Saving Hope (2012) s01e07 Episode Script
Consenting Adults
I will go in from the top left of your belly.
The leiomyoma is on the wall of your bowel, and since it's small, I will remove it laparoscopically.
We take pains to be clear with our patients what we're going to do, what might go wrong all to explain why we're touching them.
We spend our days touching people.
And we'll also have to remove a small segment of your jejunum, and then I will staple the ends together, but that is normal for this procedure.
- Normal? - Yes.
Mom, please don't harass Dr.
Reid.
I'm not harassing her.
I just want to know everything there is to know about your surgery.
I'm so sorry, Dr.
Reid.
Totally fine.
Now is the time to ask me anything.
Whoa.
Wrong thing to say.
Sandhya keeps saying that she's got a tumor but that it's not cancer.
Now is this true, or is she just saying that so I won't worry? Leiomyomas are rarely cancerous, but after we remove the tumor, we will examine it under a microscope and make 100% sure.
Well, we've planned a pre-wedding celebration for Sandhya, a puja, but it's next weekend, and I'm worried that she won't be healed from the surgery by then.
Well, since we are going in laparoscopically, she will be able to go home by the end of the day.
Sandhya Ahuja? Yeah.
This is Victor.
He'll prep you for your surgery, and then I'll see you in there.
Okay.
Come with me.
Right through here.
How are you doing today? As soon as I'm finished, I'll come and talk to you.
- Thank you.
- Thanks.
She's gonna be fine, mom.
She'll be fine.
Hi.
What's up? Hey, I was looking for you.
I'm booked solid, back-to-back surgeries, and I need a favor.
- Another favor.
- Shoot.
I am bringing in a masseuse today to see Charlie.
Ooh, a masseuse.
Her name's Ashley.
Ooh.
Ashley.
I know.
Sounds like a blonde.
With a D-cup and braces.
Charlie wishes.
Anyway, the reason I'm bringing her in is because she works with coma patients.
Don't judge.
No.
Every little bit helps.
So do you mind keeping an eye out for her and buzz me when she gets here? - Sure.
- Great.
Here comes trouble.
Dawn.
Alex, hi.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Uh, I'm sorry for just dropping in.
I'm here for a new vascular methodology conference.
Oh.
Well, do you want to see Charlie? Is that okay? Of course.
He'd be happy you were here.
So how are you feeling? Feeling like crap is how I'm feeling.
Almost passed out on the way down here.
You been drinking? It's 10:00 in the morning.
Taking drugs.
No.
I am not taking any drugs.
Oh.
All right.
Well, we'll get a nurse down here.
She'll take your temperature and blood pressure.
I'm sure it's just the flu.
It's not the flu.
These are infected! What are your horns made of? Silicone implants.
They'll be harder and twice as long when I'm done.
I bet you say that to all the gals.
Do you mind if I touch them? No.
Look, I know what's wrong, so could you just give me some antibiotics, and I'll get out of here? Actually, I think you may need more than antibiotics.
Just wait here, okay? Okay.
He's not better.
He's not worse.
No, you're not understanding me.
He's not getting better.
Alex, don't react.
Just take a deep breath.
What do you want me to say? I come in here every morning, hoping today's the day he wakes up.
- He had pneumonia? - Yes, and he beat it.
Is this the lost soul? The man I'm here to work my magic on? To, uh bring back from the brink? This guy's not touching me.
D-don't let that happen.
You're Ashley? You were expecting a lady.
That's a common mistake.
Ashley.
What's the guitar for? Well, music is freedom.
Okay, okay.
We're just in the middle of something.
Could you just give us a couple of minutes? Oh.
My time is your money.
Thank you.
Coma arousal therapy.
You're the one that suggested it.
Where did you find him, clown school? Well, he was highly recommended.
You know what? I don't know why I'm explaining myself to you.
You're not the one here every day.
Exactly.
I have perspective, and what I see and I am not attacking you what I see is that Charlie is not waking up.
He will.
I have to get back to my conference.
It was nice seeing you, Alex.
Don't doubt yourself.
You know me better than anyone.
I'm right here.
We're giving you some medication, Sandhya.
It'll make you very sleepy.
Okay.
And this is just oxygen.
Wow.
Wow.
- Hey, Dr.
Reid? - Mm-hmm? Are you married? I'm engaged, actually.
- Me, too.
- I heard.
Congratulations.
Yeah.
Sanjay.
He looks like Hrithik Roshan.
Bollywood star.
Gorgeous.
Sandhya, can you count down from ten for me, please? Uh ten mm She's out.
Sevoflurane.
Done.
Okay.
Let's take this girl's tumor out, get her the temple on time.
Bowel looks good.
Tissue's clean.
No sign of any other tumor.
We'll have eyes on this in just a sec here.
Status? - Blood pressure rising.
- Body temp? Rising as well.
103.
C.
O.
2 65.
Blood pressure 150/100.
We need to hyperventilate.
I'm removing the ports.
Turning her off the gas.
Giving her 100% oxygen.
Put her on a propofol drip.
Temp? Still rising.
104.
- We need to bring it down.
- Peak "T" wave on the E.
C.
G.
Too much potassium.
It's malignant hyperthermia.
Get me the M.
H.
kit.
She needs dantrolene, cooling blankets.
Suture gun now.
Okay.
Patient's convulsing.
We've got an emergency.
- Everybody, move now.
- Yep.
Got it? She needs the dantrolene.
We've got to get her temp down or she's gonna arrest.
Bolus her with cool saline.
She's on fire.
Come on, Sandhya.
What's happening with my M.
H.
kit?! - I've gotta mix it, doctor.
I'm on it.
- Can't you go any faster?! No.
Shut up so we can concentrate.
Ohh.
What's going on? An adverse reaction to the anesthetic.
It wasn't in her file.
We have dantrolene going through her system, but we need the temperature to go down.
Is it? Uh temp falling.
102.
9.
It's gotta drop faster.
Come on.
Come on.
Come on! Temp 102.
8.
102.
7.
- Good.
C.
O.
2? - 50 and dropping.
"T" waves are normalizing.
Pupil activity.
Come on, come on, come on.
We got it.
That's great news, if you didn't cook her brain.
She only had local anesthetics in her history, no general.
No family history of malignant hyperthermia.
Why'd it take so long to get her on the dantrolene? We moved as fast as we could.
Yeah, so why isn't she waking up? Get her up to the I.
C.
U.
Have Shahir take a look.
What do we tell her family? We tell them what we know, that she had a reaction to the anesthetic.
She's unconscious.
Yeah, but her pupils are reactive.
They're tracking to stimuli, and that's very good news.
- Reid, you're not a neurologist.
- I know that, but I don't want to frighten Sandhya's family before we know what's going on for sure.
And I don't want to give 'em false hope.
We can't wake her up, and that's not good, okay? Okay.
Let's try 45 across.
Okay.
I, uh I don't know.
I don't I don't know that one.
What's wrong? We believe Sandhya had a reaction to her anesthetic.
I wasn't able to finish the surgery.
Is she okay? She's stable now.
We're sending her for more tests.
Uh, c um, can we see her? Not yet.
She's unconscious.
This isn't happening.
Mrs.
Ahuja, in a situation like this, things can change minute by minute, and depending on what we discover, I promise, there's no reason why Sandhya won't wake up and walk out of here today, okay? Listen to her, mom, okay? She's the doctor.
She, um, she knows what she's saying.
Dr.
Reid.
I will come and find you as soon as we know anything.
Okay.
Less is more, Reid.
So you realize these kinds of implants are illegal, right? Could you just give me something for 'em, and I'll get out of here? We're just awaiting the results of your blood test.
It'll be any minute now.
So where'd you get these done? I own my own tattoo parlor.
Mm-hmm.
Everything from belly buttons to prince Alberts.
- You know what that is? - Yes, I do.
It's a ring through the glans of the penis.
Five years now I've had my business, no problems.
Everything you see here did it all myself.
So you put these horns in your own head.
How do you deal with the anesthetic? I don't use it.
It's too dangerous.
Okay, so, Barry, is it? It's Karn, actually.
Okay, Karn, what you have here is two transdermal implants gone awry.
The source of the contamination is possibly the knife you used to cut your own skin, or it's the implants themselves.
Diagnosis, Dr.
Lin? - Cellulitis.
- At the very least, but my concern is osteomyelitis.
What's that? It's an infection of the bone.
Now we'll need to get a C.
T.
to see if the cranial vault has been compromised.
Compromised how? The infection could be eroding your skull.
You want to take off my horns.
- If I have to, yeah.
- No way.
It took me a year of work to build 'em up.
Well, it's your decision, but if it is osteomyelitis, then all those nasty germs could go from your skull into your brain, and if that happens, then you're facing meningitis, brain abscess, possible death.
But we won't know without a C.
T.
, so first things first, okay? Yeah.
You might want to talk to your friend Gavin about a psych consult.
I have a feeling that Damien is gonna resist treatment.
That's not his name.
It's Karn.
"Karn" is not his name, either.
You're a shrink? I prefer "psychiatrist," but yeah.
Unbelievable.
I come here for help, and they send me you.
Dr.
Goran is worried that you don't want to be treated.
Treated how? Treated like a freak? 'Cause you guys you guys are knocking it out of the park on that one.
I just want to ask you a few questions.
Is that all right? Okay.
Great.
So, Karn, uh, tell me, when did you start modifying your body? I got my first tattoo at 13, my first piercing at, uh, 16.
And you did most of this yourself? Yeah, but I'm trained to do it, like you're trained to do this.
It must've been painful.
Most reasonable people shy away from pain.
Pain's an attitude.
If you have a goal, you get over it.
What's your goal? You wouldn't get it.
Try me.
I have a dream of what I want to be.
I want to take what's on the inside, and I want to put it on the outside.
I want to mark my body with my identity, with my story.
Hmm.
What story is this one telling? I got that one when my dad passed, to mark it, to help me grieve.
It's a pretty dark image.
Yeah, well, my dad was a pretty hard guy.
He was military.
Was he abusive? No.
My dad did not abuse me.
He just didn't like me.
I'm just trying to understand you, Karn.
You operate on your body continually.
So what? It's my body.
Skydiving is dangerous.
Car racing.
Smoking.
Eating fast food.
The people that do all those things are they crazy, too? Hmm.
All right.
Well, thanks for talking to me, Karn.
I think we're done.
Great.
Go tell the surgeon to cut out the freak's horns.
Actually, I'm gonna tell Dr.
Goran that you're as sane as any of us.
Good luck.
In Charlie's chart, it says he has no response to stimuli.
Not that I've seen.
So he's in a persistent vegetative state.
That's not a term I use.
You know, there have been hundreds of studies on coma patients, Dr.
Bell, and we still don't understand why one wakes up and one doesn't.
Okay, but in your opinion? Charlie's chances of recovery are small but not impossible.
So he could stay like this forever? Yes.
Or he could wake up.
Or he could suffer from a bed sore, turn septic, and die.
We just don't know.
Shahir, I need you to look me in the eye and tell me that you think Charlie will wake up.
Alex is committed to Charlie's recovery.
I'm not talking about Alex.
I'm talking about you.
Well, I can't answer that.
Sorry.
Where are you going with this, Dawn? This isn't about you anymore.
Stay out of it.
Hello? Hello? No one can see me or hear me.
Can you? Yeah.
Ohh.
Thank god.
Thank god.
Hi.
Hmm.
I've seen this before.
A teen I treated with blunt force trauma after a skiing accident.
No brain stem damage and normal brain and pupil activity.
We couldn't wake him.
So you don't actually have a prognosis.
Well, the next 48 hours are critical.
Come on.
You can say that about every critical patient.
You can't give us something a little more concrete? Unless she crashes or wakes, it's a waiting game.
And there's nothing we can do? - No.
- My office in 15.
We'll tell the family what we know, which, unfortunately, isn't much.
I am so sorry.
It isn't your fault, Alex.
It's a rare reaction.
I know that, but she's about to get married, and she's too young for this.
I can't just stand by and wait.
Sometimes all we can do is wait.
You tell that to her family.
Kinda want to jump back into it, don't ya? Just get back into your body and make yourself wake up.
No, actually.
I'm in no rush.
you are my chi you are my energy you are my chi Yeah.
You have to fire him.
I know.
Mel, the woman in room 304 Yeah, she was your patient.
I know.
I want to know about any change in her status, no matter how small, okay? I'm your I.
C.
U.
spy.
First Charlie.
Now the new girl.
Has Dawn been back to see Charlie? - No.
- Good.
If she does, don't let her in.
She doesn't have my permission.
- Got it.
- Thanks.
you are my chi I know he's flaky Mm-hmm.
And I will hand him his pink slip.
I will but just not right now, okay? I kinda find it comforting that someone is here with Charlie when I can't be.
you are my energy you are my chi ee-ee-ee Uh, so this is another hallway.
People kinda pass through here on their way to other places.
It may be boring for you, but I am happy to have a break.
You're taking this really, really well.
Listen, I-I don't wanna burst your bubble, but you might not I might die? Yeah.
And you're right.
I guess I should be scared or weirded out, but I'm not.
Maybe it's because I'm hindu, and I believe in reincarnation.
So you're not afraid of dying? My dad passed away, and the only thing that helped me through was the thought that I would be with him again, maybe on an astral plane, maybe back here.
Okay, what do you think happens after we die? Uh, what happens when we die? Um Nothing.
We, uh, we die.
We go in the ground.
That's it.
Game over.
That's science, and I'm, uh, I'm a doctor.
I can tell you exactly how the human body works.
I'm not talking about the body.
No, you're talking about the soul electrical synapses in the brain, yada yada yada.
Uh, more science.
So then how am I standing here and talking to you? See, I haven't quite figured that part out yet.
That's my point.
Hey.
Hey.
So I finished my evaluation.
Mm-hmm.
Karn isn't delusional or even body dysmorphic.
Well, he's definitely not normal.
See, that's the thing, Joel.
You may not like the patient's choices, but he's a sane and competent decision-maker.
Great.
Well, his skull's still infected, and he might get septicemia, so the horns have to come off.
The body mods are his identity.
It's who he is, so you can't just go in there and order him to do whatever you want.
You have to sit down with him.
You have to talk him through it.
Yeah, maybe then I'll show him the C.
T.
, I'll point out exactly where his brain's turning into mashed potatoes.
Are we done here? Do you ever think of the other person? Like, anyone who isn't you? I'm not gonna dignify that with an answer.
Okay.
Sandhya has had a rare reaction to a routine medication called sevoflurane.
It's, uh, 1 in 50,000.
It's an anesthetic that we administer in vapor form during surgery.
The reaction raised her body temperature, and it has affected her brain.
Is she going to die? There is always a chance that she could develop complications.
Internal bleeding is a possibility, heart failure, stroke, but of more immediate concern is that Sandhya is in a coma.
A coma? We were told she was just unconscious.
When I spoke with you earlier today, we weren't sure.
Well, how long will she be asleep? We don't know.
Dr.
Hamza is a renowned neurosurgeon.
He's treating Sandhya, and for now, all we can do is wait.
You promised me.
You told me that she would wake up and walk out of here.
Today.
- Mrs.
Ahuja - You said that.
Was it a lie? Come on, mom.
Let's go get a coffee, okay? You told me her surgery was simple, and now my daughter is dying.
How can you live with yourself? "I promise you your daughter will wake up today" "and walk out of here"? I said it was a possibility.
I know that it's You are a doctor.
Every word that comes out of your mouth, they hang on to, they believe in, so you basically lied to them.
Sandhya is not Charlie, and you have no idea what that family is going through.
None.
Winston Churchill? Yeah.
Looks like him.
Ah, but reincarnation is not that simple.
Okay.
Who is he then? I'm torn between Winston and Kurt Cobain.
What? No, no, no, no, no.
Hear me out.
He's got Winston's cheeks, but I feel his soul is more complicated.
You look sad, Charlie.
Are you worried you won't get to have kids? No.
I'm worried that the people I love are forgetting who I am 'cause all they see is a comatose body.
Well, it doesn't take a coma for people to not see who you really are.
Take my fiance, for example.
My fiance.
Did didn't I just say that? What's happening to me? I'm not sure.
What is it? Her leg's white from the mid-calf down.
Arterial thrombosis? Blood clot in the femoral artery.
I gave her an angiogram.
So we're doing an emergency thrombectomy? Yep.
Right now.
- What's that? - Mom.
She has a blood clot.
We need to remove it.
- I need to be with her.
- Mom.
- I'm sorry.
You can't.
- No, I there's no way I'm leaving her - Mom, come on.
- With you again.
You can have a seat in the waiting room.
Dr.
Reid and I need to move fast.
- No.
- Mom.
I'll come and talk to you as soon as I can.
I please, Mrs.
Ahuja.
Okay, mom.
Come on.
Sit down.
Is this dangerous? Yes.
But don't worry.
Dr.
Reid's done this procedure hundreds of times before.
She knows what she's doing.
Yeah.
Heard that before.
Losing a patient or harming a patient is every surgeon's worst nightmare, but it happens, and you should know that your doctor feels guilty and awful.
Do you know her? I do.
She's my fiancee.
You're close.
Where the hell is it? I thought it was right there.
Maybe we're not down far enough.
Might be up against the wall.
I'll look.
Yeah.
There it is.
It's up against the left wall.
I just need to move past it.
Okay.
Get ready to inflate the balloon.
Okay.
inflating.
Okay.
Balloon inflated.
You got it.
She's golden.
Let's get this thing out of her.
Oh.
You rock.
Ohh.
Vascular clamp.
Then I'll suture.
Uh, I can do it, if you like.
Thanks.
I have to go talk to the family, convince them this is good news, despite all the bad news.
What are my chances, do you think? Uh, that all depends on how long you stay under.
Have long have you been in your Uh, over a month.
Yeah.
I know.
My my prospects aren't terrific.
God.
I should be consoling you.
You know what? All things considered, today's been a pretty good day.
Who's that? Sanjay, my fiance.
Oh.
Do you want to be I want to get away from him, as far away from him as I can.
Miller, my patient you seen him? - Karn? - Yeah.
Checked himself out, signed a refusal of treatment, - and took off.
- You didn't try and stop him? Of course I tried to stop him.
I did everything I could to stop him, but if the guy wants to go, he's allowed to go.
I don't make up the rules.
- Karn.
- Hey.
Watch where you're walking, freak.
Ah.
Sorry.
What did you say? Get a load of this guy.
- You want to do this? - No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
- It's cool.
Karn.
Karn.
Karn.
- What's he got? Rabies? Hey.
You're delirious.
You need to let me help you.
You stay away from me.
Maybe you should take him to the vet.
You should just back off.
- Take it back! Take it back! - Hey.
Hey.
Hey.
Hey.
Hey.
Let's go.
Come on.
Guys, both of you enough.
Enough.
Karn! Hey.
You okay? You all right? Can-can you sit? Didn't want to let go of his horns, huh? Not even if it killed him.
People are strange.
Yeah.
He's out there, all right, but at least he's living his own story.
Look who's turning into a softie.
Okay, I'm going to cut out the horns And scrape the infection from the skull.
You're the man.
You know, I had a boyfriend once who had a pierced tongue.
Kissing him was like making out with a shish kebab.
You like to share, don't you, Victor? Yeah.
My fiance comes to see me, and I run.
That's a terrible thing to do.
Well, I don't think he noticed, if that makes you feel any better.
I'm supposed to marry him this weekend, Charlie, so why Because you don't love him.
So why do you wanna marry him? I have to.
It's been arranged.
It's a big deal.
I promised my father that You'd spend the rest of your life with someone you don't love? Okay.
What's-what's wrong with this guy? I love to sing, but I have the worst voice in the world.
Who cares? Right? I wanted karaoke at our reception.
He said no.
And it's not just that.
He doesn't want to travel.
He wants kids, which is great, except I don't even really think that he likes them.
You know, I was married to the wrong woman once.
And then one day, I found myself engaged to the right woman.
How did you know that she was the right one? Oh, because she-she got me, you know, warts and all.
And every new thing I learned about her just made me love her more.
Listen, when you say you're a lousy singer, like, how bad are we talking? Are we talking, like like, professional lousy or are we talking, like, real person lousy, 'cause Oh, we're talking pretty lousy.
Sing.
I want to hear it.
Come on.
Okay.
people say I'm the life of the party 'cause I make a joke or two That's great.
although I might be laughing loud and hearty deep inside deep inside I am blue doo, doo, doo, doo so take a good look at my face doo, doo, doo you see my smile looks out of place Sandhya? I had that strange feeling again.
Sandhya? Come with me.
Come with me.
I think I know what's wrong with you.
Hey.
I'm Dr.
Goran.
Hey.
I'm Karn's wife Kat.
Nice to meet you.
You, too.
How's he doing? He's doing very well, actually.
Yeah.
How you doing, mate? - Um, his surgery was - I'm awake.
Wanna see daddy? So the surgery was a success.
Uh, we were able to excise all the infected bone.
I'm going to put you on some oral antibiotics.
As soon as you're in the clear, we'll discharge you.
Thank you.
You've got a beautiful family here, Karn.
Hope they get to keep you around.
What does that mean? It means you can't work on yourself anymore.
Because only a guy like you can do something like that? No, because unless you're in an O.
R, it's not sterile.
You're going to get an infection, guaranteed.
I'll think about it.
Good.
And you can think about it because we saved your brain today.
Okay.
What else? What if Sandhya's reaction to the anesthetic affected her intracranial pressure and her brain is infarcted? I tested that.
The profusion scan came out normal.
She doesn't see the thing that's right in front of her.
There's no way that you can tell her? Maybe we can find a psychic.
Uh, yeah.
That's not gonna work.
What if she was encephalopathic? Mm, she'd still have a fever.
- Does she? - No.
Alex, take a step back.
This isn't just a coma.
You're too focused on the test.
You're not seeing the symptoms.
You've gotta be kidding me.
I told you to get rid of him.
Oh, no.
What now? I caught him massaging sadhya.
Her family went for a walk, and he sneaked in here.
- What? - It was reiki.
I-I didn't touch her.
I just moved her energy around.
Of course you did.
Oh, ye of little faith.
No room for faith in science, Ash.
No place for invading my patient's privacy in the I.
C.
U.
I love you, Alex, but get him out of here, or I'm calling security.
I will.
Sorry, Mel.
Western medicine is so focused on the disease.
You don't see the whole, the universal.
But because I respect the chi, the universal energy that surrounds each and every one of us, I know that Charlie and my Mona Lisa here are on their journey back towards equilibrium.
Okay, Ash See? She's trying to communicate with us.
She's saying, "I'm still here," "the eternal me.
" How many times has she done this? Smiled? I noticed it during our reiki sessions.
Uh, I didn't touch her.
I just moved her energy around.
When I placed my hand over her heart chakra, she smiled.
How long ago was that? About ten minutes or so.
Repetitive myoclonus.
Somebody call Dr.
Hamza.
We need him in here now.
Good news, Sandhya.
Looks like you're gonna wake up.
We believe Sandhya's suffering from what's called status epilepticus.
Her body's having multiple seizures, and it's the seizures, not the reaction to the anesthetic, that's keeping her in a comatose state.
Well, why didn't you see this before? Well, a single E.
E.
G.
won't catch it, but this will.
This takes continuous video of her waveforms.
It records brain activity.
Hopefully, we'll find a pattern indicating seizures.
And if you do? If we do, then we put Sandhya on anticonvulsants And stabilize her.
And she'll wake up? It's a possibility.
Yes.
Mm.
I bet I know what you're thinking right now.
Finally.
A man who can read my mind.
You're thinking that being here is easy, being in between places.
No weddings to plan and no, uh No father to please in the next life - and mother to please in this one? - Something like that.
Remember how you said every new thing that you learn about your fiancee makes you love her more? Yeah.
I want that.
I don't want to live without that.
Am I crazy? No.
No, you're not crazy.
I want that, too.
I'm 27, Charlie, and I've never been in love.
Honestly, that's like a crime.
It is.
Anything? Let's give it a minute.
Oh.
Is that it? I don't have much time.
Come on.
Sit.
They've probably given you a shot of phenytoin 'cause they've seen the seizures.
Okay? It'll reduce the electrical conductance among the brain cells and it will stop the seizures.
Why are you laughing? Always the doctor.
Hey, don't knock it.
Science is bringing you back, kid.
Thanks to a hippie scrubbing my chakras.
See? It's all interconnected, Charlie Harris.
Well, that would be something, wouldn't it? Kiss me, Charlie.
Just once before I go back.
Sandhya, I I appreciate the invitation, but I I can't do that.
Then do a girl a solid and take off your tux.
What? Seriously? I can feel it, Charlie.
I can feel my body.
It's calling me back.
It's like What's it like? I'm connected to myself, my mother, to you, Dr.
Reid.
I'm connected to everything.
It's warm.
It's wonderful.
It's it's life.
I say two days.
Another two days, then she can go home.
And we'll reschedule the surgery for after the honeymoon.
Guys, I'm so, so sorry for putting everyone through such a big scare.
You did.
The scare of my life.
But we have you back now.
That's all I care about.
So what was it like, the, uh, coma? Was it like you were, uh, uh, dreaming? I don't remember much.
I just know that I felt safe and protected.
Tell her, Sandhya.
She needs to know I'm okay.
Like someone was there the whole time looking out for me.
We should let Sandhya rest.
Mom, can you stay behind? Absolutely.
We just need a moment alone.
Sure.
Charlie I saved a life today.
A coma patient.
And I realized something.
Just when I think I've done everything there's always one more thing I can do.
And it's waiting for me.
I just have to find it.
That's right.
To hell with the naysayers.
You know me best.
So did you wield a pitchfork? No, I was a little young for that.
I think I just fed the chickens.
Mm.
And it's for sale? Yeah, my aunt and uncle sold it years ago, and I guess the new owners are selling it again.
- Tell me more.
- About what? When did you go live with your aunt and uncle? Uh, a couple years after my parents died.
So for a couple of years, you didn't have any family? No, I guess I was, um, in the system for a while.
I really don't remember much.
Let's buy it.
What? I mean it.
It meant something to you and maybe still does, so let's buy it.
You really want to do this? I really want to do this.
We're buying a barn.
Yay! Buying a barn.
Every patient has a story.
Sometimes we can't see what they're trying to tell us.
Sometimes we just don't want to.
Hey, doc.
Show him your horns.
Keep it real.
Always.
But the truth is always there, staring us in the face, daring us to disagree, begging us to understand and to do what needs to be done.
Alex? Dawn.
You're still here.
It's a little late for visiting.
No, I came to talk to you.
Oh.
Okay.
Good.
I need to talk to you, too.
Charlie should be D.
N.
R.
I'm appealing to the consent and capacity board.
What? He's been in this coma long enough, and you don't see it because you're with him every day.
No.
Uh Dawn, we need more time.
To do what? You're trying everything you can, but nothing is working.
There will be a hearing I know how this works.
To determine who should make Charlie's end-of-life decisions.
That person is me.
I'm filing my petition tomorrow.
Be ready.
The leiomyoma is on the wall of your bowel, and since it's small, I will remove it laparoscopically.
We take pains to be clear with our patients what we're going to do, what might go wrong all to explain why we're touching them.
We spend our days touching people.
And we'll also have to remove a small segment of your jejunum, and then I will staple the ends together, but that is normal for this procedure.
- Normal? - Yes.
Mom, please don't harass Dr.
Reid.
I'm not harassing her.
I just want to know everything there is to know about your surgery.
I'm so sorry, Dr.
Reid.
Totally fine.
Now is the time to ask me anything.
Whoa.
Wrong thing to say.
Sandhya keeps saying that she's got a tumor but that it's not cancer.
Now is this true, or is she just saying that so I won't worry? Leiomyomas are rarely cancerous, but after we remove the tumor, we will examine it under a microscope and make 100% sure.
Well, we've planned a pre-wedding celebration for Sandhya, a puja, but it's next weekend, and I'm worried that she won't be healed from the surgery by then.
Well, since we are going in laparoscopically, she will be able to go home by the end of the day.
Sandhya Ahuja? Yeah.
This is Victor.
He'll prep you for your surgery, and then I'll see you in there.
Okay.
Come with me.
Right through here.
How are you doing today? As soon as I'm finished, I'll come and talk to you.
- Thank you.
- Thanks.
She's gonna be fine, mom.
She'll be fine.
Hi.
What's up? Hey, I was looking for you.
I'm booked solid, back-to-back surgeries, and I need a favor.
- Another favor.
- Shoot.
I am bringing in a masseuse today to see Charlie.
Ooh, a masseuse.
Her name's Ashley.
Ooh.
Ashley.
I know.
Sounds like a blonde.
With a D-cup and braces.
Charlie wishes.
Anyway, the reason I'm bringing her in is because she works with coma patients.
Don't judge.
No.
Every little bit helps.
So do you mind keeping an eye out for her and buzz me when she gets here? - Sure.
- Great.
Here comes trouble.
Dawn.
Alex, hi.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Uh, I'm sorry for just dropping in.
I'm here for a new vascular methodology conference.
Oh.
Well, do you want to see Charlie? Is that okay? Of course.
He'd be happy you were here.
So how are you feeling? Feeling like crap is how I'm feeling.
Almost passed out on the way down here.
You been drinking? It's 10:00 in the morning.
Taking drugs.
No.
I am not taking any drugs.
Oh.
All right.
Well, we'll get a nurse down here.
She'll take your temperature and blood pressure.
I'm sure it's just the flu.
It's not the flu.
These are infected! What are your horns made of? Silicone implants.
They'll be harder and twice as long when I'm done.
I bet you say that to all the gals.
Do you mind if I touch them? No.
Look, I know what's wrong, so could you just give me some antibiotics, and I'll get out of here? Actually, I think you may need more than antibiotics.
Just wait here, okay? Okay.
He's not better.
He's not worse.
No, you're not understanding me.
He's not getting better.
Alex, don't react.
Just take a deep breath.
What do you want me to say? I come in here every morning, hoping today's the day he wakes up.
- He had pneumonia? - Yes, and he beat it.
Is this the lost soul? The man I'm here to work my magic on? To, uh bring back from the brink? This guy's not touching me.
D-don't let that happen.
You're Ashley? You were expecting a lady.
That's a common mistake.
Ashley.
What's the guitar for? Well, music is freedom.
Okay, okay.
We're just in the middle of something.
Could you just give us a couple of minutes? Oh.
My time is your money.
Thank you.
Coma arousal therapy.
You're the one that suggested it.
Where did you find him, clown school? Well, he was highly recommended.
You know what? I don't know why I'm explaining myself to you.
You're not the one here every day.
Exactly.
I have perspective, and what I see and I am not attacking you what I see is that Charlie is not waking up.
He will.
I have to get back to my conference.
It was nice seeing you, Alex.
Don't doubt yourself.
You know me better than anyone.
I'm right here.
We're giving you some medication, Sandhya.
It'll make you very sleepy.
Okay.
And this is just oxygen.
Wow.
Wow.
- Hey, Dr.
Reid? - Mm-hmm? Are you married? I'm engaged, actually.
- Me, too.
- I heard.
Congratulations.
Yeah.
Sanjay.
He looks like Hrithik Roshan.
Bollywood star.
Gorgeous.
Sandhya, can you count down from ten for me, please? Uh ten mm She's out.
Sevoflurane.
Done.
Okay.
Let's take this girl's tumor out, get her the temple on time.
Bowel looks good.
Tissue's clean.
No sign of any other tumor.
We'll have eyes on this in just a sec here.
Status? - Blood pressure rising.
- Body temp? Rising as well.
103.
C.
O.
2 65.
Blood pressure 150/100.
We need to hyperventilate.
I'm removing the ports.
Turning her off the gas.
Giving her 100% oxygen.
Put her on a propofol drip.
Temp? Still rising.
104.
- We need to bring it down.
- Peak "T" wave on the E.
C.
G.
Too much potassium.
It's malignant hyperthermia.
Get me the M.
H.
kit.
She needs dantrolene, cooling blankets.
Suture gun now.
Okay.
Patient's convulsing.
We've got an emergency.
- Everybody, move now.
- Yep.
Got it? She needs the dantrolene.
We've got to get her temp down or she's gonna arrest.
Bolus her with cool saline.
She's on fire.
Come on, Sandhya.
What's happening with my M.
H.
kit?! - I've gotta mix it, doctor.
I'm on it.
- Can't you go any faster?! No.
Shut up so we can concentrate.
Ohh.
What's going on? An adverse reaction to the anesthetic.
It wasn't in her file.
We have dantrolene going through her system, but we need the temperature to go down.
Is it? Uh temp falling.
102.
9.
It's gotta drop faster.
Come on.
Come on.
Come on! Temp 102.
8.
102.
7.
- Good.
C.
O.
2? - 50 and dropping.
"T" waves are normalizing.
Pupil activity.
Come on, come on, come on.
We got it.
That's great news, if you didn't cook her brain.
She only had local anesthetics in her history, no general.
No family history of malignant hyperthermia.
Why'd it take so long to get her on the dantrolene? We moved as fast as we could.
Yeah, so why isn't she waking up? Get her up to the I.
C.
U.
Have Shahir take a look.
What do we tell her family? We tell them what we know, that she had a reaction to the anesthetic.
She's unconscious.
Yeah, but her pupils are reactive.
They're tracking to stimuli, and that's very good news.
- Reid, you're not a neurologist.
- I know that, but I don't want to frighten Sandhya's family before we know what's going on for sure.
And I don't want to give 'em false hope.
We can't wake her up, and that's not good, okay? Okay.
Let's try 45 across.
Okay.
I, uh I don't know.
I don't I don't know that one.
What's wrong? We believe Sandhya had a reaction to her anesthetic.
I wasn't able to finish the surgery.
Is she okay? She's stable now.
We're sending her for more tests.
Uh, c um, can we see her? Not yet.
She's unconscious.
This isn't happening.
Mrs.
Ahuja, in a situation like this, things can change minute by minute, and depending on what we discover, I promise, there's no reason why Sandhya won't wake up and walk out of here today, okay? Listen to her, mom, okay? She's the doctor.
She, um, she knows what she's saying.
Dr.
Reid.
I will come and find you as soon as we know anything.
Okay.
Less is more, Reid.
So you realize these kinds of implants are illegal, right? Could you just give me something for 'em, and I'll get out of here? We're just awaiting the results of your blood test.
It'll be any minute now.
So where'd you get these done? I own my own tattoo parlor.
Mm-hmm.
Everything from belly buttons to prince Alberts.
- You know what that is? - Yes, I do.
It's a ring through the glans of the penis.
Five years now I've had my business, no problems.
Everything you see here did it all myself.
So you put these horns in your own head.
How do you deal with the anesthetic? I don't use it.
It's too dangerous.
Okay, so, Barry, is it? It's Karn, actually.
Okay, Karn, what you have here is two transdermal implants gone awry.
The source of the contamination is possibly the knife you used to cut your own skin, or it's the implants themselves.
Diagnosis, Dr.
Lin? - Cellulitis.
- At the very least, but my concern is osteomyelitis.
What's that? It's an infection of the bone.
Now we'll need to get a C.
T.
to see if the cranial vault has been compromised.
Compromised how? The infection could be eroding your skull.
You want to take off my horns.
- If I have to, yeah.
- No way.
It took me a year of work to build 'em up.
Well, it's your decision, but if it is osteomyelitis, then all those nasty germs could go from your skull into your brain, and if that happens, then you're facing meningitis, brain abscess, possible death.
But we won't know without a C.
T.
, so first things first, okay? Yeah.
You might want to talk to your friend Gavin about a psych consult.
I have a feeling that Damien is gonna resist treatment.
That's not his name.
It's Karn.
"Karn" is not his name, either.
You're a shrink? I prefer "psychiatrist," but yeah.
Unbelievable.
I come here for help, and they send me you.
Dr.
Goran is worried that you don't want to be treated.
Treated how? Treated like a freak? 'Cause you guys you guys are knocking it out of the park on that one.
I just want to ask you a few questions.
Is that all right? Okay.
Great.
So, Karn, uh, tell me, when did you start modifying your body? I got my first tattoo at 13, my first piercing at, uh, 16.
And you did most of this yourself? Yeah, but I'm trained to do it, like you're trained to do this.
It must've been painful.
Most reasonable people shy away from pain.
Pain's an attitude.
If you have a goal, you get over it.
What's your goal? You wouldn't get it.
Try me.
I have a dream of what I want to be.
I want to take what's on the inside, and I want to put it on the outside.
I want to mark my body with my identity, with my story.
Hmm.
What story is this one telling? I got that one when my dad passed, to mark it, to help me grieve.
It's a pretty dark image.
Yeah, well, my dad was a pretty hard guy.
He was military.
Was he abusive? No.
My dad did not abuse me.
He just didn't like me.
I'm just trying to understand you, Karn.
You operate on your body continually.
So what? It's my body.
Skydiving is dangerous.
Car racing.
Smoking.
Eating fast food.
The people that do all those things are they crazy, too? Hmm.
All right.
Well, thanks for talking to me, Karn.
I think we're done.
Great.
Go tell the surgeon to cut out the freak's horns.
Actually, I'm gonna tell Dr.
Goran that you're as sane as any of us.
Good luck.
In Charlie's chart, it says he has no response to stimuli.
Not that I've seen.
So he's in a persistent vegetative state.
That's not a term I use.
You know, there have been hundreds of studies on coma patients, Dr.
Bell, and we still don't understand why one wakes up and one doesn't.
Okay, but in your opinion? Charlie's chances of recovery are small but not impossible.
So he could stay like this forever? Yes.
Or he could wake up.
Or he could suffer from a bed sore, turn septic, and die.
We just don't know.
Shahir, I need you to look me in the eye and tell me that you think Charlie will wake up.
Alex is committed to Charlie's recovery.
I'm not talking about Alex.
I'm talking about you.
Well, I can't answer that.
Sorry.
Where are you going with this, Dawn? This isn't about you anymore.
Stay out of it.
Hello? Hello? No one can see me or hear me.
Can you? Yeah.
Ohh.
Thank god.
Thank god.
Hi.
Hmm.
I've seen this before.
A teen I treated with blunt force trauma after a skiing accident.
No brain stem damage and normal brain and pupil activity.
We couldn't wake him.
So you don't actually have a prognosis.
Well, the next 48 hours are critical.
Come on.
You can say that about every critical patient.
You can't give us something a little more concrete? Unless she crashes or wakes, it's a waiting game.
And there's nothing we can do? - No.
- My office in 15.
We'll tell the family what we know, which, unfortunately, isn't much.
I am so sorry.
It isn't your fault, Alex.
It's a rare reaction.
I know that, but she's about to get married, and she's too young for this.
I can't just stand by and wait.
Sometimes all we can do is wait.
You tell that to her family.
Kinda want to jump back into it, don't ya? Just get back into your body and make yourself wake up.
No, actually.
I'm in no rush.
you are my chi you are my energy you are my chi Yeah.
You have to fire him.
I know.
Mel, the woman in room 304 Yeah, she was your patient.
I know.
I want to know about any change in her status, no matter how small, okay? I'm your I.
C.
U.
spy.
First Charlie.
Now the new girl.
Has Dawn been back to see Charlie? - No.
- Good.
If she does, don't let her in.
She doesn't have my permission.
- Got it.
- Thanks.
you are my chi I know he's flaky Mm-hmm.
And I will hand him his pink slip.
I will but just not right now, okay? I kinda find it comforting that someone is here with Charlie when I can't be.
you are my energy you are my chi ee-ee-ee Uh, so this is another hallway.
People kinda pass through here on their way to other places.
It may be boring for you, but I am happy to have a break.
You're taking this really, really well.
Listen, I-I don't wanna burst your bubble, but you might not I might die? Yeah.
And you're right.
I guess I should be scared or weirded out, but I'm not.
Maybe it's because I'm hindu, and I believe in reincarnation.
So you're not afraid of dying? My dad passed away, and the only thing that helped me through was the thought that I would be with him again, maybe on an astral plane, maybe back here.
Okay, what do you think happens after we die? Uh, what happens when we die? Um Nothing.
We, uh, we die.
We go in the ground.
That's it.
Game over.
That's science, and I'm, uh, I'm a doctor.
I can tell you exactly how the human body works.
I'm not talking about the body.
No, you're talking about the soul electrical synapses in the brain, yada yada yada.
Uh, more science.
So then how am I standing here and talking to you? See, I haven't quite figured that part out yet.
That's my point.
Hey.
Hey.
So I finished my evaluation.
Mm-hmm.
Karn isn't delusional or even body dysmorphic.
Well, he's definitely not normal.
See, that's the thing, Joel.
You may not like the patient's choices, but he's a sane and competent decision-maker.
Great.
Well, his skull's still infected, and he might get septicemia, so the horns have to come off.
The body mods are his identity.
It's who he is, so you can't just go in there and order him to do whatever you want.
You have to sit down with him.
You have to talk him through it.
Yeah, maybe then I'll show him the C.
T.
, I'll point out exactly where his brain's turning into mashed potatoes.
Are we done here? Do you ever think of the other person? Like, anyone who isn't you? I'm not gonna dignify that with an answer.
Okay.
Sandhya has had a rare reaction to a routine medication called sevoflurane.
It's, uh, 1 in 50,000.
It's an anesthetic that we administer in vapor form during surgery.
The reaction raised her body temperature, and it has affected her brain.
Is she going to die? There is always a chance that she could develop complications.
Internal bleeding is a possibility, heart failure, stroke, but of more immediate concern is that Sandhya is in a coma.
A coma? We were told she was just unconscious.
When I spoke with you earlier today, we weren't sure.
Well, how long will she be asleep? We don't know.
Dr.
Hamza is a renowned neurosurgeon.
He's treating Sandhya, and for now, all we can do is wait.
You promised me.
You told me that she would wake up and walk out of here.
Today.
- Mrs.
Ahuja - You said that.
Was it a lie? Come on, mom.
Let's go get a coffee, okay? You told me her surgery was simple, and now my daughter is dying.
How can you live with yourself? "I promise you your daughter will wake up today" "and walk out of here"? I said it was a possibility.
I know that it's You are a doctor.
Every word that comes out of your mouth, they hang on to, they believe in, so you basically lied to them.
Sandhya is not Charlie, and you have no idea what that family is going through.
None.
Winston Churchill? Yeah.
Looks like him.
Ah, but reincarnation is not that simple.
Okay.
Who is he then? I'm torn between Winston and Kurt Cobain.
What? No, no, no, no, no.
Hear me out.
He's got Winston's cheeks, but I feel his soul is more complicated.
You look sad, Charlie.
Are you worried you won't get to have kids? No.
I'm worried that the people I love are forgetting who I am 'cause all they see is a comatose body.
Well, it doesn't take a coma for people to not see who you really are.
Take my fiance, for example.
My fiance.
Did didn't I just say that? What's happening to me? I'm not sure.
What is it? Her leg's white from the mid-calf down.
Arterial thrombosis? Blood clot in the femoral artery.
I gave her an angiogram.
So we're doing an emergency thrombectomy? Yep.
Right now.
- What's that? - Mom.
She has a blood clot.
We need to remove it.
- I need to be with her.
- Mom.
- I'm sorry.
You can't.
- No, I there's no way I'm leaving her - Mom, come on.
- With you again.
You can have a seat in the waiting room.
Dr.
Reid and I need to move fast.
- No.
- Mom.
I'll come and talk to you as soon as I can.
I please, Mrs.
Ahuja.
Okay, mom.
Come on.
Sit down.
Is this dangerous? Yes.
But don't worry.
Dr.
Reid's done this procedure hundreds of times before.
She knows what she's doing.
Yeah.
Heard that before.
Losing a patient or harming a patient is every surgeon's worst nightmare, but it happens, and you should know that your doctor feels guilty and awful.
Do you know her? I do.
She's my fiancee.
You're close.
Where the hell is it? I thought it was right there.
Maybe we're not down far enough.
Might be up against the wall.
I'll look.
Yeah.
There it is.
It's up against the left wall.
I just need to move past it.
Okay.
Get ready to inflate the balloon.
Okay.
inflating.
Okay.
Balloon inflated.
You got it.
She's golden.
Let's get this thing out of her.
Oh.
You rock.
Ohh.
Vascular clamp.
Then I'll suture.
Uh, I can do it, if you like.
Thanks.
I have to go talk to the family, convince them this is good news, despite all the bad news.
What are my chances, do you think? Uh, that all depends on how long you stay under.
Have long have you been in your Uh, over a month.
Yeah.
I know.
My my prospects aren't terrific.
God.
I should be consoling you.
You know what? All things considered, today's been a pretty good day.
Who's that? Sanjay, my fiance.
Oh.
Do you want to be I want to get away from him, as far away from him as I can.
Miller, my patient you seen him? - Karn? - Yeah.
Checked himself out, signed a refusal of treatment, - and took off.
- You didn't try and stop him? Of course I tried to stop him.
I did everything I could to stop him, but if the guy wants to go, he's allowed to go.
I don't make up the rules.
- Karn.
- Hey.
Watch where you're walking, freak.
Ah.
Sorry.
What did you say? Get a load of this guy.
- You want to do this? - No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
- It's cool.
Karn.
Karn.
Karn.
- What's he got? Rabies? Hey.
You're delirious.
You need to let me help you.
You stay away from me.
Maybe you should take him to the vet.
You should just back off.
- Take it back! Take it back! - Hey.
Hey.
Hey.
Hey.
Hey.
Let's go.
Come on.
Guys, both of you enough.
Enough.
Karn! Hey.
You okay? You all right? Can-can you sit? Didn't want to let go of his horns, huh? Not even if it killed him.
People are strange.
Yeah.
He's out there, all right, but at least he's living his own story.
Look who's turning into a softie.
Okay, I'm going to cut out the horns And scrape the infection from the skull.
You're the man.
You know, I had a boyfriend once who had a pierced tongue.
Kissing him was like making out with a shish kebab.
You like to share, don't you, Victor? Yeah.
My fiance comes to see me, and I run.
That's a terrible thing to do.
Well, I don't think he noticed, if that makes you feel any better.
I'm supposed to marry him this weekend, Charlie, so why Because you don't love him.
So why do you wanna marry him? I have to.
It's been arranged.
It's a big deal.
I promised my father that You'd spend the rest of your life with someone you don't love? Okay.
What's-what's wrong with this guy? I love to sing, but I have the worst voice in the world.
Who cares? Right? I wanted karaoke at our reception.
He said no.
And it's not just that.
He doesn't want to travel.
He wants kids, which is great, except I don't even really think that he likes them.
You know, I was married to the wrong woman once.
And then one day, I found myself engaged to the right woman.
How did you know that she was the right one? Oh, because she-she got me, you know, warts and all.
And every new thing I learned about her just made me love her more.
Listen, when you say you're a lousy singer, like, how bad are we talking? Are we talking, like like, professional lousy or are we talking, like, real person lousy, 'cause Oh, we're talking pretty lousy.
Sing.
I want to hear it.
Come on.
Okay.
people say I'm the life of the party 'cause I make a joke or two That's great.
although I might be laughing loud and hearty deep inside deep inside I am blue doo, doo, doo, doo so take a good look at my face doo, doo, doo you see my smile looks out of place Sandhya? I had that strange feeling again.
Sandhya? Come with me.
Come with me.
I think I know what's wrong with you.
Hey.
I'm Dr.
Goran.
Hey.
I'm Karn's wife Kat.
Nice to meet you.
You, too.
How's he doing? He's doing very well, actually.
Yeah.
How you doing, mate? - Um, his surgery was - I'm awake.
Wanna see daddy? So the surgery was a success.
Uh, we were able to excise all the infected bone.
I'm going to put you on some oral antibiotics.
As soon as you're in the clear, we'll discharge you.
Thank you.
You've got a beautiful family here, Karn.
Hope they get to keep you around.
What does that mean? It means you can't work on yourself anymore.
Because only a guy like you can do something like that? No, because unless you're in an O.
R, it's not sterile.
You're going to get an infection, guaranteed.
I'll think about it.
Good.
And you can think about it because we saved your brain today.
Okay.
What else? What if Sandhya's reaction to the anesthetic affected her intracranial pressure and her brain is infarcted? I tested that.
The profusion scan came out normal.
She doesn't see the thing that's right in front of her.
There's no way that you can tell her? Maybe we can find a psychic.
Uh, yeah.
That's not gonna work.
What if she was encephalopathic? Mm, she'd still have a fever.
- Does she? - No.
Alex, take a step back.
This isn't just a coma.
You're too focused on the test.
You're not seeing the symptoms.
You've gotta be kidding me.
I told you to get rid of him.
Oh, no.
What now? I caught him massaging sadhya.
Her family went for a walk, and he sneaked in here.
- What? - It was reiki.
I-I didn't touch her.
I just moved her energy around.
Of course you did.
Oh, ye of little faith.
No room for faith in science, Ash.
No place for invading my patient's privacy in the I.
C.
U.
I love you, Alex, but get him out of here, or I'm calling security.
I will.
Sorry, Mel.
Western medicine is so focused on the disease.
You don't see the whole, the universal.
But because I respect the chi, the universal energy that surrounds each and every one of us, I know that Charlie and my Mona Lisa here are on their journey back towards equilibrium.
Okay, Ash See? She's trying to communicate with us.
She's saying, "I'm still here," "the eternal me.
" How many times has she done this? Smiled? I noticed it during our reiki sessions.
Uh, I didn't touch her.
I just moved her energy around.
When I placed my hand over her heart chakra, she smiled.
How long ago was that? About ten minutes or so.
Repetitive myoclonus.
Somebody call Dr.
Hamza.
We need him in here now.
Good news, Sandhya.
Looks like you're gonna wake up.
We believe Sandhya's suffering from what's called status epilepticus.
Her body's having multiple seizures, and it's the seizures, not the reaction to the anesthetic, that's keeping her in a comatose state.
Well, why didn't you see this before? Well, a single E.
E.
G.
won't catch it, but this will.
This takes continuous video of her waveforms.
It records brain activity.
Hopefully, we'll find a pattern indicating seizures.
And if you do? If we do, then we put Sandhya on anticonvulsants And stabilize her.
And she'll wake up? It's a possibility.
Yes.
Mm.
I bet I know what you're thinking right now.
Finally.
A man who can read my mind.
You're thinking that being here is easy, being in between places.
No weddings to plan and no, uh No father to please in the next life - and mother to please in this one? - Something like that.
Remember how you said every new thing that you learn about your fiancee makes you love her more? Yeah.
I want that.
I don't want to live without that.
Am I crazy? No.
No, you're not crazy.
I want that, too.
I'm 27, Charlie, and I've never been in love.
Honestly, that's like a crime.
It is.
Anything? Let's give it a minute.
Oh.
Is that it? I don't have much time.
Come on.
Sit.
They've probably given you a shot of phenytoin 'cause they've seen the seizures.
Okay? It'll reduce the electrical conductance among the brain cells and it will stop the seizures.
Why are you laughing? Always the doctor.
Hey, don't knock it.
Science is bringing you back, kid.
Thanks to a hippie scrubbing my chakras.
See? It's all interconnected, Charlie Harris.
Well, that would be something, wouldn't it? Kiss me, Charlie.
Just once before I go back.
Sandhya, I I appreciate the invitation, but I I can't do that.
Then do a girl a solid and take off your tux.
What? Seriously? I can feel it, Charlie.
I can feel my body.
It's calling me back.
It's like What's it like? I'm connected to myself, my mother, to you, Dr.
Reid.
I'm connected to everything.
It's warm.
It's wonderful.
It's it's life.
I say two days.
Another two days, then she can go home.
And we'll reschedule the surgery for after the honeymoon.
Guys, I'm so, so sorry for putting everyone through such a big scare.
You did.
The scare of my life.
But we have you back now.
That's all I care about.
So what was it like, the, uh, coma? Was it like you were, uh, uh, dreaming? I don't remember much.
I just know that I felt safe and protected.
Tell her, Sandhya.
She needs to know I'm okay.
Like someone was there the whole time looking out for me.
We should let Sandhya rest.
Mom, can you stay behind? Absolutely.
We just need a moment alone.
Sure.
Charlie I saved a life today.
A coma patient.
And I realized something.
Just when I think I've done everything there's always one more thing I can do.
And it's waiting for me.
I just have to find it.
That's right.
To hell with the naysayers.
You know me best.
So did you wield a pitchfork? No, I was a little young for that.
I think I just fed the chickens.
Mm.
And it's for sale? Yeah, my aunt and uncle sold it years ago, and I guess the new owners are selling it again.
- Tell me more.
- About what? When did you go live with your aunt and uncle? Uh, a couple years after my parents died.
So for a couple of years, you didn't have any family? No, I guess I was, um, in the system for a while.
I really don't remember much.
Let's buy it.
What? I mean it.
It meant something to you and maybe still does, so let's buy it.
You really want to do this? I really want to do this.
We're buying a barn.
Yay! Buying a barn.
Every patient has a story.
Sometimes we can't see what they're trying to tell us.
Sometimes we just don't want to.
Hey, doc.
Show him your horns.
Keep it real.
Always.
But the truth is always there, staring us in the face, daring us to disagree, begging us to understand and to do what needs to be done.
Alex? Dawn.
You're still here.
It's a little late for visiting.
No, I came to talk to you.
Oh.
Okay.
Good.
I need to talk to you, too.
Charlie should be D.
N.
R.
I'm appealing to the consent and capacity board.
What? He's been in this coma long enough, and you don't see it because you're with him every day.
No.
Uh Dawn, we need more time.
To do what? You're trying everything you can, but nothing is working.
There will be a hearing I know how this works.
To determine who should make Charlie's end-of-life decisions.
That person is me.
I'm filing my petition tomorrow.
Be ready.