Chapter 44

 

In the operating room, Dr. Adele hovered over Brian.  It had been hours since Brian had been brought in, and the delicate surgery was almost finished.  Brian’s old heart had been cut out and replaced with Harold’s heart.  Everything had gone as planned, and Dr. Adele was very relieved, for with Brian’s pneumonia, he knew there could have been fatal complications. 

 

Dr. Adele was about to start sewing Brian’s chest up again, when a nurse suddenly called out, “Dr. Adele, his BP’s dropping!”

 

Dr. Adele’s head shot up to look at the monitors that surrounded Brian, measuring his vitals.  His eyes widened as he heard the beeping of the heart monitor grow slower and slower. 

 

“BP’s still falling!” the nurse cried. 

 

“Damnit, what’s going on here?!” Dr. Adele cried.  He probed into Brian’s open chest, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. 

 

Suddenly, the monitors began to wail, and the peaking line on the heart monitor fell to a straight, flat line.   

 

“Damn!” Dr. Adele cursed.  He usually wasn’t the type of person that cussed a lot, but he didn’t want to lose this man!  Everything had gone so well, and now this!  What could be wrong?  “Internal paddles!” he barked. 

 

A nurse already was getting them ready.  “Charging to 100,” she said.

 

Dr. Adele took them from her.  “Clear!” he cried and pressed them against Brian’s now motionless new heart.   The heart shook with the shock of electricity, but it did not contract. 

 

“Charging to 150.  Clear!”  Once again, nothing happened.

 

Dr. Adele was waiting for the paddles to charge up again when he heard a commotion outside the OR.  As he pressed the paddles to Brian’s heart, the double doors of the room burst open. 

 

Dr. Adele whirled around to see a group of teenage girls standing in the doorway, their eyes wide with shock.  His mouth dropped open in shock as well.  He whirled around to one of the nurses.  “Get them out, now!” he ordered.  He took the paddles once again.  “Charge to 200!” he ordered.  “Clear!”

 

As the line on the monitor stayed flat, Dr. Adele heard gasps and whimpers from the group of girls.  He shook his head, flustered.  “Get them out!” he yelled again. 

 

The nurses were busy trying to push the crowd of girls out, but none of them wanted to budge.  They were all in shock and many were crying.  Dr. Adele could see the pain spread across their faces as they watched him repeatedly shock the man they obviously adored.  

 

Security arrived moments later and got the girls out, as Dr. Adele continued to shock Brian.  Still, his heart would not beat. 

 

Dr. Adele was beginning to grow less and less hopeful with every shock.   “How long have we been at it?” he asked.

 

A nurse glanced at the clock on the wall.  “Going on thirty minutes,” she said.

 

“You wanna call it?” another surgeon asked.

 

Dr. Adele sighed.  He turned away from Brian and gasped when he looked up.  There, standing pressed up to the glass windows that separated the room from the rest of the floor, was an entire line of girls, all red-faced and crying, some dazed with shock, others in hysterics.  

 

“Damnit, someone put down the blinds for God’s sakes!” another surgeon cried, when he noticed the girls. 

 

Dr. Adele just stared at them, his heart nearly breaking.  There were many of them, crowding the hall outside the room, watching their idol dying just feet away from them.  He didn’t know how they had gotten in or why they were still there, but right then he didn’t care.  All he could see was that pain in their eyes, that utter despair.  And right then, he would give anything to make it go away.  He couldn’t stand seeing so many young girls so upset.  He knew then that Brian had to live.  And as Brian’s surgeon, the one who held his life in his hands, Dr. Adele wanted more than anything to make that possible.

 

“Dr. Adele, should we call it?” a nurse asked, repeating the other surgeon’s earlier question.

 

Dr. Adele quickly snapped out of his stupor.  “No,” he said firmly.  “Keep going.  Charge ‘em up again.”

 

“But Dr. Adele-“ the other surgeon protested.

 

“No buts,” Dr. Adele said.  “Charge the paddles!”

 

The nurse looked doubtful, but she did as she was told.  Dr. Adele took them once again and pressed them to Brian’s heart.  Again, nothing happened.

 

“God damnit!” Dr. Adele shouted.  “Come on, beat, damnit!”  He sighed.  “Charge again!” 

 

“Dr. Adele please, he’s been out for too long.  Call it,” the other surgeon said.

 

“One more time,” Dr. Adele said stubbornly, although he knew that this was going to be it.  He had tried his hardest, done everything in his power to save Brian, but it hadn’t worked.  With defeated sigh, he pressed the paddles to Brian’s heart one last time.

 

Suddenly, the flat line on the monitor sprung up.  The continuous whine stopped, and slow, irregular beeping started.

 

“Oh, my God,” a nurse whispered, staring at it in shock.  Dr. Adele looked down at Brian’s heart.  It was beating.  Irregularly at first, but then more evenly. 

 

“It’s a miracle,” another nurse said, her voice soft and filled with emotion.

 

Letting out a shaky breath, Dr. Adele turned to where the girls were standing in the hall.  They stared in, their eyes wide with wonder.  Overcome with sudden relief and happiness, Dr. Adele offered them a slight smile and slowly gave them a thumbs-up sign. 

 

Tears came to his eyes as the girls broke into tearful smiles, some crying even more.  Then, suddenly, they all began to clap, applauding him for saving the man they all loved. 

 

Blinking away his tears, Dr. Adele turned back to the team of doctors and nurses standing in shock around Brian.  “Let’s get him sewed up and moved out of here,” he said. 

 

They worked quickly to sew up Brian’s chest, and when they were done, security had finally come and cleared the halls of all the crying fans.  Exhausted, but relieved and proud, Dr. Adele and the others wheeled Brian down to Recovery.