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"Come on, Brooklyn, we both know there’s no reason to keep sleeping. The tumor is gone; it’s time to wake up, girl. Don’t ignore me. I don’t handle being disregarded by those whose attention I demand well."
She sat up for the first time today, but that’s far from enough. I want her fully recovered.
Her face shows the same serenity as the first time I saw her, but the difference now is that I know there’s no longer anything threatening her life. The tumor was confirmed to be benign, the surgery was a success, and from a clinical standpoint, my work is done.
Brooklyn’s awakening should happen at any moment. Yet, for the first time, I find myself anxious while waiting for a patient to come out of a coma.
I tell myself I want her to wake up because, involuntarily, I’ve become involved with the rest of her family.
The day I met her sister, I learned that Madison, along with their stepmother Eleanor, is taking care of Brooklyn’s children.
I glance once more at the unconscious woman before heading to the operating room, where I’ll be performing surgery on an elderly man in about thirty minutes.
Tomorrow, Madison will visit her again, as she’s done every day since Brooklyn was transferred to my hospital. She follows her sister’s recovery obsessively, and I decide it’s time to give her some good news.
The Next Day
As I expected, I find her leaning over her sister’s bed, adjusting a strand of Brooklyn’s hair.
The scene stirs memories, and for a moment, I forget why I came here, caught in a past I can’t afford to dwell on.
"Hello, Dr. Athanasios," Madison says, turning toward me. She must have heard the door open.
"Madison, how are you? Do you have a minute to talk?" Even as I speak to her, my eyes remain fixed on the sleeping woman, as they always do when I come here.
"Of course," she replies with a half-smile, and I can’t quite figure out why.
She kisses her sister’s cheek and then follows me into the hallway. We head to a consultation room—not my own, which ison the top floor of the hospital. My day is packed, and I have no time to waste.
"Did something happen?" she asks, looking anxious as always. Before I can answer, she says, "Would you mind if I straightened the books on that shelf behind you?"
"What?"
"I think I have OCD, and I won’t be able to focus on our conversation if they’re not aligned."
"Go ahead," I reply,almostsmiling. Who doesn’t have quirks?
Two minutes later, she returns to her seat. "All done. You can speak now."
"This isn’t the first time we’ve talked, but we’ve never delved deeply into your sister’s condition, only discussing her progress. What do you know about comas?"
"As soon as Brooklyn was injured and the doctors declared her comatose, I researched the condition. I know a coma is when someone becomes unconscious due to brain dysfunction or injury, unable to wake up or respond to stimuli."
"Exactly. Most of the time, coma patients lose the ability to think and have no awareness of what’s happening around them. There are those in a deep coma, showing no signs of consciousness, and others, like Brooklyn, who exist in a state of partial arousal. I ran some tests to confirm the nature and degree of her coma because, now the surgery has been done, she’s taking longer to wake up than I anticipated."
"So, what did you conclude?" she asks.
"In nearly all cases, the brain’s energy flow indicates the likelihood of recovery. To put it simply, these tests determine whether a patient is likely to wake up. I’m certain she will, as we discussed in our first consultation—we’ve removed the main barrier, the tumor."
"Please, I can’t take the suspense. As much as I want you to ease my anxiety, I might slap you if it’s not the answer I’m hoping for."
"Your sister’s results show her brain’s energy flow is close to eighty percent. To give you some perspective, when a patient has a flow around forty-five percent, we already know there’s a significant chance they’ll wake up."
"Oh my God!"
She starts crying, and I’m unsure how to respond. In the end, I offer her a tissue and wait for her to calm down.
"I’m sorry, but you’ve just given me the best news I could have hoped for."