Page 46 of Gone Before Goodbye
“Just so you are aware, it’s not just the operating room we’ve duplicated.”
Maggie looks up from the tablet. “Meaning?”
“We interviewed members of your surgical team in Baltimore.”
“When you say interview—”
“For training purposes,” he says. “So your team here has been schooled on your operating room preferences and protocols.”
“You don’t miss much.”
“We believe in minimizing risk, Doctor McCabe. We want to assure your success.”
“I see.”
“Assuming you approve, the schedule for tomorrow is as follows: Meet with the team at seven a.m. to go over procedures. Personally inspect the surgical facilities and all implantation devices. We are told you usually do this three hours before a surgery. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Very good. So Mr. Ragoravich will go into surgery at ten a.m. He will undergo three procedures. One, a blepharoplasty. Two, a sliding genioplasty using fat transfer, so that his jawline more resembles the one in Photo A.”
Maggie clicks on what is marked as Photo A. It offers up a black-and-white, oddly grainy view of the lower half of a man’s face.
“And three, a rather unique open rhinoplasty. I think you’ll find that most exciting.”
“Why’s that?”
“You’ll be implanting an artificial nose scaffold.”
Maggie makes a face. “I’m not familiar with that.”
He grins. “I know.”
“I’m familiar with nose scaffolding using cartilage and tissue.”
“That isn’t what this is, though there is a lot of overlap, and that’s why it’s an open rhinoplasty. You’ll make the incision below the nose”—Ivan points with his beefy finger at the space between the upper lip and the start of the nose—“peel the skin up, do whatever you need to clear out space, and then insert the scaffold.”
“An artificial scaffold?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
She frowned. “I didn’t know such a thing existed.”
Again the grin. “It didn’t. Until now. But I assure you it’s been tested.”
“Who built the scaffolding?”
“We did,” he says. “Via AI on our MB Reps 3D printer.”
Maggie sits back. “Are you serious?”
“I am.”
“You have an MB Reps 3D printer?”
“That surprises you?”
They sell, Maggie knows, for nearly a quarter million dollars. “Not really, no. But like I said, I never heard of this before. What’s the scaffolding made of?”
