Chapter 4: One Page Report
Cómo un ritmo anormal
en el que los ventrículos tiemblan
en lugar de promulgarse.
Like to an abnormal rhythm
in which the ventricles quake
instead of promulgate.
8:48 pm Thursday, May 18, 1984 (PDT)
Grants Pass, Oregon
Sheriff Wilson arrived at the hospital after Lucas had gone missing. He listened as the cardiologist discussed what had occurred with Lucas’s grandmother.
“What do you mean you can’t find him?” she asked, “He was in your care. You were responsible for him.”
“I am sorry for what happened. But we are not responsible for violent outburst of out-of-control teenager,” blurted the doctor in his nasally voice.
“Can we just start from the bottom?” said the Sheriff to the doctor.
“Like I said, we were giving the patient a routine electrophysiology exam when he started kicking and screaming and attacking us. He destroyed expensive equipment, electrocuted my resident with a defibrillator, and then ran off!”
“We should sue your ass,” said Benny.
“Sue me?” snapped the doctor. “Who is going to pay for my broken equipment?” He looked at the grandmother.
Benny’s temper topped out, had him on a one-way trajectory toward the doctor, fists cocked. Sheriff Wilson restrained him.
“Easy there,” whispered the sheriff, “he’s not worth it.”
“You see,” accused the doctor, “whole family is violent juvenile delinquent!”
Jon and his father entered the room.
“Lucas has never been violent before,” said Jon’s dad, flatly. “I cannot vouch for this one,” he indicated Benny, “but Lucas is definitely not violent.”
“It’s only family in here right now,” said Sheriff Wilson.
“Jon mentioned Lucas was in the hospital,” said Jon’s dad. “We just wanted to stop by and see how he’s doing.”
“They can stay,” said the grandmother.
The sheriff sighed in resignation, kept a wary eye on Jon’s dad.
“I don’t know why you are here talking to me,” said the doctor. “The boy has serious heart condition and he needs treatment. You should be out looking for him.”
“Then you have the test results?” asked the grandmother. She cringed at having to ask the question.
The doctor hesitated before answering. “Yes,” he folded his arms, straightened his posture. “As I expected, your grandson has awhyssmia.”
“Arrhythmia?” cried Lucas’s grandmother.
Jon’s dad asked the doctor something in Mandarin.
“Let’s keep this in English,” said the sheriff.
The doctor waived his hand dismissively and answered in English, “It was EP exam… you won’t understand results… it is just raw data from computer… you won’t understand if you are not cardiologist.”
“We would like a copy of the results anyway,” said Jon’s dad.
“I don’t have them here,” said the doctor, “if you want those you need to fill out request at front desk.”
“Okay,” said Jon’s dad, “we can do that.”
The doctor sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Alright everybody,” said the sheriff, “I suggest everyone get on home. We ‘ave plenty o’ men out lookin’ for yer boy – I’m sure we’ll find ‘im soon.”
Jon’s dad accompanied Lucas’s grandmother to the front desk of the ward to inquire about the EP results. The receptionist gave them some forms to fill out.
“Are you kidding me?” asked Jon’s dad. “All this just to get a copy of the EP exam? What are you, a hospital, or a bunch of nervous bureaucrats?”
“Can I go to the bathroom?” asked Jon.
“Can he use your restroom?” Jon’s dad asked the receptionist.
“It’s at the end of the hall on the left,” she said, pointing toward it.
As Jon walked down the hallway, he read the labels above the doors of all the various operating rooms. Every few seconds a patient carted by a nurse or doctor would pass him by. There were many rooms: Intensive Care, Heavy Monitoring, Imaging, Intra-aortic Balloon Pump, Electrophysiology…
He stopped in front of the one that read Electrophysiology. Jon recalled the name of the test mentioned by the doctor – EP Exam.
“At the end of the hall on the left,” shouted the receptionist.
Jon continued the rest of the way down the hall to the restroom. After relieving himself, he peered out from behind the door jam at the receptionist. She had her back to him. He came out and went back to the door labeled Electrophysiology. It was unlocked. He looked over his should to make sure no one was watching and then cracked it open and peered inside. No one was there. A rack with several computer monitors mounted to it, whose screens were all smashed, lay dashed over an operating table. The place was a mess. There were papers, tools and instruments of all sorts scattered about. It looked like it had been torn apart by a wild animal. On a cart sat a defibrillator. Jon recognized the device from TV. The paddles dangled by their wires as if recently used. On a desk in the corner sat a Macintosh computer; at the top of the screen it read “EP Exam: Messner, Lucas.”
Jon smiled. “No way!” He knew the operating system, it was a distribution of UNIX mostly used by corporations. He carried out a search using Lucas’s name and date-of-birth, and then printed the resulting one-page report to an adjacent printer. After folding it and slipping it into his underwear he made it back to the front desk where his father and Lucas’s grandmother were nearly finished filling out the formal request. Jon didn’t mention he had Lucas’s test result until he and his father were on their way home.
“You stole the exam result from the hospital?” fumed Jon’s dad. “You are grounded! Now give it to me.” He tore the folded up piece of paper from Jon’s grip. “We will contact your uncle Li – he is a cardiologist – and we will ask him to look at this.”
Jon smiled.
His dad smiled back, and then his smile turned to a frown. “You are grounded!”
