ABSTRACT

The fourth surgery was finished by ten o’clock, not that Patrick would have known. He was coaxed up and out of catatonia for the last time in this recovery room by the same nurse who had awakened him after each of the other operations. She was somber and still, standing by his bed with her right hand on his arm—always his arm—rubbing a small stretch of skin with her thumb. “You’re in the recovery room, Patrick,” she told him again. “You’re just waking up. Can you open your eyes?”