Chapter Fifteen
The absolute silence currently filling the sterile twenty by thirty square foot
room was so eerie; it was almost overwhelming.
Not unlike the proverbial calm before the storm, the operating room at Duke Medical Center at the moment was nearly empty – barring one anesthetist and her attendant who watched as the fourteen-year-old male patient silently lying next to them dropped into a deep peaceful sleep.
In a matter of minutes though – things would completely change.
*****
Very soon, countless doctors, nurses, and dozens of students would begin to enter both the operating facility and the auditorium stationed directly above.
Yet, despite the increase of movement around him, Paul Pontiac’s world remained just as dark, just as silent, as before. The pain deep in his chest he had been forced to endure during the past few days no longer was felt. And the reoccurring nightmares, the result from the beating Butch had given him, at least for the moment, were not present.
Thanks to the chemicals the anesthetist recently administered, there wasn’t any awareness that his chest would once again be opened so the thrombus lodged inside his left ventricle could be removed. Nor was Paul aware of the spiritual beings present … watching … and patiently waiting for the designated moment to arrive.
“Is everyone ready?” Dr. Matthews asked as he turned from side to side so he could view the masked expressions of those around his young patient.
Upon seeing a short nod from the staff surrounding him, he proceeded in what would be a lengthy, on-going lecture to those above.
“Since the majority of you attending this procedure are either students thinking about joining Duke’s medical program or are early pre-meds,” Doctor Matthews began to drone as he eyed the mostly twenty-to-thirty-something age group above. “The terminology I’ll be using during this procedure will be in what some refer to as ‘layman’s terms’. However, please don’t think for even the briefest of moments that after you’re enrolled, I’ll continue to do so. … Medicine, after all, is a serious career and learning its complex terminology will only be the beginning of the multiple challenges you’ll learn to face.”
A number of students sitting above, some still pimpled-faced, smiled upon hearing these words and nodded their agreement.
“Now what we have gentlemen and ladies,” Dr. Matthews continued before pausing. “… is a fourteen-year-old male who was originally admitted to Alamance Regional Medical Center after suffering injuries due to altercations with another student. … And unfortunately, the human beast who inflicted these injuries was apparently larger than him.”
“Besides the normal contusions medical staff would expect to see from an incident like this, the center of our patient’s sternum was crushed – leaving multiple bone fragments within the heart, lungs, and all surrounding organs and tissues. Dr. Stanley Rogers, who is both a close friend and a very prominent specialist at Alamance County Regional, operated on our patient twice in order to remove such. However, shortly after the second procedure, blot clots began to develop. And when Dr. Rogers did a Doppler ultrasound, he discovered a major thrombus embolized inside our patient’s left ventricle. … Congestive heart failure, which resulted in additional tissue damage, occurred the night before a third procedure was scheduled. Thus, he was transported here.”
“Is he going to die?” a freckled-face male, “Doogie Howser” age student sitting in the above auditorium unexpectedly blurted.
“Let’s hope not,” Dr. Matthews replied, giving the teen a perfunctory smile. “During the past couple of days we were successful in dissolving all of our patient’s smaller thrombus through the use of thrombolytics. Therefore, our present goal, students, is to remove the remaining large one before it has a chance to enter the aorta and possibly cause an ischemic stroke. … Any questions?”
“Yes,” a highly intellectual-looking female student announced, raising her hand high so the doctor could easily see it.
“Very good. Ms. …”
“Ms. Kay Scott.”
“Okay, Ms. Scott. Would you please stand?”
Rising to her feet, Kay glanced from side to side for a second to see if there was going to be a reaction from any male students. Then not noticing anything, except a few boys in men-size bodies who appeared to be so bored, she could not help but wondered why they bothered to make a physical presence at this event; she proceeded.
“Dr. Matthews. In my early studies, I’ve observed that in an operation such as this where complications could easily arise, it seems an increasing number of doctors are moving away from traditional surgery techniques in favor of use of robotics. Yet, you chose not to do so. … Could you please tell us why?”
Dr. Matthews set the towel he was holding in his right hand onto the edge the table where his surgical tools were waiting to be used, then glanced at the first-year pre-med student and cleared his throat.
“Ms. Scott,” he began, displaying a distinct air of superiority. “Deciding which technique would be most beneficial for the patient is a matter which has to be seriously considered. While the use of robotics does have its advantages when removing an appendix or performing fairly standardized brain surgery, in a situation as the one I am about to undertake I had to consider the possibility of unexpected severe complications. Therefore, I chose to manually perform the operation since doing so would allow me to rapidly utilize any sub-standard surgical tool that might be needed. … I trust this answers your question?”
“Yes, doctor,” Kay replied. A frown revealing her disagreement clearly showed as she took her seat.
Doctor Matthews smiled as if internally satisfied that he had successfully conveyed his obviously superior intellect, before gazing, once again, into the auditorium above him. Would there be any other student brave, or perhaps foolish enough, to question my reasoning?
“Does anyone else have any questions before I proceed?”
A low, continuous murmur echoed among the students while Dr. Matthews repeatedly tapped his foot.
“Okay then,” the doctor replied, seconds later, while assuming an extremely serious demeanor. “Since there isn’t any – Let’s begin.”