Just Live

Chapter 13

Sarah remembers being wheeled down the hallway through the double doors of the operating room. Her mind was going ballistic on her and she feared waking up in the middle of the surgery, being completely aware of everything. Although, some patients do undergo brain surgery wide awake.

Sarah remembers getting up and walking over to the operating table where she met with her surgical team. She lost count of all of them but there were more than ten people there with her, each with an important role to play to make sure she had all she needed to make it through the surgery in the best condition possible, given the circumstances.

Sarah remembers the surgical team trying to make her as comfortable as possible, explaining each step to her and telling her what the medications were for. She remembers being told she was getting the medication to help her sleep.

Sarah remembers being told that once she's asleep, they're going to be doing a couple of procedures before the actual brain surgery. Intubation, another IV insertion, venous catheter insertion, arterial line insertions and catheter insertion among others.

She was nervous and she was scared to death, but she decided to take a deep breath and trust God.

The last thing she remembered was that the anaesthesiologist gave her a mask before she felt her eyes droopy. The world became a blur once more, with only one thing visible: her goal to live. It felt as though she was in the pool, unaware of everything else but the ripples of the water and the goal to victory. She didn't know that the struggle to live and wake up began the moment she closed her eyes.

It has been four days since Sarah's surgery and her doctors had to make a quick decision to put her in a medically induced coma due to the extensive swelling in her brain. When, and if, she would wake up, they could only hope for the best.

"Seventy percent of the tumor was removed. Once Sarah wakes up from the coma, we will assist with her recovery then proceed with radiation and chemotherapy."

"Only seventy percent and she ends up in a coma?" Ariel voiced out his frustration. "I know you said it was a decision on your part but didn't you say she should have woken up already? Doc, we're only getting started. Why does it feel like we're already losing the fight? Why isn't she waking up?"

"Mr. Geronimo, we made a collaborative decision to put Sarah in an induced coma because we wanted to give her the best chances at recovery," the doctor calmly replied. "Our goal was to remove as much of the tumor as we could, as safely as possible, while trying to prevent neurological deficits because of the complex location of the tumor."

"What kind of neurological deficits?" Matteo couldn't help but ask. He felt a ball was stuck in his throat as he listened to the neurosurgeon. He watched as Gelli tightened her grip on Ariel's hand, and Sarah's father held his wife tightly.

The surgeon nodded and proceeded to explain more about Sarah's condition. He went on to talk about neurological deficits like sensory and perception problems, and motor problems in high correlation with those. The doctor's words echoed in Matteo's mind.

"It's not for sure, right?" Matteo asked worriedly.

"Any of those are possible but we won't find out until she wakes up, that's if there is any."

"And when is that going to be?" Sarah's father asked impatiently.

"We're all hoping for the best, Gelli, Ariel. We've already discontinued the sedation, so we're waiting for her to wake up on her own now. Each case, each patient is different."

The surgeon's words from yesterday echoed in Matteo's mind as he walked down the halls of the neurosciences critical care unit, or NCCU, the ICU of the neurosciences department.