EPISODE 1 – PARTING GENEALOGYA young woman in peril during surgery undergoes a remarkable awakening when a doctor resorts to extraordinary measures.
A young woman in peril during surgery undergoes a remarkable awakening when a doctor resorts to extraordinary measures.
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In Touch with Roots
CHALLIS receives the results from her genealogy test and immediately begins exploring her heritage online. She is hopeful that this will provide insights into her current health issue. However, there are also some nostalgic benefits of learning about her family tree and seeing photos of relatives wearing outdated attire. She wishes she could linger longer, but it’s time to head to the hospital.
Rigorous pre-op testing appears to be relentless, as the cold chill wisps through scant patient garments while nurses wheel her through hospital hallways on a narrow bed. Vials of blood. Cups of urine. Tubes of metal and plastic swallow her whole to roentgenize every internal organ. Before each procedure, the voice of a medical staff member has the patient confirm her name and date of birth.
“Challis Stewart, March 8, thirty years ago,” she tires from repeating. “You do the math.”
After a full day and restless night of anxious suspense, a handsome surgeon enters the hospital room of the vulnerable patient. She tries to conceal embarrassment over her disheveled appearance as he speaks.
“My name is Dr. Ahmed. In about an hour, I’ll be performing your nephrectomy to remove the cancerous kidney. Do you have any questions about the procedure?”
“You want to remove my entire left kidney?”
“Yes, as much as necessary. Cancer has an unpredictable appetite. Fortunately, your left kidney is the smaller of the two organs that filter your blood.”
“My primary doctor explained everything to me. He says you’re a highly competent urologic surgeon.”
“You should feel much better after the excision. Then we’ll monitor you overnight and schedule chemotherapy. This nurse will soon begin an intravenous drip that will help you relax and prevent any discomfort.”
“Thank you, doctor,” Challis replies as the bright lights dim.
Prospect of Death
When he exits, Challis has a moment of silence to meditate on her genealogy, pursuit of a career, and her mortality if the surgery is unsuccessful. Within the operating room, Dr. Ahmed makes an incision and begins assessing the extent of the malignancy. Visible cancer spreading to adjacent organs increases the length and scope of the surgery.
As a nurse blots the doctor’s perspiring forehead, monitors beep and flash the warning of a cardiac arrest. With an open abdomen, Dr. Ahmed begins lifesaving measures to revive the patient. One protocol after another is unsuccessful. After increasing defibrillator voltage, he attempts to shock the heart’s sinus rhythm multiple times.
The final electrical jolt awakens Challis from anesthesia within an antiquated operating theater with rudimentary instruments. She screams and writhes while the anesthesiologist covers her mouth with a morphine-soaked gauze before dousing her wound with whisky. From excruciating pain, she passes out.
Another Day and Time
Hours later, when Challis awakens on a rigid bed behind a curtain in the absence of a nurse call button, she shouts for assistance.
A young female wearing what appears to be a Halloween nurse outfit arrives with a flask of hard liquor to ease the pain. Challis takes a few sips before asking what’s happening.
“Where am I?” Coughing from the bitter alcohol, she asks, “What’s going on?”
“You’re in a hospital where the doctor successfully removed your uterus.”
“My uterus? I came in for kidney surgery! I need to speak to him.”
“He’s busy with other patients. You mustn’t worry. It’s a common procedure for female hysteria.”
“I had cancer, not hysteria.”
“The doctor knows best. I’ll have him visit when he has time. Until then, you should get some rest so your body can heal.”
She endures two days of interminable agony amidst the moans and shouts of other patients beyond the curtain. Finally, a doctor visits to unsatisfactorily explain the medical procedure.
Female Hysteria
“In response to your complaints of female pains and anxiety, the surgeon performed a routine procedure, but discovered an infection that required more extensive surgery.”
“Where’s Dr. Ahmed? What about my chemotherapy? Why am I in a different hospital?”
“We anticipate a degree of hysteria following surgery. But if it continues too long, we will transfer you for psychiatric treatment. Rest another day, and hopefully, you can return home to your husband.”
“My husband? I’m not married.”
“This is the hysteria I speak of. Your husband is a highly respectable man in all of Britain.”
“Britain? But my surgery was in America.”
“I’ll have the nurse give you morphine to suppress your hallucinations.”
A Couple of Surprises
To the aroma of lavender petals, Challis next awakens within the mint green and white frilly bed of an unfamiliar home. A male voice responds to her moans.
“My dear. It’s good to see you’ve awakened.”
“Who are you?” she asks in bewilderment.
“I’m Oliver, your husband. The doctor warned of residual hysteria. The worst should be behind us now if you focus on healing. Our children look forward to seeing their healthy mother.”
“What children?”
“Perhaps your condition is worse than we anticipated. You really should try to calm down to prevent any insane asylum treatment. The doctor warned that a lobotomy might be necessary.”
“No, I’m sure I’ll be fine, Oliver. It’s just the effects of pain and medication.”
In denial of reality, Challis lies in bed, bewildered by such a visceral dream. However, each time she opens her eyes, her surroundings remain somewhere in late 19th-century England. Oliver returns with a tray at teatime.
After another day, she briefly meets and learns the names of her children, aged three and five. Chastity and Megan sound vaguely familiar. So does her husband’s name.
“Of course,” she exclaims in the privacy of her room. “These are names on the family tree I was viewing before surgery.”
Somehow, she’s embodied the life of a distant relative, which means her name isn’t Challis, but she can’t recall what it should be. When her husband brings a meal tray, she must attempt to learn more without suggesting insanity.
“Here you go, Dear. Are you feeling any better?”
“Yes, Oliver. Thank you.” She exaggerates, “This looks delicious. Do I have any letters from friends?”
“Yes, my love. Let me retrieve them for you.”
Continued…
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