Russian Roulette

The next few weeks flew by and we were settling in well as a little family. Geno had the most points in the league and I was on the top of my game career wise. I was doing surgeries most fifth year residents couldn’t do and I was happy I would be ending my last year of residency on such a positive note. I was scrubbing in on a surgery with Dr. Reid and he let me take the lead.

“Well done Eriksson. That graft looks flawless,” Dr. Reid says smiling. I smile and cauterize the bleeding. I hear the door open and I see Matt standing there holding a mask over his face.

“Dr. Eriksson I need you to come with me,” Matt says seriously.

“I’m in the middle of surgery Dr. Chase. Can it wait?” I ask.

“No it can’t.” I look at Dr. Reid and he shrugs.

“Go ahead. Sounds important. I’ll close,” Dr. Reid tells me. I hand my tools to the scrub nurse and head into the scrub area where I take my mask and gown off.

“What was so important that you had to drag me out of surgery for,” I say irritated. He leads me outside and we walk to the waiting room where the TV in the corner is playing highlights of the Penguins game. I see someone down on the ice with someone crouched beside him. I get a glimpse of the number 71 on the players back and my heart stops.

“Is that...?” I croak. Matt nods and I stare at the screen. Eventually he gets up with the help of his teammates but he isn’t putting any weight on his right leg. They replay what happens and Geno goes into the boards and Tyler Myers falls on his leg awkwardly. I can see Geno’s leg twist under him and I have to look away.

“They called ahead, they said they’re bringing him here. He should be here by now,” Matt informs me. I nod my head and take the elevator down to the E.R. I look around until I find Geno sitting on a bed wearing his spandex layer.

“Quinn,” he says, his eyes lighting up.

“Hey babe, I saw what happened. How are you feeling?” I ask him.

“It hurts but not too bad,” he says, giving me a weak smile.
Dr. Cohen comes up to me and hands me the scans of his knee.
I grab Geno’s leg and perform the Lachman test on him. I lift his shinbone up and it excessively slides forwards revealing that he’s ACL deficient.

“Shit,” I mutter under my breath. Just as I’m about to say something the curtain is pulled open and Dr. Reid stands there smiling.

“Evgeni hi, I’m Dr. Reid, I’m the head orthopaedic surgeon here. I understand you already know Dr. Eriksson,” he says smiling and I can’t help but blush. I hand the scans to Dr. Reid and he examines them under the light. He performs the same test I did and writes in his chart.

“Well Evgeni it looks like you ruptured you’re anterior cruciate ligament and sprained your medial collateral ligament. Your ACL rupture looks pretty severe so we’re going to have to do surgery and do our best to reattach the ligament.”

“When I play again?” Geno asks.

“ACL tears are tricky especially in athletes. But in your case you’re looking anywhere from 6-9 months. Some athletes are out for a year.” Dr. Reid says seriously. Geno throws his head back and I hold his hand. “We’ll do a hamstring reconstruction and take tendons from your hamstring and use them as a graft. We’ll do the surgery tomorrow afternoon how does that sound?” Geno nods and then Dr. Reid leaves the room with Dr. Cohen following him. Geno looks at me and gives me a questioning look.

“What wrong,” he asks.

“He’s doing the wrong surgery,” I mutter.

“Why wrong?” I get up and start pacing. This all felt wrong. The curtain opens and Matt and Elias appear.

“Hey G how’s the knee?” Matt asks.

“He’s got a ruptured ACL and sprained MCL. Reid wants to use a hamstring graft but it’s going to ruin Geno’s career,” I spit out quickly.

“What are you talking about?” Elias asks.

“Hamstring grafts have higher rates of rejecting and Geno’s patella will start grinding against the femur and he’s going to keep needing surgeries and he won’t be able to play hockey,” I explain.

“So tell Reid that,” Matt says simply.

“He won’t listen to me. He’s always used hamstring grafts for ACL repairs his entire career. Plus I’m Geno’s girlfriend, he’ll think I’m just being neurotic.”

“Well aren’t you?” Elias asks.

“There’s an experimental procedure where they take synthetic polyester ligaments and encase them with a cadaver graft. The synthetic ACL would be strong and the cadaver tissue would continue to heal and strengthen and in theory contain and protect the synthetic ligament once it wears downs and provide additional stability to his knee, avoiding the need for revision!” I say excitedly. All the three of them stare at me in shock and I run to find Dr. Reid. I find him at the nurse’s station going over a chart with a nurse.

“Dr. Reid!” I yell panting. He walks up to me and relay him my theory about the synthetic ligament and the cadaver graft. He stands there patiently while I explain why this is our best option.

“Quinn I admire your keenness towards this case but there’s a reason that procedure isn’t legal in the states yet. There are too many risks,” he says bluntly. Before I can get another word in he walks past me to go home. I think about Geno and how he’s probably going to struggle with knee problems for the rest of his life. He needed to play hockey, it was who he was and it was up to me to save his career. I head back to the E.R. where Matt and Elias are still with Geno.

“You’re back,” Matt says amused.

“I told Reid my idea, he shut it down so I’m doing the surgery myself,” I say boldly. They burst out laughing until they realize I’m not kidding.

“You can’t be serious,” Elias says stunned. Matt grabs my arm and leads me to area with an empty bed. Elias follows after and they’re both staring at me waiting for me to say something.

“This is his hockey career we’re talking about.”

“This is about your career. Are you really ready to lose your medical license over some guy?” Matt says loudly.

“I love him and I’m doing what’s best for him. I don’t care what I have to do to do it,” I tell him confidently.

“He’s not worth it Quinn, I’m telling you that. You’re not thinking clearly,” Elias tells me.

“Reid has gone home and I’m doing the surgery tonight. It would mean a lot to me if you guys helped out but I understand if you don’t want to,” I say quietly. I turn and walk away leaving them to decide.

I found an open time slot in O.R. two to operate in. I had called the doctor in Canada and he gave me the low down of what he did step by step. I got the cadaver graft ready from the morgue and put the synthetic polyester ligament in the O.R. I had written on the O.R. whiteboard that I was doing a simple distal radius fracture fix. I went to the E.R. with a surgery consent paper and sat beside Geno.

“I know I probably seem neurotic right now but this procedure I’m about to do is honestly the best thing for you, career wise and health wise. That being said just like with any other surgery there is risk of bleeding, infection and graft rejection.” I tell him. I go over the entire procedure in detail and he signs the consent form.

“Tell me I’m not crazy,” I say quietly.

“You not crazy. You doing what’s best for me and I love for that,” he says while squeezing my hand. I put on his surgical hair net and lean down to kiss him. My mind had been racing and I felt scared but I let myself get lost in the kiss. When all this is over I may not have my job or my license but I’d always have my Zhenya. I pull away and get him into a wheelchair and I start wheeling him towards the O.R. It was one a.m. and the hospital was pretty dead other than the odd nurse. I get to the O.R. and Elias and Matt are standing there scrubbed in.

“You guys are here,” I whisper.

“Even though you’re going to get us fired we still love you,” Matt says smiling.

“Yeah but when I get kicked out of my apartment because I can’t pay rent, I’m coming and living with you,” Elias jokes. Matt gets Geno’s IV in and I start prepping the room. I forgot how much the O.R. staff has to do to get the O.R. ready. I go and get scrubbed in and watch Matt and Elias joke around with my Russian bear. Elias comes and ties my gown up and puts my gloves on. Elias gets Geno to lie on the table and I turn the overhead lights on. Elias has the medication cart beside him and is getting Geno’s dose ready. Matt sets up the tray of instruments beside him and I take a deep breath.

“You trust me?” I ask Geno.

“Always,” he smiles. I shake my head and Elias asks him to count down from ten.

“10, 9, 8, 7…” he trails off and falls asleep.

“You ready for this?” Matt asks me.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I reply.

“Here we go,” Elias says smiling.

“Scalpel.”

Notes

Enjoy!