Her Celebrity Surgeon. Kate Hardy

soon as Sophie had opened Katrina’s abdomen and suctioned out the blood, she groaned. ‘Her spleen’s split completely in two. Gluing isn’t an option.’ She nodded at the screen where Katrina’s spleen was visible.

      ‘Agreed. It’s going to have to come out,’ Charlie said.

      ‘Her BP’s dropping,’ the anaesthetist said.

      ‘OK. I want four units of O-negative on standby, please. In the meantime, we need to filter and reuse her blood,’ Sophie said. ‘I’m doing an open operation, not laparoscopic,’ she added to Charlie. ‘Do I need to explain my decisions to you?’

      ‘Later. Just do it,’ Charlie said.

      Sophie increased the size of her incision so she could perform the operation. To her relief, there were no further complications and the rest of the operation was textbook—grasping the splenic pedicle between the fingers of one hand, ligating the splenic artery, splenic vein and short gastric arteries, then removing the spleen, while trying not to damage the tail of the pancreas or the splenic flexure of the colon.

      ‘Would you like to close?’ she asked Charlie.

      ‘As I’m assisting?’

      ‘As your suturing is neater than mine,’ she corrected.

      Was that the ghost of a smile in her eyes? Or her idea of an olive branch? Whatever. He nodded and stitched the wound.

      ‘How is she?’ Derek asked, as soon as Sophie came out of Theatre.