Chapter 4
22. Operation Day
It was a little after 5:00 o'clock in the morning and the lights went on in Payne Temple's room. She neither saw nor heard anything because she was sound asleep, at least for the moment. The nurses went about their business, setting up the intravenous bags, injectable medications, razors, and sterilization items and then, they woke Payne up.
Payne looked around the room, with a mixture of anxiety, apprehension, and outright fear. She had waited her entire life for this moment and all she wanted to do now was 'run away.'
The lead nurse saw the look in Payne's face and went over to comfort her. She had seen that look so many times before, from patients, old and young alike, and she understood how the thought of undergoing a procedure, of this magnitude, could cause such alarm. She talked with Payne for a time and assured her that today; she was in the hands of the best team of doctors, nurses, and operating room specialist in the world. This team knew Payne had waited her entire life for this day. They would move heaven and earth to give her the absolute best result possible. This was her team. They were assembled downstairs going over her procedure, step-by-step, for probably the fifteenth time. The nurse hugged Payne. She asked her to try to stay calm and in a short time, she was going to give her medication that would help her relax.
Payne thanked the nurse for her kindness and tried to do as she asked. She closed her eyes and thought of Dycke. She believed she had fallen asleep and started smiling because she heard his favorite greeting: "Good morning, gorgeous." She moaned with delight while her eyes were still closed, not wanting to interrupt her dream. When he repeated her favorite greeting "Good Morning, Gorgeous" and added a kiss to her dream, she opened her eyes wide and kissed the mirage back. The phantom was flesh and blood and Dycke's blue eyes were stared back at her. Payne said, "You can't be here. Visiting hours are not until ten o'clock and I will be in surgery until tonight."
Dycke smiled and replied, "Isn't it amazing what a large donation to a research hospital can get you."
Payne said, "Dycke, this money is going to your head."
He whispered into her ear "Which one?
Payne hit him, instantly.
Dycke said to her "Babe, if I cannot spend our money to be together with you, on the most important day of your life, I might as well just burn it."
"I love you so much, Dycke," she said.
He backed away from her and said, "I know and I deserve it."
Payne looked at him and growled, "You're lucky you are out of reach, otherwise, the little head would be detached from the big head."
Both nurses, in the room, could not help but laugh and told Dycke that he was upsetting their patient. One nurse said, "If you want to stay with our patient, you had better treat her nicely or you will be out on your rear."
Payne laughed at Dycke's discomfort. Three women were threatening him and he was just getting used to dealing with one. She called the nurses over to her bedside, introduced them to her fiancΓ©, and showed them her ring. They both gasped.
The nurses asked "What is he, a drug dealer?"
Payne said "No. He owns a diamond mine."
The nurses looked at Dycke, turned back towards Payne, and said, "You're kidding, right?"
Payne chirped back "Nope!"
The nurses looked at Dycke again, shook their heads in disbelief, and just went back to their preparations for Payne's surgery, talking with each other.
A doctor, of Native American ancestry, walked into the room carrying, what looked like, a glass head. He said good morning to everyone and walked over to his patient. He introduced himself as Doctor Samuel Sage Wolf. He told Payne that he was her plastic surgeon." He showed Payne the baby picture taken on the day of her birth. He explained that they used advanced computer logarithms to age her picture to show what she might have looked like today. He took out a picture, 'showing an ugly witch's face, covered warts, and a long hooked nose.
Payne screamed "No!"
The doctor laughed and said, "Just kidding."
Payne screamed "No," turned toward Dycke, and said, "Did that bastard put you up to this?"
"Will it get me out of trouble, if I say yes?" he said?
Payne said, "Only if you want to testify at my murder trial."
"In that case, no he didn't." I do that to all my patients that have to undergo such a radical procedure, as yours. It lessens their expectations. Most patients feel they will come out of surgery looking like supermodels. It does not happen that way. I do the best I can with what there is for me to work with. I will not know that until my colleagues are finished with their portions of the operation. This model is what I will be aiming for. I hope I can do better than this but I won't know until later today." The doctor displayed the model to Payne and Dycke and discussed the technical challenges he would face to get that far.
Payne looked at the glass face. Is this what I was supposed to look like? She looked at the head from every angle. Finally, she said to Dycke, "I look like Steve."
Dycke said, "You are twins. We could say that Steve looks like you and we could call him a 'fairy."
Payne chuckled and said "Not after what I saw going on in his bedroom last month."
"Oh, really! Was it so good that we should film it and use it as training material?"
Payne replied "No. Your reading material seems to have given you skills that have you as advanced as I can take right now."
Doctor Sage Wolf intervened, saying he was going home to get some sleep. He would be back at the hospital by two o'clock this afternoon. His procedure should start between 3:30 and 4:30 this afternoon, if everything else was moving along on schedule. He picked up 'his head', said goodbye and departed.
As he started to sit down, the nurses told Dycke to 'get lost,' so they could prepare Payne for the operating room. They would page him when he could return to the room. Dycke was not happy but he complied with the order.
When the nurses paged him back to the room, Payne was already on the gurney, hooked up to the IV drips. The nurses had covered Payne's left hand with gauze and sealed in a plastic bag. Dycke did not understand the reason for this, so he asked a nurse about it.
She told him that Payne refused to take off her engagement ring. Therefore, they had to cover it and seal it off to prevent any possible infection, in the operating room.
Payne had already received her sedative and was very drowsy. Dycke told her that he was going to be at her side until they dragged him away. He kissed her as they started wheeling her toward the elevators and down to the operating room. When they reached the sign that said "Authorized Personnel Only, Dycke pulled the gurney to a stop. He looked Payne in the eye and said, "You are my love. Whatever happens in there today, we are one and always will be one. I love you Payne Temple and I always will." He kissed her and the attendants moved Payne beyond the doors and out of Dycke's sight. It would be twelve or more hours before the doctors would complete this miracle of medical science, technology, and luck. Dycke went to the hospital's chapel to ask for help from a higher authority. He asked for 'his God's' help for everyone involved with Payne's care. Dycke asked for help, so the people in the operating room could do their best work and that Payne would come through this operation 'healthy.' Nothing else mattered to him: 'Nothing!'
23. The Longest Day