Chapter 16

It was almost 2:00 in the afternoon when Steve Golden and another doctor came in and closed the door behind them. "Okay, first I will say that the operation was a huge success. We found where the major trouble was almost immediately. We took a section of a blood vessel from his leg and spliced it between two dangling vessel ends in his brain. What we found was something unusual and none of the doctors had ever seen anything like this before.

"We believe, as I said before, that this was a spontaneous mutation and was in no way hereditary."

Ed broke in, "Just what was the defect?"

"Simply put, a sizable blood vessel stopped heading where it was supposed to and went on in a different direction through a smaller one. This left an end having no where to go. It was blocked off just as if it had a plug in the end. Where it was supposed to continue the other end was about the same. The correct blood vessel was there, but with a gap between them. It wasn't a big gap, only about 7 centimeters long. Before we made the splice we examined further and found where there was another closed end that stopped and didn't continue on.

"That vessel we know leads to the section of the brain where speech originates. We left that untouched because there is nothing to connect it to. We knew this from four years ago when we took the first images. I must tell you there is nothing we can do to improve this.

"We returned to where we were to make the splice and proceeded to make that repair. Blood is now flowing through the splice and into the web of vessels that have been starved for oxygen and proteins slightly since Paul was born."

"Why didn't he just die then?"

The other doctor replied, "I'll answer that. The brain was getting some nourishment, enough to keep it alive anyway. Blood was coming back through where it should be exiting while flowing to the heart. The direction that the blood took in the wrong vessel was like a river in flood and would back up into its tributaries. What we did with making the splice is like cutting a new riverbed for the river to flow to where it should have gone in the first place. Think earthquake that cut off the main river and left the tributaries to keep the area alive, but just barely.

"The blood now flowing through the vessels is now full, rich and normal. Those blood vessels where I said were at flood stage, will eventually shrink and return to normal size. The downside of all this is that portion of the brain will lose some of its intellectual capabilities and Paul will be more like a normal person with normal intelligence. Still there is no way he can speak, but many people don't have the ability to speak. It is troublesome, but not insurmountable to communicate in some other way. Questions?"

"How long does Paul have to be here?"

"Cindy, probably ten days if everything goes well. We want the area where we gained access to heal or be well on the way to closing. We will be getting him out of bed and check his equilibrium in a couple of days. We need to establish a new baseline for his intelligence so tests will be performed every day."

"Can I be with him every day?"

"That is up to your parents. I personally feel it would be beneficial. I assume Paul's mother will want to be here. Ed should be in attendance as much as possible. We are keeping him in a coma for thirty-six hours and then we will bring him out of it. We have had good results by having persons in the room who are close to the subject and will talk or read to them until they wake up."

Cindy's eyes swung to Penny who nodded that Cindy could stay with Paul as much as possible. Sally spoke up, "Cindy, you can take my place because I have to see to Brian at home. He will never forgive me if I don't come home soon. You and Ed can handle it okay. You two always have."

"Thank you, Aunt Sally."

Sally and Cindy spent the evening in Paul's room. Ed picked them up and said goodnight to Paul. In the morning Sally came in to say goodbye before heading home, riding with Bill and Penny to Brattleboro. Paul wouldn't be roused from his coma until the following morning. By noon everyone had left, leaving Ed and Cindy to be with Paul.

Sally called Ed when she arrived home. Ed had nothing new to report. He did tell her he had checked out of the room and got a new one with twin beds. This gave Sally pause. "Ed, I know you still look on Cindy as your little girl. Please keep looking at her that way. She is a woman now and about as beautiful as anyone I know."

"Don't worry, sweetheart, you are the one I love. We won't be spending much time in the room together. Only for sleeping. She and I have spent a lot of time together over the last six years we have known each other. Nothing has changed. Sure I do love her but that is totally different than my love for you."

"Okay Ed, I trust you and yes, I can say I trust Cindy. Paul and his birth defect is really what holds us all together. Brian misses you. He picked up that something is going on with Paul and worries if he is okay. Brian was happy to have his mommy home. He can't understand why you and Paul didn't come with me. I have to buy clothes for him today. He goes to kindergarten in another three weeks.

"I love you Ed and even if Paul can't know it, say goodnight to him for me. I'm praying he will have changed for the better when the doctors wake him tomorrow."

"I know, Sally, and I honestly think he will be. Still we both know if he is, it will present a whole bunch of new challenges."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean, we think he is intelligent, but what will he know about living the way a normal person of his age would? What he has been doing speculating in the futures market and being a success at it may just be an aberration. If his brain power is spread out to a larger portion of his brain, will that take away from what he can do now?"

"I think I understand what you are saying. The doctors warned us he won't be able to speak. Even if he is as smart as we think, but can't ask questions, how can we teach him? What we say to him may be just gibberish."

"Hey we have one son beginning school this fall. I'm sure we will figure out how to teach Paul. Too, we have Cindy for backup. She is smart and just graduated. I haven't seen but what her only goal is to make Paul the best he can be. Paul has made all of us enough money so we could pay her to take on the training of the one she loves."

"You are saying we should encourage her to become his wife?" That is what she wants."

"It might be the answer. The first thing would be to train Paul to sign his name on a marriage license. The town clerk has to ask if this is of his own free will and if he is of sound mind. I think we can train him to answer both questions. Being a mute shouldn't enter into it. You have to admit he has become a handsome young man. If there is any question about his mental capacity, I'm sure we have enough evidence to show to support the fact. Not every person of 22 years can show they have acquired several million dollars for himself and his family at this stage in his life."

"Okay, but that is fudging the facts a whole lot. You are the one who guided him into this."

"Maybe, but what father wouldn't do the same for his son if he could?"

"Ed, you make be so happy. If things don't go according to plan, I'm sure you will figure out a way to make it happen. Call me in the morning as soon as Paul is awake. I love you."

Cindy and Ed were in the hospital early waiting for the doctors to arouse Paul in the morning. The doctors didn't know for sure what the results would be and made no remarks to Ed about it. It would be just speculation at this point. The doctor directed a nurse to remove one bag of IV medicine and hook up a new different one. "This won't take too long." It took two hours before Paul showed signs of coming to consciousness.

Finally he showed he was aware of his surroundings. This was a plus in that Paul never appeared aware of what was around him that often before the operation. His eyes moved around the room. They focused on Ed. "Yaakk." This sound from Paul was the same everyone always heard from him. This time though, there seemed to be more expression in it. It brought tears to Ed's eyes and he leaned forward over Paul and kissed his cheek. Paul's hand came up and touched Ed's face. A look of pleasure crossed Paul's face.

"Ed, Paul knows you. He truly is aware."

Paul's eyes swung to Cindy. She leapt forward, taking his hand in her own. Leaning down she looked into his eyes. Both hands came up to grasp her face. It was awkward because of the IV attached, but he guided her face to his. No hesitation now, Cindy kissed him on the lips. This was a romantic kiss and continued for more than a moment. Finally she pulled away. "Yaakk," came from Paul

"Yaakk, yourself. I love you, Paul, and now I am sure you love me. I can feel the love emanating from the one sound you can make. Ed, please call Sally and tell her how successful the operation was."

Ed moved back to a chair in the corner to make the call. Cindy stayed by Paul's side. The doctor had been busy writing up his observations. He said now, "His breakfast will be here presently. At 9:00 we will take him down to the lab and run some tests on him. Both you and his father should be present. I have the feeling he will be puzzled by many of the questions we will be asking.

"It is in his two evaluations, noting he is familiar with a computer. We will have a laptop available and we will try to communicate with him that way. We suspect his comprehension will be way off and much of the time he won't know what we are asking. What we will be laying out for his future is a program to increase that level of comprehension. Cindy, I understand you are the one who will be doing much of this. Are you up to the task?"

"I believe I am. I am out of school and can spend most of my time with him. In one way I have made Paul my life's work. I want to begin as soon as possible and continue for as long as it takes."

"Good, we will help you all we can. Paul is going to be a textbook case for us. Ed, his family, and especially you are to be commended for bringing him this far along. The operation he just went through begins a new chapter in his life. All of the doctors and staff are proud to have been involved in making him better even though we couldn't make him totally well."

The next week for Paul was for tests and evaluations. He was pretty wobbly when he was first put on his feet. His equilibrium was somewhat unstable. The doctors were unconcerned. "Paul has been conditioned to walk in a certain way, often with a hand to steady him. Now he has outside forces that make him have to think about the moves he has to make to get from here to there.