Well, here's the next chapter. Hope you all like it and think it was worth the wait. I was very excited I got past 2,000 words but if the chapter isn't any good and high word count doesn't mean much of anything. LOL
"Here are the x-rays you wanted, Dr. Beckett." A radiology tech stated, handing over his computer tablet to the chief of medicine, on which the images of Sheppard's chest were already pulled up and ready.
"Thank you, Kyle." Carson replied, taking the computer from him. While the varying shades of gray did not make much sense to many people but to the Scot it was perfectly clear. The neutral gray of the tissue was interrupted by white, curving lines, taking the appearance of a child's scribbling.
"Is surgery prepared?" Carson asked without looking up from the radiographs, his eyes lingering on each pale white line, tracing their path through the lining of John's lungs. They're were so many , burrowed deep into the pilot's tissue. Too many to simply destroy the parasites with medication alone. The only answer was to surgically remove as many of the 'worms' as possible then treat whatever eggs and larva were left with the drugs. That was only once they could isolate the exact medications that would destroy the creatures without Sheppard developing any adverse reactions. The poor soldier had already been on a wide range of antibiotics and other drugs before they had discovered the large load of parasites.
"Everything is ready." Kyle answered him. "Kayla's preparing the Colonel now."
Beckett nodded in satisfaction. "Alright, give Dr. Weir a call and let her know what's happening. I'm gonna go scrub up." He sighed, standing up from his seat. "Let's hope whatever stubbornness that's kept the lad alive this long keeps it up."
SGASGASGASGA
Sweat beaded across Beckett's forehead as made another incision into his patient's chest. A monitoring machine hummed beside John's head with another nearby keeping the man breathing under the intense surgery.
"Alright, we're in." Carson said, more to himself than to his team. "I've just reached the exterior of the lungs. The worms should have absorbed the anesthetic from John's blood stream, so I'm expecting the little buggers to be at least a bit lethargic. Shouldn't be too difficult to remove."
Taking a moment, Beckett quickly checked the stability of the spreader bar that were holding the Colonel's ribs apart to allow the doctor easy access to the man's lungs. The dark tissue along each side of the ribs inflated with each breath. The purplish brown flesh was riddled with grungy white lines. This was going to take a very steady and sure hand, one that the Scot prayed he would have. Taking a quick count, Carson noted only five. Once he removed the worms he could see they would need to use the ultrasound to detect any others he may have missed.
"Do you have a container, lass?" Carson asked from behind his mask, as he gently tugged on the end of one of the smaller worms with his forceps.
"It's right here, doc." The nurse answered, holding a clear plastic container filled with formaldehyde.
Beckett nodded, sighing as he looked towards his patient, praying once more for success before beginning. "Well, here goes nothing."
Very slowly, the doctor began to pull. Inch by inch the parasite was revealed, writhing slightly. A long, thin organism. The body was smooth, much to Beckett's relief. Carson had found himself imagining large grotesque snake-like creatures with large barbs. A thing of nightmares that would be nearly impossible to remove. Once clear of the tissue, he quickly put the parasite into the jar.
The doctor smirked as the nurse in front of him shivered. "Not your cup-of-tea, is it lass?" Beckett asked as he pulled another worm from his patient's lungs, this one about two inches long, much larger than the first.
Kayla nodded minutely, wincing slightly as the doctor dropped the creature into the container she was holding with a wet plop. "It all started when I was five." She stated. "I loved anything creepy crawlies. I would try and catch anything I could. My mom hated it, making me empty my pockets before I came inside because I always tried to sneak my new pets in."
She giggled slightly, remembering her many antics as a child before continuing. "There was a patch of dirt in my neighbors yard, behind the shed. It was filled with bugs and rodents of all sorts. A swarm of ground wasps had nested there too so mom had forbidden me to go near the place. She told me again and again. Needless to say, I didn't listen."
"How many times were you stung?" Carson asked without looking up.
"Only two, but that's not what got me scared of them. There is this creature, another parasite of sorts, called a cuterebra. It's basically a fly maggot. Long story short, the thing hatched on my skin and burrowed in. I was afraid to get in trouble so I didn't tell my mom that my arm hurt for a while but when I saw it poke it's head out I knew I needed help."
"And did you get in trouble?"
"Nah, mom figured I was so terrified I would never get near any bug again." The nurse laughed. "She was right, I do everything I can to stay away from them."
"I don't blame you." Carson said, understanding how childhood trauma, no matter how mild, remained with a person for a very long time. "When I was a wee lad I accidentally locked myself in my grandmum's cellar. I wasn't found for three hours. It was filled with crickets. I know, it's a strange thing to be afraid of but a few hours in a dark, dank hole the chirpy buggers start to sound a little freaky."
Kayla nodded in sympathy, knowing that she would have been curled up, shaking, in the corner after only twenty minutes or so.
Another hour past, the doctor and the nurse continuing their small talk while removing one parasite after the other. Carson could not help but groaned as he worked his forceps around, slowly urging a particularly long worm from his burrow. Kayla grimaced as Beckett dropped the creature into the jar before she screwed the lid on tightly.
"How many more do you think are in there, doctor?" She asked as she picked up another container, standing up on her toes to peer into the open body cavity, scanning the tissue for any additional worms.
"Not in this section of the lungs but I saw a few of the crafty buggers hiding out in the trachea." Carson replied, scanning the x-rays on the table beside him for any that he might have missed. "How many do we have so far?"
"21."
The Scot nodded, using his forceps to peer into the trachea. "Would you hand me the endoscope?" He quickly found said instrument in his hand. One by one he pulled out the worms, being careful so as not to damage any of the surrounding tissue in the process.
"Well, that's that section, now for the other lung." Beckett sighed as he began to stitch up the incision.
SGASGASGASGASGA
"How is the Colonel, Doctor Beckett? Elizabeth asked as Carson walked through the doorway, the doctor looking exhausted but somewhat positive.
"He doing very well, actually. Twenty-nine of those little buggers had made their homes in the lad. We removed 'em and, even with the damage done to his lungs, John's breathing has improved greatly but he will still need to be on the ventilator for a few more days at least."
"Twenty-nine?" Elizabeth asked, shivering slightly, having always been 'creeped out' by anything with more or less than two or four feet.
"Aye." Carson nodded. "Poor lad had a payload."
"But how did they get inside?" Ronon asked, who had been sitting in the corner of the waiting room for the last fifteen minutes. It had been decided that due to the expected long duration of this surgery, that the team would take shifts, much like they had during Sheppard's recovery. The Satedan had already contacted Rodney and Teyla so that they could also hear what the doctor had to say.
Beckett nodded. "Now, that's the mystery but I'll hazard a wee guess. The lad was covered with a multitude of insect bites when he returned. Many, of which, seemed to come from the same buggers. I would suspect that these insects, when they bit the Colonel, transferred the parasite."
"But that was in the skin. How did they get to the lungs?" Weir asked.
Carson grinned slightly, having loved his parasitology class in medical college. "Parasites often do not remain in the same portion of the body they entered, instead migrating to their preferred location."
The 'bug' lesson was interrupted by the entrance of Teyla and Grover, the latter of which immediately ran up to the group, focusing on Elizabeth in particular. The expedition leader had not had a lot of time to spend with the mutt these passed few days, having been too busy dealing with the up-coming financial reports and preparing for her 'small' trip back to Earth.
"Hey buddy." She said, leaning down to pet the excited border collie. She paused when she noticed a dime-sized bump underneath his eyelid. "What's under his eye?"
"I was, actually, on my way to ask you, doctor," Teyla replied, "when I received Ronon's message. I'm sorry, I did not noticed it before."
"Well, let's take a look now, shall we?" Carson said, kneeling down and motioning Grover over to him, who gladly complied.
While Grover had learned to trust most people, he still was nervous whenever they drew close to his eyes or feet, those being his more sensitive and vulnerable spots, so the doctor had to settle with looking at the strange lump from a distance. Even though he was unable to get very close while petting the canine, he had a strong hunch of what this new growth truly was.
"Bridget." Beckett called to one of the nearby nurses. "Could you prepare surgery once more for Grover here."
"Sure thing, doc." The nurse replied before walking away.
"What is it, Carson?" Teyla asked.
"Most likely the same buggers that were causing the Colonel such grief."
"But they were in his lungs." Elizabeth stated in confusion. "Why would they be in Grover's eye?"
Carson nodded, continuing to scratch the mutt's ears. "You remember when I said the parasites migrated to the lungs well, parasites do not always 'choose' the same location in different species so while they made their home in the poor lad's lungs they seemed to find Grover's eye a bit more appealing."
This time Elizabeth and Teyla, both, had to repress a shiver, the thought of small worms burrowing into an eye enough to turn anyone's stomach.
"The Colonel should be out soon. The lad will still have some problems breathing so the respiratory tube will need to stay in place for a wee while longer. We're gonna slowly wake him up to reduce the stress on his body but you can start with the schedule again. The doctor continued, as he gathered up Sheppard's x-rays as well as his small computer tablet. "Now, if you don't mine, I have another surgery to complete."
The group nodded as he walked out of the waiting room.
"I will contact Rodney and let him know." Teyla said, it being the Canadian's turn to sit with the CO.
"Let me know what?" McKay asked, quickly walking in at that moment.
"I will fill him in." The Athosian stated, turning to Ronon and Elizabeth before they headed out the door.
SGASGASGASGA
Carson sighed as he watched both his patients' chest rise and fall with each deep breath in their sleep. Sheppard had woken only a few hours before but despite the tube in his throat the pilot was too exhausted and weak to attempt speech just yet. Grover had woken much quicker than John, his surgery having been much simpler. They had pulled five smaller parasites from the canine's left eye, but no serious damage had been done so Carson expected Grover to recover completely and have no lasting sight lose.
Beckett's hand rose unconsciously to run through his hair as he stifled a yawn, wanting nothing more than to join the Colonel in his sleep. Teyla, who had been on 'sitting duty' last had tried to convince him to retire to his bed but Carson needed to sit with the Colonel until he was fully aware, if not for John's own good, for his nurses were highly capable, but for his own. Sheppard had had so many unexpected set backs in the past few years, Beckett wanted to make sure another nasty surprise didn't sneak up on them.
The fact that he was sleeping however told Carson that they were, in fact, over the worst of it. Now, the only thing in front of Sheppard was the very long and tiring road to recovery. A hard journey for the pilot but Carson and the team would be there for him every step of the way.
Thanks for reading! The next chapter will be the last so please review but no flames. :)