Deep Sea

Chapter 9 - An excellent reputation

The glasses placed on the desk reflected a ray of sunlight that filtered through the half-lowered shutters. The eyelids weighed heavily on the round and protruding eyeballs, the irises and pupils formed a semicircle in the eye and gave the man a grim and distant look. The drawn face was the haggard and distant portrait of a proud and superb appearance, the rough copy of a refined beauty, a sort of Dorian Gray seen from the painting halfway through his race towards hell. 

- I am personally very honored to have you as our guest.- Manfredi twiddled his thumbs between his crossed hands resting on the desk.- I watched all his dramas on TV, when Rai was still a public service.

- I'm glad to hear it. There are still many people who remember my directions. Those were different times...

The man was in his seventies and wanted to present himself as an old master, dressing with distracted elegance without a tie or shirt, but with a crew-neck sweater and light jacket over dark trousers.

- The Senator Moria spoke well to me about this centre. Your reputation is excellent, Doctor Laganà, however let me confide in you a doubt: I would have preferred a more well-known and less, let's say... less recent clinic.

Manfredi noticed how even under the stress of a response that had to come, the man who sat in front of him remained a tough polemicist, he had to make him likeable otherwise he would end up arguing himself. Professor Laganà may have been a meek character but he did not allow abuse and insolence. The old director had the look of someone who had never been told no and that crooked expression on his face was the perfect mirror of his wooden character. De Manzini entered to cut any tension.

- Here are all the analyses- the white coat gave Duccio De Manzini an even greater aura of respectability like the sable cloak worn by a king. Of all three in that office he was definitely the tallest and proudest, at the same time the custodian of a secret that he was about to reveal. The envelope with the files didn't have time to fall on the desk before Manfredi opened it and began to shuffle through the sheets.

- Tell me... is it serious?- At that joke Manfredi couldn't help but look up and catch his imperturbable patient in a fit of impatience. He stood up and faced the doctor.

- Mr Bondi, your pathology is not serious, or rather, not so serious that it cannot be treated - De Manzini began to explain - Those who had previously examined you had diagnosed you with keratoconus and I can only confirm this diagnosis. It is a progressive disease, as you well know. Progressive and unforgiving...

- Am I at risk of going blind? How much do I miss? In short, can I do this transplant or not? 

De Manzini put a hand on his shoulder and invited him to sit down again, continuing to speak as if no one had interrupted him.

- The cornea has a distortion of the rays of curvature, the decrease in vision is more accentuated in the left eye than in the right, but it is an ambivalent keratoconus. A new cornea must be grafted through a perforating keratoplasty, in practice the diseased cornea is replaced with a transparent one.

The patient Bondi remained petrified while Manfredi placed the papers in the envelope.

- As in all transplant cases, there is a risk of rejection, but for corneas it is in the order of ten, fifteen percent at most. The cornea is not vascularized, it is practically a tissue.

Bondi turned from De Manzini to Laganà who was watching him silently, drumming the fingers of his right hand on the desk.

- It seems to me that it is inevitable.

- Yes, it is - Manfredi nodded.- And... how does it work?-A knowing look passed from Laganà to De Manzini who, sitting on the leather sofa next to a wall, concluded:- Visual recovery occurs in one or two years. Naturally, immuno-repressive therapy with steroids must be conducted, due to the rejection I was talking about. A stitch must also be done in the eyes...