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VA Hospital
The elevator came to a stop at the fourth floor and the doors opened. Paulette and Greg walked down the clean, echoing hallway toward the surgery department, where they were directed to the operating room. Before they could go in, they had to scrub in and put on specialized gowns, masks, and gloves. After struggling to get everything on and situated, they entered the operating room. Rolling the prototype’s case over to a cold, silver tray table, they removed the bionic leg, and placed it on the table. Karen was already under anesthesia and waiting for the operation to commence.
Dr. Drew Bellows, although a highly trained surgeon, still needed their expertise in attaching a bionic limb, since this was new to him. “Hello, Paulette and Greg. I do hope you’re ready to have me begin the operation,” he said.
“Yes, we are, and we’re very excited to see how it all goes," Paulette responded.
Dr. Bellows introduced them to the surgical team. Some of the people involved in the funding were in the observation gallery, along with some of Dr. Bellows’ student fellows. This made Paulette a little nervous.
Paulette sucked in and let out a breath to calm herself. The members of the surgical team started their work, and she was ready to provide instruction where needed. The simulations the surgical team had gone through before were close to the real thing, but not quite.
Sixteen hours after the surgery had begun, the procedure was completed, and Karen was sent to the recovery room.
Paulette looked over to Dr. Bellows. “How long will it be before Karen can walk again?” Paulette asked.
“She’ll have to go through physical therapy as if she had a spinal cord injury. And her brain will have to learn to walk all over again. I’m not sure. It could be months before we see results. Everything depends on how well Karen responds to therapy,” Dr. Bellows replied.
Paulette glanced at Greg and saw his smile. She looked back at Dr. Bellows and said, “I’m happy to hear that therapy shouldn’t take too long.”
“I’m excited to see how Karen does with her new leg. Thank you so much for your great innovation. It may truly revolutionize the entire prosthetic market.”
“It’s our pleasure to be able to help so many get their lives back.”
Paulette and Greg left the operating room and went into the cleaning area to remove their gowns, gloves, and masks.
“Wow! That was awesome to watch,” Greg exclaimed.
“Yes, it was. I hope we can get our girl up and running soon. If this works, then there’ll be many people we can help,” Paulette replied.
“I agree with you there. Let’s get back to the university and get cleaned up. Are you still going to drop out at the end of the semester?” Greg inquired.
“Yeah, I don’t see a reason to stay there and rot away when my talents are better used elsewhere. Don’t you think?”
“Maybe, but I’ll miss not having you around campus. I still have two years left before I graduate, which means I’ll be lonely without you there,” he said, frowning.
“Don’t worry I’ll come around now and then. Besides, you’ll see me at the company,” she said with a smile on her face.
“Yeah, but that’s not the same,” he sighed, thinking at the same time, She doesn’t even pay attention to when I drop hints that I want more than to be just friends.
“So, guess the next step is to follow Karen’s progress. When she’s walking well, we can set up the next appointment with the funding committee and get this company launched — and, hopefully, get my project going.”
“You won’t give that up, will you?” he blurted out.
“No, I won’t.”
“Do you really think that time travel is possible. I mean, the time pod from Abernathy’s never came back, so how do you know for sure?”
“It’s possible, because I’ve got the answers to everything right here in my head. The only reason Abernathy’s time pod didn’t come back was because I changed the coding so it wouldn’t.”
“But when I asked you was the pod supposed to come back, you told me yes. So, which is it?”
“I told you that because I didn’t want even you to know then that I had changed the code.” Why are you doubting me?”
“It’s just that —”
“Just wait and see. When I put it all together, I’ll not only shock you but the whole world,” she replied with an air of confidence.
“Such a drama queen.” He chuckled.
“Yeah, well, someone has to be.” She smiled back.
Karen woke up in the recovery room and groggily looked down at her legs. She was shocked and surprised that a prosthetic leg could be attached to her remaining stump. Her spirit soared at the thought of being able to walk again and not need help with everything. She lay back down and fell back to sleep.
When she woke up, she was in her own private hospital room at the VA. She was being treated like a star. Everyone came in to check on her and make sure she was comfortable. Someone was always asking if she needed anything, and they all were so kind. She had never received this kind of attention when she lost her leg. Not long after she awoke, a handsome man walked into her room.
“Hi, Karen. I’m Roger Klipman, and I’ll be your physical therapist. Do you think you can maneuver yourself to this wheelchair?” he asked her.
“Sure, I think I can,” she replied. “On second thought, I may need help to get into the wheelchair. This is foreign to me, and I’m not sure if I can move the new leg,” she stated.
“No problem at all. Here, let me help you.” He helped her swing her leg over the edge of the bed and then carefully helped her stand. Once she was standing, he helped her sit down in the wheelchair. She felt as if it were more of a flop than a graceful sit.
“There, you all ready now?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she replied. I wonder if I’m really ready to do this again, she thought to herself.
He rolled her to the physical therapy room and over to the two bars she’d use, yet again, to learn to walk. But this time she’d have a leg and not a stump or artificial leg. This one should work like her real leg did. However, she had to figure out how to get that leg to do what it was supposed to do. Roger maneuvered her between the two bars, and he carefully helped her stand. Karen grasped each bar and worked hard to stay standing.
“Karen, I want you to try to move your leg forward just a little,” he requested.
“I’ll try it,” she replied.
She worked hard to make the leg move, but it didn’t want to budge. With the thought that if she used mind over matter she might get the leg to move, she tried several more times, with no success. It exhausted her to try to move the leg each time, and she became depressed and wanted to quit. Roger kept encouraging her, but she had had enough for one day.
“Can you please just take me back to my room now?” she asked with a grimace of defeat on her face. “I’m exhausted and need to rest.”
“All right, I’ll take you back. I can come and get you tomorrow if you’d like.”
Karen smiled and said, “Sure, I’d like that.”
She didn’t care if she felt defeated. She wanted to see Roger again. She had taken a liking to the man within minutes of seeing him and couldn’t help but want to try again tomorrow.
“All right, let’s get you back to your room and settled in for the night,” he said with a smile on his handsome face. Roger wheeled her back to her room and helped her get back into bed. He then said good night and left.
I wish this thing had worked right away, she thought. Reminds me of when I lost my leg. It was so hard to adjust to the missing leg. I couldn’t accept that my leg was gone. All the physical therapy I had to endure just to be strong enough again so I could use a prosthetic limb. Then the hours of learning how to walk with that limb. I was so exhausted each time we finished PT that I could hardly move. I really don’t want to go through this all over again for nothing ... She drifted off to sleep mid thought.
“Good morning, Karen,” Roger said in a chipper voice. “I hope you’re ready for another beautiful day in the neighborhood,” he said smiling.
Grunting and grumbling, she said, “I guess I am, but who said it was a beautiful day? I’m still half asleep.”
“I did, and therefore it is,” he said as an even bigger smile broke across his face. “Are you ready to get in the wheelchair and try again?” he asked her.
“If I must,” she said with discouragement in her voice.
“Don’t sound so down. You just had surgery a week ago, and it takes time for everything to heal and work properly. Give it some time.”
“I’ll try,” she replied.
“In that case, let’s get started,” he quipped.
He helped Karen get into the wheelchair and playfully whisked her down the hallway to the physical therapy room. When they entered, Karen groaned at the sight of her nemesis, the walking bars.
“Oh, don’t groan. It takes time and concentration, that's all,” he said.
“Sure, easy for you to say. You're not the one in the wheelchair who’ll have to use those blasted bars to stand and make a leg move against its will.”
“Sorry, you’ve got a point there, but either way, I think you can do this.”
“Thanks for the confidence boost,” she said with a weak smile on her face and all the while thinking, I think he likes me, so I’ll give it my all today.
They reached the bars and he helped her stand. She grabbed the bars and faced them down like it was the longest walk she had ever taken. She thought to herself, I can’t believe I’m back here again.
“Hey, earth to Susan.”
Snapping out of her thoughts, she looked up at Roger. “Sorry, what did you say?”
“I said, could you try moving your new leg?”
“Sure, I’ll try.”
Taking a deep breath, Karen attempted to move her leg, but to no avail. Frustrated, she thumped the bionic leg and yelled, “Move you dumb leg,” like she thought that would help. Taking a moment to breathe and calm down, she decided to do something even more daring. Her knuckles whitened as she grasped the bars tighter and started to move her good leg forward, which caused her to start to lose her balance. Just before she was about to fall, the bionic leg suddenly jerked forward into place next to her good leg. Shock was written over both of their faces.
“You did it!” Roger said.
“Yes, it worked, but will it do it again?” she replied hesitantly. Karen carefully moved her good leg forward again, and again, the bionic leg joined the good leg. A big smile spread across her face as she thought, this is really going to work. I’ll be able to walk and run again.
“Seems all you needed was the good leg to move first so your brain would default to the other leg and make it move,” he stated.
“I figured it was worth a try. I was getting tired of willing the new leg to move and have it be defiant and do nothing. It was a gamble. If it hadn’t worked, you would have been picking me up from the floor,” she said with a chuckle in her voice.
“I’m glad I didn’t have to do that,” he replied.
Karen smiled as she continued to hobble to the end and back. It took all her strength and willpower to do it; and by the time she got back, she was exhausted and ready to call it a day.
“Roger, I’m quite exhausted. Would you please take me back to my room for the night?” she asked with a slight blush on her face.
“No problem. I’ll take you back and help you get settled in for the night,” he replied with a smile.
Roger wheeled her down the hall while skipping behind the wheelchair. He got her to her room; and with a little help from him, she got into bed.
“Good night, Karen,” he said.
“Good night, Roger,” she replied.
She lay back with a huge smile on her face and couldn’t wait to see what tomorrow would bring.
The phone rang at P&G Bionics. When Paulette answered, she heard Dr. Bellows’ voice. “I thought I’d update you on Karen’s progress. She’s doing quite well. At the rate she’s progressing, she should be able to walk herself out of the hospital in the next week or two,” he stated.
“That’s awesome news,” Paulette said.
“She was upset at first because it wasn’t working. However, she experimented by stepping out with her good leg first, which forced the brain to make the bionic leg move forward. It was so great that Karen discovered this one little thing that made the bionic leg work. It will certainly keep future patients from having to struggle in the beginning like she did, and we’ll now know how to start their physical therapy,” he stated.
“I can’t thank you enough for performing the operation. Greg and I are ecstatic that it’s working,” Paulette said. “I know many more people will be happy to have new limbs that they won’t have to put on each morning.”
“You’re correct there, Paulette,” Dr. Bellows replied. “Good luck, and I wish you and your company well. If you ever need me, just call,” he said.
“We will. Again, thanks for all your hard work.” Paulette hung up the phone and turned to Greg with a wide smile. “We did it!”
“We did! That’s great news.” Greg said.
“I guess it’s time to call the funding committee and get them to schedule a meeting where we can have Karen display our handiwork,” Paulette said with excitement.
“Sounds good, except you’ll have to handle the meeting without me. I need to study for the end-of-term exams and will probably be in the middle of taking them by the time you have the meeting,” Greg said with some disappointment.
“Sure, leave me to sweat profusely from being a nervous wreck, while you take a test.” She burst out laughing.
“Not funny. I get extreme test anxiety, and you know it.” You can handle talking to them. You did great last time.”
“Sure, but I came back soaked with sweat from almost having a nervous breakdown. I don’t do well in front of people. Never have.”
“You’ve got a successful product to demonstrate this time, so I don’t think you’ll be as nervous as you think you’ll be.”
“Probably true. Guess I need to call, set up the meeting, and start preparing. Would be good to go visit Karen, see how she’s doing, and brief her on what’s expected of her.”
“All right, I’ll leave you to it.”
