Page 45 of Goodnight, Sinners

What she was learning was that many of them had rich lives outside of Jozef’s sphere, and Jozef, apparently, encouraged them. He thought having families and family support was healthy.

While treating a sprained wrist, one man had gotten during the attack, she’d discovered the man lived with his parents in the city. He was twenty-one and enjoyed working for Jozef because he could make enough money to buy a place for himself and his girlfriend. Another man had come to her needing treatment and had asked her advice on what he should get his wife for Christmas. It had been an oddly domestic conversation considering she’d been suturing a knife wound.

Jozef and his people were changing her. She felt it, but she also didn’t know how to feel about it. Condoning any kind of violence was a slippery slope to travel, and she’d already given up so much of herself to be with Jozef.

As always, her thoughts on this matter left her feeling slightly depressed and without any answers.

Her mood lifted considerably when she saw Dr. Cerný’s smiling face at the hospital. Elisa shook Shaun’s hand warmly.

“I’m so happy you’ve agreed to come.”

Elisa led her to the neurology department, where Shaun looked around with a wave of nostalgia. She loved being in a hospital again. The smells, the sounds, the feel, it all spoke to her soul. Some of her greatest successes had taken place in a hospital similar to this one.

Elisa showed her into an office. It was brightly lit with large windows that showed a view of the parking lot. The other woman caught Shaun looking out the window and gave her a wry look.

“I know, it’s not spectacular, but it’s mine.”

Shaun laughed. “My office in Montreal barely fit two people, and it had no windows. This is a considerable step up.”

Though she disparaged her little office, she missed it. It had been hers and she’d worked her tail off to earn the position of Chief of Neurology. It was a coveted position, one that she’d been shocked to learn she’d be given. At first, she’d thought her father had pulled strings, but when confronted he’d denied giving her a leg up over the competition. It had been a combination of her flawless residency, her excellent track record in surgery, and her outside-of-the-box thinking. She’d been the youngest chief in the hospital, but one of the most respected.

“I can’t tell you what an honour it is to have you in my hospital discussing a surgery that we’re going to conduct together.” Elisa looked extremely happy. “I hope that we will convince you to take a position with us once we have completed our surgery.”

Shaun grinned at the thought of taking a position at the hospital. She hadn’t contemplated her career beyond the surgery. She’d been so grateful for the opportunity that she’d forgotten she was one of the preemptively sought after neurosurgeons. When she worked at the Montreal General Hospital, she would often have to fend off job offers from other institutions. She’d considered them, especially one from UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco. Their neurology department, complete with all the cutting-edge toys for surgeons, was a dream come true to any neurologist. She’d declined their generous offer, choosing to stay in her hometown.

Now, she had a chance to work with a hospital and staff that were foreign to her. She could learn new techniques and share her own. It was an exciting opportunity.

But would Jozef go for it?

He was already in a tizzy over the single surgery she would conduct in a week’s time. She couldn’t imagine him being okay with her taking a permanent position.

Regardless, it was a worry for another day. She had a surgery to look forward to, and that was enough for now.

The two women spent several hours going through the procedure, first with each other, then with the three surgical nurses and anesthesiologist who would assist them. They ran through every scenario, making sure that they were completely thorough in their risk assessment.

By the time they finished, the two women were exhausted but satisfied.

“With the surgery we’ve come up with, I give him 50/50 odds of a full recovery,” Elisa said enthusiastically.

Shaun agreed and looked at her colleague. “You know what I love about tumours?”

Elisa laughed. “No two are the same.”

“Exactly.”

Only a neurologist would love a tumour. It was one thing that bound them. The desire to find, diagnose, and eradicate masses from the brain. It was a strange obsession, but one that they shared.

“I’ve booked the learning lab for Saturday if you’d like to join me for a dry run.”

“Of course,” Shaun readily agreed. “We should orchestrate the entire thing from beginning to end. Decide where everyone will need to stand and where the instruments should be. I’m a newcomer to this hospital, so I’d also like to see the surgical room I’ll be working in.”

“No problem. We can do that now so when we do our practice run, we’ll know where everything will be.” As they left Elisa’s office and made their way to the surgical ward, she said to Shaun, “You’ve done procedures in less than ideal conditions, I’m sure this will be a treat for you.”

Shaun shot the other woman a look. She was talking up her hospital in order to get Shaun to accept a position with them. It would be a feather in her department if she convinced Shaun. It was to her credit that she wasn’t letting a sense of competition get in her way. Competitiveness was a common trait among surgeons, which could be both good and bad. It drove them to strive for perfection, but it also made them overlook excellent surgeons and opportunities in their drive to get to the top.

Perhaps that was why Shaun enjoyed working with Doctors Without Borders. The experience was both humbling and forced her to learn new skills. Depending on the camp or city she was working in, she rarely had the resources she would have access to in a hospital with more money at their disposal.

As they approached the surgical ward, Shaun turned to Cooper. “You and the other men will have to remain out here.” When it looked like he would argue, she added, “I’ve already cleared it with Jozef. He understands that there are sanitization risks to having people on this ward. It’s locked down tight so no one can enter.”

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