Re: Act 5.5.3 - The Grand Hotel
"Can you save her, Doc?"
Dohr Veen barely heard the words. He was already deep in action mode concentrating fully on the operation. During the years, decades even, he'd developed an ability to push most of what was happening around him into the background when he really needed to have full focus on the patient and the injuries needing fixing. It wasn't perfect of course. On a full fledged war zone with blasterfire and explosions the distraction could build up to be almost too much, but the doctor hadn't so far lost people due to his lack of concentration and he wasn't going to start lnow.
In the last 18 months Dohr had had the luxury of having a trained nurse as his assistant. He'd mostly worked at his own clinic in peace and calm without too many disturbing factors around. Mostly. The Claws being the Claws, the doctor had been called out to take care of emergencies all around: the Tracks, private apartments, bars, streets, even gang hangouts. And every now and then some gang members had tried to bring their quarrels into the clinic as well, especially in the first few months of his stay on Det Akari. But nothing convinced the clashing parties more of his neutrality like having Dohr fix a shot wound he'd caused himself to calm a raging ganger down.
But that was in the past and not on Dohr's mind now. Right now… right now he had more pressing concerns. The Duros lady did not look well and although he didn't doubt his own skills, Dohr was not sure if even he could save her. But if there was even a single percent's change to keep her alive, he'd make sure that one percent was enough.
The internal bleeding had the higher-priority than the leg injury as the artery on the limb seemed to be intact. Had it not been, she'd be dead already anyway. The damage to her chest and abdomen wasn't one bit less terrible than the blow to her leg and without equally strong bones to protect her organs, the injury was far more serious. There was no other way to it, Dohr was forced to open her up even more to get to the leaking blood vessels and to see with his own eyes the level of trauma caused by the pieces of building that had hit the woman.
Usually in case of damage to the organs, the cause was either penetrating or blunt trauma, but in this case it was both. The pieces of durasteel had cut into and partially even through her while crushing anything in the way. For a heartbeat the Kel Dor felt like shaking his head, but he'd made up his mind. He would save her no matter what. The next few minutes felt like hours as time seemed to slow down while Dohr operated on the Duros. His moves were precise and executed in perfect order cutting down the overall duration of the operation a lot. To an untrained eye the surgery must have seemed like a bloody mess with no hope of the woman's survival. But another professional would have seen the beauty of doctor Veen's work. It was clear he had extensive experience and skill and nothing less would have been adequate to save her.
Even to his own surprise, Dohr had located the source of the bleeding, fixed and sealed the vessels with a laser probe in a very short time. He'd also provided a temporary fix to her injured stomach and spleen. She'd live for now, but would need a new surgery very soon at a properly equipped facility. The woman had lost a great deal of blood and would require an immediate transfusion too. She'd live, but was still hanging on the edge of the void. And there was the leg operation to be done too. The chances of her not losing it were slim, but Dohr had to give it his best.
The ETA of five minutes had been way too optimistic, no doubt about that. The doctor didn't know exactly how long it had taken him to work on the Duros, but just as he finished up tying the leg with the last of his dressings and clean cotton tablecloth he heard a voice right next to him say: "Okay doc, time to go. Who goes in first?" In his concentration, Dohr had missed the sound of the repulsorlift engine as well as the call of the civilian sentry completely.
Lifting his gaze from the patient, Dohr held out his hands to Nien to remove the gloves and the bloody apron he'd been wearing in order to keep his clothes as clean as possible during the surgery. It took the doctor a second to recognize the Duros as one of Vyn's companions. He took a deep breath and nodded in greeting to Flash. "This lady requires emergency treatment at a trauma unit as soon as possible. We have done all that can be done here, but she will not live for long unless she gets into professional care right away. Oh and hopefully you have full medkit onboard as I am totally out of anesthetics, analgesics and antibiotics."
The Kel Dorian gave the Duros a weak bow as a sign of his appreciation and turned to Heigren. "Thank you for staying with us, Vyn. No matter what some of your companions might think about the party last night, you are a good man and colleague they all should be grateful for. Not everyone would stick around to help total strangers when his own safety was compromised. No matter where or how today ends, it has been an honor to make your acquaintance."
Having said his piece, Dohr gave his hands a good rub with soap and clean water, used another cloth to dry them and picked up his cane from the floor. He patted his Sullustan assistant on he shoulder, whispered a few words of assurance and thanks to his ear and moved to help Mack on his feet.
It was time to go.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:18, Wed 15 Jan 2014.