Sometimes Station medical staff would not treat our illnesses or injuries until Earth physicians had done their best and had failed. For example, Marjie developed a heart arhythmia which greatly reduced her stamina. She did not receive much relief from medications prescribed by a cardiologist. Nuke asked me for a progress report. “Although she’s taking a larger dose of the beta blocker, it causes more and more sedation, and she’s upset about gaining a lot of weight due to her inactivity and the side effects.”
“We have determined that the nerve which controls her heartbeat was damaged when her immune system attacked her body. The outer covering which insulates the nerve is completely missing in some places. Her heart is basically healthy, but it’s not receiving a consistent nerve impulse.”
“Is there anything you can do to heal the nerve?”
“We have a compound that will seek out any tissue damage in the body and repair it by duplicating the healthy cells near the injury.”
“Earth doctors have nothing like that. How long will it take the tissue to grow back?”
“Several weeks. We also want to install a device between her implant and the nerve so it will generate stronger impulses. It’s a rather delicate procedure because the nerve is behind her heart.”
“You already know she doesn’t want anyone to fool with her implant again. She was about ready to get rid of it altogether after the last problem.” Eight promised there would be no slipups because he would do the surgery, and Marjie gave permission. I prayed that I AM would assist all involved and for a successful outcome before counting her down.
She said, “I’m in the medical unit, on the operating table. Mother, 22, and 8 are here, along with several others. They’re giving me an injection.”
After a few moments of silence, her breathing rate decreased rapidly and her pulse was so weak I feared she was dying. “You’ve got to do something, 8, we’re losing her! Mother, Father, all attending Hosts, help her!” I projected intense healing Light into her body, but she had stopped breathing for almost a minute and her pulse was barely discernible… I heaved a sigh of relief as her pulse and breathing finally returned to a normal rate.
She said, “I’m glad that’s over.”
“I thought I was going to lose you.”
“Something went wrong. I left my body and watched from above while everyone was frantically searching for some kind of equipment. Nuke put his hand into the incision and there was a flash of light. I was suddenly back in my body and the next thing I knew, I was here. They screwed up. He promised me nothing like that would ever happen again!” She was crying.
“I AM isn’t ready for you to die. Maybe we should hear his side of the story before we blame him. How do you feel?”
“Exhausted. Will you help me to the bathroom? I’m still feeling the effects of the injection they gave me.”
“Okay, but I think you’d better take it easy for the rest of the night.”
When she woke Nuke said, “I can’t tell you how profoundly sorry I am for the accident. Our surgical equipment is kept behind marked panels. I withdrew a conducting chip from a compartment and was proudly demonstrating how to install it to my students and boasting about the properties of her new implant when the crisis occurred. The chip was shutting down her heart and lungs, and I had to take it out. My assistants had to search for the correct part, which someone had put in the wrong compartment. Star One’s heart had stopped. We weren’t prepared for the interruption, so, using my hand as the conductor, I supplied some of my personal energy to restart it, which caused a short circuit that passed through me. By then the right chip had been found, and 22 put it in place. We didn’t catch the mistake until it was almost too late. I feel terrible about this and ask for your forgiveness. I hope that Star One will forgive me.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong…I imagine the wrong chip looked just like the right one.”
“It did.”
“How could the chip have been misplaced?”
“Many have access to this area. They are searching for the culprit now. I feel like a complete fool. The Board may not forgive me. I will have to wear the Badge of Humility.”
“Marjie is very angry with you.”
“I know. She gave me quite a bath. You were magnificent.”
“I didn’t feel magnificent. I was just trying to do whatever I could to hold on to her.”
“You appeared at the inner edges of the medical unit and emitted pheromones to the atmosphere to assist her.
“Your energy and prayers were very important. You never lost your concentration or your determination that the outcome would be positive.
“Twenty two and his assistants were frantic but held their composure quite well until the crisis was over. I received a slight burn and my hair is now very curly. A staff member and 22 were slightly burned as well. He scanned me for damage, and when he saw that my injury was minor, 22 gave me a profoundly deep, straight-faced stare. I didn’t have to read his mind to know that he was extremely displeased with the entire event. He also has a reputation to maintain.
“The Board is very grateful for your help. They have instructed me to determine if Marjie will continue to work with us. What is your opinion?”
“Marjie loves you. She’s angry, but when she knows why it happened, I think she’ll forgive you. She still needs you and Sarah and Joseph. She has to have a link with you for their welfare.”
“The Board wants to know her answer as soon as possible. Will you talk to her about this?” I agreed. “The link between her and the children was temporarily lost during the emergency, but it will be restored. I will shut down my communication link for the present.”
I told Marjie what happened and asked, “Are you still willing to work with the Board? They want Nuke to relay your answer as soon as possible.”
“Alright, I’ll speak to him now.” Through her tears she said, “Nuke, you know that I love you, but one thing I learned a long time ago is that the minute you begin to brag, disaster follows. You should never brag. I will continue working with you and the Board, but right now I need extra healing, and Rex needs the security of knowing that I am well. If they will do this for me, then I will continue the work.” From her expression I assumed that the Board had agreed to her terms.
She was in good spirits and so was I in the morning. I was dressing when Perithnea said, “Nucleus risked his life by using himself as a conductor to save mother. He couldn’t wait for anything else to complete the circuit.”
“It was brave of him to do that. Thanks for telling me. Marjie needs to know.” I relayed the message and added, “He didn’t take any credit for risking his life.”
She said,“That sounds more like the Nucleus I know.”
Adam said, “Everyone is relieved to know that mother is alright. Nucleus is moving about the Station again. He’s wearing the brown uniform that shows he made a mistake, and his hair is still curled. When anyone asks him what happened, he just gives them his imperial stare and a big sigh, and they know not to ask any more questions. I don’t understand why he allows his hair to stay curly. He has the technology that would make it straight again.”
“I think his actions say a lot about his character. He’s fully accepting the blame for the breach of security, which is his area of responsibility. It’s better for him to admit his mistake and accept the consequences than to avoid them by pretending nothing happened, don’t you think?”
“Yes. If he avoided it, it would be dishonest. I don’t want to tire mother. I’d better go.” We said goodbye.
At bedtime Nuke said, “Contact Star One.”
“Good evening, Nuke.”
“Link completed. The Board has agreed to Star One’s stipulations. They are also very grateful for your efforts. You will be honored by them.”
“There is no need for that. I’m already honored because we communicate.”
“The Board does have its procedures.”
“Alright.”
“Her implant was adjusted during the surgery to bring her up to Level 5.”
“What does that signify?”
“It refers to contact level. Most humans are at level 3, but the scale goes to 9. That’s what caused the marks you saw on her abdomen.” Five red pinpricks arranged in the shape of an upside down number four had appeared on her right side after the surgery. Marjie had found five similar marks on my back near my right armpit.
“I have seen pictures of marks like that, but they were usually arranged in a circle.”
“Different systems use different patterns. I like dominoes.”
Marjie was due for another procedure designed to repair the nerve which controlled her heartbeat. Nuke gave me the details. “This treatment involves submersing her in a tank full of liquid. The difficulty will be the normal resistance against inhaling it into her lungs. If she cannot be persuaded, tubes will have to be inserted to force the fluid into them, and we would like to avoid that if at all possible. She will be in the tank for ten minutes of your time. Afterwards, she may need assistance to expel the liquid from her lungs and to start breathing normally. This is experimental, so we don’t know how long the recovery phase will take. Synthetic simulations have been quite successful, and many other species have taken this treatment without difficulty, but she is not synthetic. If we encounter any difficulty I will raise her left hand as a signal.
“Do you have any questions?”
“No.”
“We would like to begin as soon as possible.”
“I’m ready to start if she is.”
Marjie said, “I’m ready.” Her eyes opened to slits when she began to breathe the liquid. When removed from the liquid she coughed and sputtered. I said, “Breathe,” She coughed again and her face darkened. I began CPR, pumping on her chest and commanding, “Breathe! Breathe!” After a few anxious seconds she inhaled, coughed some more before breathing normally, and her color improved.
Nuke said, “She was an excellent patient.”
When Sarah made the same comment I asked, “Why did she stop breathing when she came out of the tank?”
“Everyone does that. They like breathing the liquid more than air and resist it.”
“Where did the bruise in the hollow of her elbow come from? It looks like they gave her an injection there.”
“I.V.”
“It never left a bruise before.”
“A calling card.” I looked on the back side of Marjie’s arm and saw another small bruise over a vein in her forearm and pointed to it. Sarah said, “I.V. there, too.”
After Marjie received yet another heart treatment, she was told to stay in bed the following day while it took effect. She was bored and decided to start painting some imitation stained glass, but after a while she began to brush paint onto her body and her gown. I asked why she was doing that, but she was dazed and confused and couldn’t explain it. Nuke said, “There’s a problem. We have discovered a blood clot on her brain which is being dissolved and an aneurism that we are going to remove. We should be finished within the next thirty seconds.”
“What can I do?”
“Pray.”
Marie’s breathing was labored and her eyes glazed over as if she were fading away. I kept telling her to breathe, frantic that she might die. She said, “I’m so tired, Pat, so tired.”
Afraid that a brain hemorrhage was damaging her central regulatory systems, I placed my hands on either side of her head, focused healing Light to her brain, and prayed for divine help. She stopped breathing. I pinched her nostrils closed and forced air into her lungs through my mouth. She started to breathe, but weakly, and I pressed on her chest to strengthen her exhalations. Her pulse was weak and erratic, and she stopped breathing again. I ordered her to breathe with only slight effect. Several frightening minutes had passed before she opened her eyes and choked out, “There’s something stuck in my throat.”
The blockage was rapidly removed by the medical staff, which allowed Marjie to breathe normally, but she was still mildly incoherent and her speech was slurred. I knew she was on the verge of giving up, and death seemed to be closing in.
I desperately said, “We have work to do here. You can’t just quit. We’ve come too far and the hard part is almost over. All the Hosts of heaven are around you, bringing healing power to you. Christ is here with His healing power to help you. It is not the will of I AM for you to die now. You are precious to me. I don’t want you to leave without me.”
I was washed in waves of relief when she finally said, “I need to wet.”
In a soft and weary voice, Nuke said, “She will survive. Mother and others like her assisted. I weep with you.”
“Was there any permanent brain damage?”
“No.”
“Thank God.”
Marjie awakened a couple of hours later. Nuke said, her systems were normal. “Is the lesion any better? I don’t think she can tolerate any more treatments.”
“What lesion? Any future treatments will not be for chemotherapy, but for strengthening the bond where the lesion used to be. They will not be debilitating nor will she have to be motionless for long periods of time.” We were certainly glad to hear that.
Marjie agreed to an experimental follow-up treatment, which was unpleasant for her in spite of my relaxation suggestions. Luckily, it was quickly over and I said, “My suggestions didn’t seem to do much good.”
“Your words helped a lot, but Nuke was giving me injections on my back, my hips, my belly and my breasts, until all of the orange solution in the syringe was used up.”
Nuke said, “The orange compound will consume fat cells. I thought I would give her and you a present.”
Although Marjie was pleased about the predicted weight loss, her mood deteriorated rapidly over the next few hours, and Perithnea, who was crying, said, “I’m afraid she’ll harm herself.”
Marjie was also crying and said, “My brain is burning worse than it ever did before. I want to go to Breath and never come back.” She couldn’t concentrate well enough to respond to suggestions, so I called on Alta Sha for help. He advised an increased dosage of antidepressant and tranquilizer, but she was doing no better an hour later, so I summoned Nuke. “What’s going on? Her brain is burning again, and our medication isn’t helping.”
His eyes filled with tears. “I am so sorry, Pat. Each cell in the solution was supposed to consume three fat cells before expiring, but they are consuming seven. This caused the cells that are repairing the damage to her heart nerve to be released into her bloodstream. They have circulated into areas where they are not supposed to go and now are replicating cells in other organs. Some are duplicating brain cells that produce enzymes that cause suicidal thoughts and the burning sensations. There’s a treatment which will neutralize these unexpected effects, but it involves injections at the same locations as before.”
“Go ahead. She’s not able to make a rational decision right now.”
“We will have to put her under heavy sedation so she can endure the discomfort of the injections. Don’t be alarmed.” The burning sensations and suicidal thoughts rapidly dissipated. As predicted, Marjie was strongly sedated for several hours.
After yet another mistake that put Marjie in danger, Nuke was profusely apologetic and feared that we would reject him entirely. Although we assured him repeatedly that we didn’t hold him to blame for a botched experimental treatment whose outcome he warned was uncertain, he kept apologizing for the next 24 hours.
Marjie and I were concerned when she found a lump in her left breast. An examination at the Station indicated it was benevolent, but they removed it to reduce Marjie’s anxiety. Weeks later another lump appeared in the same place. A biopsy by an earthly physician indicated that malignant cells were present. The Station’s medical staff had never before made a serious diagnostic error and this one deeply shook Marjie’s faith in the validity of her channeling. Nuke was also very upset, saying, “I don’t understand why my System did not inform me of this invasion. Her implant is designed to report any malignant cells that appear in her body. This constitutes a serious fault in our security. I have told Adam to investigate.”
Adam joined me that evening. “I am so sorry that the System failed to report her condition.”
“It’s not your fault. What did you find out?”
“A line inserted in the System’s programming told it to report that everything in her body was normal, regardless of its actual condition.”
“Who could have put it there?”
“We have no idea, and that’s what we’re so concerned about.”
“I don’t hold you, Nuke, the medical staff, or the System responsible. I believe it was the work of I AM.”
“Everything will be done by the medical staff to cure the cancer without her having to ask, and this time we will not wait until her Earth physicians have finished their treatments.”
“Very good. Thanks for the report.”
Nucleus 8 then reported, “Adam examined that line of programming all the way down to the atomic level trying to detect its source, but we still have a mystery on our hands.
“I finally asked the System why it had executed a command that is contrary to its assignment and my prime objective. It said, I will never interfere with the intentions of the Prime Source. I raged at it for its disloyalty. I wouldn’t have cared if it had affected anyone in all the universes except Star One. She has done so much for me I would repay her ten times over. I realize that the Source’s intentions are always benevolent, but I still don’t like it. At first I was ready to reject a Source that would allow her to be stricken with cancer without informing me. I felt I had been deceived. I want it to be clear that this mistake was not my doing.”
“I know. I believed that Breath intended to keep the cancer a secret so you wouldn’t intervene. It’s her destiny. Star One volunteered for this lifetime. Her Oversoul decided in advance that she would have this illness.”
“The medical staff is already working on it. Twenty two examined the original lump’s tissue several times, and it was definitely benign, but the new tumor isn’t. The cancer is confined to the lump and one lymph node adjacent to it. It will be a piece of cake to treat.”
When the tumor was removed by an earthly surgeon, it was found to have no estrogen receptors and was in the process of dying, indicating that the Station’s medical treatment was working. The tumor was primarily composed of fat cells instead of malignant ones, and there was no evidence it had spread, but some adjacent lymph nodes were removed as a precaution.
Although I didn’t think she needed it, Marjie decided to take chemotherapy but rejected radiation. Her cheerful behavior throughout the treatment process inspired the earthly treatment staff and other patients who were being treated along with her, which had been her soul’s intent all along.
Marjie had been successfully treated for various dangerous conditions by the Station’s physicians, but when significant symptoms of fibromyalgia appeared, they were not allowed to eliminate it because it was part of the life plan she had designed for herself before birth. Fibromyalgia greatly limited her stamina and mobility, forced her to spend a lot of time in bed and frustrated both of us. Nuke was also frustrated by his inability to do anything about it other than to offer some symptomatic relief through channeling. Marjie required earthly prescriptions for pain relief.
One day Nuke said, “Twenty two is unhappy with the rapid rate of deterioration resulting from her fibro and got permission from Source to slow its progress. The treatment involves agitating her myelin cells. She will be even more uncomfortable for about twenty four hours, but should improve considerably after that.” His prediction held true. Unfortunately, Marjie’s fibro has persisted to this day. Moving to the dry, warm climate of Egypt helped, but she still has frequent flares that disable her for days.