A Brain by Robin Cook Read Free Book Online Page B

the cloth restraints. “Please,” she shouted, but her voice was feeble.
    â€œEverything is fine, Lisa. Try to relax.”
    The pain stopped. Lisa could hear the doctors breathing. They were directly over her right ear.
    â€œKnife,” said Dr. Newman.
    Lisa cringed. She felt pressure, like a finger being pressed against her scalp and rotated around the line drawn by the marking pen. She could feel warm fluid on her neck through the drapes.
    â€œHemostats,” said Dr. Newman. Lisa could hear sharp metallic snaps.
    â€œRaney clips,” said Dr. Newman. “And call Mannerheim. Tell him we’ll be ready for him in thirty minutes.”
    Lisa tried not to think about what was happening to her head. Instead she thought about the discomfort in her bladder.
    She called to Dr. Ranade and told him she had to urinate.
    â€œYou have a catheter in your bladder,” said Dr. Ranade.
    â€œBut I have to urinate,” said Lisa.
    â€œJust relax, Lisa,” said Dr. Ranade. “I’ll give you a little more sleep medicine.”
    The next thing Lisa was conscious of was the high-pitched whine of a gas-powered motor combined with a sense of pressure and vibration on her head. The noise was frightening because she knew what it meant. Her skull was being opened by a saw; she didn’t know it was called a craniotome. Thankfully there was no pain, although Lisa braced for it to occur at any moment. The smell of scorched bone penetrated the gauze drapes over her face. She felt Dr. Ranade’s hand take hers, and she was thankful for it. She pressed it as if it were her only hope of survival.
    The sound of the craniotome died. The rhythmic beeping of the cardiac monitor emerged from suddenstillness. Then Lisa felt pain again, this time more like the discomfort of a localized headache. Dr. Ranade’s face appeared at the end of her tunnel of vision. He watched her as she felt the blood pressure cuff inflate.
    â€œBone forceps,” said Dr. Newman.
    Lisa heard and felt bone crunching. It sounded very close to her right ear.
    â€œElevators,” said Dr. Newman.
    Lisa felt several more twinges, followed by what seemed to her a loud snap. She knew her head was open.
    â€œDamp gauze,” said Dr. Newman, in a matter-of-fact voice.
    Â 
    While still scrubbing his hands, Dr. Curt Mannerheim leaned over to look through the door into OR#21 and see the clock on the far wall. It was almost nine o’clock. At that moment, he saw his chief resident, Dr. Newman, step back from the table. The resident crossed his gloved hands on his chest, and walked over to study the X rays arranged on the view box. That could mean only one thing. The craniotomy was done and they were ready for the Chief. Dr. Mannerheim knew he didn’t have much time to spare. The investigative committee from the N.I.H. was due to arrive at noon. What was at stake was a twelve-million-dollar research grant that would support his research activities for the next five years. He had to get that grant. If he didn’t, he might lose his entire animal lab, and with it, the results of four years of work. Mannerheim was certain he was on the brink of finding the exact spot in the brain responsible for aggression and rage.
    Rinsing the suds, Mannerheim caught sight of LoriMcInter, the Assistant Director of the OR. He shouted her name and she stopped in her tracks.
    â€œLori, dear! I’ve got two Jap doctors here from Tokyo. Could you send someone into the lounge to make sure they find scrub clothes and all that?”
    Lori McInter nodded, although she indicated she wasn’t pleased at the request. Mannerheim’s shouting in the corridor irritated her.
    Mannerheim caught the silent rebuke and cursed the nurse under his breath. “Women,” he muttered. To Mannerheim, nurses were becoming more and more a pain in the ass.
    Mannerheim burst into the OR like a bull into the ring. The congenial atmosphere changed