Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story Page #4

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-They're fine.

Now, tell me, how's that girlfriend of yours?

-My mother says hi.

-I can't wait to meet her.

You think she's coming

for Parents Weekend?

Not if I'm not here.

What? What are you talking about?

Candy, you're a triple major.

I'm having trouble with just one.

-Trouble?

-Yale's too much for me.

What am I doing here, anyway?

You got a scholarship.

You were third in your class.

Yeah, and everybody else here

graduated first.

My grades are lousy, especially chemistry.

If I don't pass this final exam,

I lose my scholarship,

which means I can't be a doctor,

-which is the only thing...

-Slow down.

What are you good at?

What are you good at? When it comes

to studying, what works best for you?

I don't know.

Reading. I'm good at reading.

If all I ever did was read, I'd be just fine.

Instead, I got to sit through

all these boring lectures

-8 hours a day...

-Well, skip the lectures.

The professors don't care.

-That'll only make things worse.

-They can't be any worse than they are now.

Hey, what do I know? Maybe I'm just...

No, no, no. No, you're right.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-Joseph Lister.

-Pioneered the compound microscope,

and made surgeons wear clean gloves

and swab wounds with carbolic acid.

Newton's 2nd law.

An applied force on an object

equals the time change of rate

of its momentum.

-The formula for methane.

-No.

-Propane.

-No.

Finish them.

You don't need the book.

You got the book inside you.

Well, congratulations, Mr. Carson.

You have arrived with seconds to spare.

everyone, open your test booklets.

And begin.

Maybe we should ask. Right?

See you guys later.

-What? What? What?

-I got an A.

Now, you know,

now that I'm gonna be a neurosurgeon,

you shouldn't marry me

'cause I probably won't be home much.

Is that a promise?

Johns Hopkins accepts only 2 students

a year for neurosurgery residency.

This year, we have 1 25 applicants.

So, why we should take you?

I have good grades

and excellent recommendations.

As do all of our applicants.

Johns Hopkins is my first choice.

It's my only choice.

You have confidence.

Yes, that's good in a neurosurgeon.

But tell me something,

why did you decide

to become a brain doctor?

The brain...

It's a miracle.

Do you believe in miracles?

Not a lot of doctors do.

There's not a lot of faith among physicians.

I mean, we study reports,

we cut open bodes,

it's all very tangible, sold.

But the fact is, there's still so many things

we just can't explain.

I believe we're all capable of

performing miracles, up here.

I believe we're all blessed

with astonishing gifts and skills.

Look at Handel.

I mean, how can he compose something

like the Messiah in only 4 weeks?

This is the channel,

the source, the inspiration

for unbelievable accomplishments.

-You like classical music?

-I love it.

I do, too.

I think we'll get on quite well together.

Nursing supervisor to second floor, please.

Nursing supervisor to second floor, please.

Good morning.

Good morning.

You're late. Mr. Schwartz in 301

needs to be taken to surgery now.

No, I'm not an orderly. I'm the new intern.

Report to Dr. Farmington for rounds.

Dr. Carl, please call 2-4-8-8.

This young man has a disease

called von Hippel-Lindau.

It's very rare and causes multiple tumors

throughout the brain.

He has his second surgery tomorrow,

and it will most likely cripple him.

Carson, draw some blood.

Doctor, according to his charts,

he may be anemic.

-I don't think...

-Well, I don't care what you think.

You do as I say.

Don't think you're special, Carson,

simply 'cause there's no one like you

in this department.

If you don't change your attitude,

I'll get you kicked out of neurosurgery

faster than you can say, ''Yassuh.''

-Are you fished?

-Yes.

Fine.

Hey, buddy. Let's get you going here.

How was it?

Bennie?

Ben?

Good morning.

Good morning, Nurse Smith.

He was ht with a baseball bat.

He's deteriorating rapidly.

Please tell him that all the neurosurgeons

at Hopkins are away at a conference.

I am a resident. It is illegal for me to operate

without an attending physician present.

I can't reach Dr. Farmington,

and I can't reach Dr. Udvarhelyi.

If someone doesn't operate

on this man soon, he will de.

Go for it.

I'm not qualified to do a lobectomy.

Thy will be done, Lord. Amen.

Scalpel.

Foley.

Bipolar.

Cottonoids, please.

Radiology, please call to page.

Dr. Udvarhelyi wants to see you

in his office ASAP.

You operated on this man

without permission, without supervision.

You put this hospital

in serious legal jeopardy.

Had this man died,

your career would have been over.

You did very well, Dr. Carson.

I congratulate you

on taking the proper action,

in spite of its possible consequences.

Okay, come on, move, move. She's seizing.

-I want you to see it, too.

-Okay.

Okay, okay.

They'll give you something

to make you better.

-I don't have...

-Okay, all right.

-It's getting worse, Doctor.

-Just relax, relax.

Ben, have a look at this.

The patent's a 4-year-old

by the name of Cynthia Gonzalez.

She's been having seizures

since she was 18 months.

She now has about 100 a day.

They only affect her right side,

but they're so frequent,

she's forgetting how to walk, talk, eat, learn.

She's been diagnosed with Rasmussen's.

Her parents have been told

there's nothing to be done.

It's the only time she's seizure-free.

When she's awake,

she lives between convulsions.

She's been on 35 different medications

over the years.

Sometimes they're so strong,

she doesn't recognize me.

She's beautiful.

One doctor called her

a mentality-retarded epileptic.

Well, I'm here to tell you that she's not.

Do you really think you can help?

I can try.

The left side of Cynthia's brain

is like a troubled kid on a playground

beating up on her own twin.

Now, you control that kid,

and the playground's at peace.

How do we do that?

There's an operation

called a hemispherectomy.

It involves removing

the seizure-prone part of the brain.

-What?

-How will she be able to live or survive

-with half a brain?

-It's not as bad as it sounds.

We don't know why, but a child's brain

has a remarkable ability to recover.

It's as if the brain cells haven't decided

what they want to be when they grow up.

They take on the functions

of the diseased cells

and then eventually

restore the neurological function.

-You think there's a chance this will work?

-Yes. I do.

But it is a gamble.

There's no way around that.

If Cynthia survives,

she could be paralyzed on her right side.

The left side of the brain

controls the speech area.

She may lose her ability to speak.

Have you done

one of these operations yourself?

No. I have not.

How you feeling?

Wishing it were 4 months from now.

Why? So we can get less sleep

than we do now?

Good night.

Your mother called today.

She sad the movers are coming in a week.

She's so excited.

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