11. The First of Sheila
Intern Goldberg reports to Nurse Sheila and she exclaims,"Goldberg, Oi vey! Another member of the tribe, ain't it?" with a smile putting him at ease. She is obviously not a member of the tribe; She is Sheila McCabe, a 5-foot, 5-inch, well put together 29-year-old blonde, blue eyed, pug-nose shiksa, the Yiddish for white, christian girl that good Jewish boys are taught to stay away from. At least according to Goldberg's old grandma who had migrated from Bialystok, Czarist Russia 40 years before.
Intern Goldberg had seen bare brain at dissection in medical school. Now he sees it live as assistant to the famous brain surgeon, Leo Davidoff, who in green surgical gown looms opposite him at the operating table with Sheila on Davidoff's left.
The owner of the brain and the object of attention, Mr Joseph Provenzano, or, as he prefers, Joe Pro, lies mostly on his left side, facing downward in body oblique position. The rear half of his skull with scalp is unhinged, like the cover of a book turned to page 1, which, here, is surface brain. Goldberg looks down on white wrinkly brain surface, the cerebral cortex, left and right separated by a central cleft from rear to front.
But, most remarkable of all, Joe Pro is awake!
Leo Davidoff is a brain surgeon at the rare level of world-famous Wilder Penfield, and, like Penfield, researches the living brain by stimulating it with probe and asking the conscious patient what each stimulus causes in mind. Such experiment is only done when it can be combined with the healing aim of the operation. And Joe Pro's tumor of the pineal gland, which is causing cerebral fluid block is ideal for it. But it needed Joe's permission and, here, intern Goldberg seemed to prove his worth. As fellow Bronxites and both graduates of DeWitt Clinton High School, Goldberg and Joe got friendly. And Goldberg explained how lucky Joe was to have the world famous Leo Davidoff - Goldberg calls him, the Joe DiMaggio of neurosurgery - operating. Not only his world-beater experience but at no personal fee.
It gives Goldberg a boost with Davidoff and staff and especially Nurse Sheila but, actually; the credit should go to Joe Pro himself. Though only a poor-grades high school graduate, Joe admires science and particularly, as he likes to say, Jewish Science, which he associates with Albert Einstein. Also, his brain tumor has scared him and he wants to cooperate to get the best. So he signed his permission.
Arranging for Joe to be awake with brain exposed is not as incredible as it may sound. All the pain feelings in head & brain come from the top 3 nerves in the head & neck. And these can all be blocked by injection into the sensory nerve roots, done by the chief of anesthesia just before Davidoff starts the surgery.
It is understood that Joe, except he feels pain or anxiety, will only speak in response to questions, allowing the surgeon to work quickly, un-distracted. Once the anesthetic injections are done, Davidoff has 1 hour to complete the experiment and the surgery.
Davidoff has briefed his team; and then Goldberg separately briefed Joe, without the worrying details. The research will involve locating the brain's anxiety center by electric probe and then testing out the idea that an implanted surface receiver could transmit magnetic pulses to the anxiety center and temporarily stop feelings of anxiety. First, the pineal gland, which is accessible through the same incision, will have its tumor removed to unblock the free flow of fluid from the core brain ventricles.
Now, with rear skull unhinged and brain surface exposed and equipment in place, the surgery starts. The surgical team in addition to Davidoff, Nurse Sheila and Intern Goldberg at the op table, includes a pathologist standing by to examine the tumor and a physicist brought in from Columbia University with his magnetic pulse equipment. For next, click 13.12 Operating on the Living Brain
Leo Davidoff is a brain surgeon at the rare level of world-famous Wilder Penfield, and, like Penfield, researches the living brain by stimulating it with probe and asking the conscious patient what each stimulus causes in mind. Such experiment is only done when it can be combined with the healing aim of the operation. And Joe Pro's tumor of the pineal gland, which is causing cerebral fluid block is ideal for it. But it needed Joe's permission and, here, intern Goldberg seemed to prove his worth. As fellow Bronxites and both graduates of DeWitt Clinton High School, Goldberg and Joe got friendly. And Goldberg explained how lucky Joe was to have the world famous Leo Davidoff - Goldberg calls him, the Joe DiMaggio of neurosurgery - operating. Not only his world-beater experience but at no personal fee.
It gives Goldberg a boost with Davidoff and staff and especially Nurse Sheila but, actually; the credit should go to Joe Pro himself. Though only a poor-grades high school graduate, Joe admires science and particularly, as he likes to say, Jewish Science, which he associates with Albert Einstein. Also, his brain tumor has scared him and he wants to cooperate to get the best. So he signed his permission.
Arranging for Joe to be awake with brain exposed is not as incredible as it may sound. All the pain feelings in head & brain come from the top 3 nerves in the head & neck. And these can all be blocked by injection into the sensory nerve roots, done by the chief of anesthesia just before Davidoff starts the surgery.
It is understood that Joe, except he feels pain or anxiety, will only speak in response to questions, allowing the surgeon to work quickly, un-distracted. Once the anesthetic injections are done, Davidoff has 1 hour to complete the experiment and the surgery.
Davidoff has briefed his team; and then Goldberg separately briefed Joe, without the worrying details. The research will involve locating the brain's anxiety center by electric probe and then testing out the idea that an implanted surface receiver could transmit magnetic pulses to the anxiety center and temporarily stop feelings of anxiety. First, the pineal gland, which is accessible through the same incision, will have its tumor removed to unblock the free flow of fluid from the core brain ventricles.
Now, with rear skull unhinged and brain surface exposed and equipment in place, the surgery starts. The surgical team in addition to Davidoff, Nurse Sheila and Intern Goldberg at the op table, includes a pathologist standing by to examine the tumor and a physicist brought in from Columbia University with his magnetic pulse equipment. For next, click 13.12 Operating on the Living Brain
No comments:
Post a Comment