Meatball-surgery

Posted on Sun Jun 20th, 2010 @ 12:08pm by Commander Dietrich Reinhart & Lieutenant Commander Melissa Daniels M.D.

Mission: Commissioned
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: 550 hours zulu, Mission Day 2, (BACKPOST)

::ON::

Dietrich brought himself to wake up early, despite the complete lack of sleep from the night before. The purpose: to repair the damage in his shoulder that his last doctor couldn't do with the limited facilities on the Carthage. But that was not his fault, he probably did not know about the scar tissue in the course of Reinhart's recovery. In fact, it probably had a lot more to do with the German's naturally stubborn behavior than medical scanners. A simple shoulder ache in the morning was a lot better than surgery. But now, the pain was getting worse, and his body needed it. He knew where he would be ten years down the road if he did not get this done. The Jackal's medical suite was as equipped as an operating room one would find in Star Fleet Headquarters Medical Center, and he was starting to trust this doctor. Even though she still was condescending as hell to every officer aboard, yesterday.

Walking through the front door at 0555 hours zulu, Lt. Cmdr. Dietrich Reinhart wore a half smile and weary eyes. Let's get this over with, he thought. "Good morning, Doctor," the XO said to the blue-collar as he tried to alert the medical staff of his presence.

Melissa smiled, "Good Morning Commander. Please lie down, and we'll get started."

"Okay," he allowed himself to say. Dietrich removed his shirt and rested against the table. gripping the sides, he pulled himself up and laid down, remaining silent. He tried to cover his nervousness by breathing slow, and closing his eyes.

She spoke, "We won't have to put you completely under Commander. I'm going to give you a local anesthesia to numb the arm." She said as she used a pencil to mark off the areas with the worse scarring. "Ok, tissue regen on points A, B, C. Removal of possible subdermal cicatrices on points D through F Neral Regen on Point A1, A3, A6." She continued to mark of areas on the arm. "Commander, there will be some tissue that I want to mend on its own without the Regenerator, It may be sore in certain areas, as I want as much of this as possible to heal on its own." Melissa noticed something. "And I see someone forgot to brush his teeth."

Serves you right, he thought. "Looks like it slipped my mind."

"Now now, you're only doing that to yourself. If you don't brush, I'll have to drill." She said with a grin.

"Right," he said, "I'd like to see you get close to my teeth with a drill even after a hypospray." He realized she was joking, but knew that she was serious. He would not put it past this doctor to cut off a limb for a scratch on a pinky finger. But a smile let her know he was joking too, sort of. "I am ready when you are, Doctor." Dietrich closed his eyes and relaxed his shoulder, as much as he could for the ever-present pain.

Melissa nodded and then began to mark off reference areas on his limb for the surgery. "I'm going to give you local anesthesia and we'll begin first with removing the scarred tissue. I'll use the regenerator to repair the inner tissue damage, however I would like some tissue to heal on its own. That means going easy on this arm for a bit." She said simply as she administered the anesthetic to his arm to put the arm to sleep.

"Ok," Dietrich said, uneasily, watching from the corner of his eye.

Melissa began the procedure, and her skill was remarkable, every incision was perfect. "So, tell me about yourself."

"I missed the Dominion War, but it seems like I've made up for my lack of time in combat by getting in trouble elsewhere," he didn't care to elaborate much on that. "Most of my time has been in flying fighters. Only recently have I started flying starships. This isn't so bad. And my first run at XO." He paused, then thought that she probably wanted to be asked the questions like Where did you go to school? Where did you do your residency? What kind of medicine do you specialize in? So he went ahead and asked. "Where did you go to medical school? And what did you specialize in?"

Melissa responded, "I was not always a doctor Commander. I have killed a lot of people during the war." A lot of people were an understatement with her.

"And I am sure it was for a good cause," Dietrich said. The war, to him, was a good cause. His eldest brother, who died in the First Cardassian War, was given some high commendation, he didn't know which. Then Mark, his other brother, essentially got his career jump started in the Dominion War. Both of them killed a lot, or at least tried to. His other brother didn't serve though. And his sister didn't. Lucky girl. Of course, he was the one who ripped off Ferengi ears and made a makeshift necklace out of them on the Carthage. Who am I to judge another person for actions done in war. Everyone did what they thought was right. And it was a time best left alone, only to have the lessons learned applied to the future in order to never do that ugly thing again.

"I am ready when you are, Doctor," he allowed, closing his eyes and trying to relax. The local anesthesia was doing its job though, and immediately he felt nothing in the entire right shoulder.

Melissa went to work. She was literally a master at what she did. Throughout the procedure, she was removing scar tissue and replacing it with regenerated tissue. Some parts she wanted the body to heal on its own. It barely took an hour before she was finished. "Alright we're done Lt. Commander." She said as she bandaged the sensitive tissue. "It will be tender for a few days, but it should heal right. Next time, come see me when you're injured. If you don't, you'll end up getting more of my bedside manner. Isn't that great?" She wore her usual smile.

"Just great," the Commander offered. Seriously though, he mused to himself, you could use a few lessons on bedside manner. War or no war, I'm afraid Dr. Jeckyll might've been a friendlier face. Dietrich smiled as best as he could. The truth be told, he didn't want to tell her that he could still feel, quite well, the procedure. He was sure she gave him the proper dose of local anesthesia in the right places, but it still hurt pretty good. Though, having been through worse (the reason of the injury itself), he handled it. Reinhart stood from his chair and looked around, before walking cautiously towards the door. "I guess I will find you in a couple of days for a checkup," he offered. "Thanks again, Doctor."

And as he rounded the corner and headed for the mess lounge, Dietrich couldn't help but think to himself: the pain may go away, but the memories that got him there would need a lot more than an hour long surgery.

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