His mother didn't tear up until Elaine handed her the medal. There's plenty to cry about in the ICU, but, strangely, most parents save their tears for elsewhere. Mrs. Agostini dried her eyes and fingered the medal. I took it off for safekeeping. Dr. Reynolds, the attending, shepherded the parents to the conference room.
Parents hear miraculous stories on the news almost nightly.
Indeed, the news vans regularly park right out front to report our successes with transplants and with stereotactic surgeries to remove discrete areas of seizure-prone brain tissue. I knew Dr. Reynolds wouldn't sugarcoat it for Christopher's parents. He would explain that the brain can live only a short time without oxygen, and from the looks of Christopher's CT scan, there was widespread brain damage. His neurological exam, with fixed and dilated pupils and clenched hands, reflected this damage. While there are amazing stories of recovery after prolonged submersion, these usually involve people who have drowned in cold water, which rapidly cools the victim and slows the body's metabolism and, subsequently, the rate of damage.