|
LOLO
|
|
|
When the orthopedist asked Lolo to sign a living will before his
surgery, the 6'9" self-described basket player could not hold a
laughing burst. He was not even a having "real surgery". The
arthroscopic nature of the operation indicated that the joint would
not be open, only a tube will be placed in it. The chances for
complications were quasi-nil.
Lolo is only 45. He adores his three kids. He believes he was born
to be a Nicks Star but opportunity never knocked. So, he ended up as
a physical education director at a nearby high school, swearing to
himself and to the whole world that Dante, his last child and
only boy, would be the next Michael Jordan (minus the earring, Lolo
despises earrings on men).
His wife works in our Intensive Care Unit. So over the years,
everyone has gotten to know Lolo. He never stops joking and he is
the best political gossiper. If you want to know who the third
member of the city council was dating right after he divorced his wife
of 17 years, Lolo knows the answer. Strange hobby, indeed!
So, Lolo got into the OR, after making a phone call to a buddy
reminding him to tape the evening derby, so he can watch it when he
gets out of the hospital.
At first, everything went quite well under light anesthesia. Then,
suddenly Lolo's blood pressure dropped. Safely, the anesthesiologist
placed a tube in his trachea and connected him to a respirator.
The surgery ended uneventfully.
In the recovery room, Lolo became inexplicably agitated. He
violently pulled the tube from his throat, his respiration stopped,
his pulsed fainted to un-palpable.
A code blue was called. Lolo was resuscitated, but for twenty
minutes he did not have any spontaneous circulation. Too long for
his brain cells.
This happened last week. Today, Lolo is in our unit, on too many
drips, attached to too many monitors, maintained by too many
machines. He is brain dead. No one can let go, because Lolo's death,
a complication of a casual arthroscopy, does not sink in as a viable
epilogue for this story...
(OdlerRobert Jeanlouie, Sunday, April 30, 2000)
|
|
|
