A Visit to Sickbay

Posted on 18 May 2015 @ 5:21am by Commander Jayla Kij

904 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Repairs
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Backpost- before the takeover

[ON]

It was, at least in his opinion, the worst part about coming on board a new ship. The physical. It was annoying and not even necessary, in his opinion that was. Ethan O'Donnell slowly walked down the curved corridor toward his destination: Sickbay. It was mandatory, despite being in good health, it was mandatory. It just made no sense, but the good officer that he was, he didn't question it. If his mother found out he tried to skip it, she would have multiple colorful words to say and he just didn't feel like dealing with that nonsense.

So, instead of avoiding it, instead of mostly not complaining about it, he headed toward sickbay. Even slowing his steps, it only took a matter of minutes to enter the medical bay. The sickbay was mostly empty so it wasn't hard to spot the Chief Medical Officer. "Hello," he said once he approached. "I'm new and here for my physical."

Jayla glanced up from sorting the phials of medicines to see a relatively attractive man standing nearby. "Hi," she said with her customary grin. She looked around for her tricorder and remembered it was in her pocket. "I'm Doctor Kij," she said, carefully setting aside the phials in her hands.

"Lieutenant O'Donnell," Ethan replied in kind. He extended a hand to the doctor and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you." Even if he didn't want to be in sickbay, he was still a courteous young man. Though, the pleasantries were nice, he was just eager to get the physical over and done with.

"Great to meet you," said Jayla with a cheerful grin. "Hop up here and we'll get started."

Giving a slight nod, Ethan complied and hopped up onto the biobed.

"It's just a reporting for duty physical, so we don't have to do a lot," she explained. "Mostly just scans, unless you have any complaints. Do you, by the way? Have any complaints?" she asked as she pulled out a tricorder and started her scans.

Having a mother who was a doctor, Ethan was more than familiar with the routine and the questions. She would drag him to his pediatrician the first sign of a sniffle, so he knew what to expect. Also, this wasn't exactly his first rodeo when it came to physicals. "Nope," he shook his head, "no complaints." His gray eyes fell onto the medical tricorder for a moment then back up at the doctor. "I try to stay healthy, exercise, eating well, that kind of thing."

Jayla nodded. "Good," she said, checking the scans over. "I wish more people tried that hard. Getting enough sleep?" she asked.

Ethan stayed silent for a moment as he thought about that answer. "Some days yes, some days no," he shrugged, "I guess it depends on the day." Which was the truth, now that he was part of the senior staff, he had a lot more to do. "I try to get enough though."

"Good," said Jayla, continuing her scans. her tricorder beeped at her. "Hm," she said, eyebrows scrunching together.

Hm? That didn't seem good. The eyebrows scrunching together wasn't a good sign either. "Is something wrong?" Ethan asked, a bit of concern could be heard in his tone.

"Nothing serious," she replied. "Just a bit of fat around your liver. We'll keep an eye on it. As long as it doesn't get worse or cause any problems, we'll leave it alone. If you experience any symptoms at all, come see me immediately. And, I want to see you again in a month, just to have a look at it again, okay?"

Ethan gave a quick, but curt nod. "Alright," he replied, "what symptoms should I be looking for?" He wondered how long this had been an issue, he rummaged his memory of his past physicals and came up with nothing. "Also, why wasn't this detected in any other physical I've had?"

"It could be new," said Jayla. "Sometimes, things like this just happen. Usually, it's your body overreacting to something, but sometimes, it can be an indication of something more sinister. Most of the symptoms would make you come see me anyway, but the ones you might not notice are fatigue, unexplained weight loss, and yellowing of the skin. If any of that happens, come see me immediately."

"Oh believe me, I'll be in here quicker then you can say yellowing skin," Ethan said, somewhat as a joke, somewhat seriously. This whole thing blindsided him, for a brief moment fear consumed him, then just like that he calmed himself. "Is there anything else? Just in general?"

"Nope," said Jayla cheerfully. "Other than that you're the textbook example of perfect health. Which is why I think this is probably nothing."

Ethan sighed in relief at that, the doctor's cheerfulness definitely put him at ease. "So, am I fit for duty then? I am eager to get flying."

"Absolutely," replied Jayla. "Just don't forget to come back in a month."

"I'll remember," Ethan said. He made a mental note to add it to his calendar as soon as he could, otherwise he knew he wouldn't remember. He slid off the bio bed and landed on his feet with a dull thud. "Thank you again, doctor. It was nice to meet you."

[OFF]

Doctor Jayla Kij, CMO

Lieutenant Ethan O'Donnell
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Black Hawk

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