“So, to Recap…”

That Monday I was rushing into work as usual a few minutes late. Rather than waiting for the elevator, I took the stairs up to the second floor, which left me a bit out of breath, given my age and sedentary lifestyle. As the double doors to the OR opened, I was dismayed to see how many magnetic strips were applied to the day's schedule board. I idly wondered when we would catch up with 2030 and make the whole thing electronic with vid screens instead of markers, but I knew that the hospital administration preferred to spend that money on extra yachts for the CEO.As I was second call that day, I expected to see myself covering four CRNAs until the cows came home, but, to my surprise, my buddies had assigned me to do my own room. I stared at the blue magnetic strip without much understanding:[Room 3 0730-1300 Recap GA IP Okonkwo]"Hey, good morning, Linda!" I greeted the OR nurse running the board that day. "What's a 'Recap'?"She looked at me with an expression of pity I had never seen before. "You probably need to ask Dr. Wang about that." Jiang "Jimbo" Wang was our anesthesiologist in charge that day. I nodded, then keyed my wireless implant with a subvoc thought."Kimi, call Jimbo.""Yes, dear," my cranial implant cooed. I sighed. Darn that last informality upgrade."Dr. Wang.""Yo, Jimbo, this is Thom." That never got old."I know. Your calls have a special ringtone that you don't want to ask me about.""Ha ha. Anyway, I'm standing here at the board. What the bleep is a 'Recap' procedure?""It's new. You will have two patients in one room. Patient A is a deceased organ donor and cranial recipient. Patient B is the cranial donor. The surgeon removes the head of patient A, which is used for corneal and other head tissue donations. Patient B voluntarily allows themselves to be decapitated so that their head and most importantly brain can be attached to the young, otherwise healthy body of patient A, who is usually an overdose victim without major trauma or organ damage, etc. Both will start out intubated, then transition to ECMO, and then you reintubate patient B′A, while the remaining body of patient B is used for liver, kidney, pancreas, and other lower body donations. It's called 'Recapitation.' At the end of the case, just transport the old head and new body to the ICU, and Bob's your uncle.""Dude, I've never even heard of this before. I have received no in-services or any other training on managing this anesthetic for one person, let alone two.""Don't worry. There will be two ECMO teams in there helping you. Also, this is a sexy new case that is being heavily promoted by the hospital on all sosh feeds. We're expecting a 3V news team sometime during the case.""Are you serious? How am I supposed to keep two patients alive during a dual decapitation and reattachment?""That's how we roll in anesthesiology, my friend. Do one, teach one, then see one, right? Unlike for surgeons, the medical equipment companies don't sponsor us for week-long training sessions and elegant dinners at luxury golf resorts so we can actually learn this stuff ahead of time. Just call me if you have any problems. I'll be out running the board until 1600.""How are they gonna do this case in only five and a half hours?" I subvocalized peevishly."They are surgeons. You know they always under-post. They probably told their kindergarten teachers they would be in the potty for no more than 10 seconds," Jimbo sent with a smiley face mental emoji."Okay, thanks. Discon," I thought."Well, at least I should be done in the afternoon sometime," I tried to console myself.Just then, Linda stood up from the desk. "Dr. Thom, I have Dr. Okonkwo on the line. He wants to add on another Recap to follow. He promises he should be done before midnight."