Medical anomalies, human conditions [Mira, McCoy; closed]
There was no excuse. For Mira, there was no explanation for what had just happened. One moment she was glancing over notes she'd been working on to help perfect the fuel for the rockets, and thinking about what a primitive technology it was (but a necessary primitive precaution), and then the next she was surrounded by a group of science division
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"I'm going to ask you a few questions," he said calmly. "I need to know the concentration of HF. If you don't know exactly, give me your best guess. How long was the exposure? How did the exposure occur? I need you to tell and show me everything that was affected, and anything that might have been exposed at the time. Has anyone else touched the injury?"
McCoy was well aware of the dangers of hydrofluoric acid. He'd seen burns from highly concentrated HF in the shittier parts of Tennessee, where they still used it in steel manufacturing plants. And even though the Federation tried their hardest to provide proper medical care everywhere, the doctor that had been assigned hadn't known to check in 24 hours after the exposure to see if any new symptoms had manifested. The complications had been horrific.
Romaine tried to act calm, but McCoy wasn't having it. "I can't tell you how important it is to take this seriously, Mira." He didn't need to scare her yet, but if the HF was concentrated enough, you could develop pulmonary edema or cardiac arrythmias. He examined her arm, and where she pointed, he could already see that the fluoride ion was causing deep tissue damage. "We need to get this clean right away," he said even as he was gesturing for the nurses to bring the proper equipment over. "It'll keep corroding your deep tissue layers for days."
At this point, he could tell the incredible throbbing pain associated with HF burns was beginning to set in. Speed was of the essence, he knew.
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She took slow breaths as she listened to him, hoping it would help to keep her voice calm. "Let's see," she answered; her voice shook slightly. "I knocked over a beaker that contained water, but I don't know what its exact measurements were since I didn't put it there." She made sure to note that fact because it still boggled her mind as to how it appeared. “Based on the amount of hydrogen fluoride it mixed with, then I want to say that its concentration is no more than… 12%?”
The science officer seemed hesitant in her calculation because she didn’t know exactly how concentrated the solution needed to be for its more serious symptoms to occur. Her eyes locked onto his, seeking some hint of what he was thinking. Then, she raised her left arm out to him, almost instinctively. The burning was developing and becoming increasingly distracting. “It splashed from here,” She pointed to the top of her hand, “to here,” and ran her finger down her wrist to the middle of the forearm. “It happened about 10 minutes ago.”
Mira's attention was diverted, if only for a moment, when McCoy used her first name. It was the first time she’d ever heard him use it. She wondered if she should be worried. “I really messed this one up, didn’t I?” she said, gritting her teeth. Even in pain, she managed something of a cheeky tone.
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"It's a very good thing it was diluted and not concentrated. There's little need to worry so much since it was. But you can't get any more specific about how much it was diluted?" he probed, but not in his usual gruff way. His voice was now firm, but kind; insistent, but not overwhelmingly so. Leonard McCoy was one of the most brilliant medical minds Starfleet Medical Academy had ever seen; but Bones was the real doctor, the one who connected to patients and figured out the solution because of the patient, not in spite of them. In a way, Jim was the first to ever see the split in him. It was why McCoy had never objected to the nickname.
"It sounds like a simple burn; thankfully nothing alien seemed to get into the wound, at least nothing that our initial readings picked up. Acting this quickly will significantly aid your recovery." There was no smile, but there was no condemnation or resignation either. It was fact, and he laid them out straight, always.
Bones made sure to have a nurse stay with Mira as he stepped back to help another nurse get the proper utensils. When he did, he realized he was short of breath; had he even remembered to breath while he was assessing Romaine for damage?
But why would he do that? It was only the annoying Science Officer he'd run into. Once, in the medbay and she tried to defend Angela against him; at first he'd wanted nothing more than to send her back to the lab with a kick in the rear. Then she'd actually made him laugh. Bones wasn't likely to forget that.
The second time, in the hallway while he drunkenly tried to make it to Jim's. The specifics were a little fuzzy, but Bones was sure he'd been looking at her when he'd run into that wall.
And both times, he'd been thoroughly distracted from everything else when she was in his sight. Now, too, he'd been breathing shallowly from the moment he learned she was injured. It was a phenomenon he'd only ever experienced when Jo fell from the swing, or Jim threw himself into a vicious brawl.
Oh.
Goddamnit.
The noise around him had quieted to a dull buzz, indicating they were waiting for his direction. The woman really is a damned distraction he thought, grimacing for ever letting himself get to this point. After taking the PADDs being thrust in his direction, Bones made himself approach her bed again.
"You're going to start experiencing extreme pain." He marveled at how much it hurt to tell her that; usually, he as detached as he had to be to deliver such news. "Nerve ending irritation will likely make your skin feel like it's on fire. But, Lt. Romaine..." he placed a hand on her shoulder, lowering his voice, "Mira, I can't give you any local anesthetic. Relief of the pain is the best indication of the success of the treatment. I'm sorry."
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As McCoy left her for a moment with a nurse, she tried to focus on something other than the pain. Like how strange it was to hear concern in his voice and not the grouchy and grumpy tone she'd been used to, especially when she'd been warned of his horrible bedside manner. Didn't seem that horrible. This burning was horrible.
Focus, Mira.
Then he returned, and thankfully she was pulled away from her thoughts. Her eyes watched him, listening intently to what he was telling her. She breathed in deep, shaking her head slowly. "No, don't be." He was a doctor, and she was going to trust him to do his job, and do it properly. She took another deep breath, but this time she held it.
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He checked her skin for any blisters that were already present. There were only two or three, so he had the time to take care of them without postponing the immersion. Without a sound he took a needle, expertly opening and draining each blister and debriding them.
"Every ten to fifteen minutes, we can remove your arms from the solution for a few minutes. But if you can hold on as long as possible-- the sooner we start, the sooner you'll be feeling better. After about thirty minutes, you should experience a significant relief of pain."
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With her thoughts elsewhere (trying to forget what she just heard), she was not prepared for the needle injection. She sharply sucked in air between her clamped teeth. Mira's pain tolerance was fairly high, but it was always hard for her to watch any type of medical procedure. Her eyes darted away from her arm, and she focused them on his face.
"I'll try to hold on longer," she replied, wanting to take the course of action that would have the most immediate effects.
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As she continued to talk to him, he watched as the nurses prepared the buckets for submersion. Satisfied with their work, he took Mira's left arm and slowly let it drop into the solution. "Breathe, Mira, breathe. I know it hurts, but this will pass."
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"Okay," she breathed. "Mira, Mira Romaine. I'm from... Martian Colony 3. I have a habit of breaking beakers." She hoped that her last statement would make the doctor laugh, or even argue with her- she liked that.
The initial pain she felt when her arm was immersed was excruciating. She closed her eyes, biting down on her bottom lip. She could feel her heart rate rising again. "It's okay," she told herself, resisting the urge to jerk her arm away. McCoy's words rang through her head. Finally, she managed to slow her breathing down.
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"I have to leave you here while I deal with other patients," he told her, surprised at himself. He hadn't talked like this since before... but those thoughts weren't helping Mira. "But I'll be in Medical the entire time, and I'll be back to check up on you in about twenty minutes. If you feel like you can't take the pain any more, that's okay. Just tell me. But now that we have you in this solution, you should start feeling the burning lessen with time."
McCoy checked her wounds one last time before reluctantly leaving her side. Some part of him was snarling at him for turning his back on her while she was in pain. But he was a doctor, that's what he had to do. There were other patients, and piles of work to get through. She would be in fine hands with his team.
But it was going to be a long twenty minutes, trying to stay away.
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But, God, it was like they were pouring more acid into her open wounds. Or salt. Wasn't that what the compound was made of? She couldn't remember. McCoy's teasing was enough to distract her for a few moments as she laughed. "Looks like I'll have to learn to be less of a distraction then."
There was a feeling of disappointment when McCoy left her side, as she felt more comfortable with him at her side than the nurses- not that they weren't qualified to treat her.
Thankfully, as he told her, the throbbing pain in her arm was easing up. Not significantly yet, but gradually. She just focused on breathing, keeping her breaths long and slow.
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The other problem was that he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to avoid Mira.
Even as the thought entered his head, McCoy was sure he needed to do something about this and fast before it got out of control. So he went out and found Mira, whose face seemed less contorted in pain. After taking the tricorder from the nurse and taking a long look at the readings from the last twenty minutes, he took Mira's arms out of the chemicals, examining each carefully.
"Your skin seems to be reacting fairly well." None of the previous warmth in his voice remained. There was only the icy tones of a disinterested doctor. "You'll likely make a full recovery, no thanks to your reckless behavior."
From the corner of his eye, he could see two nurses give each other a knowing look. Bones was studiously avoiding looking at Mira directly, instead busying himself with the various equipment by her bed. "When you're finished here, the nurses will regraft your skin and give you instructions about how to clean the area." Knowing if he opened his mouth again he'd likely give himself away, Bones nodded at the group and stalked back to his office.
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But when he came back this time, she started to understand why others might think his beside manners need some improvement. "Reckless behavior?" she echoed in a snippy tone. He wasn't even looking at her when he spoke. She understood that he was busy focusing on her readings and making sure that everything was healing as it should be, but where were the thoughtful concerns? No 'how's it going' or 'feeling better, Mira'?
"Hey, wait-" Before she could argue, or even ask, he was already walking away. She looked between the two nurses; their tight-lipped expressions told her that she was missing something. She sighed, settling back down.
The pain was dull now. She'd just have to thank him later.
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