In the operating room Marquita lays on the operation table, surrounded by doctors. Her head is tightly secured in an immobilizer and a blue sheet is taped around her head like a halo. Behind the sheet, three doctors work in unison on Marquita’s now exposed skull. Mechteld and Dr. Batra watch from a monitor recording Marquita’s vital signs as the skin from the crown of Marquita’s head is pulled back. The sound of a drill and suction fill the room as one doctor precisely cuts into bone while another cleans away blood with a suction hose. After several minutes of drilling the surgeon delicately lifts a piece of skull and places it on a. He then peels back the thin white dura and exposes Marquita’s brain. He turns to Dr. Batra and says, “The skull is open. You can wake her up now.”
Dr. Batra steps forward and Mechteld follows while pushing the anesthesia cart. Dr. Batra turns to Mechteld and says, “Nurse Lazarus, I’ll need the-“ But before she can finish Mechteld provides the correct syringe. She injects the liquid in the IV line and steps away. A speech pathologist takes a seat low to the ground by Marquita’s face. She wraps her fingers around Marquita’s hand as her eyes begin to flutter open.
“The doctors are ready to start Marquita. Are you ready?” The pathologist asks softly.
Marquita’s eyes are only half open as she gives out a raspy, “Yes.”
The pathologist nods to the surgeon, who turns to his colleagues. Together they begin to carefully cut into the soft tissue of Marquita’s brain while constantly referencing an overhead monitor. Dr. Batra and Mechteld go back to their places near the monitor displaying Marquita’s vital signs, where Dr. Batra studies each small change. The pathologist begins asking Marquita questions; examining each answer for evidence of decreased speech ability. Mechteld watches Marquita’s immobile face and waits.
As Marquita is asked a question, her face freezes with her mouth open and eyes wide. She looks as if she’s about to scream, but only choking sounds come from her throat.
“Marquita? Marquita? Marquita, squeeze my hand! Marquita?” The pathologist looks up to the surgeon. “Something’s wrong.”
Marquita’s body becomes rigid and her eyes roll back into her head. A doctor at the surgeon’s table looks at the overhead monitor.
“She’s seizing.”
Dr. Batra turns to Mechteld and says, “She needs benzodiazepine-“ Again, before Dr. Batra can finish her sentence Mechteld hands her an already prepared syringe. Dr. Batra quickly injects Marquita with the benzodiazepine as all the doctors now watch the monitor. Alarms suddenly go off on all the machines at once.
A doctor reaches for the immobilizer that’s keeping Marquita’s head in place. He quickly starts twisting the knobs and says, “She’s in cardiac arrest. Let’s get her out of this and give her the defibrillator.”
Quickly they work together and lay Marquita flat on her back all while her skull is still open. Her head rolls to the side and the piece of skin on her head flaps freely before resting ajar on the surgeon’s incisions. The doctors stick the defibrillator pads on Marquita’s chest and stand back. An electric tone pierces the air and Marquita’s body jumps briefly up before resting again on the table. The room fills with a long continuous tone and all lines on the monitors go flat.
“Again!”
For several minutes an electric pitch fills the room and each time Marquita’s body lurches forward and quickly rests on the table. Her head is facing Mechteld and she looks across the room to locks eyes with her. Marquita’s face stays frozen, but her eyes communicate a desperate plea. Mechteld does nothing. Their eyes stay bonded until finally, Marquita hazel eyes dilate and she sees Mechteld no more.
The surgeon takes a step back from the table and looks at the clock, “Time of death: 1:34 pm.”
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