Private Out of an Abundance of Caution

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Recent and not-so-recent events had made one thing quite clear to Amilthi: her perception of the world and herself had changed profoundly and permanently. It was not, by and large, a problem, but in fact the very opposite. Amilthi felt better than ever before in her life and her body continued to refuse to adopt a representative appearance for her age.

But Amilthi was also by nature rational in the extreme, circumspect and averse to risk; and she understood the notion of tail risk. She recognised the possibility that her powers of equanimity might cause her to erroneously regard an otherwise alarming observation as not concerning and not worth acting upon. It was possible that she had lost her calibration as to how much pain and discomfort were normal simply because pain and discomfort had ceased to bother her; they were not her pain and discomfort.

Her presence on Kashyyyk, though precipitated by another occasion entirely, afforded her a unique opportunity: to see the Silver Jedi Order’s medical professionals for a check-up, specialists who were used to working with Jedi, whose bodies and minds often did not work like those of other people, though rarely to the extent of Amilthi’s case.

[member="Prennis Keeoli"]​

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

{ Location: Halls of Healing lobby, Silver Rest }​

{ Equipment: Scrubs, stethoscope, HDM }​

~ † ~​

Staring into a cup of Silver Sage tea was not unlike looking into space out of a starship's porthole, if one could get past the difference in color. Individual sugar crystals had long since dissolved into the honey-colored herbal beverage like stars winking out of existence, having died tens of thousands of years ago, and remained such as the liquid had cooled. Eventually, Prennis' gaze drifted from her mug back to her datapad, where she drafted her letter resignation to Celeste Rigel. The decision to stay or go had not been made quite yet, mostly because Prennis had no idea where she would go, so she was preparing for either way. When the break room's door slid open behind her, she switched her screen over to a patient report she also had to finish. "Hey, Prenn," followed a familiar voice.

"Afternoon, Wrynn," she answered as the regular nurse came to lean back against the table next to her spot around it. Setting down her stylus, she scooted back in her chair.

"How do you feel about seeing a Jedi solo? An, um..." Wrynn briefly looked down at his own datapad, apparently a digital copy of an intake form, "...[member="Amilthi Camlenn"] came in for a wellness check. I don't know if she has any Force-specific concerns or not, but Master Coram and Knight Falensa told us not to page 'em until their meditation class finishes up."

Prennis nodded. "I can screen her for sure," she answered. "Do what I can." She had only worked with a handful of Jedi herself, but she was obviously used to them, both as patients and coworkers. Her understanding of the Force, as well as most of the medical staff's, was simultaneously well- and underdeveloped. A Sensitive's outer expression of It was easy enough to grasp - that was, most powers in each of the three categories. Prenn found it useful to think of the Force as something of a muscle, able to produce both power and motion. But the Force's inner workings within a Jedi thoroughly confused her, specifically powers like tapas or morichro that pushed a humanoid's body beyond its baseline limits or those that healed wounds and disease. Due to this reality, any Jedi that checked into the Halls of Healing with a Force-based ailment typically was seen by a Jedi healer.

Wrynn smiled. Considering the current situation, someone had to see Amilthi, and Prennis was still basically the equivalent to a doctor even if she couldn't feel the Force. "Great. Room 126."

Reaching out to power off her datapad, Prennis rose, tucked it under her arm, and started down the hall. She reached the room and, pausing only briefly to knock courteously at the door, she slowly moved inside. "Master Jedi Camlenn?" Unsure of her actually rank, the nurse resorted to the overtly formal address. "I'm Nurse Practitioner Prennis Keeoli. No Force users are currently available to see you, but in the meantime I hope I'm alright. Are we comfortable?" A pause to allow for an answer, but also to give herself the chance to sit on the rolling stool reserved for the attending physician. Affording Amilthi a proper glance then, she noted silently that her face was one she had not seen around. Prennis thought she knew all the masters, knights, and most of the padawans at least by look, but no bother.

"Now, what's brought you in today?"

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

The air of health, energy and kindness radiating from the young woman who had come to see her was quite unusual in those who were not strongly connected to the Force, and Amilthi wondered for a moment if it was possible that there was such a thing as passive exposure effects from prolonged living in the close proximity of a large number of Force users. It was possible, but admittedly unlikely that the Jedi, who were so often supported by volunteer laymen even in their most monastic locations, would not have noticed such a thing in the many millenia of their existence.

"I’m glad to see you’re not a droid. The care of others is an appropriate and wholesome occupation for us sentient beings", remarked Amilthi with a friendly smile, implicitly making clear that she was quite comfortable with [member="Prennis Keeoli"]. She didn’t seem to think it obvious that the Silver Jedi Order would share her outlook on this point.

"I don't have anything to complain of. But if it's not too much trouble, I would like you to ascertain that there is nothing wrong with this body of mine", explained Amilthi. "There probably isn’t, but if there were, I might very possibly not recognise it."

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

{ Tag: [member="Amilthi Camlenn"] }​

~ † ~​

Analgesia?

That was a concern in and of itself, if that was an appropriate diagnosis. As Prennis thought it, she typed it into the notes section of the medical form and then set the datapad aside. She pushed herself off of her counter behind her and rolled to when Amilthi sat. She rose her left hand and tapped on her gauntlet display to wake it up. A plane of green light expelled from the sensor embedded in the palm of her glove, slowly scanning the Jedi Master's forearm. The gauntlet beeped and she considered its findings. "Vital signs look good." Especially for a Jedi. If Prennis had to venture a medical guess, Amilthi was strong in the Force. Consulars' and more Force-reliant guardians' heart rates tended to be abnormally low, even immediately after intense exercise of their powers.

Prenn stood and put the eartips of her stethoscope into hers. "This might be a little cold," she warned habitually, unsure in hindsight if Amilthi could recognize temperature-related stimulus. If she could, the durasteel diaphragm was indeed cool, even through a layer of cloth or two. She listened to her heart for a few moments. "A few deep breaths, please?" Then, to her lungs, first in front and then in back. "Sounds perfect." Again, for a Jedi.

Sitting back down and returning to her datapad, she asked, "Tell me a little about the history of this..." - what to call it? - "situation? Can you not feel pain?"

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi smiled, almost sheepishly, but then explained quite calmly and clearly. "No, I feel more, not less, than I used to. I can perceive subtle sensations that used to be invisible, and in places that used to be inaccessible to my awareness. There is always a little pain somewhere, just as there is always a pleasant sensation somewhere. They probably don't matter, but... I'm not entirely sure what is normal anymore and what isn't. So it will be helpful to establish a new baseline."

Nonetheless she did not actually appear to be concerned - if anything, her attitude was one of exploratory curiosity.

"It's clearly a side effect, or perhaps not even a side effect, of certain meditation techniques." Amilthi realised that this might give the woman the wrong idea and continued nonchalantly: "I don't believe it has much to do with the Force per se, it's very likely that you would enter the same state if you practiced these methods." She closed with a shrug and an innocent smile.

[member="Prennis Keeoli"]​

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

{ Tag: [member="Amilthi Camlenn"] }​

~ † ~​

"Mhmm." Maybe complex regional pain syndrome, then? Prennis backspaced her previous thought and replaced it with her new hypothesis, as long as a personal note to discuss meditation with Master Falensa. "How long has this been going on?" she asked first. "And where do you feel the most pain?" She paused to listen to her answers, filling relevant information into the form. When done, she swiped to the attached intake form Amilthi had filled out in the waiting room. "I see you've spent quite some time in the Outer Rim. How recently did you return?" If she said something to the effect of 'very,' a routine blood test for environmental toxins local to those worlds would have to be added to the list Prennis was already thinking about ordering.

But in any case: "I have some tests I'd like to request for you, but they might take a while. Do you have any previously arranged engagements soon? We can always reschedule."

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"At its present level, a couple of months. It was even more pronounced than this at one stage, but then I proceeded beyond it. It has been rather stable since then. I don't know that there is any particular place where I tend to feel pain more frequently or more strongly than elsewhere. It is just one of so many different sensations that crops up occasionally in one place or another. It is as if a filter has been removed from my consciousness and I can now feel the static of my mind - the raw signal, without a smoothing algorithm applied." Amilthi hadn't touched a computer seriously in a long while, but some things apparently didn't change - it was still the first place her mind went for analogies.

"I can't say I have returned. While I haven't had a permanent residence in many years, I still spend most of my time in the far south of the galaxy."

"I don't schedule things", said Amilthi innocently, as if it was a matter of course. Then, for a moment, a mischievous twinkle flashed in her eye. "The Force does that for me. Apparently, it has arranged for me to be the subject of some investigation", she remarked light-heartedly with a wry smile. It did appear that she was being consciously facetious, but still this manner of speaking of the Force, so devoid of all respect, was perhaps unusual, and yet it was so natural that it seemed equally wrong to call it disrespectful.

***​

It was standard procedure to check the concentration of various environmental toxins in individuals who had spent a prolonged period of time in the relevant conditions, and Amilthi, who had spent many years on poor planets in the Outer Rim, qualified for a considerable number of risks. Among the toxins to which many of the downtrodden in the galaxy suffered chronic exposure in non-fatal, but certainly harmful amounts was the common rodenticide Cyanoxis D-570.

According to the analysis results, Amilthi should have been dead, or at least currently dying from internal bleeding.

[member="Prennis Keeoli"]​

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

~ † ~​

After reading [member="Amilthi Camlenn"]'s results, Prennis sent the phlebotomist back into the lab to redo the blood test. The third time she did this, the residing pathologist himself met with the nurse practitioner and assured her that the test had been conducted correctly thrice. "Your patient's dying, Keeoli," he relayed sympathetically to her as if his chart had not.

But obviously she wasn't. She wasn't hemorrhaging from any of her orifices. There were no outstanding signs of shock. Prennis could check for abdominal bruising later, but she had a feeling she wouldn't find any.

All of this felt wrong.

"I can tell you she's a picture of health," Prenn replied, adding when the specialist lofted an eyebrow, "or really good at hiding that she's not. Check her K1." That vitamin, being fat-soluble, wasn't a thing to administer carelessly, and she had plenty of reason to be hesitant.

A short rap on the door came before she saw herself into the room. "Master Jedi?" The nurse shut the door behind her, eyes flicking about nervously. None of her tried and true patient relation tactics were helping her now broach this peculiar topic. "You have fatal levels of an anticoagulant rodenticide in your system. Have you...uh...?" 'Do you feel like you're dying?' would be an insensitive let alone difficult question to answer. How does oncoming death feel, really? Maybe a Jedi knew better than the medical hypotheses she had learned over her career, but even so it was an answer she shied away from. With an internal sigh, she steeled herself to try again: "Have you had any bleeding problems recently? With clotting specifically."

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"Well, that's certainly interesting, because I'm not dying." Amilthi did not find the news the least bit disconcerting and there was no doubt whatsoever in her pronouncement, which she seemed to think incontrovertibly obvious.

"No, I haven't. I also didn't take last week's monthly opportunity to bleed to death", she replied to Prennis' question unconcerned and with a wry smile. "Let's try it, prick my finger or something!" She held out her hand. Rather than alarmed, she seemed, if anything, quite intrigued and fascinated by the finding.

"You're quite sure the test result is correct? No contamination, no reference error in some database... ?" mused Amilthi. "Considering that I'm not a rat and haven't been eating off the floor, how do you think this substance got there?" Her mind produced vague associations with Tatooine and jawas, which were, after all, rodent-like, but no coherent explanation was forthcoming and the wisps of association disappeared again, dissolved in the still sea of her mind.

[member="Prennis Keeoli"]​

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

{ Tag: [member="Amilthi Camlenn"] }​

~ † ~​

It was getting nearly impossible for Prennis to hide her distress. What was happening? She didn't know the way to find out, as it seemed that which she did had failed, but the next logical step was to do the very thing Amilthi had suggested. While entirely less intrigued by it at present than her, Prenn riffled through drawers until she found a pen-like lancing device and a new pair of microsensory gloves. The scientific method as well as medical curiosity, both of which normally drove her forward, were the furthest things from her mind; rather, somehow, it still clung to to the fear that the Jedi before her was completely unaware physically as her body was dying, that she would bleed her out right there.

"Right, then. Ready?" Lining the needlepoint up to one of Amilthi's digits, Prennis quickly and superficially pricked the fingertip. She dropped the lance into the nearby holo surgical tray before squeezing the finger with her own fore and thumb. The pressure was gentle as to not pinch the wound closed, but enough to aid coagulation along faster.

As the experiment ran, answered the nurse, looking up, "I ran it trice." For the first time in a long time, she missed the input of one of her First Imperial colleagues. What would Doctor Zainthier Madine say? "Runoff into drinking water supply is a possibility," she mused further. "Poisoned food is too." Finally glancing down, Prenn ran her thumbpad over the wounded area. The tiny, gathered pool of fresh blood swiped away easily, leaving a dark red spot in place below.

A clot.

Never mind what Madine might say; what would she hypothesize about this?

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"So most likely someone tried to poison me", surmised Amilthi, utterly failing to be upset by this possibility. She wondered why she had not sensed such ill intentions on any occasion, but then the poison did not, apparently, pose a threat to her, so perhaps it made sense. Accidental poisoning of food was, of course, possible in principle, but exceedingly unlikely. And for a sufficient amount to have come together just from drinking water, it would have to have been in one of the places where she had stayed longer - and then she would surely have noticed people around her being ill. The Jedi shrugged.

"A reference error in the database would reproduce across three trials", Amilthi pointed out. "Contamination of the lab - who knows, but I don't suppose that would be it."

She tilted her head slightly and looked at Prennis as if to encourage her not to be flustered. "Assuming that this toxin is, in fact, there, is there some known genetic immunity to it that I might have? Or could it be a novel one? Is the mechanism of action of the toxin understood and can it be tested whether it... applies to me?"

It did not seem to occur to her to ask how to eliminate the substance from her system.

[member="Prennis Keeoli"]​

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

{ Tag: [member="Amilthi Camlenn"] }​

~ † ~​

"...Yes, that's true," mused Prennis as she sat back down, taking off her gloves. Fluster began to give way to calm brainstorming as, as far as either of them could see, nothing was urgently wrong.

A database error - it was a possibility; she wasn't too proud to deny that. And Amilthi's following suggestion was a good one too. Prennis nodded, ducking her head and taking her stylus from behind her ear. "I don't know. I'd have to see if we have a sample somewhere." 'Normal clotting function. Cyan D-570 tests. Some sort of antigen?' she wrote on her datapad. Then she thought aloud, glancing up, "There's a protein used in the updated rakghoul serum that binds anticoagulants to tissues and DNA, making them ineffective in thinning the blood. It is possible, assuming you were poisoned and vaccinated for the Plague, that the protein was in excess in your blood and, when the rodenticide was introduced, it was immediately neutralized. Have you had that vaccine?" If not, back to square one.

The nurse herself had not thought that far either. First, she had to form a hypothesis of what was in Amilthi's system to produce this medical mystery. Then she could test if it was even there - or really needed to be removed - and finally follow through.

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"Would your test even have detected the bound anticoagulant? But", said Amilthi with a wry smile, "no, I haven't had the vaccine, not that I know of. You're welcome to look for it just to be sure, of course. Or anything else you might think of."

Amilthi liked the direction this was taking. The other woman's noticeable discomfort with the situation, as if she had been expecting Amilthi to collapse every moment, was waning and she seemed to be coming to accept the facts as they were and beginning to investigate them - which, as far as Amilthi was concerned, was the proper attitude towards everything.

"If you think it is worth your time, that is. Is this substance a common cause of problems?" If it was not, perhaps there was nothing to be gained here and it would be wiser to let the matter rest.

[member="Prennis Keeoli"]​

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

{ Tag: [member="Amilthi Camlenn"] }​

~ † ~​

Prennis shook her head. No it didn't. "But it would if I ordered it again, looking for it in particular." No? Well, maybe she shouldn't have been surprised. Some Jedi could learn to utilize the Force in place of traditional medicine - like antibiotics, antidotes, and vaccines - couldn't they? Amilthi probably was one of them whether she knew it or not. That changed the epidemiology of her case. With every passing moment, though she was altogether less distressed, Prennis doubted her expertise. She brought up the pager widget on her datapad. Both of the Masters were still listed as 'do not disturb'.

"Oh, yes yes yes, of course," she replied quickly to the question of the test's worthiness. "Rodenticide poisoning is admittedly rather rare, but serious. Er, can be," Prenn added, motioning to the Jedi before her, insinuating her current situation. "But since you seem immune, or at the least unaffected, I'd say that how we move forward is up to you. I can run extra tests, we can do outpatient treatment, we can leave it alone."

She sat up straight as an idea suddenly came to her. "Are you aware of the Healing Crystals of Fire here? If you think there's even a small chance meditation has caused, or helped along, this...then we can monitor you as you do so. See if anything changes?"

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi smiled softly. It seemed that Prennis had not quite grasped the angle under which Amilthi had been thinking about the phenomenon. "I don't matter here - what matters is whether you believe there might be useful medical knowledge to be gained from my case. Maybe there is not - it is entirely possible that, as you put it, meditation has caused this." The manipulation of biochemical reactions in the body, the prevention of reactions that would normally happen, and the ignition of those that would normally not, was certainly, as a class of effects, well within the realms of what could be caused by a deep connection to the Force on the level of the physical body, as Amilthi cultivated it.

"In which case I don't believe there is much use in... monitoring it. I'd rather not overstrain the Order's hospitality for no-one's benefit." Polite indirection, rather than any implication that such hospitality had left anything to desire, was clearly behind these words. "Is this a substance that will be metabolised normally and eliminated in time? Because if it would otherwise remain there forever, it would probably be prudent to remove it, if that is a possibility."

[member="Prennis Keeoli"]​

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

~ † ~​

Prennis did not normally have to be drawn a map; she was usually able to pick insinuations out of conversation, but [member="Amilthi Camlenn"]'s suggestions had eluded her up until this very point. But the nurse wasn't hard on herself for having been so easily lost. It seemed to her nonsensical for a patient to put medical progress above the welfare of themselves. Of course, a woman had full right to refuse treatment on any grounds whatsoever - she had encountered this on many occasions - but this, this was a new one. And with it, she was having trouble bowing out.

"I see," mused the practitioner. "It is my opinion that your ailment is...rather specific. I'll write up a report to my peers and get their input. In any case, I'll ask the lab to keep your blood on hand. For possible future research." For a moment, Prenn chewed on her lip inside of her mouth. "Cyan's metabolism hasn't been fully defined, mostly because exposure normally results in death, but the working understanding is that it is hydroxylated by oxidase enzymes. Phenobarbital should be effective at getting rid of it."

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi sensed the confusion she had triggered in the other woman, and wondered about it. But upon reflection, everything made sense: the person she was speaking to was focused on patient care, not on research. Of course the bigger picture wasn't the first thing for her to think of. How silly of herself to think obvious the direction her own thoughts had gone in.

"Very good", agreed Amilthi. "Could you explain - how much, for how long? Will it prevent me from travelling?" she asked naively.

Prennis Keeoli​

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

{ Tag: Amilthi Camlenn }​

~ † ~​

"Certainly. I'll start you on sixty-milligram oral pills, once daily for a week." As she spoke, she sent out the request from her datapad, finished with a signature. "The most commonly reported side effect is somnolence. At this low of a dosage, you shouldn't experience any others, but I can send you off with a list of all possible side effects." Prenn browsed to gather the promised information, an action she had preformed so many times she could multitask easily while holding a discussion with a patient. "It shouldn't interfere with any travel plans, no, provided you take your prescription along. Though adjusting to local time may be even more trouble than it normally can be, depending if you end up experiencing somnolence or not."

C...Ca, Cam... Prenn kept her place on screen with her stylus as she tried to find Camlenn on the alphabetized list of surnames. She couldn't on the first few passes of those letter combinations, and on the third peruse she admitted defeat, looking up once again. "I-I'm sorry, I'm not finding your contact on the SJO mailing list. Could I have your holomail address?"

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"Great. So I don't need to expect I'll crash my starfighter into the nearest asteroid", said Amilthi with a wry smile.

"Oh... Well, I don't have one, myself, but I guess I can give you the Svivren Enclave's. If something is really important, they can reach me. Most of the time." She seemed to consider for a moment, then began hesitantly: "I do have the encryption key somewhere, too..." But then she rethought. "Though you probably won't want to bother with that."

Prennis Keeoli

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

{ Tag: Amilthi Camlenn }​

~ † ~​

So, she wasn't a Silver...? Prennis shook her head and took down the sequence, only speaking to repeat it back for confirmation. No matter. "That much is above my technical expertise," joked the nurse, referring back to the encryption key. "If I may ask, whereabouts are you planning to travel? Back into the Outer Rim?"