3rd Cylus 717:
Location: The Infirmary: Rharne
"I know what the books say, Doctor Helvin," Faith said, earnestly to the Head Doctor here. The young woman was sitting in the back room, resting between patients. Resting was not something which she usually did but the pregnancy which swelled her stomach demanded that she also rest her legs. Faith found it frustrating in the extreme and was not what one could call a compliant patient, but the other doctors insisted that she could only work here with them if she did as she was told.
Decision made, then.
"They don't say very much and what they do say, I don't want to read." Faith's definition of resting included, of course, having a book on her lap. "He's my friend and he's going to die if I don't do something. I am proud to worship Famula and Vri, death is not something I fear for myself or any that I love, but it is my duty to serve." To the earnest former slave's mind, it was as much her duty to help people stay alive until it was their time to die as it was her duty to care for them once they had. If it was Nir'wei's time to die then she would be unsuccessful in trying to save him, but she would not give up until she had cured him or he had been taken by Vri or Famula. Those were the only options to her and she swore by Famula that she would do this in Famula's name, in service of her.
"Tell me what you've found, dear, we'll see what we can do." He was a kind man, Dr Balen Helven and he was the only one who told her not to give up, that nothing was impossible.
"Well, the book you found for me was very helpful," Faith replied with a smile, "it talks about a treatment from a doctor in Etzos. I've written to him and hope to hear back, but..." It was a long way and in the current season travel was limited. Still, she would do her best and do everything she could. "He has had success in prolonging life, look." She slid over the book he had found for her and Balen nodded.
"Hope?" He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Naive optimism and a waste of time, according to some."
Faith didn't take it as a criticism, although it was one from those who might say it. From him, it was a question, a challenge. "If people took that attitude to incurable diseases all the time, incurable diseases would be all we had. The search for treatment, for antidotes and cures is a doctor's duty as much as treating the person in front of us."
He smiled and nodded. "I agree. You have a mountain to climb, I would say."
Faith looked up at him as he stood and she smiled. "The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep. Miles to go, before I sleep."
He shook his head at the unusual young woman who had such strange ways about her. He squeezed her shoulder as he did and left her to it.
The first thing that she needed to do was to compile all the notes that she had on this disease and Faith spent the next few breaks of her trial doing that. Everything that she read told her that "The Rot" as it was called was inevitably fatal and that Nir'wei was going to die a slow and painful death. Shifting in her chair as the baby kicked in response to her emotions, Faith decided that the first thing she had to do was to find some way of alleviating his symptoms.
Hallucinogenics worked, at least a little and Faith could not help but think that was important. It was a change in the brain itself which caused this and they must be altering something in the brain sufficiently that it gave a temporary alleviation of symptoms. That was why the surgery to remove part of the skull hadn't worked, that was why the antitoxins into the nervous systems hadn't. This was some kind of change in the brain itself.
That was logical and not an amazing discovery but it must be something other than rot. Faith sat back in her chair and placed her hand on her stomach, thinking of the child growing inside her. What must Nir'wei's parents have felt when they realised what they passed on to him? Or did they do it? There were all sorts of ways that this could be passed on and Faith made a note to speak to Nir'wei about that.
So, phase one of this would be to work out the appropriate treatments. Faith turned to the encyclopaedia of herbs and she started making a list of all the known hallucinogenics, identifying the ones which had been used effectively and less so and she determined that she would start there.
Location: The Infirmary: Rharne
"I know what the books say, Doctor Helvin," Faith said, earnestly to the Head Doctor here. The young woman was sitting in the back room, resting between patients. Resting was not something which she usually did but the pregnancy which swelled her stomach demanded that she also rest her legs. Faith found it frustrating in the extreme and was not what one could call a compliant patient, but the other doctors insisted that she could only work here with them if she did as she was told.
Decision made, then.
"They don't say very much and what they do say, I don't want to read." Faith's definition of resting included, of course, having a book on her lap. "He's my friend and he's going to die if I don't do something. I am proud to worship Famula and Vri, death is not something I fear for myself or any that I love, but it is my duty to serve." To the earnest former slave's mind, it was as much her duty to help people stay alive until it was their time to die as it was her duty to care for them once they had. If it was Nir'wei's time to die then she would be unsuccessful in trying to save him, but she would not give up until she had cured him or he had been taken by Vri or Famula. Those were the only options to her and she swore by Famula that she would do this in Famula's name, in service of her.
"Tell me what you've found, dear, we'll see what we can do." He was a kind man, Dr Balen Helven and he was the only one who told her not to give up, that nothing was impossible.
"Well, the book you found for me was very helpful," Faith replied with a smile, "it talks about a treatment from a doctor in Etzos. I've written to him and hope to hear back, but..." It was a long way and in the current season travel was limited. Still, she would do her best and do everything she could. "He has had success in prolonging life, look." She slid over the book he had found for her and Balen nodded.
"Hope?" He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Naive optimism and a waste of time, according to some."
Faith didn't take it as a criticism, although it was one from those who might say it. From him, it was a question, a challenge. "If people took that attitude to incurable diseases all the time, incurable diseases would be all we had. The search for treatment, for antidotes and cures is a doctor's duty as much as treating the person in front of us."
He smiled and nodded. "I agree. You have a mountain to climb, I would say."
Faith looked up at him as he stood and she smiled. "The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep. Miles to go, before I sleep."
He shook his head at the unusual young woman who had such strange ways about her. He squeezed her shoulder as he did and left her to it.
The first thing that she needed to do was to compile all the notes that she had on this disease and Faith spent the next few breaks of her trial doing that. Everything that she read told her that "The Rot" as it was called was inevitably fatal and that Nir'wei was going to die a slow and painful death. Shifting in her chair as the baby kicked in response to her emotions, Faith decided that the first thing she had to do was to find some way of alleviating his symptoms.
Hallucinogenics worked, at least a little and Faith could not help but think that was important. It was a change in the brain itself which caused this and they must be altering something in the brain sufficiently that it gave a temporary alleviation of symptoms. That was why the surgery to remove part of the skull hadn't worked, that was why the antitoxins into the nervous systems hadn't. This was some kind of change in the brain itself.
That was logical and not an amazing discovery but it must be something other than rot. Faith sat back in her chair and placed her hand on her stomach, thinking of the child growing inside her. What must Nir'wei's parents have felt when they realised what they passed on to him? Or did they do it? There were all sorts of ways that this could be passed on and Faith made a note to speak to Nir'wei about that.
So, phase one of this would be to work out the appropriate treatments. Faith turned to the encyclopaedia of herbs and she started making a list of all the known hallucinogenics, identifying the ones which had been used effectively and less so and she determined that she would start there.
