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Indispensable
"You have to do this, Elise. His life depends on it. There's no one else to assist."
They were outside his office door at the clinic. Ben hadn't said much until he'd seen the patient first. Then he'd told Elise that there were no qualified nurses to help with the operation. Of the two on the Island, one was on vacation in Australia and the other one was sick with the flu.
"But…Ben, I haven't been in an operating room in ages. What if I forget, what if I make a mistake again?"
"Again? You mean the incident with that quack, Gallatin?"
"You know about it?"
He grimaced. "Yes, more than you do. For instance, did you know Tom Gallatin was busted on a DUI two months after you left? He ran a light and plowed into another car. Vehicular manslaughter. The only place he makes his rounds now is in the prison ward.
"The Board of Examiners opened up all his old cases. Once the dam broke everyone came forward. You were exonerated. The chief of surgery and the hospital director were fired. They'll spend the next few years in court defending themselves on charges of malpractice and obstruction of justice."
"But, Ben…"
He took her hand and dragged her down the hallway. "In here," he told her. They went into the clinic's operating theater. He took her over to a line of instruments laid out on a table, next to the sterilizing unit. "All you lack is confidence." He turned his back to her and held out a hand.
"Clamp," his tone was crisp. Reflex took over as she quickly picked up the instrument and slapped it into his hand. "Retractor…sponge…scalpel…" he went on until she had emptied the tray.
"See? You got every one right. Now, how many sponges?"
"Nine," she answered. She didn't have to think about it. Her job was to make sure everything that went into a patient came out afterwards.
"Turn around," he took her hand and pointed to the pile of unopened sponges on the table. "Look."
There were nine sponges on the table. "That's why no one else but you can do this. If I get busy I have to rely on you to keep track of the details. You've done bypasses, you know the procedures, and you know what to do if there are complications. You won't panic, and if I hold out my hand you'll know what I need before I even ask.
"Elise, I have to operate in a few hours. He won't live till morning. Read his chart, you know what it means." He handed her John Leeds' file.
She wasn't a doctor but she could see the trend immediately. Falling blood pressure, low blood oxygen, all the indicators were there. Ben was right.
He picked up a plastic wrapped package from a side table. "Take these scrubs and go change. Annie will show you where. You've done this before; you will do it again, and you won't make a mistake. I'll see to it."
Annie, the receptionist, showed her to the women's small locker room in the back. On the way they went past the waiting room. Elise caught a glimpse of the group, and the woman who must be the patient's wife. She hoped she'd never be in the same position, worried sick about Ben while he lay in a hospital bed. Ben left her to go in and explain to them what was about to happen.
She had the locker room to herself. She had plenty of time; the patient and the operating room would have to be prepped first. She sat on the wooden bench in front of an empty locker, the scrubs sitting on her lap.
Of all the scenarios she had imagined those nights in her room at the Facility, the ways in which her master might make demands that would test her resolve, this particular one had never come up. In an abstract sense she knew Ben was right; emotionally she was still afraid she would fail him. Either way she had no choice. She reached behind her back to unzip the dress.
Walking through the door into the operating room was one of the most difficult moments in Elise's life. She recognized Ben, already marking the patient's chest for the incisions. The anesthesiologist was to one side, watching the vitals on a monitor. A technician stood behind Ben, checking some electronics. She took her place at Ben's side.
He stopped for a moment, looking a question at her over his surgical mask. She nodded, answering his unvoiced question. He was her master, where else would she be but the place he had set aside for her?
The moment they began all doubts vanished. Elise was back in an environment she knew well. She followed Ben's every move, reaching for the next instrument before he asked, providing the third hand to hold a clamp or retractor when he needed it. The two of them worked together like they'd been a team for years.
The operation itself was anticlimactic; by the book, with no complications. Ben extracted a length of vein from the patient's leg and deftly spliced it into the heart. Elise had assisted many surgeons, but none had ever come close to the economy of motion she saw in Ben's hands as he operated. She understood now why he was the chief surgeon on the Island.
When he finished he stepped back and glanced at the instrument tray. "Did we come up short?" he asked Elise.
"No, doctor, all items accounted for." She was sure the question was redundant; he wasn't the kind who left anything inside a patient that didn't belong there.
"Okay then, Elise, would you let the family know Mr. Leeds is doing well after you clean up? They can visit him in the morning. I'll be in to talk to them after I make sure he's settled in post-op. Could you do that now?"
"Yes, doctor." She didn't mind delivering good news. Part of her training had been handling the grief of family members when they'd lost a loved one. It still took a toll on her to tell a wife or husband their partner of so many years didn't make it.
Back in the locker room she sat on the bench, thinking about what has just happened. Ben had been right. She was still every bit the nurse she'd been a year ago. She closed her eyes, savoring the moment. He'd been in charge, coordinating the entire team, her master, and everyone had met his expectations.
She opened the locker and found to her surprise her clothes had been replaced with a nurse's uniform. It had to be Ben's doing. It looked like she was back to a full-time job. Her fingers danced over the collar around her throat. Doctor's orders would have a whole new meaning now.
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