A Heavy Heart 17/20
Chapter Seventeen:
The operating room is theatre style, as one might expect in a teaching hospital. Since there are no medical students to watch the procedure at this hour of the night Don and Alan stand alone in the glass enclosed balcony as the nurses wheel Charlie in.
The doctor had explained to them that he would inject Charlie's heart with a solution that would literally destroy the excess heart muscle, returning the size of the muscle tissue to normal levels. While it sounded to Don and Alan that destroying part of Charlie's heart would only make matters worse, they were reassured by the idea that he needed the extra room for blood to flow freely.
Alan imagines that Charlie would have done all sorts of statistical analysis before deciding on which procedure to choose but Alan trusts his gut instinct. He can't imagine his baby boy going through open heart surgery in his 20s and if this method means they don't have to crack his chest open it's worth trying.
The sounds of the operating room are piped in to the balcony area and the doctor takes a moment to speak to Don and Alan before proceeding.
"Are you sure you want to watch this? I don't recommend you do so. We can keep you updated just as easily in the waiting room."
Alan flips the switch on the voice box that lets him be heard in the operating room. "We're sure."
The doctor begins the procedure as Don stares at the heart monitor, this time focusing entirely on the number instead of the pulses.
"Catheterization complete. Beginning myectomy."
Don can tell when they inject the solution because Charlie's heart reacts to it immediately. Rather than race his pulse drops, becomes erratic. There's a flurry of activity in the room and Don knows this can't be good.
"Pulse is 40 and dropping fast. He's going into cardiac arrest."
The number plummets and the doctor calls out for drugs. "Give me an amp of Epi."
Don and Alan cling to each other in raw panic. This is the worst case scenario they were told about but never believed would happen: Charlie dying on the operating room table...
"He's flatlining!"
Don sees the pulses stop going across the screen. They really are replaced by a flat line.
"Give me another amp of Epi and 1 milligram of Atropine."
"He's in V-Fib!"
"Charge to 200 joules."
"Charged!"
"Clear!"
Don and Alan both jump as the doctor places the defibrillator on Charlie's chest and presses the button to shock him.
"Still in V-Fib. Charge to 300 joules!"
It hits Don that this is what Terry was talking about earlier. That this is when Charlie needs to fight. He runs to the voice box and presses the switch, yelling into the microphone.
"Damn it, Charlie! I told you to fight! So, fight! No one else can do it for you. You want to live? You have to fight for it! Now!"
"Clear!" The doctor shocks him again.
"We have a rhythm!"
Don's hand falls away from the voice box as he sees the number come back on the screen along with the pulses. That number means Charlie's heart is beating again.
It means Charlie will live.