Actually there are two types of monitoring going on in the same time. While Anna is testing the patient, I move again in the room to see how Sarah is doing. In continuous contact with Katharina, she is checking on the neurological signals which she is collecting from electrodes she has placed on the patient’s finger, foot, etc.
The suction device of the surgeon is sending continuously a low current through the brains, which Sarah can monitor on the other side of the body. The surgeon trusts her to decipher the information through the noise and to alert her if things turns awry —Sarah has her back, she is her long-time side-kick. The professional relation between the two women is a strong bond, as they are both confronting death and motor functions crippling. As I take a photograph of the screen, there is some benign trouble on the side of the patient: a shivering that will last for a few minutes, “most probably caused by the stimulation.” She will send me a better picture for the drawing, she says —but I like that one, it looks so spectacular.
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