Core Beliefs - Chapter 38 - Despair and Care

Core Beliefs – Chapter 38 - Despair and Care.

Five minutes later, Matt lay quietly in his room. Life support and all attached equipment were still in place.

“We are now sterile,” Ling’s first order, “scrubs, masks, and you wash twice before entering, no one with colds or allergies, is that understood!”

Ling, already in her scrubs, began treating Matt. She and the lab techs reduced his body temperature, placing him in a near-coma state.

***

In the first twenty hours, they spent getting Matt’s body under control. Ling did not know how Marcus had arranged for the pharmaceuticals, but everything she had asked for was there. She had re-examined Matt and began treatments to reduce the swelling in the cranium and cleaned and redressed the wounds.

They rolled in a portable X-ray machine. The tech volunteered to help as long as needed. Ling took some fifteen quality X-rays from the top of Matt’s head to his feet.

By this time, Ling’s associate from Houston, Dr. Mary Poplar, and two nurses had arrived. They stared in awe at the facilities as Melissa Kyle gave them a quick tour.

Ling and Mary began reviewing the X-rays and formulating a plan of action. They moved Matt into the surgery.

By morning, they had reset the ribs and addressed the internal hemorrhaging, except in the cranium.

Ling drew fluid from the cranium to relieve pressure on the brain.

As the sun rose, the team carefully rolled Matt out to the parking lot and into the CT scanner. They spent two hours imaging, including administering agents to enhance the resolution of specific areas. A little after eight, they rolled Matt back to his room.

Ling slumped, exhausted, as did the other members of the medical team. She sent four of them off to sleep as she and a nurse kept watch in Matt’s room.

Matt’s room was sizable. Charlotte had arranged for a recliner and a small bed to be there. Both women dozed and were relieved of their duties at noon.

Dr. Poplar took over with one other nurse. They transferred the images from the CT scanner to a Myoplex computer and also ran blood tests in the now fully functioning lab.

At four o’clock on Saturday afternoon, Ling had showered, eaten, and changed into clean scrubs. She called a meeting to review Matt’s physical condition and decided to see whether the neuroimager would provide additional insights.

Marcus gowned up with Clarence Chambers and Melissa Kyle. They brought the Imager and related monitors to Matt’s room. The Houston contingent was captivated by the device.

“It’s time to see what is going on in there,” Ling sighed.

Clarence and Ling gently and carefully slipped on the redesigned headgear. It surprised Ling how light it was and, more so, how flexible. There were no bulky wires, simply a connection port. She was sure that it wouldn’t exert any undue pressure on Matt’s skull.

Once the headgear was in place, Marcus connected a fiber-optic cable to the port on the headpiece and ran it to the receiver, data recorder, and computers. The imaging screens flickered to life.

Clarence commanded the computer program to activate. A three-dimensional image of Matt’s skull and the interior of Matt’s brain appeared on one monitor. On another monitor, a different image of the brain appeared.

The brain tissues were displayed as a light, translucent gray, but all around and within them were flashes and trails of white light. Some appeared as points, others as strings.

Ling observed for a minute. “Is this what I think it is?”

“You are seeing neuron activity,” Marcus replied.

Ling peered closer, amazed at the detail. She could tell activity was at low levels. Still, there were sparks of life. They seemed to be saying to her, ‘I’m still here.’

Stepping to the image that included the skull, she pointed, “Believe it or not, this is a good thing. The fracture allowed for some expansion, and that has reduced damage from the swelling.”

Ling and the group spent almost 2.5 hours reviewing the images.

Dr. Poplar, Ling’s associate from Baylor Medical Center, was giddy. “Can you imagine how many lives this can save?”

After about the fourth time, Ling turned to her and politely but firmly said, “Right now, I’m only interested in one!”

The mood turned professional, and the team began to execute the plan.

***

On Sunday morning, Suchet arrived with Doug and Ellie. Charlotte and Chris brought them up to date. Suchet slipped away to be alone in a corner of the larger room where visitors and others could congregate. He took a chair, faced it toward the wall, and sat.

***

Doug and Ellie found Joe, Cynthia, and Charley. As a group, they talked about what a strange year it had been and now to be dealing with this.

It was Joe who glanced around and smiled. “If there is any place in the world that can bring Matt back, it is here, with these people. I believe in them. They have my full trust!”

***

Later, Suchet joined the group and asked whether it was possible to speak with Dr. Chang. Doug went searching for Chris, who served as the intermediary between the outside and the inside of the sterile complex. Chris washed, put on scrubs, and went in. He found Ling sitting in a chair next to Matt, gently holding and stroking his hand.

“Ling,” he said softly.

She looked up and smiled. “Yes, Chris?”

“Ling, Suchet, I mean Dr. Kumar was wondering if he might have a few minutes to speak with you?”

“Suchet is here?”

“Yes, he, Doug, and Ellie arrived this morning.”

Ling had already stood from her chair.

“Wait here.” She left the room and, a few seconds later, returned with one of the Baylor nurses to watch Matt.

“Chris, please take me to Suchet,” as she stepped past him.

***

Suchet greeted her and expressed his sorrow that they were meeting under these conditions. Ling was more to the point.

“Suchet, why do you want to see me?”

The two found a private area and sat. They talked, often animated, for nearly an hour.

“Chris,” Ling shouted, “we need to get everyone together—your people, my people, Joe and the family, everyone, got it!”

***

They met in the cafeteria area, leaving one nurse to watch Matt. The group numbered nearly sixty.

“You have to understand that as of this moment,” Ling said, “Matt’s physical systems are medically stabilized, but his higher functions are not responding.”

Dr. Kumar has brought a suggestion to me that is radical beyond anything I have ever heard. As we discussed it, I have become convinced that it may be the best and possibly the only hope for Matt. I’m going to let Dr. Kumar explain, and I ask you to be patient. When he is done, we will address questions.”

Suchet stood up. For the next twenty minutes, he outlined the theory behind regenerative DNA. He spoke with clarity and conviction and did not pull any punches regarding the risks.

Following his presentation, those in the room discussed and debated, with everyone having a chance to offer their input.

Suchet was amazed to hear about the capabilities of the facilities and the technology in place.

“What specific resources are needed?” Marcus asked,

Ling and Suchet started naming elements.

From the group came responses of “We can do that. No problem. I can make that happen.”

One by one, they met the requirements, except one.

That was until Clarence Chambers said, “I think I have an answer as to how to distribute the regenerative DNA into Matt’s cells. We can use nanobots.”

“Nano whats?” Joe asked.

“Nanobots,” Clarence replied, “are multi-molecule creations that are designed with a defined function. In this case, to carry regenerative DNA into every cell in Matt’s brain. They are benign to the body and over time will break down and be absorbed out.”

Mary Poplar stared at him. “You can actually do this?”

“Well, I’ve done similar things, Clarence said, and I know the bio-to-nanobot interaction is accurate.”

“The question is whether we can get them to hold the DNA molecule until it reaches every cell in the brain.”

Joe agonized over the decision. In the end, it was his to make. He and Cynthia left the group and walked the facility’s grounds for 45 minutes. When he returned to the cafeteria, he had a grim but committed look on his face.

“This is the best course,” he said to Ling.

Over the next few hours, Ling extracted cells from each section of Matt’s brain. She gave many to Melissa Kyle to start cultures generating growth. Some of the cells they handed to the team were being used to isolate DNA. Clarence worked almost non-stop in creating his chemical bot critters.

Ling, Suchet, and Melissa Kyle worked long, tedious hours composing and testing various DNA strains until they found one that repaired Matt’s damaged brain cell tissue. They refined it, defining its function using the CRISPR gene-splicing method. It was a project Matt had started over a year before, and now it enabled a theory to become reality.

The research assistants from Wheatley documented strain after strain of double-helix molecules, categorizing and coding the interaction with Matt’s tissues.

“You know, we’ve crammed years of development into days?” one said to Ling. Ling and Mary scanned the latest series of implanted cells.

“I think this is as close as we’re going to get,” Mary said. “It’s a miracle we stumbled onto the very proteins needed to bind the helix together. Ling, it’s like we were meant to find it.”

Melissa Kyle began the process of producing the molecules by the billions.