A pathologist examines two dead young women and passes sections of organs to pathology for examination. The pathologist examines the specimens and questions the accuracy of the collection of tissue. When the collection has been confirmed the answer is devastating. The impact of this finding stretches far beyond the lives and families of the two women.
Peggy awoke and connected her control box. She toggled the camera to her ovaries. She was getting good at it. One look and she was yelling to Paul. “Get up, we’re going to Harrisburg.”
Three hours later they were on a plane. She had the control box connected and looked three times while she was on the plane. “Look at them,” she kept telling him, “They’re almost ready. Tell the pilot to hurry, we need to get there soon.”
Joan met them at the airport. Two hours later hey had harvested eight ova. Four were fertilized with Paul’s sperm and frozen. The other four were separated into pairs, fertilized with a husband’s sperm and one of each was frozen. Two women were implanted the following day.
Peggy and Paul made another fast trip to Harrisburg. This time 9 ova were harvested, and all nine were implanted. Joan had decided to do this because all three women from the previous month were pregnant. Peggy cried when Joan told her.
“I can help someone else get pregnant, but I can’t myself.”
“You will. I guarantee that. If I’m wrong, by the time we find out, I’ll carry one baby for you.”
“Thanks, but this is something I want to do myself. You understand, don’t you?”
“I sure do. But the offer stands. With what you’ve done, I think someone owes you a favor.”
After seven hours of labor, Joan delivered a healthy baby for Lori and her husband. It was the fifth baby born in the program. They named her Hope.
Beth Warner delivered her baby by caesarian section. The eight pound three ounce boy was healthy.
Peggy and Paul enjoyed the days they were together. Soon Peggy would have to return to Washington for the next session which appeared to be a long one. She was due for her next donation of ova about the tenth. She planned to ask Joan when they could schedule her surgery but Joan was not available on the last trip. The girl at the desk told her that Joan left a note to contact her just before the next appointment to arrange her surgery when she was ready. Joan and Gary decided to vacation for a few days in June. She was ready to leave the house when the phone rang. It was Joan.
“How’s your schedule for the next four weeks?”
“About the same as usual, busy but nothing I can’t miss. Why?”
“Let’s assume you come in to donate on the tenth, that would be right on schedule and you haven’t been more than a day late of expected yet. How about I schedule your surgery for the tenth. We’ll do the donation procedure in the OR, then do the other procedure. If you’re a day late, we’ll do it the next day. I have another patient with a similar length procedure I can swing one day at short notice. She’s going to have a donor port installed, like yours so we’ll have one available. She’s the gal I carried the baby for and she wants another. This’ll make it easier for her to donate for her own child too. We harvested her through a lap the first time.”
“So there’ll be someone to replace me if I quit donating?”
“For now, Lori plans to let it in for long enough for 2 or three children. You’ve donated for about 20 children, that’s the ones that are pregnant right now. You must have real good eggs, if you hadn’t had that cyst, you’d have gotten pregnant in nothing flat. Let me ask you again, are you sure you want to do this? Let me assure you, after the surgery, you’re going to hurt pretty bad for a while.”
“Please don’t try to talk me out of it. I’ll probably be a baby about it but I do want the surgery.”
“Pack your bags. See you next week.”
They covered a few details and then hung up.
Peggy and Paul arrived on the late flight and were at the hospital at six AM. The last minute trips ceased when Peggy learned how to predict the day by changes she could see in her ovaries. Only once had she come a day early. She hooked up the display in the hotel room when she woke and confirmed, this was the day. She woke Paul. They got ready and this time she would take an overnight case to the hospital.
The next time she woke it was evening, she was in a hospital bed, and her belly hurt, real bad. She remembered what Joan had told her in December. Four times the worst cramps. So much for Joan’s predictions. This just plain hurt. The nurse came over and she realized she was in a recovery room. After several trips from sleep to pain and back, she finally was able to stay awake. With that came a shot that took the edge off the pain.
Within an hour she was back in her room where a loving husband did all he could to make her comfortable.
She was given some Jello for dinner and was able to eat only a little of it. She finished it, pulled the curtain and was showing Paul that they had not made any incisions when there was a bright flash and she jumped. A photographer had slipped in and taken a picture. Before they could react, she had darted to the elevator which had been held open by a colleague.
Her rapid movement when the flash went off had hurt. Joan came in to check her. Several stitches in the port were pulled but they would mend. Security was alerted and they sealed off the area to prevent a repeat. They had been able to do the surgery through the port so she had no external incisions. Joan promised a full report the next day, left orders for medication and left for the day. The picture would appear in most papers the next day. Worse than the picture itself was the breach of confidentiality. The press now knew Peggy was in the hospital. They could be expected to pounce anytime soon. Joan came in the next morning to see her patient. After the usual poking and squeezing, Joan attached the display and fiddled with the camera.
“See here, this is where we removed it. Real good.” Joan bumped the uterus with the camera and Peggy tightened. “Super sensitive, isn’t it?”
“Sure is. Don’t do that again.” All Peggy could see was her uterus. It seemed to be swollen. It had several rows of stitches on it. They looked red and sore. “Should it look that sore?”
“How’s it feel.”
“Worse than it looks. How long should I expect that?”
“I told you it’ll taper off in about two weeks, in four weeks there will be only a little discomfort. By six weeks, you’ll not know we did it.”
“I hope I do. I want to have a baby, remember?”
“And you will. The growths were the worst place, but removable. Your fallopian tubes were involved and we removed them. You’ll not have children by the natural method but IVF looks real good. There wasn’t just one cyst. There were five so you’ll be a little more tender than I expected. I need to get you up today so you don’t get pneumonia and we expect to get you out of here in another three days.” As Joan talked she moved the camera and showed Peggy what she was taking about. “Now, I have a little secret I want to share with you. I had been using a diaphragm for birth control, Gary and I kept saying we wanted another child but kept putting it off so neither of us did anything permanent. I used the diaphragm one month after I had the baby for Lori. One night I told Gary I didn’t want to use it and he agreed. I’m in my second month. This one is for me. I’d have never done it if I hadn’t proven I could and still have my career. I have to thank Lori for this child.”
Alpha Four Chapter 01: Two Autopsies
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