The Dharma Revelation

Chapter 4

Petra Delaere maintained her calm. She rose from her chair, cool and composed, showing no signs of anxiety. Even driving to the hospital this morning, Petra was proud of her ability to maintain a relatively moderate rate of speed, despite the urgency of the phone call that brought her here.

She left the receptionist and walked straight through to the doctor's office.

"Good morning, Ms. Delaere," Dr. Reneke greeted her. He motioned for her to take a chair.

Poised and elegant, she sat down.

"Thank you, doctor," she said evenly. "I must confess, I was rather surprised to receive your telephone call."

"It was my pleasure," he said. "It's not often I have the chance to make calls like this. Usually when I interrupt someone's weekend, it's bad news. This was a pleasant switch."

Dr. Reneke shuffled through documents on his large desk, looking for the right one. "Our office staff is calling what happened to Laura a miracle."

Petra smiled at that, "I believe it." She resisted the urge to shout, "So tell me, what exactly happened?"

"Honestly, we aren't sure," he said. "When you brought your sister here after her car accident she was in critical condition. And although we specialize in this type of treatment, the damage was extensive, as you know."

"You told me she wasn't going to make it," Petra corrected him. "Complications following subdural hematoma."

"Yes," he admitted. "She had acute SDH, and we performed surgery—specifically, a craniotomy. We stopped the subdural bleeding and evacuated the intraparenchymal hematomas in the area. That's when we did the follow-up CT, and as you remember, the results were not good."

"Elevated results," Petra said.

"Elevated ICP," the doctor corrected. "Significant midline shift. The prognosis was a 60 to 80 percent loss of brain function on the upside, the downside being death."

Petra swallowed, "Yes, I remember, Dr. Reneke. So what happened?"

He looked at her, very seriously. "As I said on the phone, it appears she's fine now. She's made a complete recovery."

"But how is this possible?"

He shook his head and stood up, and began pacing the room.

"We've seen this kind of thing from time to time. Unexplained recovery against all odds," he walked around the office, listening intently to his own words. "I monitored her last CT scan myself; she is completely healed. Put in layman's terms, it's a miracle."

Petra smiled, "Well, this is simply the most wonderful news I have ever had."

"We'd like to keep her here for another day, just for observation," he said. "But I'm sure you are eager to see her. As I said, despite all that has happened, she seems just fine. I think she'd love to see you."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Petra said with a smile. She stood up and followed him out the door.

Dr. Reneke stayed only for a moment. He watched in satisfaction as the two sisters hugged and relayed their stories.

Laura Delaere is one lucky woman, he thought.

It bothered him that he couldn't explain what happened, but if it's one thing he'd learned in all of his years practicing medicine, the human body was capable of amazing things. He and his staff had done an excellent job in treating Laura, and what a fantastic result.