"You don't know a lot of the things your father knows. When he tells you to do something, don't argue, just do it."
"Yes my love. Let's go before he puts me back in my cell."
******************
"Look at the size of that thing, Hannah. It starts as a tiny root at the beginning of the left midbrain, and fans out to nearly 1¾ inches as it approaches the skull. These are two veins are going to cause serious problems.
The lower one may be attached to the tumor, or it could just be nestled alongside it. The tumor rapped itself right around the higher vein. It is going to be a bitch to get at. I'm going to have to dissect the tumor down the center, until I reach it. Then I'll have to have to cut a sleeve around the vein and slide it away so I can get to the remains of the tumor. It is going to be a very delicate, and tricky operation. If I nick that vein with the scalpel, in the process, I will have to clamp it off at both ends, and sew it closed. I will have less than 30 seconds to do it. If I fail, brain damage will occur. How do I explain that to the father and mother of a brilliant child? How do I explain that to good and valued friends? I'm a plastic surgeon, not a neurosurgeon. I can't do this. I would have to study for years to do this. I am not going to kill that boy. I could not live with myself."
Hannah said, "Do you mind if I disagree with you doctor?
"You're not going to change my mind Hannah."
"Did you come on this expedition as a doctor, or as a loafer?"
"You know damn well I'm a doctor."
"Are you or are you not a surgeon?"
"I am a surgeon. I studied for six years to become a surgeon, and I'm a good one. Unfortunately, I am a plastic surgeon not a neurosurgeon."
"Your assholes are all the same. You walk into the surgical suite thinking your gods, until you make a mistake, and you blame someone else. Your nurse handed you the wrong piece of equipment. The light wasn't bright enough. The muscles were too far gone. The tumor was too extensive. You blame everyone but yourself. Get your act in gear Doctor. You have a lot of things to learn, but it's not so much that you have to run away from it. Any asshole can use a hole saw. You know the diameter of the tumor, so you add 1/8 of an inch. You know the depth of the skull, so you set that that the depth of the hole saw at that depth. I could get a fucking carpenters helper to do it. The difference between a plastic surgeon, and a neurosurgeon is you are trying to fix age degenerative skin and muscles. You have the hands of da Vinci, and Michelangelo and bring out stars that are 80 years old and make them look like 50 again. A neurosurgeon gives them life again, hopefully. His is a hit and miss proposition. Yours is a 90% proposition. I would go with yours any day of the week. I'm going to tell you how to attack this tumor, and then you going to study your ass off to do it properly.
"You are not going to use a scalpel, if at all possible. Use the laser at 25% power, and move it down to the midbrain at the lowest point of the tumor. Turn it off and turn the tip of the laser 35° left, which will bring you to the right side of the stem of the tumor. Turn the laser on, and turn it left until you severe the base of the tumor. Turn the laser off. Bring the laser the same way you went down until you exit his head. We will take a CAT scan at this point to see if we left anything of the tumor on the midbrain. If we did, when we go down the other sides, we will have to clean it up.
Marking three more positions at the opening to his brain, at 45° apart, use the laser, at 25% power and proceed down, at each mark, until you reach the midbrain again. When you are finished, we will take another CAT scan, and see how you did. See if there are any remnants of the tumor on the midbrain. If there are none, we will put the anti-growth medication on it, put the super glue over it, and seal it with the membrane composite.
I would be vehemently opposed to removing any part of the midbrain. Due to its position near the Cerebral Cortex, if we cut or damage any of the neurotransmitters that send and receive messages from the synapses, ganglia, or neurons, messages could be lost, sent to the incorrect part of his body, or circulate in his brain indeterminably, until he goes insane. At the minimum he would become an automaton, lose all his higher brain functions, become an amnesiac for life, or become permanently suicidal.
On the other hand, if we leave it alone, we come to the easy part of the operation. Take the 'Butter Knife' and slide it down the opening made by the laser, and see if you can wiggle the tumor. If you can, go to the other three sides and try it again. If they all wiggle, you can jump up and cheer. It means that damn thing is not attached to the brain on any side, or the bottom. It's just putting pressure on the brain matter, and interfering with his higher brain functions. It's the reason he argues with everyone in his family, and anyone else who attacks his knowledge of the nuclear fission engine, or if you tell him you know more about anything than he does. He will not be able to control himself, because the message will not get through to his pituitary gland, which tells everyone to remain calm, and would allow you to tell that person to prove it, go fuck himself, or go straight to hell."
"Can I stop you here for a moment Hannah?"
"Absolutely Doctor."
"I have two questions. First, what is a butter knife?"
"It's just like it looks like Doctor, but it's a medical instrument so they had to call it something fancy. It is a 'Virchov Brain Knife.' You can order them in any size, from children to adults. You hold it by the handle, and slide it between the brain tissue, and the tumor. You slide it around to make sure you have it detached 360°. If it's not, you mark the spot moved the knife back, move the laser into position and sever that portion of the tumor from the brain.
You have just identified two things Doctor. One part of the tumor was attached to the brain, and you have a problem. Two that butter knife is worth its weight in gold."
"Hannah, when are you going to start calling me Joe I have asked you to do it 1 million times?"
"As I have told you 1 million times, when I have my certificate on the wall, and the diploma in my hand."
"You already have your college degree, plus 2 more years of advanced nursing school. They don't use those two years extra anymore to qualify people as nurses now. They come out of college and think they know everything, and they don't know how to use a bedpan."
"I agree with you Doctor, but today they will do anything to save money, they don't care about saving lives anymore."
"The truth is Hannah, I stand a better chance of helping people out here, then every doctor on earth has a chance of helping people back there."
"Let's get back to the tumor, because most of the operation from this point is easy. We can use the computer controlled attachment to the laser, instead of a knife. It will be more accurate. Look at this CAT scan. With the aid of the computer, you will be able move to this point, and with a tiny twist of the instrument you can see if the lower vein is attached to the tumor or just leaning against it. You can follow the jagged curve of the tumor, with just the tip of the instrument around until you reach the other side. If it's not attached, you are in pigs' heaven. If it is attached, you turn the laser on, with a 1° angle inwards, and run it from beginning to end, and turn the laser off. Either way the bottom vein is the free, and hopefully, you have not damaged the brain.
Move the laser up until you reach the vein that is protruding through the tumor. Turn the laser on and move it underneath the vein leaving a 2 mm gap through the tumor, until you reach the other side. Repeat the procedure on all three sides, and the blood vessel is free, without the risk of puncturing it with a knife.
Take two arachnoid knives, place them at opposing sides of the top the tumor. Squeeze it together, gently and take it out. We will put it in a container, and test it later to see if it is cancerous.
At this point, I will be able to help you. I will take a pair of micro forceps and grasp the vein, without cutting off the blood supply. Take control of the bottom portion of the tumor, I will pull the top blood vessel to the side as you bring the tumor up. If it doesn't fit don't force it. Put it down, and cut the tumor in half using the laser. Whether it comes out in one piece or two doesn't matter, as long as it comes out safely is.
Once all the visible of the tumor are out, use the high intensity blue light to search for signs of anything we missed.
Placing swabs to fill the entire area below the exposed vein, use the Bendbick solution to carefully immolate off the remaining tumor cells, which are attached to the walls of the blood vessel. If the solution touches any live brain cells they will die, so be careful.
Any flakes, any droplets, could be deadly to the patient in the future. We will use the Allemite lotion to flood the open brain area and suction it clean. Flood the area with saline to dilute the Bendbick, before removing the swabs. When the swabs are removed, flood the area again. It will clean out the remaining Bendbick solution, and any flakes of the tumor that were left behind. We will check the area again, and again, under the blue lights, if necessary, to see if any of the tumor is still attached to his brain matter, or left lying around in the opening. I will smack you silly if you leave something, and I see it. Don't do it Doctor, I will never let you live it down. It's easy, they are two different and distinct colors.
When we are sure the areas clean, we will place the grafting fluid in and wait the three minutes until it sets. I will take the bone out of the freezer, dip it into the putty mastic and handed to you. You insert it against the proper marks on his head, and make sure it is flush with all the other ridges of the skull. You fill the holes made by the whole saw, with the silly putty, cover it with superglue, followed by the composite. That's it, 7 hour and 30 minutes of your life, just gave another man a new lease his life, or you just ruined his life. How does it feel doctor?"
"Okay Hannah, who are you, and where did you come from?"
"I apologize for not telling you sooner Doctor Finch. I was a Surgical R.N for 18 years. I worked with some of the best neurosurgeons at the Lyndon Johnson Medical Center. I was in awe of what they could do. I watched everything, from removing a rock thrown from a lawn mower, to removing half a brain, to give a child a chance to live a normal life, without shaking every minute of the day, because of epilepsy."
"I did my residency at Johnson."
"I know, I assisted at some of your surgeries. You weren't half bad."
"Would you like to do this surgery?"
"No, but I will be here to assist you in any way I can. There is also other help available on the ship."
"Who is she, and I want her here immediately."
"I can't bring her here, she's too big. However, I can have someone plug her into the surgical suite. She will help both of us through the operation."
"Who is it, there's no one on this ship that can't fit into this room."
"It's our computer Doctor. She has complete knowledge of all surgical, and medical books, and techniques in her memory banks. She can even control some of our instruments that are computer connected."
"Who knows how to do that? Get that person down here now."
"Gordon Luck, if you are able to walk, come to the infirmary. Gordon Luck if you are able to walk, come to the infirmary. If you are unable to walk, have someone carry you here. You are needed here now."
You could hear laughter throughout the ship. Everyone knew of my edict, and everyone knew Zoey's intentions. If her husband was going into stasis for 4 to 6 months, she was going to store up enough sex to keep her satisfied for the entire amount of time.
20 minutes later, Gordon was assisted into the infirmary. JoAnn was on his right side, and Zoey was on his left. Gordon's feet were not moving. His eyes were blank. His eyelids were barely open.
"Zoey, you are going to kill that boy."
"I'm trying like hell doctor. I'll know it's time to stop, when my pussy won't close."
"How is his penis doing?"
"He may not be awake, but his dong is always up-standing."
"Hannah, he is no use to us this way. Give him 10 mg of Desoxyn, and keep Zoey away from him."
"Arm or ass Doctor?"
"Let's lay him down on his side, and give it to him in the ass. We can put him on his back, and check his dick for permanent injury as he wakes up."
After administering the Desoxyn, and putting him on his back, Doctor Finch put gloves on, and took hold of Gordon's appendage, which was fully tumescent. He examined it for wear and tear, and although it was severely chafed, and red, it was still in good working order.
"Is he always hard and a foot long, Zoey?"
"It's his reaction to me Doctor. I know it sounds crazy, but when his knows I'm around, that's what happens to him. Regardless of where we are, he will try to find a place for us to copulate. It doesn't matter if it's a janitor's closet, or a glass elevator, we will do it. I started buying panties, by mail, 5 dozen at a time. Otherwise I would have been in a store every day of the week buying new ones. I began, carrying three extra pair in my pocketbook, anytime I was wearing a dress. Thank goodness he's only 9 inches long, and not 12. He is over 5 inches thick, and every time he enters me, my eyes cross, and my throat closes. He is impossible to resist, and extremely impulsive"
"I'm in love with my wife, is that a bad thing?"
"Don't try to sit or stand up Gordon. You will fall back, or fall on your face. The drug I gave you is to wake you up, and that is all it is intended to do. It wakes you up, and it's very short acting. I have questions to ask you before you fall back to sleep, and I need truthful answers."
