Post number 273 - And so it begins

Posted on Thu May 22nd, 2025 @ 11:03pm by Lieutenant Amanda Hemsley & Katagh (MD) & Dr. Rick Montesori

757 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: A New Beginning
Location: Surgical Wing

The doors to the surgical wing chimed open as lieutenant Hemsley walked in for her first surgical shift at 0750 hours, after returning. As expected for the night shift, things were quiet. From the doorway she could see that all the recovery rooms were empty. “I guess the patients from this night have already been moved to the wards” she thought.

Walking into her office she found Katagh sitting behind her desk. “Ah, little one. Ready for the day I presume?” He said, greeting her as she came in.

“You know I am.” She said, as she ordered a cup of tea from the replicator. “Did anything good happen last night?”

Katagh gave a small, annoyed growl. “No, it was dead quiet. There was a minor accident on one of the engineering decks that left a crewman with second degree burns on his arm. The duty medical officer asked for a surgical opinion, because the burns were pretty deep and dermal regeneration wasn’t getting the desired effect. But the burn wasn’t severe enough to warrant surgical intervention and the crewman was adamant that ‘a scar would make him look fierce, and chicks like that.’ So he was discharged with pain relief. “

“A nice and quiet shift to start off with, I can only hope it’ll be the same for me.” Amanda replied, which was met with the same annoyed growl. “I know, you rather be running from exam room to exam room, OR to OR. I fear that you’ll get your wish soon.”

“I think you’re right. So it would be best for me to get some rest, after getting Judith ready for school, of course.”

As Katagh left the wing, Amanda could hear someone else walk in. She turned around and was face to face with doctor Montisorri. “Oh, you’re here. Good” she said, as she picked up the padd with the surgery rota for the day. “We have a couple of scheduled surgeries today, nothing major. I need you to prep the patients. I assume you’ve assisted with that during you surgical rotation as an intern?”

“Yes doctor. I have.” He said, catching his breath. “Sorry, I was running late. I didn’t realize how massive this place is.” He took another couple of deep breaths, to help get his pounding heart to calm down. After a moment of two he continued. “The patients that were discharged to their quarters will come in at their scheduled time and wait in the waiting area. I take them to a prep room, do their pre op exam to make sure they are good to go. When the time comes for their procedure, I take them to the OR, get them settled and one of the surgeons takes over from there.”

“Very good. There is one patient who’s still on the ward. He’s scheduled at 1015 hours for shrapnel removal from his left leg. You have to coordinate with the duty nurse of the ward to see if we need to transfer him ourselves or if they can facilitate. And you’ll have to do the pre-op bedside. Preferably on the ward, because it’s much more comfortable there than in one of the pre-op rooms.” Amanda handed him the padd. “Pre-op will be your responsibility. Make sure you don’t miss a step. If you miss a fever, or any other change in status of the patient, that can mean that the operation goes badly. Do you have any questions before you begin?”

“When is lunch?”

“Lunch? You’re asking about lunch? Your shift quite literally started 2 minutes ago.” She couldn’t help but shake her head a little in disbelief. “This is a hospital. You’ll have lunch when you can. Or not if you can’t. You shift lasts until 1600 hours. If things are quiet you can take 30 minutes somewhere between 1230 and 1400 hours. Otherwise, you’ll have to make do with a quick ration pack on the fly. Or a nutribar in between running from bed to bed.”

The look on the Montisorri’s face said it all. He knew he wasn’t winning any points with his superior here. In just two conversations with her, Rick already learned an important lesson. Amanda Hemsley isn’t to be messed with. Entering her office the day before, he thought he’d easily walk over her. But he’s starting to realize that won’t happen.

“I’m sorry doctor.” He said. “You’re right. Patients come first, of course.”

 

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