Drinking Problem (Backpost)

Posted on Sun May 5th, 2024 @ 1:50pm by Captain Remy Johansen & Lieutenant JG Thivi & Lieutenant Dr. J.R McEntyre, M.D. & Civilian Jheva
Edited on on Tue May 7th, 2024 @ 6:56pm

2,222 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Mission Interlude Starbase 76 & Serenity
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 7, 0700 hours, (Morning After Reception)

Malada and Galvin stumbled into Sickbay. Both had flushed cheeks, Malada was starting to break out and was clutching her stomach. Galvin spoke up, "Please, is there a Doctor? Something is wrong."

"Just a moment!" Thivi came bustling out of one of the briefing rooms - she'd just concluded her morning meet with the nursing stadd and was honestly hoping to get a chance to enjoy a cup of hot jasmine tea, really, but as always patients came first. It didn't take very long to deduce what might've happened to the two Atarans; she rushed them both to adjacent biobeds and initiated a full-body scan for both.

"Chessia, dear? Prepare two hyosprays of [insert appropriate alcohol medication here], please, 10cc's each, and antihistamine medications." She instructed the short, redheaded nurse nearby, who rushed off to carry out her orders. "How long have you two been experiencing these symptoms?" She asked, running a tricorder over Galvin's arm. The symptoms Galvin (and frankly, his wife too) presented with were consistent with that observed during an allergic reaction - which was a little puzzling. An alcohol allergy? She hadn't ever come across it, really, but then again medicine always found ways to throw her a curveball.

Galvin was in a better condition to talk so he explained, "We were feeling a little unwell a few hours after the party, but thought it was maybe just the new food or the drink. It's been getting worse not better though. And Malada started having severe stomach cramps just a short while ago."

J.R appears with a catlike grace, scanning them as he walked around Thivi to check on the two patients on the biobed.

"You heartrates are unusually fast and your body temps have spiked at least 3 degrees since you've come in. Lt. Thivi, will you start them on 15 CCs of compound D5 and follow up with a infusion of dextrose and saline? We'll try the conventional methods of hangover prevention. Draw CBCs, Chem and Tox panels as well.

"Of course, sir." Thivi loaded a hypospray and pressed it to both their necks while taking samples from them both. Looking at the scans again made her brow furrow. "This hardly seems like a simple hangover to me, sir - if anything I would call this reaction allergic..."

J.R turned to her. "Epi? We administer it, preemptively as a precaution."

Malada doubled over in pain, her torso beinging to wretch and cramp from the pain of the toxins beginning to work their way through the body. "Something for the pain," she murmered.

Galvin was just now beginning to feel the stomach pains that Malada had felt just over an hour before. "I'm starting to have similar symptoms too," he said to inform the doctors. "It's not bad yet, but the pain is coming on."

Three more Atarans walked in asking for medical attention, all with similar symptoms. Farik, his wife Nalima, and Mavin all had also been drinking socially at the reception the night before as well.

Thivi tended to Galvin and his wife quickly, then rushed over to the new arrivals with her nursing staff. Following scans of all three with medical tricorders Thivi glanced back at Mac, and she definitely wasn't happy. "Sir. I think we need to call on every Ataran on board." She announced. "All of these people present similar symptoms to our first two patients - this cannot be a coincidence, I just feel it. Perhaps there is a facet of Ataran biology that reacts poorly to alcohol consumption that we missed. Ensign Reynolds?" She glanced around sickbay for the human.

Nurse Reynolds jogged over to to the head nurse at the sound of her name. "Yes Lieutenant?"

"Grab your team, please, and prepare to move out to the triage center. Here's a list of the things I need you all to bring each." Thivi typed rapidly on a PADD and handed the device over. On it was a long list of allergy and alcohol poisoning medication in stated quantities.

"Right away, Lieutenant," Reynolds responded.

"The rest of you, get every single Ataran up here, somehow. Arthi? Prepare for a mass influx of patients, please." Thivi nodded at the charge nurse on duty and bustled off to make preparations.

Dr. Beckett walked in with the first group of Atarans to respond to Thivi's request that all Atarans report to sickbay. The five of them seemed to be walking fine, but Beckett had been briefed on some of the symptoms and had concerns of potential long term damage if they didn't do a thorough examination of everyone.

"You all should follow me to the triage center we we can spread out a bit, and we'll get you looked at," Dr. Beckett said calmly. He scanned the area for Head Nurse Thivi on his way. "What do we have so far? We should be getting a message over to Dr. Parks, she and Charlotte may have their hand full already on the Serenity."

"Of the fifteen Atarans on board, we so far have... eight." Thivi typed something on her PADD. "I've taken the liberty of contacting them already, awaiting a response. Hopefully we don't have some too sick to get here from their quarters."

"We can deploy medical response teams if necessary," Reynolds offered. "If it is the alcohol, not everyone may be sick." Reyolds swiftly moved around Thivi as she saw the next patient coming in.

"He's not looking good!" Jheva came through the doors with the arm of a middle-aged Ataran man draped across her shoulder. The teen herself looked fine, by and large, at least. "Someone? Please?" She cringed a bit as the man puked on the sickbay floor, and Thivi led him away to a biobed while ordering one of the orderlies to clean up the mess.

Dr. Beckett started reviewing the results from the first patients who came through. "Lieutenant Thivi, I think I see what's happening here. The first four patients don't seem to have a way to metabolize alcohol. I need metabolic panels ran on everyone who just came in to verify, and I'll need to see specific numbers if we're to treat everyone."

"Already on it. Thank you." The latter part of her statement was said to one of the junior nurses who approached Thivi with a PADD in hand. She glanced over the data with a frown as she hurried away to tend to another Ataran.

Dr. Beckett approached recognized Malada and Galvin. He remembered most of the Atarans that he had revived over the last few days. He made his way over to where they were being tended to.

"We're going to have you feeling better here shortly," Malcolm told the two. "Turns out your bodies don't make an enzyme needed to metabolize alcohol, so that's what's causing your symptoms. We're preparing a doses of dehydrogenase which should help prevent the toxins from building up in your system."

"Are you sure that's it?" Gavin asked. "We have alcoholic beverages. Or we used to."

"I'm sure that's what's wrong with you now. All of you. Whether the ability to metabolize alcohol was something damaged while you were in stasis, or if what you're calling alcohol is something different from what we were serving last night is a question for when we get everyone back on their feet," Dr. Beckett said confidently.

Dr. Beckett administered the doses to both Gavin and Malada. Malada was less doubled over than she had been thanks to the analgesic that had been administered earlier, but she hadn't spoken much despite being a medical professional.

He turned to Nurse Reynolds. "Continue to monitor them, we should start seeing their vitals start to stabilize if the enzyme takes. If you don't see any changes in 20 minutes, call me right away," Dr. Beckett instructed.

He moved down the line to where Nurse Thivi was tending to a different group of patients. "Nurse Thivi, start administering dehydrogenase." Beckett took a hypospray and scanned it over a PADD with the patient's CBC results, then handed Thivi the hypospray.

"On it." Thivi pressed the hypospray to her patient's neck and watched with concern as he began to gradually settle down. "I think I'm letting mister Wynters in the bar know about this..." She muttered.

"Seems to be working," Dr. Beckett observed. "Make sure everyone here is dosed accordingly, have your staff run continued CBC's every hour, until I give the all clear, and stay on top of vitals," Beckett instructed Thivi.

"Got it." Thivi nodded and maneuvered away to treat another of the Atarans after getting one of the orderlies to tend to the patient.

With the Chief Science Officer travelling on the Serenity, Dr. Beckett sent off a message to Assistant Chief T'lenn, "This is Dr. Beckett to the science department, we had a bit of an issue with the Atarans this morning. Things are undercontrol, but we are going to need xenobiology to do a workup before we get too deep into agricultural plans for the colony. Seems their digestive systems may be more different than we initially believed."

T'lenn's voice responded over the comms, "Understood, Dr. Beckett. If you have any preliminary labs to send, I will have that department begin analysis immediately. Please advise when they can begin physical examinations."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. We will send those labs as we keep getting them. Probably a few more hours before we let the science officers step in, we're still managing the last bit of symptoms. Beckett out."

Dr. Beckett looked back into the triage center, the nurses and medical officers working with the patients like a well-oiled machine, the less serious cases already showing considerable improvement. There was the 19 year old female who had come in without any symptoms, likely because she hadn't consumed any alcoholic beverages.

Dr. Beckett stepped into the room. "Miss, Jheva, is it? I was wondering if you'd be willing to help me out with something."

"I do want a copy of those results, Dr. Beckett, if that's ok?"

J.R asked, coming up behind him as he finished with his group of patients. He smiled softly.

"Of course, Doctor," Beckett responded. "They are coming in on the hour from the patients as the dehydrogenase works to metabolize the alcohol. If she were willing, since she's healthy, I though Miss Jheva might be a good person for xenobiology to start with regarding the Ataran metabolism. We want to make sure we aren't growing crops that they can't eat on the colony."

"Should also run scans of the crops they are growing to see if there are any incompatibilities with their digestion and other body functions."

J.R commented as he picks up a medical PADD to input data into.

"So you want to take a DNA sample from me? Sure. Take whatever you need." Jheva shrugged. "Crops, huh? I'm gonna be here a while aren't I?"

"Na, not at all. We just need to run a scan for what digestive enzymes you're body is producing. Should do everyone actually, since we dunna ken yet what's genetic and what might be damage from the lengthy cryostasis," Malcolm explained. "Since you've been here, ordered anything from the replicator that didn't agree with you?" Malcom asked.

"Not at all, in fact your food is tons better than ours. Like, way, way better." Jheva snickered. "I especially like this fruit you call mango. Whoa, are those crazy good. I could eat ten in one sitting, not that I ever will. I'm not that dumb."

"Well, what is going on in the next room, is that your counterparts aren't producing a necessary enzyme to break down the alcohol they drank last night. I'm going to have our scientists take a look, and see if there is anything else anyone might have problems eating or drinking," Malcolm said as he ran a scanner over Jheva.

"It's not something we see a lot of among humanoid races," Malcolm added.

"The good news is, we should be able to repair the damage and introduce an artificial enzyme to help counteract the effects of the alcohol." J.R. said to Jheva before turning to Malcolm. "I'll also send what we have thus far over to some friends at Starfleet Medical and see if I can drum some more info from the Phlox Center."

"Whatever. Just take what you gotta take. This medical talk's making my head spin." Jheva joked. "Good to know that I'm doing people some service, I guess. Not that I mind."

Beckett smiled warmly at the teenager. "It'll also be good information to know for yourself too. Don't want you to end up in here like the them now would we?" Malcolm said gesturing back to the others. "You're good to go, we've got what we need for now."

"Thanks." Jheva hopped off the biobed and started for the door. "Let me know if you need anything else, doc."

"Of Course, Ms. Jheva."

J.R smiles softly before turning again to Malcolm.

"Let's get these samples to the top of the pile, I'd like a prelim analysis as soon as you have one. Let me know if anything changes with the patients. I'll be in my office should you need me, running over what data we have at the moment."

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