Debbie put her face in her hands, and Robert rubbed her neck.
“What was it?” Dr. Meyer got up and took the roll of EEG strips that Robert had rolled up. He unrolled it a bit and then sat back down. “She just kept asking for the balls. I don’t know why she was asking for them.”
“How do you know she wanted the balls?” Aaron asked. “All I heard was a bunch of jibber.”
“She was saying the words backwards. La ahb is backwards for ball. Rah cod, doctor backwards. I really… rocked her world in there. Oh, what did I do wrong?” He dropped his head while shaking it.
He sat back in the chair. “Okay, we need to monitor her. Debbie, I want you to go somewhere and sleep. She’ll need you alert when she wakes up.”
“If she wakes up,” Debbie whispered. Robert put his arm around her and gave her a small hug.
“I’ll sleep in my bed.”
“No, I want you away from the hospital. You won’t sleep well here.”
Robert leaned to one side and took out a set of keys from his pocket and handed them to her. “Here, go to my place. You can sleep in the guest room.”
“Thank you, Aaron, for your help. You may leave,” John instructed.
The monitor kept beeping. Her blood pressure continued to swing from high to low and back.
Debbie looked at Robert, and he nodded, emphasizing she needed to go. She took the keys, then went into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee while John gave more instructions.
“Robert, you go too. Patricia and I will stay.” He looked at his watch. It was almost eight o’clock. A procedure that should have taken no more than two hours was now up to five, and he couldn’t say she was in recovery—not with her vitals still not normal. The blood pressure and temperature concerned him the most.
“Debbie, I want you back here at two.”
“Okay,” she said, weary. “There’s fresh coffee.”
“John, you need to go get some rest. I’ll stay with Patricia. I’m not tired at all. You did all the work,” Robert said. He was caught up with reading the EEG, trying to analyze the results in his head, so he wasn’t fully aware of what had happened in the bedroom.
“No, I can’t leave.”
“Go on. You need to be with your wife. Go home to Vicky. I’ve got it here.”
John put his head down and locked his fingers across his neck. Then he sat up. “You’re right, I need my Vicky. I won’t be long. I’ll just clean up and get a quick bite to eat.” He had Gini’s bodily fluids all over his clothes and neck.
As soon as John left, Robert called Vicky. He told her John was on his way and he was upset.
“Is she going to be okay?”
“We’re monitoring her. Make him sleep, Vicky. He needs to rest.”
“Thanks for calling me and letting me know. I’ll take care of him.”
When she hung up, she heard the garage door opening. She was in the kitchen fixing dinner. He walked in with his white coat over his arm, still wearing his scrubs. He threw the coat on a chair and gathered her into his arms.
“Robert called and told me what was going on.”
He laid his head on her shoulder and started to shake and then weep. The only other time she had seen him so upset about a patient was when he lost his first one as an intern.
“I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what I did wrong.”
She rubbed his back while she hugged him.
He pulled away from her. “I’m going to go get cleaned up.” He picked up his coat. “You need to throw all these clothes in a bleach bath. I have Gini’s bodily fluids all over me.”
She fixed them both an old-fashioned. When he came back into the room, he was wearing pull-on pants and a long-sleeved pullover shirt. His hair was wet and combed into his usual style.
She handed him his drink. “I’m not drinking. I have to go right back.”
“You just need to relax. Robert’s there taking care of her. John, just sit and relax.”
He took a sip of the drink and put his head back on the couch with his arm around her. She laid her head on his shoulder while he told her the whole story.
The oven timer went off, and she went into the kitchen. When she came back, he was lying on the couch sound asleep. She took the blanket from the chair and covered him.
A little while later, Robert called again to check on John. He was glad to hear he was sleeping.
“Let him sleep as long as he needs to. We’re in good shape here.”
A few hours later, before John ate dinner, he checked in with Robert.
“She’s about the same. Her blood pressure is still swinging but not as extreme, and her temperature is still elevated. I think we should let Patricia go home. I can handle it from here. If I need anything, I can call a nurse from the station.”
It was agreed, and Patricia left about ten-thirty.
While Robert waited for John, he checked the therapy manual for risks. The manual stated the patient might go into a coma with the last intense workout. This wasn’t necessarily bad since the patients in the case studies who went into comas seemed to have the best results from the procedure. One man was comatose for a week and went from not being able to walk due to a stroke to walking after four weeks. He was back at work in three months.
The blood pressure swing had also occurred in other patients and was an alarm, especially if it spiked to an extreme, offering
