A New Type of Treatment

Posted on Fri Mar 27th, 2020 @ 4:51pm by Commander Hades,MD & Major Edward Maxwell

1,022 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 106 – Stalemate
Location: Sickbay, Starbase 23
Timeline: Current

{ON:}

Ed did what he spent most of his time doing, morosely staring at the ceiling of the medical bay. He'd, so he was told anyway, spent his first few days aboard drifting in and out of consciousness after what had happened in his fighter. He refused to talk about the few coherent rants he'd had those days before he was more or less in control of himself again. He knew he was in rough shape, plasma burns tended to do that to a person, especially when you got it as good as he had in the few seconds before he'd been beamed off his doomed fighter.

He'd be stuck with some of the scarring forever, even modern medicine couldn't work miracles like that. He still had a handful more surgeries to go through for the burns and then of course would be physical therapy. It was likely going to be a long, uphill fight to get back into a fighter again but that was the goal. Get back in a bird and wreak havoc on those that had done all the wrongs to him and his family since this war kicked off. Of course, as far as he knew there was no family. Not anymore....

Hades, reading the chart, entered the room. He adjusted a few readouts over the bio bed and noted his patient was awake. "How are you feeling Mr. Maxwell?"

"Aren't you getting as tired of this song and dance as I am Doc?" Ed grumbled, not taking his attention from the bland white of the ceiling. "Every day you come in and ask me the same question. Every day I give you more or less the same damn answer."

"I can see that you are your usual bright and sunny self." He smiled a little. "So, Mr. Maxwell. How are you?"

"I can walk short distances on my own." Ed stated with a sigh. "You've already said you're getting diminishing returns on the treatment of my burn scarring, which you have yet to let me see might I remind you. Either clear me for light duty or give me an overdose of something and close my lights out for good because if I have to lay here looking at you much longer, I'll leave against orders and space myself." He growled. "I'm a Marine, we don't do laying around. At least give me permission to do admin work, which I still have to send condolence letters to the families of my dead pilots... Hell I'll even do it here laying in this godsforsaken bed, just let me do something besides lay here!"

"The letters we can accommodate on. Now as to your....request to leave. Denied. To see your burns? Denied. And everything else in that denied." He raised the bed a little. "Don't forget I'm a doctor and as such I am used to dealing with temper tantrums. So blow it out and then we'll get talking about your treatment."

"There's not much to talk about. Three more surgeries for the scarring and then thats done. Physical therapy is still gonna be an ongoing pain in the ass. You have anything else you wanna share?" Ed asked with a little snark. "And technically as I'm already off duty, and able to move on my own if I choose to leave against medical advice, thats all you can do. Note that I did so against medical advice."

"No you are still Starfleet and I can lock you in here." He sighed. "Stop being a pain and listen. There is a new burn therapy that could assist but its not without risk."

"not like I've got much going for me anyway Doc, not now." Ed said, settling back onto the biobed. "Whats this new treatment?"

"It's a treatment that has been used elsewhere. A salve that would be applied. It promotes a regeneration of the nerves and skin." He took out a PaDD. "Think of it this way, when you get a sun burn and peal the skin under is more sensitive it is younger skin but one that your body had all along. The skin you peel is just a layer. Your burns are that such that several layers were damaged as well as the skin's regenerative ability. This salve will start to heal you from the inside out. It is used in conjunction with hypos and we'd begin treating after your next surgery. Thus you would avoid yet another surgery after that and your own body would start to mend what was burned."

"Okay, so that's all the good stuff." Ed observed, "So what are the risks you said there are and have yet to mention?"

He sighed. "It will not be a process without pain, there is a risk of some scaring and there is a risk that it might not work. I would like to try it though."

Ed turned his head, with some discomfort, to fix the man with a look. "Yeah, I've heard the scuttlebutt about you over the last month. You have a thing for testing out new treatments." He said with a low growl. "Don't look shocked, what else is there for me to do but lay here and listen to the comings and goings? I catch snippets of whispered conversations among the nurses and staff. Of course your yelling matches with your Assistant don't help either." He said amicably.

He sighed. It was yet another argument for later. "Mr. Maxwell. Either you accept the treatment or not. I have patients to see."

"It's a bit of a big decision Doc." Ed observed as he returned to looking at the ceiling over his bed. "Let me think on it and I'll let you know tomorrow."

He gave a nod. "Call me when you've made a decision." He started for the door.

"And Doc?" Ed said as the man departed, "Thanks."

He smiled, "I want to get you well and back in the game. Trust me on that."

"Sooner the better Doc. The sooner the better."

{OFF:}

Commander Hades
CMO - Starbase 400 Temp Reassigned

&

Major Edward Maxwell
181st Wing Executive Officer

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