"The Tiniest Patient"
Posted on 30 Aug 2025 @ 9:38pm by Lieutenant Commander Riah Amberlyn XMD
1,170 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Fractured Accord
Location: Sickbay, Deck 7
Timeline: Morning after the Christening
// Exam Room :: Sickbay //
Crewman Andrews stood literally wringing her hands. She was in her pajamas. It was 0450. She'd come back to her quarters after the party Christening the USS Arawyn with an emergency. She donned in her pajamas and tried to address the situation by herself. Her quarter-mate insisted she take the emergency to Sickbay.
Riah watched the chest, struggling for each breath. The monitor beeped in a rapid but erratic rhythm. The eyes were open, but unfocused. The tongue, white, lolled out of the tiny mouth.
“I thought I could help it,” said Andrews for the 4th time.
“I know. She’s so tiny. She’s pretty far gone, but we’ll put her under a warm lamp and try some IV fluids. Her mother abandoned her. She has a cleft palette. That’s why she choked when you tried to dropper feed her. You did your best and you brought her here. You can wait around or go back to bed and hit your shift in the morning as usual. I’ll contact you of any change,” Riah assured her.
“Dr Amberlyn,” said Andrews quietly, “I can’t keep her. I just couldn’t leave her there on the floor of the cargo bay. I figured I’d find a home for her. Someone on the ship would take her. If she makes it, can we put up a sign in the mess and on the Crew newsletter “Free kitten needs a new home?”
Riah chuffed a laughed, not surprised. Riah had brought home numerous animals in her life because “she couldn’t leave them there.” She knew well the ache of compassion. “You don’t need to worry about it. If she makes it, she’ll have a home. I’ll see to that. I’ll still call you when there’s a change.”
“Thank you, Ma’am. Good morning, thank you.”
“Get a little sleep Crewman. All is as well as can be.” Riah watched as the woman petted the kitten between the ears before leaving the room.
Nurse Practitioner Nissa Camparda entered. “She left crying. Is the kitten dead?”
“No, not yet, and she won’t be if I can help it. She has a cleft palette and can’t suckle. The mom abandoned it. Andrews tried to feed her with a dropper and that just choked the poor little thing. I want a saline IV drip. Use an infant kit. Half the rate for a newborn. Let’s put her in basin on a towel and under a warming light on the lowest setting possible. She’s dehydrated and I don’t want to make that worse. I want a whisper of an antiviral/antibiotic in a syringe." She waved her hand to awaken the halo-monitor. "Recommended antiviral-antibiotic for a 1 week old terran feline against pneumonia. Prepare a syringe in the Sickbay pharmacy, Amberlyn 1210."
"Affirmative Doctor. Preparing now." replied the computer's voice. "Using current bio-exam patient weight of 137.9 grams." (less than 5 oz)
Riah continued to address Nissa. "She's at high risk of pneumonia if she aspirated any of that milk. If she makes it through the next 10-12 hours, we’ll add a feeding tube and a little formula. When she’s older, we can do a surgery to repair the palette.”
“You’re gonna keep her aren’t you, Doctor?” asked Nissa.
“I don’t know. For now, I guess she belongs to Sickbay.”
“Well, give her a name. She’ll get better if she knows she has a name and a place to belong when she wakes up. She needs a name,” urged Nissa.
Riah realized this was exactly true. “Ok. Let’s see. She was found in a cargo bay. How about Baylee – b a y l e e?”
“I love it.”
“Now Baylee,” Riah leaned over and spoke to her itty-bitty gray and white patient, “You’re gonna make it. Don’t give up. We’re here waiting for you.” Instantly, the animal sucked in a shuddering, but little bit deeper, breath; the first real sign of life since Andrews had brought her in. The doctor and the nurse stared at one another, smiles widening and hope blooming.
“You’ve got this, Baylee,” said Nissa. “I’m gonna go make you a little warm bed.”
“After the meds,” Riah reminded her.
“Of course. Didn’t want to reminder her she’s here for shot,” laughed Nissa.
“Ok,” conceded the Doctor. "Somehow, I don't think she's likely to jump up and run out the door."
Nissa left to get the IV and syringe. Riah checked the little nose and mouth one more time, assessing just how tiny this surgical repair would have to be. Animals were very resilient, if she didn’t develop pneumonia. "How hard could micro-surgery on a kitten’s mouth and nose be? I guess I’ll find out. Right Baylee? We’ll find out together. You know, so far, I’ve had more animals to take care of than people. What a crazy way to christen an Infirmary.”
Nissa returned and between the two they hooked Baylee up to the tiny IV and secured the line with a strip of gauze tape around the little chest. Riah administered the “whisper” of drugs into the IV drip as well.
Two hours later there was significant improvement in the breathing functions and there was pink color back in the gums and tongue. The eyes were focused, but Baylee was still listless and had only lifted her head a little and laid it back down. She was extremely weak.
Riah sat back in her office chair. This was such a dilemma. It would be far easier to just euthanize this little kitten compared to the amount of work involved in saving her life. The research she was doing was intimidating. A minimum of 4 months of tube feeding, day and overnight, before she would be old enough to undergo surgery. Until then there was the issue of the tube feeding and the incoming teeth, which would easily bite through the plastic tubing and the kitten would swallow the tubing. That was not the half of it.
But there was no better place for the kitten than a 24-hour clinic, where everyone, or at least those inclined, would pitch in. As long as there was no catastrophic emergency on the ship, having a kitten in one of the isolation rooms would not be too difficult to manage. There was easy access to litter disposal, soundproofing from without and within, and the ability to monitor interior noises, a natural clean air zone as you entered or existed, a separate life support system, and climate controls. Baylee had a better chance here than anywhere else in the galaxy, Riah thought sarcastically. But it was true.
And beside all that, Baylee had a name, and she was a living being. Do no harm.
LtCmdr Riah Amberlyn, XMD
Chief Medical Officer
USS Arawyn
Ensign Nissa Camparda
Certified Nurse Practitioner
Sickbay -- USS Arawyn
(npc apb Kate)
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