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Chapter 35
- LANGAA RPCIG
- Chapter
- Additional Information
223 C Chapter 35 oagi Makgunda was restless, but he vehemently resisted the urge to pace. They had offered him a chair, but he had declined it. Standing beside Dr Kingsley Housman, a surgeon with receding silvery hair, his arms and brow were folded. The surgeon sat before a console scrutinising three-dimensional Xray pictures appearing before him. When he pressed buttons on a keypad, the images changed, zoomed or rotated. Moagi understood he had been favoured to wait upon Dr Kingsley Housman, a female nurse and a radiologist as the trio conducted their work in the scanning room at Eagle’s Nest Clinic, an elite private hospital between Silverton and the National Botanic Gardens. Like the staff, he was in a white dustcoat, a mandatory vestment for whoever entered the room when X-ray machines were operative. Except Katherine who was inside a large X-ray machine that looked like a section of a reposing rocket, he was the only indigenous African in the room. A two-tiered trolley holding bandages, forceps, ointments among other things, was parked near the machine. The nurse and the radiologist, in surgical gloves, stood by the giant machine, the former scribbling on a clipboard and the latter peering into it through an eyepiece in its wall. Consoles and computers lined the walls. The hum of the machine was the sole sound in the room. “The results aren’t as bad as I feared,” the surgeon said, his eyes on the changing pictures. “The concussions weren’t very severe.” “I thank God.” Moagi bent to look at the pictures, but all he saw were two craniums revolving side by side on the monitor. “She might suffer from mild to acute amnesia for some time. The occurrence of memory loss in coma patients is very high. We can’t completely rule out other associative complications like dementia.” “Do you see injuries in her brain, surgeon?” Moagi asked. M 224 “At the moment I don’t see any. Not all injuries to the brain are easily detectable. Nerve damage can manifest itself as paralysis. There’re good chances she may suffer from insomnia. We’ll see when she comes around.” A beep and a flicker of green light by the X-ray machine stirred the radiologist to look at the surgeon. Dr Housman nodded at him. The radiologist and the nurse turned several handles on a hatchet on the machine, and swung it open to reveal Katherine’s inert feet as she lay on a narrow bed in a tubular cavity. Blue light lit the circular chamber. The radiologist punched a button on the machine. The bed slowly wheeled out on thin rails. Moagi watched with exaggerated fear as the machine gradually ejected her, feet first. A white, thick foil canvas covered her from the shins to her neck, and protective pads were on her eyes. Her head was completely shaven. A four-stitch wound marred her brow. Her left temple, the one visible to him, was bruised. She was motionless and alien. “Is she under an anaesthetic, Dr Housman?” “She’s in a coma, Hon. Makgunda. The ambulance brought her in comatose state. We injected her with painkillers.” The nurse removed the pads on Katherine’s face and pulled the trolley closer to Katherine’s head. Her eyes were closed. “When do you think she’ll come out of this coma?” The surgeon made a sly smile and shook his head. “She may slip out of it today, or next week. Or it can take her several months.” “What’s the worst case scenario, Dr Housman?” “In prolonged comatose cases, usually after experiencing somatic death—” “What’s somatic death, Dr Housman?” “I’m sorry. That’s brain death. Undisputable signs of death in a person are somatic or cardiac death. Cardiac death is when the heart ceases or dies. Now, in cases when either of the two has occurred, we know that death has set in, but we can’t certify it or remove a patient from life support. Usually relatives apply to the Supreme Court or a special parliamentary committee for permission to remove the patient from a life support unit.” [3.237.44.242] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 08:08 GMT) 225 “I hope it’ll not come to that, Dr Housman.” “It’s our hope as well, sir, but some things are inevitable. You’ll forgive me for citing an unsettling extremity.” “You don’t have to apologise, surgeon. I’m...