The doctor paused and then put his scalpel back on the table. He pulled the mask off the face of the patient and peered at him. Replacing the mask hurriedly, he blurted, "This isn't the one we were supposed to be operating on!"
With that he pulled the sheet off the form and noticed the read blotches coming through the multiple bandages. "This man needs other emergency treatment! Nurse, get me gauze and tape..." He began barking orders to fix the physical ailments of the body in front of them. Equipment was swapped for other gear to save the person's life. It was no longer a simple elective surgery - some accident had brought them to a different patient. Portable x-ray equipment was moved in to get immediate analysis of what was going on...
87
Hours later, the patient woke in recovery. His leg was in a cast and both arms were heavily bandaged for the burns he had suffered. A gauze pad was over one eye. And he was strapped down to keep him from moving. "Nurse!" he yelled. "Where am I, what is going on?!?"
The Nurse came by and adjusted a valve on one of his IV tubes. "There, there, just relax. You look like you went through hell, but they did a number on you and you'll make it just fine. But you're going to have to calm down."
She looked at the monitors again. "It looks like you're coming along fine. But your nightmares were so bad we had to strap you down to keep you from hurting yourself again. Look, I've adjusted your drip so it will help you relax some more." She touched his hand. "Now your finger is on the call button here if you need anything. But we'll be checking in on you all the time. Just sleep and heal up, OK? Just sleep..."
The patient dozed now. The nurse patted his hand and moved on. Her ward was filled with patients in a similar state, but mostly, they just needed to sleep and rest. Lots of rest.