain was awful and his arm was at an odd angle so he quickly used his shirt as a makeshift sling and quickly headed to sickbay.

“Doctor Arras!” He called out as he entered the Legacy’s medical bay.

Arras stepped forward. "What happened?" He knew who the man was. He hadn't met him in person but he had read his file. Helping to support the arm, he walked the man to a bed.

“I was playing tennis on the rec deck.” Eli replied wincing in pain. “I fell awkwardly onto my arm. I heard a crack and I’m in a lot of pain.”

"I want you to lay down." Once he was laying down, Arras ran the scanner over him. "I am afraid, commander, you broke your elbow." Arras nodded to a nurse, who handed Arras a hypo. "This will take care of the pain." Arras pressed the hypo against Walker's neck and waited.

Walker didn’t need a Doctor to tell him he’d broken his arm but he was thankfully of the pain relief. “Thank you.” He said after a few moments to allow the drug to kick in. “How bad is it?”

"According to the readings, you fractured your elbow." Arras responded. He pulled out the bone knitter and started waving it over the elbow. "It'll take several treatments to completely heal, so you won't be playing tennis for a while."

“Great, having some down time and I’m outta action.” Eli said frustrated. “Do I need an operation?”

"I want to try using the knitter, but if after a few days, if I don't see any progress, I'll have to operate." Arras tried to reassure him. "Not to worry.....how hard can it be??" He smiled at the commander.

Walker shallowed hard, “I don’t like sound of either if I’m honest.” He said still holding his arm. “I had a good feeling about that match with Crewman Bowman too.” He thought out loud.

It was obvisous that Arras's attempt at bedside humor failed. "If the knitter doesn't work, and 7 out of 10 times it does, I'll have to operate, exposing the joint and depending on what damage I find, I might be able to surgically the elbow, or worse case, replace it with an implant. You'll probably be off duty for 5 - 7 days. Any questions?"

“7 days? I’m guessing I can still do light duties but nothing heavy or strenuous?” The Commander asked.

"Extreme light duty commander, and if possible, use your other arm whenever possible." Arras turned off the knitter then checked the readout results of his elbow. "Okay, the knitter didn't work as I would have hoped, so we're doing the surgery. I'll expose the joint, make a visual examination of the joint, and depending on what I find, it'll either be surgery to repair the joint, or a total replacement." He looked at the commander. "Any questions?"

Walker couldn’t help but roll his eyes in frustration. “You are going to put me under for that though, right?”

"You'll be sound asleep through the entire procedure, commander. After all, I don't want you distracting me with questions, do we? Oh...do you talk in your sleep, sir?"

“I couldn’t tell you, Doctor, the only person that could died 7 years ago.” Elias said remembering his wife and the pain of her death. After a moment he snapped out of his remorse. “I’m sure I’ll be fine, Doctor. Just get me fixed up please.” He said offering a small smile.

"Nurse, please give the patient his anesthesia." Josh watched as the nurse injected the commander with a hypo. Within seconds, Walker fell into a deep sleep. The monitor over the bed kept track of his vital signs.

The nurse handed Josh a laser scaple, and he cut the skin and exposed the elbow joint. There were loose pieces of bone around the joint. A visual examination of the joint told Arras that the joint was too damaged to repair. One of the nurses retrieved an artifical joint from the med lab. While the nurse cleaned and sterilized the new joint, Arras proceeded to remove the damaged joint by severing the joint from the humerous, padius and ulna bones, as well as the various muscles and nerves surrounding the elbow joint.

Once the damaged elbow was removed, Arras placed the new joint, and attached all the bones, muscles and nerves.
The entire procedure took 4 hours.

The skin was now sealed, and the nurse gave Walker an injection to wake him up.

Elias began to open his eyes, the lights above him were bright which made him squint. It took him a few moments to realise where he was and what had happened. “Doctor?” He said his voice croaky.

Arras stood near him. "I'm here, commander. How are you feeling? The surgery was a success." He ran his scanner over the elbow. "We need to keep the arm immobile for the next few days....and you'll be spending some time here in sickbay for observation."

Walker nodded his understanding, “Was it a simple repair or did you replace the whole joint?” He asked as he tried to move his arm slightly and winced in pain.

"No....try not to move too much. You're receiving fluids via an IV, including pain meds." Arras checked his vitals. "I had to replace the whole joint. If I repaired the old joint, you'd probably be in here with more issues in the future. Can I contact anyone for you?"

Elias shook his head, “Maybe just the Captain to tell her I’m outta action for today.”

Arras smiled. "Don't worry commander, I'll let her know your out of commision for a few days. I'm sure she'll even come visit you here." He hoped that she would show up.

“I’m sure she has better things to do, but thank you for your help Doctor. I’m sorry I was a pain for you!” Eli replied, feeing a little sorry for himself.

"No need to feel sorry for me, commander, it was an accident. Accidents were developed to keep doctor's on their toes. Without them, we'd have way too much down time and the powers that be might decide that ship's no longer need doctor's." Arras patted his shoulder. "Close your eyes and get some sleep, gve your body time accept the new elbow. There will be a nurse standing by. Mind you now, no hanky panky in my sickbay, commander!" He smiled at the man. "Need anything, ask the nurse." He looked at the nurse. "I'll be in my office." The nurse nodded, and Arras headed to his office.

“Thanks Doctor.” Eli said as he closed his eyes and tried to get comfortable.

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