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He turned to Georgie. ‘I’ll see you in Theatre tomorrow at eight-thirty. Goodnight.’ ‘Goodnight …’
Rhiannon waited until Ben’s car had driven away before turning to face Georgie with a victorious look on her face. ‘I knew it! I just knew you couldn’t do it. You’re hopeless when it comes to handsome men.’
‘I told you before, it wasn’t really a date,’ Georgie growled as she stomped towards the lift.
‘Yeah, and I bet you’re going to say that wasn’t really a kiss either,’ Rhiannon said with a teasing grin. ‘Come on, pay up, Georgie. You owe me one thousand dollars.’
The lift doors opened and they stepped in together.
‘I don’t mind paying you the money but I’m not officially involved with Ben Blackwood,’ Georgie insisted. ‘Besides, he’s not over his last girlfriend.’
‘He didn’t look like he was missing her too much back there when he was kissing you,’ Rhiannon pointed out wryly.
Georgie rolled her eyes. ‘You know what men are like,’ she said. ‘Look at what Andrew was getting up to with me while he was supposedly getting over his ex.’
‘Good point,’ Rhiannon said, chewing at her lip for a moment. ‘What say we wait and see what happens before you pay me?’
Georgie whooshed out a despondent breath as the lift doors opened on their floor. ‘Nothing’s going to happen,’ she said.
Rhiannon just smiled.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
GEORGIE didn’t leave anything to chance the next morning and left extra early so she could turn up on time in Theatre for Emma Stanley’s case. She had found it hard to sleep the previous night, thinking about the young girl who had so much at stake, not to mention Ben, who as Emma’s neurosurgeon had so much pressure on him to perform a miracle when the chance of one was not very likely.
Linda greeted her as she came into the change room. ‘Tough morning this one,’ she said. ‘Ben’s really feeling it. He hides it pretty well but I’ve worked with him long enough to know the signs.’
‘He told me about the case yesterday,’ Georgie said as she put her bag into one of the lockers. ‘It’s hard, what life tosses up, isn’t it?’
‘Sure is,’ Linda agreed. ‘The pare
nts are such lovely people who would move heaven and earth to get their daughter back to full health. I only hope Ben can pull this one off. Mind you, if anyone can, he can. He’s got that steely determination to succeed where others would have given up long ago. I have a feeling your father saw that quality in him right from the start.’
Georgie frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
Linda hung up her blouse before turning to face her. ‘Your father would never have failed someone unless he thought they weren’t quite ready to face the responsibility of being the one to make life-and-death decisions, as neurosurgeons sometimes have to do. I reckon your father thought Ben needed that extra six months of study to further develop his patience and skill.’
‘I wish Ben could see it that way,’ Georgie said as she reached for a coat hanger.
Linda gave her a confident smile. ‘He will eventually,’ she said. ‘Especially now.’
Georgie could feel Ben’s tension as soon as she walked into Theatre. His eyes looked tired as if he hadn’t slept well and he kept cracking his knuckles as he waited for David Lucas, the anaesthetist, to finish preparing Emma for surgery.
Georgie met Ben’s gaze, holding it for a beat or two, hoping he could feel her support coming from deep within her.
The young girl was finally anaesthetised, catheterised and placed in the prone position on the operating table, supported by padded rests and sandbags. Needle electrodes were placed into the major muscles of each leg and attached to an EMG monitor.
‘I will be using a nerve stimulator during the surgery to assist with identifying and preserving the spinal nerve roots as they are dissected free of the tumour,’ Ben explained in a calm, even tone.
Georgie stood by his side and watched with bated breath as he prepped Emma’s back with alcohol and chlorhexidine and draped the area, leaving the lumbar region exposed and placing a steridrape on the operative area. He made a midline incision over the L2 to L5 regions and carried it down with diathermy to the spinous processes of the lumbar spine, inserting two self-retraining retractors.
‘On each side I’m cutting through the spinal pedicles,’ he said, removing the spinous processes of L3 and L4 to reveal the bulge in the dura caused by the tumour.
Georgie could see the tangle of nerve roots and tumour and felt her heart sink again at how tough a call this was going to be for both Emma and Ben.
She thought again about her conversation with Linda in the change rooms. Ben certainly had an edge when it came to gritty determination. He had worked long and hard to get through medical school and his specialist training. Obstacles had been put in his way right from the word go but he had soldiered on regardless.
He was doing it now, she realised as she saw the way his hands worked with meticulous precision, his concentration fierce, but his manner professionally calm and controlled.
