Back Pain

Posted on Fri Jan 17th, 2025 @ 4:29am by Chief Petty Officer Heath Stoudemire & Major T'Ria

1,140 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Drydock
Location: Sickbay

The doors opened to sickbay as Chief Petty Officer Heath Stoudemire entered the room with all sort of medical crates spread all over the place. Clearly like much of what was happening all over the Meridian, sickbay was dealing with a lot supplies being brought on board. Late yesterday evening, Heath had arrived on the transport from New Darwin Colony. Well at least two that it took to get back in the Sol system. Before coming on the Meridian, he stopped last night on Mars to visit his family. His mother was naturally happy to see him, his father on the other hand was as stubborn as ever. Needless to say, it was a quick visit. The Shuttlebay Manager took a seat as he waited to be seen for his sore back.

T'Ria meanwhile had spent the last 3.7 hours attempting to set her new medical bay to rights. Nothing was arranged in a logical manner. Fortunately, she enjoyed arranging things into a manner that was more efficient, but it was taking longer then what she had estimated. There was an additional shipment of supplies that she not accounted for initially which had resulted in her having to modify her storage plans. In fact she was so engrossed as to where the new hypospray loading station would go she hadn't recognized there was a visitor to her sickbay. She walked out of her office and saw a human male sitting in one of the chairs near the exit.

She quickly changed her trajectory and walked up to him. "Do you require assistance?" Ah, Vulcan charm.

"Yes, doctor or is it Major?" Heath replied. "Doctors were all different it came to titles. Some were so into the title of doctor that it was more important than the rank they carried. He felt it was always best to ask when dealing with a new doctor."

"Either would be acceptable. I do not have a particular preference, Chief." T'Ria responded calmly. "Do you have a specific concern that you would like addressed, or is this a...social visit?"

"Just having back pain in my lower back. Old injury that is flaring up again. Just wondering if you could take a look and prescribe something for it."

"Of course." T'Ria supplied readily, motioning to one of the exam beds. "Please take a seat."

Heath hopped up on the bed. "You need me to take off my shirt?"

T'Ria responded quite readily as she followed him over to the examination bed. "Yes. That would be most efficient. Please tell me how you initially injured your back." She opened up the cart next to the table and took out a few pieces of evaluation equipment.

The Chief Petty Officer removed his shirt. His back revealed several scars that were clearly a few years old. On the front of his body were two small scars. "A few years ago, I was a captured and was placed in a prison camp for almost a year. A lot of labor in their mines, but they also forced us to engage in physical combat."

T'Ria's brows rose as he listened to his truncated explanation and observed the healed scars. "That is most unfortunate." She replied, reaching out to assess the scars in a clinical manner before pressing along his spine over the spinous processes to see if anything she did elicited a negative response. "Please tell me if I cause any discomfort."

"That's it right," he answered along with a slight wince of pain on his face. "The pain comes up every few months out of nowhere."

The Vulcan's fingers continued to probe along the crewman's back silently noting areas of spasm along the paraspinal muscles. "I will have to review any imaging you have in your medical file but it appears on physical exam that you are suffering from muscle spasms. I can prescribe a skeletal muscle relaxant and anti-inflammatory that should help with your symptoms along with some stretching to assist with releasing the tension in your back. Have you been experiencing a higher than normal amount of stress?"

"That would be much appreciated," said Heath. "Just the normal stress of moving to a new assignment. But I have history here on the Meridian, so it feels like I'm back home after being gone for two years."

"Ah." T'Ria responded in a noncommittal tone. She turned to the small workstation next to the bed and punched in a concoction of anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxer and took the small hypospray from docking station and pressed it against his neck and depressed the medications into his system. "This should help alleviate your symptoms. If you continue to experience discomfort once the medications have worn off, please return to the medical bay and I will re-dose you. I will also review your imaging and determine if there is anything additional that needs to be done to assist you with this intermittent relapsing injury."

Stoudemire rubbed the side of his neck where the injection was given. "Thanks doctor. Can I ask you a question. Non-medical related?"

Placing the hypospray back in it's dock, T'Ria turned her gaze back onto the crewman and raised a brow slightly in question. "You may ask..." She hoped that the hesitancy did not show too overtly. Humans asking impromptu questions was often cause for mild alarm as she had not yet been able to decipher how their minds' worked.

"I could help but notice the Vulcan uniform and rank," he brought up. "Does this mean that the integration into one major fleet is having delays?"

T'Ria blinked. An unexpected inquiry.

"I have not heard of any delays, however I have been away from Vulcan for the last six years, Chief. I was accepted into the Interspecies Exchange Program as a physician with the Vulcan Defense Force. It was my expectation that I would be assigned to a ship in the Vulcan fleet. However, I was approached by Starfleet Command and was offered a position aboard one of their vessels. High Command agreed."

Heath nodded. "The Meridian is a fine ship. I do hope you enjoy your time here."

She dipped her head slightly to the side in a non-verbal gesture. "I will endeavor to provide exemplary medical care to those onboard. I come to serve."

"Well I'll let you get back to your work. Thanks for the shot."

"I will contact you if I can determine any additional treatment that may assist." T'Ria responded in closing as she stepped away and allowed the crewman to dress and be on his way. She walked over to her small office area and sat down at the console and began typing up visit to place it in Stoudemire's medical record.

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A Post By:

Major T'Ria
Chief Medical Officer
USS Meridian

&

Chief Petty Officer Heath Stoudemire
Shuttlebay Manager
USS Meridian

 

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