Dying For A Chance by Amy H. Allworden Read Free Book Online Page B

getting used to things. I told him he could visit me any time and I’d give him the inside scoop on everything I knew. Before I knew it we had our final conversation, the one where he braced me for the upcoming surgery and all its difficulties.
    ~~~
                Dr. Swaresh pulled up a small chair, squealing and screeching across the floor to sit beside my bed. I had just ate breakfast and was feeling quite optimistic about the next day. All through the previous night I’d had good dreams about skipping, dancing and running and I felt they were prophetic in a way. I was really looking forward to being on my way out of the hospital.
                “How are you this morning, Samantha?” The Dr’s smile greeted me warmly, he had a stack of papers in his lap for us to go over.
                “Good as can be Doc, I’m excited to get out of this bed....not that you don’t have nice things. I’m really getting attached to the fancy remote controls and the way all the nurses hurry when I push this big red one in the middle.” I gave him a smile and he chuckled .
                “This is why I enjoy coming to visit you, none of my other patients are quite as funny as you are.” he coughed slightly and I could tell that meant we were supposed to get down to business. “Now, Samantha there are just a few things we must go over before tomorrow.”
                I settled myself in for a long conversation. “I’m listening, go on.”
                “This first paper is telling us what kind of anesthesia we will be using. Obviously, we do not want you to feel any pain s o we will be injecting your entire lumbar region with anesthesia as well as giving you a general sedative. It will feel as though you are in a dream.” Everything was sounding good so far, not feeling pain was at the top of my list as well. He set the first papers onto my table tray and moved on.
                “This second paper is reminding us that your decision to have the surgery is a recommended procure only. We can not force you to have this surgery but we have gone over the benefits and you understand that this is necessary.” I nodded my head, I didn’t want to be walking around and suddenly collapse from a severed spine in the middle of nowhere...or worse, the middle of Wal-Mart or something. That would be both dangerous and embarrassing. He set the next group of papers on the tray and moved on.
                “This third section is telling us what to expect from your surgery. I went over it a little before but I am required to do it again. Please bear with me...” he smiled apologetically. “We will first make a small incision to collect the Intercostal, peripheral nerve by your rib cage. Once that is complete we will make an incision in the lumbar area of your spine and attempt to remove the fragment from your spinal column.” The doctor hesitated and set his papers down. “This is very important...the surgeon will do absolutely everything in his power to remove the fragment, if that happens he will then graft your small nerve onto the column to repair the bit of damage you already have. This scenario leaves us with an 89% success ratio.” Things were seriously looking up for me, I smiled enthusiastically at Dr. Swaresh. He coughed into his fist and continued.
                “This is a very difficult procedure, the fragment in your spine is small and will be very difficult to remove. In the event that it can not be removed, the surgeon will severe your spine and then remove the fragment at that time. He will then splice the peripheral nerve between the two sections of spinal nerve.” Dr. Swaresh paused and waited for me to take it all in. “This scenario leaves us with a 43%  success ratio. This is a very rare surgery and has only been done a handful of times.”
                I sat very still contemplating what it would be like to