They changed places, and Dr. Benson then went over the parts that Dr. Barsch had checked while the older doctor explored Dr. Benson’s territory.
Eileen handed them instruments without instruction, anticipating their needs. And Jean bent her head over her task as she recorded the entire lung and the surrounding organs. She tried to draw every small capillary which extended out into the lung area to form a structure which looked like a branch of a tiny bush. Dr. Henry watched over the patient’s breathing and pulse rate as carefully as a mother watches over a newborn child.
Finally Dr. Henry spoke. “That’s all,” he said hoarsely. “We can’t take any more chances. His pulse rate is falling.”
As long as the patient was under anesthetic, Dr. Henry was the general. As soon as he spoke the other doctors were quick to follow his instructions.
Dr. Barsch shook his head. “All right,” he said grimly. “But I don’t like it.” Silently he began to sew up the wound. First he drew it together with soluble clamps, and then he stitched the chest together as if it were a piece of cloth.
Jean, clutching her sketch pad and pencil, looked at all their faces. Dr. Barsch’s was grim and determined as he sewed. Dr. Daley’s face was expressionless. Dr. Benson’s was white and drawn. He looked as if he were in pain. Dr. Henry shook his head from side to side as he worked over the man’s respiratory system. Eileen’s face was a white mask. Jean knew that the color had left her own face as well.
She knew, too, that they were all praying to a Higher Power whose Presence is always very much felt in an operating room. No one in the room had ever known Mr. Mills before he came to the clinic. But that didn’t matter. His was a precious life ... a human life. And his body was the scene of a battle of that greatest of all wars since the beginning of the human race. Man was at war with his natural enemy, disease.
18. Just Among Girls
Billy Ellis and Buzzy Hancock raced up the Craig driveway, hooting and howling as they ran.