Medical Distress

[Cathul Thuku]

Now that the Trandoshan threat was mostly neutralized, Cathul could then go back to treating the patients inside the comfort of the Pharmacokinetics. In fact, because the medical centers still operational on Coruscant were overflowing, Therapy Command had to remain on station over the planet for taking care of the healthcare of those refugees needing medical attention. For today, Cathul would want a Jedi to learn more about the medical applciations of Force-powers; she can't make assumptions on anybody's biomedical knowledge when people wish to learn Force-healing from her. Yet, why would [member="Seo Linn"] be even wanting to learn Detoxify Poison and Force-healing, other than for first aid? All that she ever heard about her was about some sort of investigator-for-hire or some such thing. She awaited Seo's arrival at the docking port prior to taking her to any of the patients, or even to get her scrubs and gloves. Just that, as with every person Cathul did teach Force-healing to, Seo will learn at some point that the use of Force-healing does not dispense a Force-user from having to take more conventional precautions, but she had to introduce herself beforehand, when the medical "intern" arrived:

"I'm Cathul and I will teach you Detoxify Poison and Force-healing today. If you could please wear those medical scrubs..."

 

[Retired]

The Jedi Knight was a nomad by nature. She listened to the Force and since that was always in motion, Seo did not stay still for very long. It had taken her on a few adventures, both with and without company. One of those adventures, it would have been nice to know something of healing with the Force and that is what drew her here.

She had reached out to be taught healing and detoxify poison. Cathul Thuku had answered that call and invited her to a station above Coruscant. A world that had just been decimated by the sith. This place could certainly use all the healers around.

Landing her ship, disembarking and meeting up with Cathul, Seo did as she requested and placed the scrubs on without question.

"I am Seo Linn. Thank you."

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"For both Detoxify Poison and Force-healing, there is one big precaution you ought to take: pay close attention to the diagnosis"

Thus she took [member="Seo Linn"] from the docking port and to one of the patients that seemed to be afflicted from some sort of poisoning, carbon monoxide or some such thing that would be commonly found in suffocation. The Pharmacokinetics was filled to the brim with patients that the operational centers on the surface couldn't handle; however, she had to be cautious in selecting a trial patient for Seo to go cure. She hoped that there were cases not overly severe that were still doable for some beginner in the power, but she wouldn't hold her breath: there were major injuries all over the place and not simply cases where there were toxins that were breakable by beginners in those powers. Now, she would hope for the best and not to get too hasty to teach the apprentice of the day medical skills. And when she finally located one such patient, laying on a triage bed, she brought Seo in for the start of the lesson of the day. If she doesn't know anything about chemistry, then there is a limit on what she can get and understand out of the ability, she thought, while realizing that, these days, it was hit-or-miss.

"Before we begin with Detoxify Poison: I have a question to ask you: to what extent do you know chemistry?"

 

[Retired]

The Knight listened carefully to what Cathul said, but gave no reaction to her words. There wasn't a need for any. Here observation was key and that was what Seo was best at. Observing and making decisions based on the evidence in front of her.

She was lead to a patient that appeared to be suffering from some sort of air poisoning, most likely carbon monoxide and she looked to Cathul after making the assessment. Before any work could be done though, she asked Seo what she knew of chemistry.

"It is the science that deals with the identification of the substances of which matter is composed. Also the investigation of their properties and the ways in which they interact, combine, and change. It can also be used to process and form new substances."

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"So you have a conceptual idea of what Detoxify Poison is about"

With that being said, Cathul felt that [member="Seo Linn"] was ready to undertake the practical lesson on that poor patient suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. It could then be possible that she knew about covalent and ionic bonds; ionization energies were key here. True, a molecule was only as strong as its weakest bond, just that some practitioners of Detoxify Poison just didn't know that. She could feel that the patient was more than just a little uncomfortable thanks to the effects of the carbon monoxide poisoning. As tempting as it could be to do so herself, it would defeat the purpose of the lesson to her. Plus she could feel other patients would need help and they will be getting it at some point, be it from her, from Seo or from some other provider, organic or droid. Just a bit of patience: they will actually be getting the aid they need, but she had to learn how to do it as well, she thought, while realizing that, for some patients, time was an issue and she hoped the other providers onboard would be actively taking on more urgent cases for the time being.

"Now, Detoxify Poison is about first feeling out the presence of poisons inside the person, and then break up the molecular bonds in the poisonous molecules. Please be careful, however: in more complex poisons, there are risks that you could turn a poison into another one. What you do then is to take out the poison from the patient's body by telekinetic means and store the poison thus removed somewhere safe. It's a bit more strenuous than basic telekinesis and it will really test your finesse but it will be worth it"

 

[Retired]

It might be a bad aspect to have as a Jedi, but Seo really did not have much empathy. So while she wandered and helped people, it was more like a duty or job than something she really cared about. There were others in greater need than the patient in front of them, but he was her current focus. Life in war was in flux and those others would either live or die, but not because there wasn't an effort made by others.

Listening to what Cathul said about how to perform the detoxify, Seo would reach out to touch the patient with the Force. In doing so, she could tell what belonged in him and what did not. She had been told to break up the molecular bonds, but to be aware that in doing it, she could cause a different poison to come into being.

"How should this be removed?"

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"You could take it out of the body by grouping the poison molecules together and then pulling the bunch of molecules out in a microscopic use of telekinesis, but in these cases of poison substitution you repeat the process of breaking down bonds until all the resulting constituents are safe"

Carbon monoxide is a very simple poison and would not induce poisons by breaking down the covalent, double bond. However, the topic of determining whether or not breaking down a poison will produce another poison is, in fact, a very complex topic and one that requires advanced knowledge of biochemistry, especially as it pertains to a patient's species. Anybody familiar with xenobiology would know that biochemistry varied from a species to another, and that one species' poison is another's nutrient for this reason. So, typically, it's a thing that advanced Force-healing practitioners would also typically seek to know. Cathul could feel for those patients, but she also wanted to make sure that [member="Seo Linn"] was getting a patient she could actually act upon. It would do no good to throw a healer to the wolves too quickly in the beginning: I know one or two for which their healing aspirations went out the window because they chose to act upon patients that were too much for them. Now, there ought to be a patient with broken bones, broken limbs even, for Force-healing, she thought, while she watched the student attempt to break the carbon monoxide inside the patient.

"It's just a possibility; knowing it for sure requires intimate knowledge of a species' biochemistry as well as the possible molecules"

 

[Retired]

"I understand."

​While the Knight had very little training with the more finite uses of telekinesis, she was quick to adapt and learn. Not giving too much more thought on how to accomplish what was needed, she reached with the Force into the patient and started breaking the bonds apart of the poison. As the patient would exhale, the poison would go out with his breath until his body was free of it. Unsure of how long the passing time was, Seo did not stop until she was positive her job was accomplished.

With the further enlightenment of different species requirements, Seo gave Cathul a small nod to indicate she understood.

"With each species, there might be different needs."

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"Much better" the patient exclaimed in a low voice.

It took a while, but [member="Seo Linn"] did it. Now that the student of the day broke down the carbon monoxide molecules inside the patient, the stuff that was exhaled was mostly carbon, but now the patient would be taken care of with an oxygen bottle attached to it, on an artificial breathing machine, until his condition was stabilized. It paid to be cautious to ensure that the patient could actually be sent down to the surface along with the other released patients; she now sought a patient that suffered broken limbs of some kind among the patients in the triage area. She might be a little late to learn Force-healing since I know one or two of the more impatient Masters that got started learning it at that stage in their careers, and induced cancers while attempting to treat something whose cure involved growing something back, she thought, while she always held the view that Force-healing should be taught early in a Jedi's career, and also having memories of that patient with a terminal cancer (with the epicenter being in the lungs) resurface in her mind as she delivered the caveats and moved on to another patient.

"Now that we got Detoxify Poison made, we can then move on to Force-healing. Before we begin, there are a few caveats I ought to tell you about. You may have realized it with Detoxify Poison, it's absolutely critical for Force-healing: do not expect near-instant healing every single time. In fact, my worst case in my medical career was a person that suffered from terminal-stage cancer and it took seven hours to cure that patient. Plus the use of Force-healing does not excuse you from having to take precautions"

 

[Retired]

"What other precautions should one take before performing a healing? I understand the need for a sterile environment, as much​ as possible."

For the most part,​ Seo was a woman of few words and only spoke when there was a need. She did this now for clarification and nodded when Cathul said some things would take time.

"I would assume healing would take time. The use of the Force speeds and helps it, but can't be instant cure of anything. Maybe a minor scrape or cut, but nothing severe."

Falling silent again, she followed Cathul to where the next patient was.

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"For example, broken limbs and surface cuts still need to be encased in bandages. Be careful whenever the cure calls for growing back something, such as skin, blood vessels or bone tissue: you may cause a cancer without wanting it if you put too much Force-energy at once"

The next patient [member="Seo Linn"] was brought to was, in fact, suffering from a broken leg from the fall of debris. These patients were very, very common in this medvac facility and that was also something commonly found in first-aid settings; other stuff she feels is important to teach to beginners in Force-healing is heart attacks, beyond the scrapes, cuts and broken bones. If there actually are people here because of heart attacks, may I take Seo to the next patient, if she has enough energy left by that point. Curing a heart attack doesn't actually require that much Force-energy, she thought, while they arrived in another triage ward for orthopedics. Poor refugee! Even if Seo did, in fact, successfully put his leg back together, he would need a leg splint for a week or two and crutches if warranted. Just that Seo may have realized it by now; one just doesn't use the Force the same for curing every ailment. She thus went out looking for a leg splint that fit the size of the patient's broken leg prior to getting Seo to proceed with the actual Force-healing lesson.

"For example, healing a scrape, a cut or a broken bone would typically imply to stimulate the growth of the tissue(s) affected, while healing a heart attack would either require to grow back the coronary arteries (if caused by a hemorrage) or to break down and take out the blood clot. This is just common stuff one encounters in first aid"

 

[Retired]

Listening carefully to what Cathul said, she grew pale when cancer was mentioned. The first part was nothing more than common sense to her. Even with the Force these precautions should be taken until a full heal was assured.

"Of course. Healing takes time so just use what is needed and not too much or too fast."

Taking into consideration the different types of wounds and poisons, Seo knew she had to some research on these topics. Possible a return to her home was in order. The library there would be of great use and since she was a former archivist there, finding what she wanted would be easy enough.

She was taken to a patient with an almost crushed leg. It was beyond a simple break and the bone had essentially shattered below his knee. Taking a deep breath, she again reached out with the Force to the patient. Silently working on him and hoping he had some sort of pain reliever in his system, she attempted to slowly piece his shattered bone back together. With the Force flowing freely between her and the patient, it almost looked like to Seo his leg started glowing. That probably wasn't the case, but it did go back together after what felt like hours.

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"Oh and, for the future, don't forget to put parts of a body in a Force-induced anaesthesia if necessary"

It's worse than I thought, she thought, while realizing that the leg was almost crushed at one point in the patient. While the splint is in place, she did supplement what [member="Seo Linn"] was doing by using the Force to deaden the pain in the afflicted leg, and hopefully the senses were deadened in that leg for at least as long as it took Seo to piece that leg back together. Just that the patient would still need a few days, and maybe weeks, of rehabilitation work to be fully functional again; it definitely wasn't a straightforward operation. In fact, fixing a broken leg of this magnitude would likely have drained Seo's Force-energy reserves, but it was perhaps by choice that she did so. Now that there was no risk of cancer induction, she could then send the patient to the rehabilitation ward, where crutches adapted to the size would be in use then.

"I believe you don't have enough energy left to safely continue the lesson"

 

[Retired]

There was something about Seo that Cathul had wrong. When she used the Force, it was never all at once. Her days of learning how to control her ability was in the past and she hadn't used up all of her reserves yet. This was good because she focused on the healing of the leg, she did find herself using more than she expected. Not too much all at once though and slowly the leg grew back together to the point where she was confident he would recover almost fully.

When Cathul spoke and told her it was possible to numb the other person with the Force as well, she was surprised. Noticing how that was accomplished, it was just another aspect and skill she would need to practice.

Once she finished her work on the leg, she nodded when the other woman stated she didn't feel comfortable teaching Seo anything else.

"What else might I need to know? We can always talk about different aspects or skills."

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"It's just that I wanted you to recover enough for that lesson, which was about numbing pain. Crucitorn"

True, [member="Seo Linn"] did, in fact, spend quite a bit of energy to cure the patient's broken leg, but there was still enough left for attempting to use the Force to control pain in that patient's leg. Just that controlling one's ability is crucial whenever one is using the Force to heal, especially if one was curing a medical condition that required growing back something. And now Cathul was confident that Seo could, in fact, handle it. Now, playing around with the nociceptors can be done either way, but typically I do only inhibition. Crucitorn is based on the idea of playing around with the nociceptors, and requires at least some medical knowledge of pain to carry out, she thought, while also realizing that playing with a person's nociception would also be usable to inflict pain. For that she was grateful that Crucitorn was, by and large, unknown to dark-siders; she could readily imagine how much finesse it actually required and she knew that finesse was at a premium in dark-sider-land. They used pain, anger and other negative stuff to power their use of the Force but only occasionally did they try to understand these mechanisms on a deeper level.

"Typically, controlling pain is about numbing nerves in the afflicted area, so you are, in effect, calming down a portion of the patient's nervous system, the nociceptors. That is, the neurons that are responsible for detecting pain. Sure, you could do the same in reverse in self-defense, but I don't recommend inflicting pain until all other options have been exhausted"

 

[Retired]

"I understand the need to recover, but over my years, I've learned control."

It was true, but Seo did see how Cathul wouldn't have known this about her. She listened to what was said about the next skill and pieced it together that it had already been done for the patient with the broken leg. ​

"There is certainly a good spectrum to use the skill, but I agree to only use it to enhance pain in a defensive manner. The pain relief is something I will practice on. However, in comment to the choices. I would rather inflict pain on an opponent than fight where there is the chance they would be killed."

Maybe it was a question of ethics, but she wanted to give voice to it.

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"It can even be used to induce a patient to sleep"

Sure, to use Crucitorn only when all other options were exhausted was typically meant in relation to attempting to capture somebody alive, just that often it was inevitable to fight to the death as a Jedi. Often trying to limit casualties caused their own kit of issues, but these weren't stuff she wanted to get into in a Crucitorn lesson. I guess, that means another patient will have to be subjected to Crucitorn for pain relief; this time around I will be doing the healing and Seo will be using Crucitorn for anaesthesia, Cathul thought, while trying to locate another patient on whom to perform local anaesthesia. Another case of broken limbs; they are all too common around this ship at this point. Fortunately, there was one opposite to [member="Seo Linn"]; it was there that Cathul applied the requisite splint on the patient's left arm, prior to any use of Force-healing on it. Poor patient: these sorts of ailments were forcing her to do something, and splints are part of the game unfortunately. She needed to get the splint into position before the signal to put Crucitorn to use could be given.

"Now that the splint is in place, you may use Crucitorn on the left arm"

 

[Retired]

She found it interesting this could also be used to put somebody to sleep. It wasn't something she would have thought of at all. Now it was her turn to practice Crucitorn to numb the arm the next patient.

Reaching out with the Force, she would more or less pinch the nerve endings on the shoulder of the poor woman with the broken arm. Once Seo was sure the pain had been dulled, she nodded to Cathul to accomplish the healing. If the woman showed any sign of discomfort, she would apply more relief to the afflicted area.

"With a basic understanding of physiology, this will be easy to do. Thank you."

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"You can always apply this idea of pinching nerves to stun people without killing them, and not simply to affect their pain levels"

Much better. Now it's a game of patience: I have to be patient to avoid inducing a bone cancer into her, and then I'd be legally liable for malpractice, Cathul thought, while gently applying the Force at the bone's breaking point to stimulate the growth of the bone tissue until the two broken ends could be reconnected, at which point she just stopped injecting Force-energy into the broken end of the bone, so that there would be no risk of inducing cancers. It was surprisingly easy for [member="Seo Linn"] to pinch the nerves in her left arm, and pinching nerves opened up a new world of possibilities for non-lethal intervention. And even with the two broken ends of the arm pieced back together, it was not the end of the story to the woman: she still needed some sort of rehab to get back on track, once down to the surface. However, few Jedi realized just how having the proper background knwoledge could make learning Force-powers much, much easier. Such as learning Electric Judgment as a padawan, pyro/cryo, and also how to use that stuff outside of combat, which many, many Jedi neglected in her mind, even Force-healers.

 

[Retired]

Once Cathul had finished with the Force healing she could give, Seo also ended her control of the pain on the woman. Nodding when it was all done, she glanced at Cathul before speaking.

"Now I do feel that while I do have some abilities I could perform, but learning something new is beyond what I can easily do. If there was anything you wanted to talk about concerning any of the skills taught to me, we can."

She would leave it up to the twi'lek to decide if there was anything else. If there was not then Seo would find a place to rest while she recovered and once that was done would practice on other patients if that was allowed.
​
[member="Cathul Thuku"]