A Change Of Heart
Posted on Sat Feb 2nd, 2013 @ 7:52pm by Lieutenant Commander William Harding M.D. & Lieutenant Commander Ophelia Payne & Lieutenant Mi Lo-Tseng & Ensign Chanella Jackson
Mission:
The Struggle Within
Location: Piper Memorial Medical Center
* * * Piper Medical Center * * *
Dr. Harding left his earlier meeting with Commander Sakkath and now he was a man on a mission. With Dr. Kona on the Hammond team, and that ship now gone, he’d need Dr. Lo-Tseng and he put through a call for her to meet him in Chance’s stasis room immediately, and to clear the next four hours. That done, he continued on his way to sickbay, moving at a rapid clip through the corridors.
When Harding arrived at the stasis room, Lo-Tseng was already there. “What do we have?”
“Hello, Mi,” he greeted her. Turning, he checked the monitors to assess that things were still operating normally. “We are about to perform what is to be the start of a miracle, and end up thwarting the plans of someone who’s about to be put away for a long time. Assuming, of course, that they manage to return him to the station.”
She looked at him with skepticism. “Start of a miracle...?”, her brow lifted. “Wanna explain that?”
“Simply put, Mi, it’s been a hell of a day.” Harding filled her in on the discovery regarding Chance and the Hazari as he continued to go over the readings. “So to sum up, we are replacing what failed, and then Commander Sakkath will take it from there.”
“Changing out his heart,” Lo-Tseng shook her head and read over the scans from the stasis chamber. “There are a few other issues to smooth over, but we can get to those while replacing his heart. Are we going with mechanical, donor, or replicated?”
“Given that we don’t have one on hand, along with his mixed species and his young age, I’d rather use mechanical. It will last longer and will be easier to fix long term. We’ll have to do it here so we can maintain the stasis field until we are ready to revive him.”
“All right. I’ll prep the room and field, Will. I’ve never done an operation like this... on a dead kid.”
“It is a little unusual. I’ll brief Ophelia and Chanella, and get the two techs ready. Once the room is ready to go, you and I will begin. I'll meet you in the scrub room.” Harding turned to go, then stopped. “And Mi? If you’re a religious type, say a little prayer this works, huh? I don’t want to think about the alternative.”
She frowned. She wasn’t particularly religious, but, all things considered, perhaps in this instance, she could muster up some plea to a deity. “I’ll see about that, Will. And see you in the scrub room.”
Will held his hands up for the nurse to pull on his gloves and another adjusted his hood. Around him, the Mi, Ophelia, Chanella, and two med techs were being similarly suited up. Once done, Will turned to look at the group.
“Well, this is it gang. Let’s hope we are as good as I think we are.”
“We are. We know we are, so let’s get this started,” Mi smiled behind her mask. Her expression sobered as she considered the prone body before them. Chance Conradi, dead far too soon and, now, perhaps being given a new lease on life, literally.
“Very well.” Will nodded and the techs moved to the stasis control panel and the resuscitator, while Ophelia stepped up beside Will and Chanella took up her position beside Mi on the other side of the biobed.
“Dropping the forcefield now, sensors green, stasis holding,” the tech reported. The other tech moved the resuscitator in closer, then pushed the cart that held the heart over beside Will.
“Acknowledged,” Will answered.
“Computer, begin recording,” Ophelia ordered.
“Ready?” Will looked up, meeting Mi’s gaze across the table.
Nodding curtly, Mi started the procedure by opening an incision along Chance’s mid-line. This was as invasive of a surgery as she could imagine. Once the mid-line was open, his sternum was cracked and the left side of his ribs were pulled back. “Fascinating...,” she murmured. The biological parts, pieces and systems always amazed her.
Beside the female doctor, Chanella paled slightly. This was above the norm. “Stasis holding,” she reported.
Will lifted the other half of his ribcage and Ophelia rapidly put two braces in place. Will took a deep breath, then nodded. “Good opening. Adjust body temperature down, Ophelia.”
“Acknowledged.” She watched the monitor and several moments later, she nodded. “Ready.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, here we go. For all the modern wonders of medicine, sometimes we cannot avoid the old-fashioned methods.” He held out his hand for the laser scalpel, waited till Mi had hers in hand as well, and the removal of the old, damaged heart began.
“Alright, that is the last of it. Everything is attached. Mi, seal up his ribcage, please?” Will closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The tension in the back of his neck hurt like a sonuvabitch but there was no time to linger on that at the moment. The moment of truth was drawing close.
They had tested the device before putting it in and as they put it in, but now, with the wound nearly closed, the time for tests was done. With Chanella’s help, Mi pulled Chance’s ribs back into place and healed the bone then proceeded to close the incision she’d made earlier. When they were done, his chest looked like they hadn’t even started. “Ready, Will?”
He rubbed his eyes and nodded. “No time like the present. When I give the word, I’ll get the heart going and regulated. Mi, you handle the resuscitation and Len will start the transfusion. Two pints. Chanella, monitor vitals. Ophelia, once the heart is active, get his temp back to normal. Joe, drop the stasis field.” He paused for a moment, then gave the signal. “GO!”
It was a scramble - a carefully coordinated scramble, but a scramble nonetheless. Mi got his lungs working; Len filtered two pints of blood into him and Chanella called out his vitals, warning when one or the other dropped too low or climbed too high. After several tense moments, Chanella called, “Breathing normal and unassisted; heart rate is stabilizing.”
“Temperature is normal,” Ophelia informed them.
Will had never before wished for four pairs of eyes but at the moment he could’ve used them. He was trying to see every readout at once, but had to focus on the readings from the heart. It was running like clockwork, and blood pumping volume was textbook perfect. Only then did he breathe a deep sigh of relief. He switched the heart to auto mode, removing external assistance and after a few moments, he nodded once more. All around the room, applause and cheers went up and Will swung Mi around in a circle, his smile wide.
“Round one is done.”
“And we’ll be on standby for round two. But the real work there is on Commander Sakkath. Should we contact Oralia, let her know we were successful?”
“Please do.” Harding smiled once more. “Ophelia, Mi and I are taking a short break, have one of the nurses in here and I want them staying. Call us if there’s any change, no matter how minute.”
“I will.” Ophelia shooed them out. “We’ll take care of it.”
“And I’ll join you on that break as soon as I tell Oralia, Will,” Mi said, moving to the door and starting to pull off her hood.
“Good. My office.” Will stepped outside and made a pitstop in the scrub room to get out of the deep red scrubs, then set off for his office, a cheery whistle on his lips.
****************
Lt. Commander William Harding, MD
Finding A Little Faith
Lt. Mi Lo-Tseng, MD
Looking for a Miracle
Lt. Ophelia Payne
Ensign Chanella Jackson
Crewman Len Masterson
Crewman Joe Wong
