Convulsing

One week later

The day was here, where Petra was to take on Cynthia's operation. She had been requesting for the patient record but was never answered.

On the fateful day when she was supposed to operate on Cynthia, her records came to her reach and she was pissed. Why would Davis hold her record for so long? She couldn't change the operation date because it would affect the patient.

Going through the record, she was amazed to see that this patient was brought in the same day she was also admitted at the hospital. She also learned that her name was Cynthia Walker and was the CEO of the hospital. Her identity made Petra determined to save her at all cost, she has never done an operation that would go unsuccessful and this was not going to be the first.

She heard a knock on the door and after giving consent for the person to come in, a nurse entered looking horrified.

"What is it?" Petra asked, looking concerned.

"Something seems to be wrong with the patient" Alarmed, Petra grabbed her lab coat and followed the nurse as she was led into the Operating room.

She was horrified to see Cynthia turning pale, her mouth was filled with white foams and the monitor showed that her heart rate was increasing at the time.

"What happened?" She asked the nurse, who was also looking shocked as she was.

"We came into the room to prepare her for the operation, and then she began to convulse; we tried stabilizing her, but she kept rocking back and fought. When the issue alleviated, she began removing white foams from her mouth"

"Are you sure you did not do anything to this patient?" She asked, looking at the nurse suspiciously.

"I would never do a thing like this... Mrs. Cynthia is like a mother to us all and if anything happens to her, it would hurt me"

Petra racked her brain for a possible solution. "Get me an antiepileptic drug at once," The nurse ran out of the theatre, and Petra approached Cynthia.

"Please don't do this, stay strong, everything would be fine, just stay calm and peaceful," She was praying silently that nothing would go wrong.

She has earned the trust of Professor Davis Hernandez on this and sees how important she was; if she dies, all blame would be apportioned to her.

The nurse arrived later with the antiepileptic drug; Petra grabbed the substance and administered it to the sleeping Cynthia.

"Go to my office and grab my toolbox, we need to commence this operation at once" Petra instructed the nurse, who rushed out once more.

Cynthia became stable minutes later and Petra could not be any less grateful for that. While she was checking her vitals, she noticed a syringe on the floor and she bent down to examine it.

Curious to know what a syringe would be doing in the theatre, and also what possible substance was inside the syringe, she kept it in her lab coat.

The nurse came seconds later with the box and Petra grabbed her hand gloves and fixed them on her hands.

"Shut the lights and turn on the lamps...make sure they are bright enough," The nurse did as she was told while Petra wore her mask.

"Who are my leading surgeons?" She asks the nurse as she watches her pick up the iPad.

"Dr. Othello. Two nurses and an intern," She stated.

"Okay, get all tools prepared before the time reaches," She added.

A few hours later, Once everything was set, she took a deep breath and said to herself... "Here goes nothing"

Petra intended to perform open-heart surgery for Cynthia, as it was the only way to stabilize her for the moment. Certain procedures require direct access to the heart and surrounding blood vessels. Sometimes, these procedures can take place using less invasive techniques. Petra had assessed her health to choose the best treatment approach.

These procedures may take place during open-heart surgery:

"I certainly hope you have administered anesthesia?" She couldn't trust the nurse after the syringe she found on the floor.

"Yes, ma'am"

Immediately, the leading nurses and Doctor walked in as they put on their gloves.

"Scalpel," She said

The nurse holds up the scalpel and hands it over to Petra. Petra sighed once more beforemaking an inch-long cut on her chest region.

Petra began to cut through all parts of the old woman's breast bone to expose her heart. It was a critical moment and she needed to stay alert for any possible fault.

"Hold," She said to the assistant leading surgeon, Dr. Othello. He did as told.

"Incision!" She said to doctor Othello.

Heart surgery is complex. Some surgeries may take six hours or longer. Cynthia's walker was given anesthesia and was asleep during the procedure.

The Surgery steps vary depending on the heart condition and procedure. In general, Petra as the surgeon:

She Makes a 6- to 8-inch long incision down the middle of your chest. She cuts the breastbone and spreads her ribcage apart to reach your heart.

Connects the heart to a heart-lung bypass machine because it has an on-pump surgery. An anesthesiologist gives IV medication to stop your heart from beating and monitors you during the surgery. She Repairs the heart.

Restores blood flow to the heart after four hours. Usually, the heart starts beating on its own. the heart needs a mild electrical shock to restart it.

She Disconnects the heart-lung bypass machine.

Closes the breastbone or other incision with wires or sutures that remain in your body. Uses stitches to close the skin incision.

Seeing the heart was visible, she turned to the nurse saying; "the heart-lung bye-pass machine now!!!" She needed it to move the blood away from the heart so she could operate.

After the machine began to perform the function the heart was meant to serve, she proceeded to use a new vein to make a new path around the blocked artery.

Petra sighed in relief, knowing the mission was almost accomplished; she closed the breastbone with wire, leaving the wire inside the body. The original cut was successfully stitched up. Six hours later.

It was successful!

After hours of operating on Cynthia, she was finally done and she checked once more to see that the heart was pumping the needed blood into her system, after removing the heart-lung bye-pass bye-pass.

Depending on the procedure, Cynthia may stay in the hospital intensive care unit (ICU) for a day or longer. When she's ready, she will be moved to a VVIP hospital room.

She can expect to stay several days in the hospital. Her heart care team will explain how to care for her incision. she may have a special firm pillow to protect her chest when she cough, sneeze or get out of bed.

After surgery, she may experience: Constipation (a common side effect of strong pain relievers).

Depression or mood swings. Insomnia or difficulty sleeping. Loss of appetite. Memory problems.

Muscle pain in the chest area. Pain, bruising and minor swelling at the incision site.

-

Stepping out of the theater, she bumped into Davis, who had a curious look on his face. "How did it go?"

"The work is done, she is fully stable now" The smile on his face was so evident and instinctively, he hugged Petra.

"You are indeed a hero, young lady!!" Petra was full of smiles as complemented by Davis, who informed her that he was on his way to check on a patient.

She held her lab coat in her hands and head towards her office, stressed out and possibly needing sleep for the moment.

She hasn't gone home for months and the fact that she didn't want to see Walker's face was a factor. She made a mental note to inform her mother to start looking for an apartment for her across the neighborhood her lab coat on the stand, she settled into the chair, eyes close and reminiscing over the operation, her thoughts immediately went back to the syringe she picked from the floor and she searched through her lab coat and found it.

She needed someone to help her with the examination of the substance that was inside the syringe, Petra was certain that someone injected it into Cynthia.

While she was still deep in thought, the door opened and Lewis came in, with a tray of fruits in a basket.

"I thought you may need them," Petra was impressed by his kind gesture and wasted no time in picking out the apple from the series of fruits in the basket.

"So, how did the operation go?"

"Was great, you can be assured that Mrs. Cynthia is stable now" Lewis was impressed and happy that Petra was doing a great job.

"I have something to tell you but first..." Petra stood up and went to check outside her office to make sure no one was eavesdropping and then proceeded to lock the door.

Lewis was confused and wondered what it was that she needed to say that would make her lock the door.

"Here take a look at this" Said Petra, handing the syringe over to Lewis, who studied it cautiously but seemed confused to make out the liquid in it.

"What is this"

"Before moving to operate on Mrs. Cynthia, the nurse came in and informed me that the patient was convulsing. Alarmed, I rushed out to the theatre to see Mrs. Cynthia in a very displeased state. She had white foam in her mouth, and when I asked the nurse to go get me some antiepileptic drugs, my eyes fell on the syringe you are holding on the floor."

It took Lewis a few minutes to process the information Petra was dishing out to him.

"I think someone is trying to kill her." Petra lowered her tone, making sure only Lewis heard her.

"Are you sure" Lewis replied in a low tone too, understanding the sensitivity of the topic at hand.

"There is no other way to explain this phenomenon; what would a syringe be doing in a theatre by that critical moment," Petra pointed out.

"Was it a coincidence that she was convulsing at the moment I found this?"

Lewis was amazed by the entire story, and then, his mind went back to the call he received from the stranger, and he said.

"I think something mysterious is going on in this hospital, I feel some type of politics is being played out," Petra was also in deep thought too;

Whatever is going on in the hospital is severe and could cause chaos amongst the patient, whose life will be threatened.