Thomas freaks out.

As I continued reading Godplayer, new developments both in the relationship of Thomas and Cassi, and in the medical scandal occurred:

After an evening of drama and worry, Cassi decides to confirm her suspicions of Thomas’ drug abuse. So, the next morning, after Thomas leaves for work, Cassi enters his study and takes a look around. The medicine cabinet is clean, but she finds an orange pill on the floor, one Thomas had dropped that very morning. Cassi found the pill to be Dexedrine, potentially harmless but easily abused. Though she tries to convince herself that its nothing to worry about, Cassi then goes to Patricia, Thomas’ mother, to talk about an intervention.
At the hospital, Thomas and George give their grand rounds. Much to Thomas’ distaste, George presents a cardiac case in which the patient has AIDS. This is an outrage to Thomas because it is another OR bed being taken by a patient who will most likely die, while Thomas has a line of people who are perfectly healthy aside from their cardiac condition requiring surgery.

Thomas freaks out.

After grand rounds, Thomas confronts George about this, and almost beats him up he’s so angry. Leftover from the drinking an pills the night before, Thomas’ headache gets worse and has to leave…after he leaves, however, George and Ballantine have a secret conversation…something about George noticing Thomas’ strange behavior lately…they then wonder if Thomas suspects anything…

hmm…

Tragically…Like the Titanic.

While I continued reading Godplayer by Robin Cook, I got a glimpse into Cassi and Thomas’ home life. They live in an extravagant home 40 minutes away from the hospital. Thomas’ mother lives in the guest room above the garage, which is separate from the rather large house.
Thomas’ mother drives him nuts. She complains like an old rich lady (which is pretty much what she is) and treats the housekeeper poorly.
At dinner, (the same evening) Thomas is so enraged by his mother (who blatantly pointed out that he used to have a clubfoot) that he storms off to his study, grabs a scotch and takes two pills…a ritual that has become routine in the past few months. Cassi, left alone at the dinner table with her mother-in-law, is worried. She’d seen Thomas do this before. Once she does go upstairs to check on him, he is slightly off-kilter and has slurred speech--also episodes that she had been trying to ignore. She coaxes him to go to bed with her because he looked tired and stressed…but before he joins her, he takes yet another pill...oh dear.
The rest of the evening doesn’t need to be described in detail. I’ll just say their relationship isn’t what it used to be.
This drug addiction that is introduced in this portion of the book gives us a new view of the main relationship of the novel. Not only is Thomas arrogant and short-tempered, but he also relies on pills and alcohol to calm himself down. Once Cassi finds out, her fears of being left will most likely resurface…all in all, this relationship is headed downward…tragically…like the Titanic.

Research Topic

Question: Should euthanasia be a choice between a patient and his/her doctor based on the patient’s condition, or should it be controlled by the government uniformly?
Source 1:
Wolfe, Warren. “Choosing Death: Assisted Suicide_ _Three Lives, Three Journeys.” Star Tribune 27 Feb. 1994, pp. 1A+ . www.startribune.com.
This source provided specific examples of how doctors, in some cases let patients who are dying die, and provide no effort to ease their pain. This contributes to my topic because some would argue that it is the fault of some doctors that patients ask to be lethally injected, making the suffering argument invalid on the opposing side.
Source 2:
Worsnop, Richard L. “Assisted Suicide.” CQ Researcher Feb 1992: 147-163. SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source. Edina High School. 8 Dec. 2008 http://www.sirs.com.
This article discusses the motives for providing assisted suicide. Sympathy for the patient and the debate between the legitimacy of the act are addressed. There have also been votes issued on whether or no the doctor could assist if the patient had six or less months to live. Overall, this article explore different factors of what an assisted suicide timeline would look like, and the decisions that are able to be made based on the patient’s condition.

A Depressed Fish Named Doris

This week on Godplayer (by Robin Cook…incase you’ve forgotten…), still nothing happened. Honestly, the other medical thrillers started with more action and sustained that action throughout the rest of the book. They were like a perpetual adrenaline rush. Anyhow, we got a special insight to Cassi’s diabetes and how her insulin injections had become a focus of her life. Now days, however, she doesn’t mind. Though she’s still a little self conscious, she still feels as though her disease is a part of her and should be monitored by her system of doing things. flashback…at the prom in high school, Cassi was asked out by the most popular guy in school but didn’t go because her parents thought she was getting sloppy with her treatment. Ever since then, she’s made it a point to keep up with it.
Then, after a trip down memory lane, Cassi goes to get Dr. Kingsley, her husband in his office. While there, we encounter Thomas’ crabby receptionist, Doris, which is funny because I personally have a depressed fish named Doris. Cassi couldn’t help but wonder why Thomas had kept Doris around all these years if she was always in such a bad mood…do I smell drama? Affair? Thomas then emerges from his office after convincing a patient to get surgery, a strong ability of Thomas’ that Cassi admires…his toned body helps a little too. The couple then walk to the ICU for Dr. Kingsley’s final check on his patients, but being in a room with so many machines and few patients reawakens Cassi’s reservations of her upcoming eye surgery. Thomas’ seriousness is still engraved into his face as the two leave the hospital…
YAY!