Silverback

Prepping for the Extraction

Devlin’s shoulders tightened but he didn’t look back as he walked away leaving her strapped to the chair. After he passed through the door and left her alone in the laboratory s***h surgery room, Sarah strained against the leather straps hoping that one would give enough for her to slip one of her arms free. Her struggles were futile though as there were no mistakes when she was buckled into the chair.

“I’m not sure what in the hell they plan for me next, but if it hurts, they will pay. And I’m starting with you, Dev.” She said the empty threat aloud but it didn’t really make her feel any better about her situation. “I have got to get to Drew somehow. He seems to be the only person in this that is still in touch with reality.”

Sarah felt more and more claustrophobic being strapped to the chair but before she started hyperventilating her attention was drawn to the door. Legalos and Tequila entered, their faces looking nonchalant. Tequila stopped at the first lab table he collected an aluminum tray and sprayed it with a chemical with a label that she couldn’t read from that distance. He then opened the door of an older model autoclave.

Tequila laid an envelope that Sarah recognized as containing sterile gloves on the lab table. He donned them properly before withdrawing a packet wrapped in blue cloth and placing it on the aluminum tray. At least they were protecting her from micro-organisms while extracting whatever it was that they were getting ready to extract.

Legolas approached the chair. “It is reported that adult stem cells may be collected from the peripheral arterial blood. I’m sure with your biology background that you know what that means.” He paused but not long enough for her to answer. “Though it seems easier in order to get the right cells it is far more time intensive and exact than just taking the cells from your marrow. Which long bone do you want us to use for our harvest?”

“uhhhhh… I guess piercing a bone is easier for you, but potentially a helleva lot more painful for me than just piericing one of the pulmonary veins. I’m thinking you don’t have the tech to guide your needle to extract the arterial blood or that you don’t have the manual dexterity to do it. Which is it boys?” Sarah addressed Tequila and Legalos with more confidence than she should have in her position.”

“Boys..” she continued. “It only takes a large-bore needled for my pulmonary blood. It takes a lot more for my marrow. If you focus an ultrasound on my chest, I will extract the necessary cells for you myself.”

“Good God! Devlin said you were crazy. He was not exaggerating.” Responded Legalos. “How could you possibly pierce yourself in the chest and hit the artery with a steady hand when we are not willing to try it. You are ridiculous…..absolutely ridiculous…”

“Maybe.” Sarah responded, “However, it is the most logical choice. Recovery will be faster and the blood from my pulmonary veins will be laden with stem cells from it’s recent trip from my lungs. It is really the only good choice. I know you said arterial blood, but pulmonary vein blood is better.“

Legalos and Tequila looked at one another. A couple moments passed and though neither had uttered a word, Tequila nodded and set the tray of sterile tools on a small silver table and positioned it near Sarah’s chair. “Don’t worry, I will put on a new pair of gloves before I open the instruments. It is obvious that you are critiquing my aseptic technique in your mind, though you’ve not yet commented on it.”

“I was paying attention ” Sarah admitted. “And you’ve been breathing freely without a mask over that tray since you pulled it from the autoclave. If I were training you as a new tech, you would have already failed.”

Legalos quickly turned his head away from Sarah, his shoulders shaking in amusement.

“Hmmmmm, really?” asked Tequila. “I guess we will go get masked up then, and I’ll prepare a new tray.”

“I don’t see any other autoclave.” She said turning her eyes across the room to the oven from where the surgical tools had been fetched. “You opened the door without a mask too. The chances are that Staphylococcus aureus from your respiratory tract already landed on the outside of all of the bundles. You will need to re-sterilize all of them just to be safe.” She said convincingly.

“You are just trying to buy extra time. You know that since I didn’t open it that everything inside this bundle is still sterile. I was just going to humor you by getting a new set of tools, but after those pedantic remarks, I will use this one.” He responded while grabbing the bundle and squeezing it in his no longer sterile fist. He slammed it on the shiny surface causing the cart to bounce on it’s castors. Grasping the folds from the outside, he roughly pulled away the thick blue wrapper exposing a common array of stainless-steel surgical instruments.

“Passive-Aggressive behavior from a man with perfect DNA? I figured those personality types were derived from the flawed DNA of modern man.”

Tequila looked at her with a scowl and shook his head. Legalos was no longer holding back his laughter.

“You find her funny?” Tequila addressed Legalos with a serious, but calmer expression on his face.

“It seems that she is quick-witted under pressure. The trait is desirable; wouldn’t you agree?”

Tequila turned his gaze back to Sarah. “I suppose you are right. Let’s get her samples and stop wasting time.”

Both men pivoted and walked to the far side of the lab. Tequila picked up a bottle of unknown contents and liberally wetted the top of one of the lab tables. He unrolled some thin, industrial grade paper toweling and sopped up the fluid, then misted the tabletop with a second chemical, he finished by removing his gloves and tossing them with the spent paper toweling into a bin next to the table. As Tequila was prepping the lab table, Legalos stepped to a bank of drawers on the wall, bent at his waist and slid open a wide drawer positioned just a few inches from the floor. When he stood back up, he held two packages wrapped in plastic, one in each hand. He kicked the drawer shut and handed one of the packs to Tequila. They turned and placed them on the recently cleaned lab table, then misted the outside of the bags with the same chemical Tequila had used to sanitize it.

Next, the men approached a sink on the far wall, rolled their sleeves and started to scrub their skin from elbow to fingertips. Tequila waved his hand beneath the paper towel dispenser and a generous length of towel cascaded from it. He ripped it off and handed it to Legalos, then returned for his own.

Paper toweling from a dispenser was not protocol at her lab, but she remained silent. It was unlikely that it held anything that might cause an infection. She continued to watch the men as they returned to the table and opened the packs simultaneously. In a methodical, practiced manner, they removed a series of rectangular packs that Sarah recognized as caps, masks, gowns, and surgical gloves. They opened and donned the each from top down stopping to help each other secure the flimsy ties of the gowns. They ended the process with good aseptic procedure for the gloves. Sarah feared the anticipated pain they were preparing to inflict, but even if they weren’t textbook perfect while suiting up, she was comfortable with the precautions that they had taken to prevent subsequent infection.

She heard the hissing sound of the lab door opening and turned her eyes to see Devlin, masked, entering holding an amber colored glass bottle in one hand and a test tube rack filled with tubes in the other. He crossed the room to the lab table closest to her and set them down. He opened the top drawer and pulled out several packets of alcohol swabs. Ripping them open one-by-one he wiped the rubber tops of the bottle and each of the test tubes.

“What’s in the bottle, Dev?”

“It’s Bupivacaine.”

“Not Lidocaine? Why?”

“The extraction of your samples won’t be rushed. Lidocaine doesn’t last long enough. You will appreciate my choice. Believe me.”

Tequila and Legalos approached. Most of their conversation was too muffled by their masks for Sarah to catch what they were discussing. They stopped short of her chair and addressed Devlin.

“Have you decided on how many samples will be harvesting and from where?” asked Legalos.

Dev waved his hand towards the test tubes in the rack. “I am thinking thirty should do it. I’m going to let you gentlemen do all of the hands-on. I guide you through and organize the blood and tissues. I’ll disrobe and prep her skin as necessary as we go. Are you ready?”

Tequila and Legalos nodded at Devlin and then they all turned their attention to Sarah. Devlin spoke first, “Do you want us to start with the most or least invasive?”

“I-I think I should have taken that sedative. Is the offer still on the table?” she asked with a nervous chuckle.

“No.”

“Uhhhh, well then. If we start with the most invasive I’ll know that it will be easier each time. Or, or, or….what do you suggest?”

“That’s how I would have it done if ever they repeated it with me. However, I wasn’t stupid enough to reject the sedative when they offered it, nor would I if there is a next time.” Devlin answered her question bluntly.

Legalos offered, “Maybe she will pass out. The excision of her liver tissue will be intense under local anesthesia. Or did you decide to collect muscle instead, or both?”

“I think both.” Answered Dev without hesitation. “Unfortunately, I don’t expect her to lose consciousness. She’s not the type.”