Doctor, patient relationship

Posted on Tuesday, 2 February 2021 - 8:25pm by Lieutenant JG Jarin Alexander MD & Lieutenant T'Lanna Vali & Lieutenant JG Kay’la

Mission: Operation: Trail of Tears
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: 2393

{ON}

T’Lanna had sat at her son’s bedside for hours, she’d refused the nurses offers to take her back to her room and had eventually fallen asleep in the comfy chair that had been brought out for her. She hadn’t even realised she’d fallen asleep until she heard a voice gently calling her name.

Doctor Alexander softly called out to the new mother who had spent hours by her son's bed. They were taking good care of him and providing him everything he needed, but Jarin understood her need to stay by her child's side. "Lieutenant Vali" Jarin said again softly touching her shoulder softly.

“Hmm?” T’Lanna opened her eyes smiling as she saw Jarin. “Doctor Alexander!” Her immediate instinct was to check on her son, making sure he was alright. “Is there something wrong?! Is Jayce alright?!”

"He's fine" Jarin reassured T'Lanna with a soft smile. The Doctor had just ran a new set of scans on the infant "he is going to need to stay in sickbay another few days" he said showing her the information he had gathered.

“Days?” T’Lanna looked at the PADD in surprise. “I was expecting weeks! With Jayce being so premature I expected he’d need to be here.”

"Well Jayce had an excellent physician" he smiled "and a pretty bad ass mom" he tapped on the PADD and showed her more information on the infant. "He's doing great Lieutenant" he reassured the new mother.

T’Lanna smiled warmly. “Thank you Alexander, I’m sorry if I was awkward about having a Caesarian. You made the right call.”

He gave a smile and a slight nod "I understood where you were coming from" he paused "it was just the safest course of action."

T’Lanna nodded in agreement. “That’s why you’re the doctor, there to make the safest decision, to be honest I was worried about Ryan ... Doctor Rose, not being there but I’m glad you were there now. Anytime you want to come visit Jayce feel free, you’re part of the family now.”

A huge smile grew on Jarin's face "that means a lot to me T'Lanna" he replied and sat down his instruments "I'll give you some alone time with Jayce."

“Thank you” T’Lanna smiled appreciatively. “I’ll be heading back to my bed soon, I just need a few more minutes.”

"Enjoy" he winked at her little Jayce was perfect and Jarin was glad he was getting to watch over the baby while momma rested.

“I will, thank you” T’Lanna smiled before turning her attention back to her small son. Placing her hand through the sterile field to gently hold the tiny hand on the other side. Whilst her senses gently touched the small mind letting him know mummy wasn’t far away.

Jarin sat in the office of the sickbay working on a stack of reports and entries to the medical database. He smiled as he caught himself leaning forward in his chair to take a quick peek at the infant and make sure everything was still okay with baby and momma. Taking a sip of his coffee he went back to his paperwork, trying hard to give Lieutenant Vali as much privacy as he could with her baby.

Reassured that Jayce was okay T’Lanna slowly stood, deciding it better to get a little exercise than always riding in a wheelchair. Making her way slowly across to Jarin’s office she paused in the doorway. “Am I disturbing you?”

She smiled as Jarin shook his head. Walking in T’Lanna took a seat, grateful for the rest even though she hadn’t really gone that far. “Buried underneath a pile of reports?” She motioned to a pile of PADDs on the corner of the desk. “I know that feeling only too well.” She smiled but her smile didn’t last long, her expression changing to one of concern. “There’s something wrong!” She looked back towards where she’d just come from.

Kay’la appeared in the doorway. “Doctor, we need you!” She motioned him towards where Jayce was. “Jayce’s Sats are dropping, oxygen levels are down dramatically. One minute he was fine and the next he was struggling to breathe.” She kept her voice low so as not to frighten T’Lanna. “I’ve increased oxygen flow to the chamber but it’s not helping a lot.”

"Can you get T'Lanna back to her quarters and then hurry back?" he asked softly and started reviewing the scans that were on the monitor and grabbed a hypo.

“I’m not going anywhere!” T’Lanna had followed them having sensed her son’s distress. “I’m staying right here!”

Kay’la nodded and looked at Jarin, she knew better than to argue with a patient especially the mother of a newborn.

“What’s happening?” T’Lanna looked at Jarin. “Everything was alright a few minutes ago! What’s changed?”

"It wasn't showing up on scans before" the young doctor pointed out an issue with the babies heart. "We've got to get more scans" Jarin went to work getting the most detailed scans he could and adding extra protections to the infants biochamber. The computer quickly started the process and compiling the data on a PADD in his right hand "There his breathing is stable again and he's not in any immediate danger, but I'm going to have to dig."

T’Lanna breathed a sigh of relief, her anxiety levels had shot through the roof but at least now Jayce was stable. “As far as I know Jason, Jayce’s father, never had any health problems. I’ve never had any myself either. If you need any family records I can get access to those for you.”

"That would be fantastic" Doctor Alexander was trying to stay as positive as possible, he quickly reviewed the newest scans on Jayce while the Lieutenant worked on her files. The ship's medical systems were keeping the infants blood oxygen levels adequate, but they needed to figure out the cause and come up with a solution.

T’Lanna quickly got to work picking up a PADD and using her access codes to make sure Jarin has access to the necessary family medical files. “You should have access to the medical histories of both my parents and my early years, prior to the Borg now.” She looked towards Jarin. “I made sure to have files in storage just in case of any problems. As far as I know there’s nothing in them you’ll find of use though.”

The Doc had been digging through information for a bit when something caught his eye "hmm" was all he let out.

T’Lanna sat quietly at her son’s bedside looking back at Jarin with surprise. “What is it? Did you find something?”

"It looks like you had a birth defect that required an operation when you were born" he was still reading the information on a PADD "and from what I can tell it's genetic" Jarin looked up at T'Lanna.

“What?” T’Lanna stood and walked over to where Jarin was working. “I didn’t know that. My father has never mentioned anything about it.” She frowned. “What kind of defect?”

Jarin pointed to the information on the screen "seems the lungs are not fully developed" he looked over at the Lieutenant with a frown on his face "and Jayce's heart has a severe murmur. "He grew so fast and was quite premature, but I think I" the physician had gone back to the medical records, but looked up with a concerned looked "it appears you were born with the same conditons and they corrected the with the same treatment I was about to propose."

“Which is?” T’Lanna looked at Jarin curiously.

"Well" he looked over "an operation to correct the murmur and some meds to help the lung finish" he suggested.

She nodded. “I trust your judgement Jarin, I’ll agree to whatever treatment you feel is best for Jayce.”

"Well I'll start medications this evening and plan for surgery first thing tomorrow" he smiled "everything is going to be fine momma" the doc was confident in his skills.

T’Lanna smiled warmly. “Thank you. So silly question, I’d have thought given the severity of this and the fact that I had the same thing isn’t it normal for these things to be followed up? I know mine is all repaired but I’ve never been told anything by previous doctors. I guess it would only come up if I had problems?”

"Well it seems your follow up scans have shown no issues, which I'm thankful for" the doctor smiled.

“Me too” T’Lanna offered a smile. “Will it stay that way or are there risks as I get older?”

"We will continue to monitor it on both you and Jayce" he paused and thought for a second "but I don't see any complications popping up" he smiled trying to assure her that they were both going to be fine.

T’Lanna smiled relieved to hear that she wouldn’t have to worry in the future. “That’s good to know thank you.” Her stomach growled reminding her that she hadn’t taken the time to eat yet. “I guess I should go freshen up and eat something.” She looked towards Jayce then back at Jarin. “Call me if I’m needed.”

"I promise" Jarin said with a soft tone to his voice, he had actually come to enjoy the Lieutenants company. "Get some rest Lieutenant" he smiled "I'll take care of your boy while you try and relax."

T’Lanna nodded and smiled. “I will and thank you.”