Brain on Fire Page #6

- I know.

Hey, we'll get through this.

Yeah, I hope so.

Can you touch your nose with this hand?

Very good.

- Stephen?

- What's wrong? Is she okay?

Mr. Cahalan.

You know what, why don't you call me Tom?

After all you've been through, I think

you can call me a**hole if you want.

Thanks.

Why don't you go home and get some sleep?

Now.

Will you walk for me?

Get out of the bed.

No, no.

She can do it herself.

I need you to walk for me in straight line.

One foot in front of the other.

Okay, okay.

- All looks clear.

- It is. It's perfectly clear.

What am I missing?

Susannah? Would you draw a clock for me?

And fill in all the numbers,

from one to twelve.

Just as you remember.

Very good.

Now, fill in the numbers. One through 12.

Dr. Najjar, what do you see?

I might be late tonight. No,

everything is fine. Yes.

Dr. Ryan, it's Souhel.

Yes, yes, but I think I have something

you might be interested in.

- Good morning. How are you feeling?

- Hello.

I may have some explanation for you.

I believe the right hemisphere of her

brain is seriously impaired and inflamed.

In a broken brain, when one hemisphere

is not working,

the visual world becomes loop-sided.

Like this clock.

No one with psychiatric problem

would draw clock like this.

So at least, you don't suffer

schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Now, what is causing this inflammation

that is the question

that we have to answer.

My dear, I know you're in there.

I'm going to everything I can to find you.

Before we move on to treatment, we need

to confirm the cause of the inflammation.

I think the best thing to do is

to do a brain biopsy.

- What does that mean?

- We have to look at her brain.

We have to take a small piece of her

brain to confirm the diagnosis,

before we can proceed with the treatment.

- I don't know.

- Mr. Cahalan, I promise you

if she were my child, I would do

the brain biopsy.

Time is up..

I knew it sounds invasive,

but we are losing her.

We're gonna shave the front part

of your head about four-inches,

and toward the crown.

Then we'll make an incision

and take the sample.

I'll be here for you in the morning.

7:
00. Please, get some rest tonight

and no eating, only fasting.

Thank you.

You okay?

I just don't wanna see our hopes up again.

- What do you mean?

- Rhona, we've been here for over a month,

we've had so many doctors, so

many opinions, so many series,

so many ups and helps, unfortunately

all have major downs.

- Who says this guy has all the answers?

- Okay, look at me.

If this guy doesn't have the

answers, we will go to the

next guy or the next woman

until we find the answer.

Okay, but I need from you,

right here, right now,

is I need to know, are you in?

Because I need you and Susannah needs you.

Good afternoon. I have some news.

The result came back conclusive

for NMDA receptor antibodies.

- What is it?

- Anti NMDA receptor encephalitis

is an autoimmune disease where antibodies

target and attack very important

receptors in the brain.

I don't understand. Can you simplify

what you were saying?

To put it simply, her brain is on fire

and under attack from her own body.

Okay, so what happens next?

We can treat this.

We got this in the very early stages.

I think she will be fine.

She will be getting 90%

of her cognitive abilities back.

So, we may get her fully back.

As I said, Mr. Cahalan

there's a serious possibility, but

let's just hope that her body

welcomes the treatment.

Thank you so much.

You are going to be just fine.

I found you.

I'm the lucky one.

Because in the system that's

designed to miss people like me.

- I'll start the treatment.

- Thank you.

Thanks to Dr. Najjar, I was found.

He found me.

My body was attacking my brain.

- You good?

- Yeah.

It completely destroyed

my ability to function.

How many people, do you think

throughout history were diagnosed

as schizophrenic, psychotic, bipolar,

or maybe just being crazy,

when they had something that

could've been so easily diagnosed?

It took me forever to get home.

I broght you this.

I love you so much.

Susannah, you can't stay in bed all day.

Oh, my God. We had a plan.

Let's go.

- No, no, no.

- We're going.

You know what, if we're gonna make

it to the New York city marathon,

we got a hell lot of work to do, kid.

Please, don't quit your job.

Because you're definitely not a comedian.

Well, it's nice to see you

got your personality back.

Come on, baby. You can do it.

I had to learn everything from scratch.

How to walk again. How to talk again.

Smile.

How to be a daughter.

To love Stephen again.

How to write.

I had to learn how to exist again.

- So how the hell are you?

- I'm good. Yeah.

Yeah, you know I'm on some

medications still, but,

but I'm good.

I read your first article

since you returned.

- Dont, it's not too good.

- No, no, no.

Don't put words in my mouth,

this is actually really good.

Yeah, better than ever, so much, so that

congratulations, your first page, too.

- Wow.

- Yeah, big deal, right?

Yeah, thank you.

There's something else I want from you.

I want you to tell your story,

from beginning to end.

I want the people of New York

to know what you went through.

I want you to write a first

person-feature about.

Kinda hard putting you

on personal information,

but you should really consider it.

You know? Why not?

Yeah?

Yeah, I mean if it, if it

helps someone ou there, maybe

- it's worth it.

- Yeah, that's great.

It'll take a little bit time to compile it,

I think, but..

Yeah, I know. Take all the time you need.

As long as I can have it on Friday.

You'll have by Thursday night. Don't worry.

Thanks, Susannah.

- Are you okay?

- Yeah, I'm good.

I got used to people asking me about

my rare and fascinating illness.

- I never try to articulate it, though.

- Are you sure you're okay?

- Margo?

- Yeah?

- I'm great.

- Sorry.

- Never bother.

- Okay.

Good. Now stop talking to me.

This new Susannah is a lot like

the old Susannah,

but she's so much stronger.

Because for very first time,

I feel ready to tackle the mystery

of what happened to me.

To find an answer.

An answer that could possibly save a life.

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