“Not good,” Abigail replied.
“What?” everyone exclaimed at once.
Abigail stayed silent, but Ray explained, “If you’re his family too, I’ll make it clear—you need to prepare yourself.”
“What?!”
“Was it really that serious?!”
Finn realized right then that was why Abigail had him get the artificial heart—she knew about Dennis’s condition already.
“Our doctors are saving him right now. Just be ready,” Ray said.
However, Abigail stopped him again when he started toward the operating room again. “The artificial heart is here, doctor. I’ll do it if you don’t dare to do it.”
Ray looked Abigail in the eye. “I’ve made it very clear…”
“The rules are inflexible, but people aren’t.”
“I won’t let you perform the surgery no matter what you say.” Ray was clear, because he would never be able to assume the responsibility if anything were to happen.
“Dr. Hall? Dr. Clegg is calling. The patient is going into shock.”
Ray turned to leave right then—he did not have the time to waste his breath with Abigail.
“Shock?” Finn could not help turning toward Abigail. “The director…”
Abigail actually was not confident if she had to perform the surgery either, and she would have to assume responsibility if anything were to happen!
Even so, she did not hesitate.
Taking the artificial heart from Finn, she followed Ray, who shot her a solemn glare, into the operating room. “You can’t just barge in here!”
“The patient matters more right now,” Abigail calmly replied.
Ray sighed. “Fine. I’ll make an exception, but you’re only allowed to look. Do not interfere—nurse? Help her scrub up.”
“Thank you,” Abigail said gratefully. She then followed the nurse to get changed.
When she returned to the operating room and the doors opened, she heard Mark Clegg say, “No, it’s not working…”
Abigail ignored all else as she rushed to the table, scanning every vital reading right then and deciding that Dennis could still be saved.
Taking the defibrillator from Mark, she told a nurse to adjust the wattage. “Give me two hundred!”
“What…”
“I’ll take responsibility for anything that happens,” Abigail said as she calmly proceeded.
Ray could tell that she was certainly a doctor and a remarkable one at that.
Seeing that she was so determined, he almost felt guilty—but he still retained his rationality as a doctor and told a nurse to record a video.
That would serve as evidence. If Dennis died on the table, the other doctors and the hospital would assume no responsibility.
The nurse whipped out her phone and aimed it at Abigail. “Please repeat what you just said.”
Abigail continued to work while stating solemnly, “I’ll take responsibility for anything that happens! The doctors here have no responsibility for any mishaps!”
She certainly was putting everything on the line to save Dennis.
Once the nurse saved the video, Ray directed everyone to work with Abigail.
They managed to revive Dennis’s heart thanks to Abigail’s perseverance, but they were not out of the woods yet.
He would fall into another shock without surgery, and a second shock would make it further difficult to save him.
Abigail had no time to think now. “Prep him for surgery!”
Ray had the nurse prepare the surgical equipment and assist Abigail with everything she needed.
“Since you’re a member of the patient’s family, sign the surgery consent form. This is an essential procedure in any hospital, and we wouldn’t be able to take the responsibility if anything happens. So…”
Abigail understood—every doctor feared reprisals.
If Dennis died, his family would press the issue on this hospital.
But she wanted to perform the surgery, so she must therefore assume that responsibility.
“Give it to me,” Abigail said.
The nurse did so, and Abigail quickly signed it before turning to Ray. “I will need your assistant.”
Ray nodded. “Of course.”
“You know the people here, Dr. Hall. I’ll be counting on you now.”
“Just leave it to me.”
Having taken the Hippocratic Oath, Ray did his best to assist Abigail.
She opened the box and took out the artificial heart that Finn brought, then took a deep breath.
“Are you sure about this?” Ray asked.
“No,” Abigail replied.
“…Then why are you doing it?”
“Is there any other choice?” Abigail asked calmly in return.
That left Ray stumped.
There certainly was no choice, it was either surgery, which would give the patient a hanging thread’s chance at staying alive, or no surgery, and his death assured.
“Just do what you have to. You can count on me for the rest,” Ray told her.
Abigail nodded, just as Dennis was prepped for surgery.
Abigail picked up the scalpel and made an incision through his chest.
She had done it many times, but this was the first time she felt this way.
It was not as if she was afraid of taking responsibility—she was just worried that Dennis’s lifelong research failed to save himself.
And that would be tragic!
It was Abigail’s first time transplanting an artificial heart, and she would be lying if she said that she was not nervous.
Still, the training she had, as well as the prudence and composure she honed from being a doctor, kept her ice cold.
Telling herself to keep it together, she then said, “CPB.”
Everyone worked in perfect tandem with Ray’s assistance.
Beep, beep…
One could almost hear the scalpel slicing through tissue.
But while the average person would feel the creeps form that sound, everyone in the operating room was used to it—some would even hear it every day.
For Abigail’s part, the research on the artificial heart had been simulated many times, and they had experimented on donated cadavers as well.
The test on the goat was the only living test subject they had.
Still, she was slowly getting into it.
Soon, there was blood build up in the chest and she could not see the veins.
“Suction.”
After that, she looked up, checking and ensuring the blood pressure reading was normal before continuing the surgery.
…
The surgery lasted over four hours, and it counts as a success—the artificial heart’s transplant was a success, and Dennis’s vitals were improving.
The next 48 hours would determine his survival, depending on whether he woke up.
“Take him to the ICU,” Ray said after the surgery.
Abigail quietly watched as Dennis was wheeled out, her thoughts inscrutable.
“Good work,” Ray told her.
“Everyone helped.” Abigail pursed her lips—the surgery would not have gone that well if not for Ray. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
But even as Abigail stepped out of the operating room, she still did not feel relief.
She changed out of her scrubs and watched her hands at the disinfection zone.
She left the operating room without work.
“Director.” Finn quickly approached her anxiously. “Is the surgery finished?”
“Yeah.” Abigail nodded.
“And you did it?” a cold voice demanded behind Finn right then!
Abigail turned toward it to find an unfamiliar face.
Who was he?!
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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