CHAPTER 23SLEEP AID
“s**t!” exclaimed resident Cara Klein as blood detonated out of the patient’s head and splattered across the lens of the operating microscope. She jerked her head away, shuddered, and leaned forward to look through the “scope’s” eyepieces again. “Jesus Christ! I can’t see a f*****g thing!”
“Stay cool now, Cara,” remarked Ryan in a low, monotonic voice. “Take a deep breath. Remember, the patient depends on you remaining calm and collected, right?” Ryan was in his element on this mid May morning. The world of night terrors, hallucinations, and unhappy spouses was a million miles away. He had sealed it up in a vault and was focused solely on the work at hand. This level of compartmentalization of one’s life was a critical skill that most surgeons acquired during their tr
