Sweet Treats, Not as Planned, Part 2

Posted on Sat May 18th, 2024 @ 2:05pm by Lieutenant JG Malcolm Beckett M.D. & Ensign Charlotte Dawes & Civilian Alexandra Winters & Civillian Sara Winters & Lieutenant Commander Nash Winters & Lieutenant Eirly Andersen & Civilian Brunel Winters

2,420 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Helping Brunel
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 11, 1830 hours

The sick teenager was transported directly onto a biobed, and Nurse Dawes was waiting there to perform an initial assessment. She manually felt his airways, as she read the biobed readings. "This is the Ataran boy, Brunel is it?" Charlotte asked, as she pressed a hypospray to his neck to make it easier for him to breathe before pulling out a tricorder to do a more detailed diagnostic.

“Yes, that’s right. He’s staying with us…he was eating a Danish when he….fell ill. Is this some kind of allergic reaction? We still don’t know everything about the Atarans,” Nash said, being the first to speak.

As soon as the medication was injected, Brunel's convulsions started to abate, then his breathing and vitals started to slowly return to normal, though he remained unconscious.

“Is he going to be ok, Nurse Dawes?” Nash asked.

Charlotte turned to an orderly, "Get Dr. Beckett, he's handled something similar," Charlotte directed. The reports on the Ataran alcohol poisoning had been sent over to her and Dr. Parks on the Serenity in real time in case anyone there needed treatment.

"We're learning that the Atarans are not producing certain digestive enzymes that are common among almost all humanoid races, though we haven't traced down why not yet. However, it looks like we might have a simple food allergy on board as well," Charlotte responded. "Why don't you have a seat, we're running tests to see what all he might be reacting to."

Charlotte dosed Brunel with a generic round of antihistamines, and a histamine blocker as Dr. Beckett appeared wearing his lab coat and carrying a PADD. "Nurse Dawes, you think we found another Ataran food intolerance possibly," he stated as he approached the bed. He caught Eirly out of the corner of his eye looking distraught and did a double take, but had leave her be to focus on his work.

"I believe so, but he also presented with a histamine reaction as well," Charlotte responded.

Eirly was devastated, just as much as Nash and his family were: she'd only tried to do something nice for some people she was getting to know and she never thought in a million years that anything like this would ever happen. Truth be told, she wouldn't be surprised if Nash never wanted her around again and if his family would speak to her again either.

She watched as Brunel's vitals returned to normal and let out the breath she'd been holding before turning to Nash and Sara, who'd just arrived with Alex, "Commander, I'm really sorry. I..." her words failed her and she hung her head, "I should've asked if there was anything that anyone didn't eat, and I would've been more careful with what I made. I'm so sorry."

“Eirly—don’t you dare. Don’t blame yourself. We certainly don’t.” Nash lifted her chin to see her eyes.

“He’s going to be alright… at least so far. The nurse hasn’t told me anything yet. But, listen, if it was an allergic reaction, we know more now than we did before. He knows and we know what to avoid now. Please don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re not getting rid of us.”

Nash sat with Eirly in the waiting area to try and comfort his friend. She had been so attentive to the children and kind and generous to his family. He understood the guilt that she felt and Nash felt horrible about it. It was awkward at first, but Nash reached around and pulled Eirly closer by her shoulders, gently squeezing and rubbing them. He hoped the gesture of closeness and friendship would make her feel better.

Eirly appreciated the gesture and leaned into the hug. He was so kind and she was very grateful for the words he said, "Thank you, I needed to hear that."

“I’m glad you’re here. Thank you—it means more than you know,” Nash said.

As Beckett took over the examination, he calmly approached the boy, "I'll take a closer look here." He looked at Charlotte, "See if you can find out what he has eaten in the last three hours." Gesturing to a few of the orderlies and techs he called out, "Let's move him into an exam room for some privacy."

The staff reacted immediately to the doctor's orders mobilizing the bed and moving it to the exam room as Dr. Beckett walked with it. Charlotte walked in the other direction carrying a PADD and approached the family.

"Can you guys tell me what Brunel has had to eat today? Starting with the last three hours, leading up to right when he got sick?" Charlotte asked.

“Sara, did he eat before I got home? I was working until about 1730 or so and that’s when Lieutenant Andersen came over with the sweets basket. The Danish was the last thing I saw him eat.

"I don't get home much longer before you, Alexandra did you guys have anything after school?" Sara asked.

"He had a strawberry milkshake, but he's had one like three days in a row now and hasn't been sick at all," Alex said.

Charlotte nodded. "Okay, and he was eating the Danish when he got sick? Was this from a replicator recipe? Or what sort of ingredients are we looking at?" Charlotte asked.

Eirly shook her head, "All ingredients were prepared from scratch, all fruit was picked from the hydroponics farm, and nothing was made using a replicator. I'm sure if you gave me a couple of minutes, I can go and get the list of ingredients and the recipes I used, would that help?"

"It would, but I have a couple of quick questions. "You said fruit? What kind of fruit? And are any of these breads made with sour milk or yeast?" Charlotte asked.

"Apple!" Alex exclaimed. "He had the apple ones."

Eirly nodded at what Alex had said, "She's correct, and there was apple, apricot and blueberry, and unfortunately, all of the pastries do contain a combination of yeast, flour, butter, milk, eggs and sugar." She looked at Charlotte and asked cautiously, "Are you thinking the yeast and potentially gluten might have something to do with why he collapsed?"

Charlotte smiled reassuringly, "We will check everything. Fresh food can be different to digest than what the replicator produces. We're unsure if the Ataran digestive system makeup is different than ours because of evolution, or if there could have been subtle damage in the extensive cryostasis they were under, but Dr. Beckett has treated a similar issue among some of the Ataran people already, so we aren't starting from scratch."

“Thank you, Charlie,” said a grateful and relieved Nash. “At least this gives him a fighting chance. Please let us know when we can see him. It’s like he’s already part of the family.”

"Of course," Charlotte responded. "Don't worry. He's in good hands." She nodded confidently before returning to the exam room.

OPEN TAG

Charlotte walked into the exam room where Dr. Beckett was performing a more thorough work up of Brunel. "Dr. Beckett, regarding what he's eaten it looks like the most recent items were freshly baked danishes, yeast - which I understand undergoes a fermentation process, eggs, apples, apricots, flour, butter, milk, sugar."

"Aye, thank you nurse. We'll give him a dose of digestive enzymes to be certain, but we've transported most of undigested food from his system to reduce the shock. Nurse Reynolds start an allergy panel going with those foods, and keep goin' after that. We'll get a full metabolic work up on the lad," Beckett directed. "Nurse Dawes prepare the neural imaging scanner. I dunnae see anything in the tests that explain why he's not regained consciousness."

"Right away, Doctor." Charlotte brought out the device from it's position within the biobed and locked it into place so that Dr. Beckett could begin his scans.

An hour later Dr. Parks stepped out with an update for family while Dr. Beckett continued studying Brunel's condition.

"I'm Dr. Olivia Parks, I don't know that I've met all of you yet, I usually have the night shift, but I did a lot of work with Dr. Beckett when we were reviving the Ataran people. I came out here to give you a brief update on what we know."

“Thanks, Doc. We’re I suppose what you would consider Brunel’s guardians. He’s been staying with us. What can you tell us? Can we see him? Is he going to be alright?”, Nash said, visibly worried.

"Dr. Beckett is still running some tests at the moment. He did appear to have a mild allergic reaction to something. Based on the tests we've ran, and what you've said he's eaten, likely the malic acid in the apples, but that not really what we're looking at right now," Dr. Parks explained.

She continued, "When his body produced antibodies as a response to the allergen, it seemed to have triggered a reaction to the vaccination protocol that the Atarans went through to acclimate them to current pathogens. We'll be trying to keep his environment as sterile as possibile for the time being, while we learn if this reaction had an affection on any of the vaccines' effectiveness.

“I hate the waiting….It’s just…we’re really worried about him. I have, especially Alexandra, we’ve become quite attached to this kid. How long will he have to be in the sterile environment?”

"It will take as long as it takes. His body is cycling through the symptoms of many of the illnesses he was vaccinated against. While he's going through this process, he's not contagious, but his immune system is weakened," Dr. Parks explained.

Alex sat on a chair nearby and watched the doctor. Sara had her arm around her daughter for comfort, not just for Alex, but for herself.

Nash moved closer to comfort his wife and daughter. “We appreciate what you’re doing for Brunel. Keep me informed, will ya? I think I’ll take my family home.”

“Come on, girls,” he said, nudging Sara and Alexandra. “Brunel is getting the best care in the sector. Sickbay will call if and when anything changes. I know food is probably the last thing on your mind, but we need to eat. I’m starving and I’m sure you are, too. Alex, go say goodbye and thank you to Eirly for coming and being here for us.”

TAG Sara-Alex

Eirly said her goodbyes to Sara and Alex and managed to catch Nash before he left too. Overall, she was relieved that Brunel was going go be okay, but still, she felt really guilty about everything that had transpired in the last few hours.

"Hey Nash," she caught his attention, "Look, again, I just want to say I'm really, really sorry about everything that's happened, and I understand 100% if you want to throw all of those treats away, I promise I won't be offended if you do." She offered a smile.

Nash could tell Eirly was still feeling guilty about what happened and tried to lighten the mood. “Not in your life, Andersen. Don’t think anyone is in the mood to cook or replicate anything, so we’ll probably feast on your goodies. Believe me, Alex won’t object. The dinner invitation is still open, you know. When Brunel is well enough to come home, you can join us. I think he really likes you….and so do we. So…please push the dark thoughts out of your head, ok? Take care of yourself, Eirly. We’ll see ya around.”

Dr. Parks caught the exchange. "Oh, I don't think it was the food. An ingredient may have been a catalyst to the reaction, but something was going to trigger this sooner or later. It's good that it happened when he was with someone." Dr. Parks tucked her PADD under her arm.

"Since he's been living here, he's been living in a rather sterile environment as it is. Even replicated food - the way it's broken down and constituted, it meant to trigger little to no intolerance or allergy response. But Brunel was going to come in contact with something at some point... a flower in the arboretum, a small cut from playing even. Any of those things could have triggered the antibody response - that's what's not working properly, and unfortunately because he had a vaccine recently we're seeing some compounded effects."

Sara heard the Doctor and stood up. "Is this going to be a life long problem?" she asked. Sara had a PhD in microbiology and believed she had a good grasp on what the doctor was saying.

Dr. Parks shook her head. "It's too early to tell. But we have some great medical advancements to work with. We're thinking possible gene therapy. But we also want to watch and see if his body can recover any on it's own while we treat the symptoms."

Sara nodded. "Nash, why don't you take Alex. I'll stay here and see if I can learn any more."

“This is right up your alley. Good catch, Dr. Winters. Alex, let’s go home. Are you hungry? I’m hungry,” Nash said as he kissed his wife on the way out.

Sara put a reassuring hand on Eirly's shoulder. "Please don't blame yourself. This isn't your fault. He was bound to have an apple at some point or another. And if not that, the doctor said something else would have triggered it eventually."

"Yeah, I know." Eirly replied in a downtrodden tone, still feeling awful. Then in a more hopeful tone she added, "At least once we know more about his kind, we'll be able to cook things for him accordingly so we don't have this happen again. Anyway, you should go and catch up with your family, I'll see you around. But thank you." She had a hopeful smile now.

Inside the treatment room, Brunel started to stir slightly. Aa he couldn't speak, he couldn't call out to his mother, which was his first thought as he started to regain consciousness.


> > > To Brunel's Diagnosis > > >


Lt. Commander Nash Winters
Chief Engineer
USS Astrea

Lieutenant J.G. Eirly Anderson
Assistant Chief Tactical Officer
USS Astrea

Sarah Winters, PhD
Microbiologist, Mae Jemison Institute for Research
USS Astrea
&, Dr. Beckett, Dr. Parks, Nurse Dawes, Alexandra

Brunel Cal-Torin
Civilian, Winters family
USS Astrea

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