David heard the metallic ping as it was dropped into a waiting dish.
Good! Good! Cooper gave himself a little encouragement as he plugged
the hole left by the fragment with beeswax to prevent haemorrhage. Now
we will trace out the optic nerves.
They were two white worms, David saw them clearly, converging on their
separate trails to meet and blend at the opening of the bony canal into
which they disappeared.
We have got extraneous bone-growth here, clearly associated with the
foreign body we have just removed.
It seems to have blocked off the canal and to have squeezed or severed
the nerve. Suggestions, Dr. Friedman? I think we should excise that
growth and try and ascertain just what damage we have to the nerve in
that area. Good. Yes, I agree. Sister, I will use a fine bonenibbler
to get in there.
The swift selection and handling of the bright steel instruments again,
and then Cooper was working on the white bone growth which grew in the
shape of coral from a tropical sea. He nibbled at it with the keen
steel, and carefully removed each piece from the field as it came away.
What we have here is a bone splinter that was driven by the steel
fragment into the canal. It is a large piece, and it must have been
under considerable pressure, and it has consolidated itself here He
worked on carefully, and gradually the white worm of the nerve appeared
from beneath the growth.
Now, this is interesting. Cooper's tone altered. Yes, look at this.
Can we get a better view here, please? The camera zoomed in a little
closer, and the focus realigned. The nerve has been forced upwards, and
flattened by pressure. The constriction is quite obvious, it has been
pinched off, but it seems to be intact. Cooper lifted another large
piece of bone aside, and now the nerve lay exposed over its full length.
This is really remarkable. I expect that it is a one in a thousand
chance, or one in a million. There appears to be no damage to the
actual nerve, and yet the steel fragment passed so close to it that it
must have touched it Delicately, Cooper lifted the nerve with the blunt
tip of a probe.
Completely intact, but flattened by pressure. Yet I don't suspect any
degree of atrophy, Dr. Friedman? I think we can confidently expect good
recovery of function. Despite the masked features, the triumphant
attitude of the two men was easily recognized, and watching them, David
felt his own emotions at war.
With a weight upon his spirits he watched Cooper close up, replacing the
portion of Debra's skull that he had removed, and once the flap of scalp
was stitched back into place there was little external evidence of the
extent and depth of their penetration. The image on the screen changed
to another theatre where a small girl was to receive surgery for a
massive hernia, and the fickle interest of the watching students changed
with it.
David stood up and left the room. He rode up in the elevator and waited
in the visitors room on Debra's floor until the elevator doors opened
again and two white uniformed male nurses trundled Debra's stretcher
