Dr. Blacklung, I Presume?, Part 27

Dr. Blacklung, I Presume
By:  slimv

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Chapter 27:  Autopsy
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"Excuse me.  I'm new here.  Is it OK to smoke in this area?"

Neal Cadier turned to see a young nurse.  She held a pack of Marlboro Light
100's in one hand and unlit cigarette in the other between her fingers.  She
was young, probably no more than 19 or 20.  She was pretty.  Her shoulder
length brown hair accented her finely sculpted jaw and full lips.  Her eyes
were green, so green that Cadier wondered if she wasn't wearing contacts.

Cadier took a drag from his Winston as he absorbed the young nurse's vital
signs.  "I'm Neal Cadier," he said as he fished a lighter from the pocket in
his green scrubs.

The young nurse accepted his light.  "I'm Rebecca Day, but everyone calls me
Becca.  She pulled on her Marlboro as she read his name badge.  Smoke spilt
from her lungs as she spoke.  "You're a doctor, aren't you?"

"Yes, and I don't need any grief from you about being a doctor that smokes.
We're human too you know."

The little nurse swiveled her hips and flicked an ash a s she flashed her
smile.  "I'm not giving you grief.  I don't know.  I just think it's cool
that you're a doctor and you smoke.  I guess it makes me feel better about
smoking my self."

"Well it shouldn't," said Cadier as he took a drag.  "But if it's any
consolation, you look very attractive when you smoke."  

Becca giggled and thanked the doctor by taking a long puff.

She would have liked to continue their conversation but the doctor became
distracted by a beige Jaguar pulling up in front of the building.

"Nice car," she said.

"Yes," replied Cadier, "but the driver is bad."

They both watched as a thin balding man stepped out of the Jag and closed the
door.  The car beeped twice as he pushed the button on his key chain.  He
squinted at the couple through his glasses.  The corners of his thin lips
turned up as he saw Cadier flick his unfinished cigarette to the bushes.

"Beautiful day, isn't it," he called from the parking lot.

"You're late," said Cadier.  "Two more mi nutes and I would have started
without you."

"Who's that?" asked Becca as she pulled on her Marlboro."

"You don't want to know," said Cadier.  "I gotta go.  Maybe I'll see you
around later."

"OK", said Becca.  "That would be nice."

She watched as Cadier and the balding man met at the door and entered the
building without shaking hands.

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"Don't pretend to be so happy to see me Neal," said Ben Avery as he pulled
out his wallet.  As they walked he removed five crisp one hundred dollar
bills and passed them to Neal.  "Remember, you're the one who called me."

"I didn't forget that.  My student loan reminded me," said Cadier as he
pocketed the money.

"That was a pretty nurse I saw you with back there.  She looked like she had
a nice set of lungs.  Are you seeing her?"

"She's new," said Cadier as he pushed open the door to the morgue.  "I
haven't had the pleasure and if I had, I wouldn't tell you."

"Of course not," said Avery.  "A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell, does he?"

In the middle of the room sat a gurney with the wheels locked.  The lights
above shined on a sheet clad body."

"I love it down here," said Avery.  "It's so clean and sterile.  Reminds me
of home."

Their heels clicked against the waxed tile floor and echoed off the walls as
they made their way to the gurney.  Avery wanted to pull back the sheet but
mustered the patience to allow Cadier to perform his duties.  After all, he
didn't want to appear to eager.

Cadier pulled back the cover.  Long blond hair lifted with the sheet and fell
back on the corpse.

"Ah, Katie O'Hare.  It's good to see you again," said Dr. Avery.  "I guess
you could say this is our final session."

			-----------------------------------

Dr. Blacklung smiled behind his surgical mask as Cadier sliced into Katie's
chest with a scalpel as he spoke the time and date into a microphone beside
them.  Cadier noted for the audio record that Dr. Ben Avery, the patient's
former do ctor was assisting on the autopsy.

With her chest now open, Cadier exchanged his scalpel for a bone saw.  There
was a small spattering of blood as Cadier cut through the breastplate.  They
looked like Christmas trees in their green scrubs dotted with crimson stains.

Cadier put the saw down and used a chest spreader to give him the necessary
room to work inside her.

A slice here and a tug there was all it took to free Katie's lungs from her
body.  He looked at Avery through his bloodstained goggles.  "You can take it
from here Dr. Avery."

"Thank you, Dr. Cadier," said Avery as he reached in Katie's chest, removed
her lungs and placed them gently on the surgical table beside them.

"You know you really should use gloves," said Cadier.

"It's OK Neal.  I'm well aware of this girl's medical history.  She has more
to fear from me than I do of her."

Avery spoke to the microphone as he examined the flawed tissue on the table.
"The patient, Katie O'Hare is a 16 year old female , 5 foot 2 inches tall and
110 pounds.  Her suspected cause of death is emphysema brought on by 8 years
of heavy smoking."

Although he didn't let on, for fear of sounding fiendish upon audio playback,
Avery was astounded by the condition of Katie's lungs.  He'd seen healthier
looking lungs in some of his older patients that had smoked for 40 or 50
years.  The beautiful corpse on the table had the lungs of an 80-year-old
chain smoker.  He was so proud of her as she moved his fingers across the
folds in her tissue.

"The majority of the patient's alveolar septae or air sacs have been
destroyed as well as the majority of capillaries.  Both upper and lower lobes
have been affected, but most of the damage has been contained to the upper
lobe.  This is probably due to the rising affect of smoke in the lungs.  The
damage to the septae is a result of proteases dissolving proteins.  This
happens when cigarette smoke attracts white blood cells into the lungs."

Dr. Avery stroked Kati e's lungs as if he were petting a dog.  "The patient's
lungs appear blackish gray.  "By the looks of things, her macrophages, worked
over time to extract the tar and other chemicals in the smoke.  These
macrophages are scavenger cells that work as cleaning bristles, capturing
foreign substances that travel to the lungs via the airway.  The patient's
macrophages are completely blackened from tar giving the lungs their distinct
smoker's coloration."

"In conclusion, the patient died from acute emphysema attributed to smoking."

Dr. Cadier turned off the tape recorder.  "I'll get you a doggy bag for your
lungs and you can be on your way."

"It's been a pleasure doing business with your Dr. Cadier.  Give my best to
your wife.  Is she still smoking by the way?"


				----------- Epilogue: -----------


Kenny stood at the podium looking over the crowd that had gathered in the
gym.  He hated speaking in front of people.  Public speaking had been Katie's
forte- not his.  Th e crowd was a mix of high school and elementary school
students as well as parents and teachers.  Their whispered and private
conversations culminated in a deafening roar that bounced off the wood floor
and cinder block walls.  He turned and looked behind him where his and
Katie's parents were sitting.  His mother winked while Mr. and Mrs. O'Hare
looked straight ahead, oblivious to the crowd and it's noise.  His father was
sitting on his hands as his mother had told him to.  He had become very adept
at following her instructions.

Kenny cleared his throat, something he'd been doing more often since taking
up smoking.  He flicked the microphone with his finger and the sound
reverberated from the speakers across the gym bringing the crowd to silence.

"Hello and thank your for coming to honor the life of Katie O'Hare.  I'm
Kenny Benson.  I've been a friend of Katie's since we were in Kindergarten.
She was also my girlfriend.  As many of you know, Katie was a smoker and she
de voted her life helping children not to follow in her footsteps...

			-----------------------

Tad held his mother's hand as they sat in the bleachers listening to the boy
at the podium speak about a girl they had only known briefly.  But still they
felt compelled to attend her service.  It had only been 30 minutes since his
last cigarette but his skin was already itching and the urge to smoke
consumed him.

			------------------------

"Isn't that Dr. Avery up there in the balcony with that camera," asked Tad?

Joan followed her son's fingers and saw a thin balding man with his face
buried behind a camcorder on its tripod.  "I think you're right.  He's such a
dedicated doctor, don't you think?"

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