With over ten years of experience in ground-breaking heart surgery, Dr Nicole Ingermanson had never been so unsure.
She watched the patient through the glass window with galvanic anxiety. The last time she checked on her was about forty minutes earlier; and even though she had scribbled 'condition stable' on the patient's chart, she remained unsure whether or not the patient will pull through.
As for the patient, her condition was stable. Or so it seemed.
The EKG by her bed beeped steadily and the green line sprang up and down in an orderly fashion. Her breath was shallow and coarse; a breathing tube was stuck into her mouth to keep her alive and breathing.
Sounds from the beeping monitor, her coarse breath and of the lazy dull, choppy ticks from a small clock on the wall gave the room an awkward atmosphere. A spiritless aura seemed to whirl around walls the room, sucking up its liveliness.
No one was with her; no one should, especially at the moment when she's battling with death.
"Dr Nicole Ingermanson, please report to room 214. STAT!" A soft female voice blared out from speakers on the hospital walls.
Nicole wasn't listening. Her heart was on the patient.
"Dr Nicole Ingermanson, please report to room 214, STAT!"
Damn it! That was me.
And just when she was about to walk away from the window, she observed a little movement from the patient. She stopped, looked a little closer and there it was: for the first time since the surgery, the patient moved.
Nicole ignored the call to 214, and rushed into the room.
"Welcome back Maggie." Her heart was soaring.
The patient didn't seem to be listening; neither did she seem to care for the welcome. She rather seemed struggling with something. Her eyes were opened and on seeing Nicole, turned curious.
"Relax Maggie. I'm here." She smiled, fished out a small flash light from her breast pocket and flashed it into Maggie's eyes. But she observed something; an oddity in Maggie’s movements. Her instincts told her Maggie needs something but too weak to speak. And by the way the old woman struggled, whatever that 'thing' is, needs to be done or said urgently.
What is it?
She carefully took off the breathing tube from Maggie's mouth. The old woman inhaled a couple of times through her mouth, and then murmured something amidst heavy breaths.
"I can't hear you; what are you saying; what do you need?." She asked gently, leaning closer. She leaned so close that her ear almost touched Maggie's lips. The old woman whispered something; and right after that, the heart monitor began to beep faster.
Shit!
"Stay with me Maggie; stay with me."
But Maggie was drifting away with the beeps; her eyes were closing and the blue pupils began moving up into her brain.
No!
In a flash, Nicole zoomed to the other side of the bed, hit the button and a warning sound blared outside the room—CODE BLUE.
The room was filled with a swarm of Code nurses screaming revival procedures just two seconds after Nicole had pressed the button. She gave the orders. Everything seemed to be moving in a slow motion.
Charge to 150... CLEAR! Charge to 200.... CLEAR!
The shocks streamed into Maggie's chest over and over. The beeps ran faster.
"Come on Maggie. Don't give up on me now. Don’t give up, damn it!"
"We're losing her." A nurse yelled.
"Charge again." Nicole said.
"Her heart is too weak; it would not take another..."
"Charge again!" Nicole screamed.
Charge to 250... CLEAR!
Nothing; and to Nicole’s horror, the EKG fell to a flat line.
No... no... no... no.
The battle to save Maggie was over and death has won. The nurses watched a confused Nicole in futile effort to revive the dead woman through resuscitation.
"Let go, Doctor Nicole." one of the nurses said gently, holding her shoulders. But she was panicking; and if not for the nurse that held her hands together and took them off Maggie's chest, she could have lost her own breath too.
"NO!" She said in a shaky voice.
"You have to let go. She's gone."
Nicole stopped; breathing hard to stabilize herself. It was all over for Maggie but she wasn't ready to believe it. She can't believe it. No, she can't! She won't.
A little calmed, the nurse spoke again."It's your call." He said.
All eyes were on her. She looked at everyone's face and they looked back with sympathy and little fear. Obviously, no one seemed ready to take the job of saying the Time Of Death which is possible for her to assign someone to. She sniffed, looked at Maggie's lifeless face, and then shot a cold stare at the clock on the wall.
"Time of Death; 08:36 AM." She said and briskly stormed out of the room.
Alone on the stair case, Nicole cried and cried until she nearly lost her breath. Margaret Fletcher was the grandmother she never had. Her death was a heart wrecking loss and a professional failure. She cried more.
She barely succeeded in holding herself together when she remembered one important thing: Maggie's final word. So she quickly fished out a pen and a small pad from her pocket, flipped through to a blank page and for two seconds, hesitated to be sure of what she was about to write. Then she scribbled in bold:
P A B L O
That was Maggie's last word― a name she had never heard a mention of it from the old woman's lips in the few years they were together.
It’s a quest, which for a moment will change the course of her life. Forever!