Chapter 10: Welcome to the Future

BASI was a lot bigger from the inside than it appeared when I drove up to the compound. I was struck by the contrast between this facility and those massive military medical centers I had dealt with in the past like VA, Walter Reed, Bethesda, etc. It seemed to me that to the American hospitals, aesthetics meant more than substance. They were impressive to look upon but ugly as fuck from the exam table. BASI lacked the ostentatious decorum and awe-inspiring architecture. But inside it was warm, clean, and inviting and had all the appearance of a simple villa with broad halls, open plazas, and predominantly stone and brick construction. In the labs and clinical areas, the scenic facades reverted to sterile brightly lit efficiency. Only on rare occasions did I see anyone in scrubs or lab coats. Most staff chose a business casual theme with slacks, loafers, and polos. No patients were ambulating with their asses hanging out, holding onto IV poles, or nurse’s aides.

I was shown the surgical suite where I would be operated on and it appeared like any other typical operating room with a central operating table, surrounded by huge articulating arms and monitor screens. The walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling cabinets with transparent doors, revealing a veritable warehouse of items, tools, and instruments. There were machines, tanks, ventilators, pumps, and odd-looking Sci-Fi gizmos that I was told were robotic assist devices that the surgeons used during their procedures. Seeing all this technology revealed just where the money went in this place. I approved. And the operating room had nothing on the 3-D Printing labs.

I was stunned as soon as they parked my chair in front of the glass wall that looked down into the state-of-the-art fabrication chambers. The people working inside were dressed in one-piece containment suits with helmets and face shields. There were hoses connecting the backs of their helmets to a small pack on their hips. Each partitioned chamber contained a single bench or table with a high-tech-looking contraption mounted above it, connected to the ceiling with various pipes, cables, tubes, and wires. Some were actively moving about with the operators focusing intently on whatever they were creating. It looked like a set from a movie production.

One of my tour guides touched the glass wall and a transparent screen appeared. He tapped on it several times and the 3-D image of a human vertebrae appeared and began rotating. “This is what one of your spinal vertebrae will look like once it is completed by the printer that you see directly below you,” the speaker, Federico, said. “It will be conveyed here from the base-root station, which will mold and shape the core structure from an amalgam of polymer resins and titanium.” He tapped the spinning bone and it broke apart to reveal a gray metallic core that barely resembled the final piece.

A woman in a sharp business skirt with ridiculous high heels, named Gloria, turned my chair so I could see where a conveyor system transported an odd-looking bony structure away from a printing station and into another room. “They go to a finishing station where each piece is inspected under an electron microscope and then polished before a final radiation treatment completely sterilizes it,” she said. “That was a pelvic girdle that will be surgically implanted into a patient in a few hours.”

I shook my head in wonder. “How soon before you all start making synthetic hearts and kidneys?”

Federico smiled, “Sooner than you might think Mr. Bishop,” he replied matter-of-factly, “There are several companies out there who are actively working to develop bioengineered human tissues and organs. One of your American research firms has already begun trial testing on acellular blood vessels that are regenerative.”

“It just seems so ... futuristic,” I marveled as we continued with the tour. We went to a small theater-like presentation room where I watched a 30-minute video documentary that followed the progress of a young woman who had a similar spinal reconstruction to what I was anticipating. X-rays and MRIs showed the extent of her injuries and then how the replacement bones were fabricated in the printing lab before showing the actual operation where a team of anonymous scrubbed personnel worked over her in the operating room. The last 15 minutes showed a timeline of her rehabilitation and recovery. She was a pretty thing and it was heartwarming to see her standing to hug her doctors and caregivers before she walked unassisted to a limousine for her journey home.

“Welcome to the future Mr. Bishop,” Federico said softly as the video ended, “someday, a new patient will sit here and watch your story unfold.” That was part of the agreement to have this procedure in the first place. I would be recorded, studied, and interviewed throughout the entire process and every detail would be documented. I met that team next and from that point on, they were never far away.

The open patio that connected to the main room of my residence overlooked an expansive botanical garden filled with fragrant flowers and foliage of every imaginable description. This resulted in a prolific number of tropical birds and assorted exotic bugs, like butterflies the size of a dinner plate. I was standing outside next to the rail overlooking it all when my attention was drawn by a mewling sound from below me. When I leaned over to investigate, I was surprised to find an enormous house cat climbing the vines that grew up the side of my building. It ascended the foliage surefootedly and promptly landed on the balcony rail where it gazed at me curiously. It was black and white but with oddly placed splotches of each all over its body. One eye was covered by a black patch as was the opposite foreleg. It had a white band across its chest and a crooked black stripe down its back like a skunk. I regarded it stonily as it settled down on its belly and closed its eyes. “Someone sure messed up your paint job,” I grunted as it regarded me with one half-opened eye.

I turned back into the main room and turned on my laptop to check my emails. Davee finally got back to me to inform me that my ‘package’ was “good stuff” and that he had several thoughts he wanted to share with me later this evening if I was free. Wanda sent me an attached file that required my e-signature regarding my understanding of several prospectuses’ she sent me earlier. There was no news from George regarding the easement dispute. In a few minutes, I would be taken to meet and dine with the rest of my care team.

My escort arrived as punctually as before and gracefully permitted me to sit unassisted on my four-wheeled conveyance, before rolling me through the labyrinth of halls and corridors towards the festive open courtyard where an impressive arrangement of tables and buffet stands were laid out. There were dozens of guests sitting around several large tables and I was relieved to notice that my arrival sparked minimal interest. I was maneuvered to one of the central tables and invited to transfer myself from the wheelchair to the more comfortable seat. When asked what I preferred to drink I was provided with a silver carafe of freshly brewed coffee and a fine ceramic cup. During the dinner, multiple people came up to me and introduced themselves. I stopped trying to memorize faces and names after the first half dozen greetings. The dinner was a Brazilian-themed event where uniformed ‘Gauchos’ circulated the tables carrying large spits of meat that they carved directly onto your plate, allowing you to sample a variety of different cuts and cooking styles.

I sat there for over an hour before my personal Uber recognized my droopy eyes and took the initiative to return me to my room for the night. He reminded me that the next day would be busy and long and to get some rest. When I walked into my open bedroom, I found my black and white feline intruder curled up in the center of my massive bed. It didn’t appear remotely bothered by my presence or inclined to move when I turned back the covers. There was a controller on the bedside table that allowed me to raise the head or foot of the bed and change the firmness of the mattress to my liking. After adjusting it to my liking and stripping down to my PT shorts and t-shirt, I set up the laptop for my first-ever Skype session. I pulled up the program and clicked on the identifier icon for Lupi and let it ring.

The next thing I saw was Jasmine’s excited face on the screen. The image jerked and loomed as she held the computer on the other end. “Hi Papa!” she answered excitedly, “Mom! It’s Alex! Come on!” Her face disappeared and I got dizzy watching her shoulders tilt side to side as she moved to another room. “Didi! Lulu! It’s Papa!” I heard twin squeals and a familiar bark as the screen continued to whirl and heave showing the master bedroom wall, then the ceiling, and then part of the bed as it bounced along. Finally, I saw Lupi reaching for it and the scenery stabilized as she smiled and set it on the bed facing the headboard. She was quickly joined by the twins as they piled onto her and crawled around so they could see me. Jasmine climbed into the picture too. All three girls were wearing nightgowns and had their hair put up in curlers. My heart swelled as I looked at all their eager smiling faces.

“Hi sweetheart,” Lupi smiled at me. She wore a loose shirt and had her hair put up in a ponytail. “We’ve really missed you already and it’s only been a day and a half.”

“I know,” I replied, “it has been crazy busy here with all the travel and getting settled.”

“Did you see any dead bodies?” Jasmine burst eagerly. Lupi looked aghast at her while the twins both oohed.

“Not yet,” I replied with a grin, “but there was this one guy ... they had him laid out on a table and his brain was sitting on his face! And all these doctors stood around him with these long metal rods that hummed and sparked!” I could see their eyes getting bigger as I embellished with a maniacal voice. “And every time they poked his brain, a different part of him would twitch ... like this!” I waved my arm around wildly and all three girls screamed while the twins dove under the covers. I laughed long and loud.

There were more barks and the scene suddenly tilted.

“Gunner!” Jasmine yelled as a huge hairy leg appeared and stepped in front of the camera.

“He hears his daddy,” Lupi giggled and grabbed the laptop out from under the beast. I saw his hairy face appear and called out to him. His ears perked and he cocked his head at the camera with his lip tucked up in his toothy mouth. He whined loudly and butted the screen with his nose. “Libby, you want to see Daddy?” Lupi asked eagerly and the camera panned over to Gunner’s sister who was standing beside the bed with a comical expression.

“Is that your room?” she asked once things had calmed down.

I nodded and sat up, “Yeah, this place is not your typical hospital room. Would you like a tour?” They all nodded eagerly and I glanced to the side for a second. “I suppose I should mention that I have a roommate of sorts.”

They all acted surprised and curious as I turned the laptop so that they could see the enormous black and white cat sleeping contentedly on the other side of my bed. The girls reacted predicably with squeals and giggles of delight. “How did you get a cat in your room?” Lupi asked.

“I’ll show you,” I said. “I’m not sure who he belongs to or if he’s even a ‘he’.”

“What’s his name?” Didi asked.

“Well, I don’t know pumpkin,” I replied, “He hasn’t told me. Maybe he doesn’t have a name yet.”

Just then he decided to yawn and get up to check out the faces on the screen in front of him. He arched his back in a big stretch then reversed it before turning about and plopping back down.

“Applejack!” one of the twins cried with a giggle and suddenly all three of them were calling out, the name excitedly. ‘Who the hell was Applejack?’ I had this subtle gut feeling that I should know the answer but it still escaped me.

“Who or what is an Applejack?” I asked. Even Lupi rolled her eyes at me.

“My Little Pony!” the three girls exclaimed together.

‘Oh right!’ They had enough of the damn things around the house and I’d sat for several hours of captivating cartoons featuring the little animated horses. Not to mention the coloring books, stickers, and nighttime stories. “Um ... which one is Applejack, again?”

“Papa, seriously,” Jasmine sighed, “she wears a cowboy hat and has a big stripe down her back.”

“And three dots on her butt!” Lulu added with a shrill laugh.

“Look at his butt!” Didi giggled. The two of them were quite enamored with the word “Butt”.

I leaned over to check out the cat’s ‘butt’ and... ‘well damn!’ Three black dots in a triangle. “Applejack it is,” I replied to a loud chorus of cheers.

I spent the next fifteen minutes taking them on a tour of my flat. They were especially impressed with my swimming pool right in the middle of my living room. Lupi enjoyed the scenic garden below my patio with its random pools, winding terraces, and outrageous foliage. By the time I had returned to bed, I was yawning frequently and Lupi made us end the call so that I could get some sleep. I read to her the list of things they were going to do the following day. I had to have a physical first, which included a cardiac stress test, echocardiogram, pulmonary function test, and a ton of lab work. After that, I would be doing all the imaging which included a bunch of X-rays, a CAT and PET scan, a bone density study, and a freakishly long MRI for which I would be sedated. After that and a recovery period, I would finally be allowed to eat and drink again. After some prolonged ‘I love you’s’ and blowing kisses, I shut down the laptop and turned in.

I was groggy as hell when they returned me to my room the following afternoon. I woke up in a recliner after the 5-hour-long MRI. I still had an IV in my arm but I responded to the freshly brewed aroma of life when a smiling tech handed me a cup of life with a stern warning to be careful as it was hotter than Hades. Dr. Esposito met with me briefly and informed me that everything was completed as expected and that he was pleased with my overall physical fitness. More was said but I couldn’t remember much, other than nodding my head when it felt appropriate. My belly was rumbling and they assured me that a meal would be brought to me shortly after I was settled back in my residence.

There was a woman in my room when I got back. She wore a long thin gown that fell to her toes and her head was covered in a white flowery patterned hijab. She was fussing around the kitchenette when I was wheeled in and turned to face me when she noticed my arrival. Only her face remained uncovered and I could tell straight away that she was Asian. She also had a remarkable discoloration that marred the left side of her face. It was purple and mottled and appeared raised and pitted like a scar. She bowed her head solemnly as I was pushed over towards her.