Chapter 52
"I hear you're doing an acoustic neuroma tomorrow." Derek says joining me as I walk down the hallway.
"Yes, I am." I smile.
"That's a long difficult surgery with a high post excision mortality morbidity. Risky for a fellow." He says.
"Let me stop you right there, because I see what's happening here. You're finally operating again and trying to get any and every surgery you can, which is why you're trying to psych me out so I'll give you this surgery, but let me go ahead and tell you that's not happening." I say.
"Come on it'a big surgery, you could use another set of hands in the OR anyways." He says.
"Fine, I guess you can be my fellow surgeon on this case." I say as we walk to the front desk, because Owen had paged all of the attendings.
"As many of you know, Seattle Grace Mercy West has suffered a financial setback. The administration is working hard to keep the impact of that setback as small as possible. To that end, we're gonna have to initiate some cost-cutting measures. The board has hired a physician advisor to help." Owen says.
"What's a physician advisor?" Meredith asks.
"Well, she consults on maximizing effiency, streamlining processes, assessing where we can trim our budgets." Owen explains.
"Who to fire and when to fire them." Dr. Bailey says.
"She's here to advise and to help. I was hoping to introduce her in person, but she seems to be late." Owen frowns.
"Oh, on her first day? Not very efficient." I joke making everyone laugh.
"You can expect to see her in the halls, in your labs, in the OR." Owen says.
"So we're gonna have an accountant following us around in the OR's?" Derek asks.
"She's not an accountant, she is a trained surgeon. Frankly, she is here to try to help us. Thank you for your cooperation." Owen says before releasing us. Derek and I wait for Jo, my intern for the day, then we go to my patients room.
"Hey, Jimmy. Hey Carla. This is Dr. Shepherd, he's my fellow surgeon on your surgery today and this is Dr. Wilson. She'll be assisting." I say.
"Please tell me you're not married." Carla, Jimmy's sister says when she sees Derek.
"I'm afraid so." Derek laughs.
"Ignore my sister, no boundaries." Jimmy' says making us laugh.
"Headaches still bad." I ask Jimmy as I begin to examine him.
"He can barely get off the couch, he's so dizzy. Meanwhile, I have to wait on him like he's the boy prince." Carla says.
"Warms your heart, doesn't she?" Jimmy says making me laugh.
"Wilson, what are some of the symptoms of an acoustic neuroma?" I ask.
"Hearing loss, increased intracranial pressure, tingling in the face."
"And being a giant pain in the ass." Carla adds.
"Dr. Garcia, I'm so glad you agreed to do this surgery. Every other surgeon I have talked to before you wouldn't even go anywhere near this thing." Jimmy says.
"Well, we're going to run some scans and some labs and see if the tumor has progressed." I say.
"You mean it could be worse?" Carla asks.
"Well, we'll have a clearer idea once we see the scans." I say before we walk out of the room.
"See if you can switch with Ross." Derek tells Jo as we walk down the hallway, so she leaves to find him.
"Why, do you want Ross on this surgery instead of Wilson?" I ask
"Well Ross is extremely interested in neuro and he's very talented, which you've said yourself, so he would be better suited for a surgery like this." Derek says.
"I understand, but we can't just switch interns around, because we prefer one over another." I say.
"Why do you care, I thought you didn't even like the interns." He says before walking away.
"Garcia, this is Alana Cahill. She is our physician advisor." Owen says.
"Liliana Garcia." I say shaking her hand.
"Neuro. I saw you're doing an acoustic neuroma. Very exciting." She smiles.
"Yep, first thing tomorrow." I say.
"Patients here today. Are pre-op overnight stays typical in all departments?" She asks.
"That's a question for Chief Hunt, not me. If you'll excuse me, I have to prep." I reply beginning to walk away.
"Well, I'll see you in the OR tomorrow." She says.
"Typically, you need to be invited." I frown.
"If things were running typically, I wouldn't be here now would I." She smirks making me roll my eyes at her before walking away.
"Have you met the physician advisor?" I ask Jackson when I see him in the hallway.
"No, you?"
"Yep and I can already tell she's going to be a pain in the ass." I say making him laugh.
"Speaking of a pain in the ass, remember we have to meet my mom after work today to start working on wedding details."
"Oh joy." I sigh sarcastically before leaving to go get my patients scans..
"Cousin Dora sent him a stupid giant cookie, but he can't eat before surgery." Carla complains when I walk into the room.
"So now I'm starving and I gotta look at this giant freaking cookie that I can't have. I keep just telling her to eat the damn thing." Jimmy laughs.
"Oh, so you can make fat jokes?" Carla smirks.
"Then throw it away." Jimmy says.
"Jimmy." I sigh.
"Oh, no. What's that look? What's wrong?" Carla asks.
"The tumors progressed." I say.
"But you can still operate, right?" He asks.
"Yes, we can, but all those risks I discussed with you earlier." I say.
"Like me going deaf or half my face being melted like it was blowtorched or me not surviving at all."
"Yeah, the chances of those things happening are much higher. So, you should take some time and think about if you still want to do the surgery."
"I've taken time. I waited for months to find a doctor who would operate on this thing and now that I've found one who's willing to try to take this thing out, I can't just sit here and wait for it to kill me." He says before Carla runs out the room in tears. "I'm dying and she makes it about her." He sighs.
"I'll be right back." I say walking out of the room.
"Hey." I say to Carla as I walk over to her.
"I'm sorry, I can't let him see me cry. I'll never hear the end of it."
"No, it's okay. This is scary you get to be scared." I assure her.
"Thanks. I know this surgery is risky and I'm afraid, but he's right we can't just sit and let this thing kill him." She sighs.