Soul's Aperture

“Is there someone from the Kirsham family here?” the doctor asked, looking around the room at the faces filled with frightened expectation.
Melba gasped and jumped to her feet. “I’m Kirsham. Do you know something about my baby?” She rushed to face the doctor.
“Yes, Mrs. Kirsham, I do have something to discuss with you. Can you come with me?”
Melba’s knees weakened and she sucked in her breath. “Where are we going?” With shaky legs, she followed, knowing where he was heading and why.
“Let’s go where we can talk privately,” the doctor replied, gesturing toward a nearby room with a metal nameplate that identified the room as “ER Counseling Room”. He held the door for her and her sister to enter. The hospital Chaplain was standing just inside the doorway, anticipating the family’s arrival.
Melba’s sister had to nudge her to walk into the room. The presence of the Chaplain portended bad news. Melba dreaded going into the room because of what she might hear. When the doctor offered her a seat, she shook her head and stood, waiting for what he had to say.
The Chaplain moved closer to Melba’s side only to be rebuffed by her sister.
“Mrs. Kirsham. My name is Doctor Danques. I am head of Neurosurgery here at Tierney Medical Center. We have been performing some tests on your son, Arnold. There are some things about the results that disturb me greatly. I’m going to update you as much as I can right now. I do apologize for the long delay, but I had to be sure before I told you anything.”
Melba’s sister snapped, “Hell, you could have at least come out and told us you were performing tests. We haven’t heard from anyone for almost six hours.” The doctor’s initial words gave her hope that Arnold was alive and had survived the wreck with minimal injuries. The immediate relief allowed her to vent anger on behalf of her sister.
“I am sorry about that. I thought someone from the staff had been keeping you informed. I am very sorry that you had to wait so long.” The fact that the family was upset over the lack of information made his job more difficult. Doctor Danques glanced at the Chaplain as if the woman could give him the words and the strength to say what had to be said. “I will try to be as succinct as possible.”
“Just don’t do it in doctor-speak.” Melba’s sister retorted. She was fuming that the doctor had copped out on taking responsibility for the communication problem.
The doctor nodded his understanding and began to explain. “Your son suffered a severe whiplash during the accident.”
“How? He was in his car seat and it was facing toward the back like it is supposed to.” Melba cried out. Her mind grasped the word ‘whiplash’ and immediately interpreted it as a good sign. Lots of people suffered, or faked, whiplash during auto accidents.
Again Doctor Danques nodded understanding. “I understand that he was properly restrained. That was the report we received also. Apparently, the impact was so violent and the stop was so sudden that the child’s neck was whipped forward in a reactive response. I won’t try to explain the physics of the actions and reactions, but I can tell you what we are facing. The damage is in the region between the second and third cervical vertebrae. He suffered severe brain stem damage.” He paused to allow what he had said to soak in as the women clung to each other. “I will tell you that brain stem damage is life threatening.”
“What does that mean for Arnold?” Melba gasped, her face drained of blood. What she thought she knew about whiplash did not match what she was hearing.
“The prognosis is not good, Mrs. Kirsham. I wish I could tell you something better. I wish I could be more definitive.”
“Does this mean he will be paralyzed? How bad?”
“I’m afraid paralysis is not our greatest concern.” Doctor Danques realized that the woman did not comprehend the gravity of his message. Few people understood the significance of the area of the brain called the brain stem. “Right now, we are sustaining his life through extraordinary means. His injury is life threatening.”
“I still don’t understand.”
“Central nervous system injuries, specifically brain stem injuries, are not considered to be survivable. I will say this as clearly as I can; your son has very little chance to survive his injuries.”
“But, there is a chance, right?” Melba asked hopefully.
“Damaged nerves do not regenerate easily, if at all. Central nervous system nerves have never responded to regenerative therapies. Brain stem nerve cells control all involuntary bodily functions. Even if they could regenerate, the recovery would not be fast enough; the body would die before regeneration could happen.” Doctor Danques saw that he was getting the appropriate responses from the mother. “To your question, I can not say with certainty, but I would say there is no chance of survival with conventional methods.”
“What do you mean conventional methods?” snapped Melba’s sister. She glared at the doctor then glared at the Chaplain who continued to attempt to reach Melba.
“Yes, what does that mean?” Melba asked, squeezing on her sister’s hand to the point of pain.
Doctor Danques took a deep breath. “Well, to be perfectly honest, when your son was brought in, he was presented as DOA.” He paused and watched as Melba buried her face in her sister’s shoulder and began sobbing harder. He continued. “Because of his young age, we put him on life support to keep his organs from failing and performed a battery of test to see if he will be a good candidate for some experimental treatment.”
“Experimental?” Melba’s head came up. “What experimental treatment?”
“It is something that has demonstrated promise to quickly regenerate nerve cells in lab trials, but no human trials have been performed.”
“You need a guinea pig?” Melba’s sister snapped. She was still incensed over the communication issues that had forced Melba to suffer a needlessly long time. She was equally unhappy that the Chaplain persisted in being close at that moment. The woman could have shown compassion while Melba was struggling with uncertainty in the waiting room.
“No, not a guinea pig. With any new treatment, there comes a time when it has to be tried on humans to see if it really works like it does in the lab. This is a serious trial. This is a serious situation. Brain, brain stem and spinal cord injuries are not generally treatable for complete recovery even when they are survivable. This trial, this treatment promises a real cure for central nervous system injuries.”
“Is it some kind of stem cell treatment from aborted babies?”
Doctor Danques blinked slowly and licked his dry lips. He would have preferred that the mother’s sister was not in the room. He replied carefully, “No. Stem cell research has not provided all that it promised for nervous system regeneration. The new treatment involves transplanting nerve cells that the body can immediately use to form a framework that can then be used to quickly reconnect severed and damaged cells.”
“So, it will make him well?” Melba’s sister was suspicious.
“I can’t promise that. The treatment will undoubtedly have a better chance of healing in a baby than it would in an older person. Young people, especially at this patient’s age, tend to heal much better and recover quicker.”
“Guinea pig, like I said.”
“No. Maybe, yes.” Taken aback by the statement, Doctor Danques was becoming frustrated with the sister. “The bottom line is this, without this treatment, the baby is clinically dead right now.