5. The Supervising Physician

A 28-years-old woman is admitted to Saint Howell´s ER with severe abdominal pain. She had been seen 24 hours earlier by the an ER physician. A blood sample had been taken and a CT showed no abdominal, pelvic or thorax lesions. She was sent home. She got worse during the night and was brought back by her mother next morning. A second colleague reviewed the blood results and said there was only an unspecific elevation of white blood cells. 

The patient and her mother are sent to see Dr. Tom Bardino. Later, Bardino goes to see the supervising physician telling him the patient has retroperitoneal panniculitis. He looks at him suspiciously only to hear Bardino emphasizing that if treated accordingly she should be fit within the next 24 hours. The patient was kept in the observation room for 24 hours and was given IV fluids and anti-inflammatory medication. After improving considerably the patient is sent home with a prescription and told to see her family physician after some days.

4. The Attending Physician

A 28-years-old woman is admitted to Saint Howell´s ER with severe abdominal pain. She had been seen by her colleague 24 hours before. A blood sample had been taken and a CT showed no abdominal, pelvic or thorax lesions. Her blood results are now in the doctor´s hands. After reviewing them she says there´s only an unspecific elevation of white blood cells which allows for no diagnosis. Feeling she will turn out an undiagnosable annoying patient she sends the young patient and her mother to see Dr. Tom Bardino. Later she learns some strange pathology had been diagnosed by him. She improved with medication and was sent home feeling well.

3. The Patient´s Mother

A young woman feels unwell and her mother takes her to the local hospital. There she is examined, blood samples are taken and a CT scan is done. They are told no problems show up and are sent home. However, they return the next day because her daughter had gotten worse through the night. The attending physician feels she will turn out an undiagnosable annoying patient and sends both of them to see Dr. Tom Bardino. 

He´s a one time big shot physician now forgotten from the world. The doctor sits in a dim lit office at the end of the ER hallway and says no word for several minutes after they had sat down in front of him. Her daughter gets angry and asks in a burst why the hell did he think they were sitting there for. 

He begins to ask questions. He appears to suspect of some emotional problems and seems to dig into her life. However, when he asks her something about her possibly being a victim of her sexual abuse mother protests out loud. He then carries on with a physical examination concluding he has a diagnosis. The ER supervising physician is told she has some strange pan-eculities and is started on intravenous fluids and anti-inflammatory drugs. Twenty-four hours later she´s well and they are sent home with a prescription. She remains well but her mother is ever so annoyed that the doctor implied her daughter is a victim of sexual abuse.

2. The Patient

A young woman aged 28 seeks evaluation at the emergency unit of the hospital because of abdominal pain for a few days. It is getting worse and causes her nausea. She is examined at the Saint Howell Hospital´s ER. Blood samples are taken and a brain CT scan shows no lesion. She waits for the blood tests results and as these show only an unspecific white cell count increase the attending physician sends her home. She comes back the next morning feeling worse. 

The pain has increased, she looks sweaty and nauseated. Feeling she will turn out as an undiagnosable annoying patient, the young woman and her mother are sent to see Dr. Tom Bardino. Dr. Bardino sits at room 26 by the end of the ER hallway holding his forehead with one hand while fumbling a pen over a sheet of paper with the other. He says nothing for a couple of minutes leading the patient to explode saying what the hell did he thing they were sitting there for. 

He asks her some questions about her life but when he implies that she may be victim of her father´s sexual abuse she sits terrified while her mother has a burst of anger. Next, she watches Dr. Bardino look away from her, mumbling unintelligible words but managing to make her understand he wants her to lie on the examining couch on her right side. He presses his hand toward her left lateral abdomen and she resists outcrying with huge pain. He asks her what does she feel and she replies she feels the worst pain of her life. He asks again what did she really feel in her mind and she says she feels a rough hand grabbing her from behind. 

Slowly he stands to a perfect upright stance, looks to the wall and says something strange about a pan-eculitis. He sees him walking out and later the ER´s supervising surgeon comes in telling her she will be kept in ER to receive treatment. Twenty-four hours later she is sent home with a prescription. She has no pain and no nausea. She feels just well. Mom is annoyed about her letting anyone mention her father.

Segredos de um Háquer da Cabeça

1. Autoconfiança

Confie somente no presente. Não confie na memória. Quando o cérebro busca informações guardadas nos arquivos, ele as edita para que se encaixem na história do momento. A memória não é gravada como por uma vídeo câmera. E também não confie no futuro. O cérebro recorre à memória para tomar decisões sobre o futuro. Assim como ele edita memórias, decisões são escolhidas para causar o menor constrangimento possível. Háquers da cabeça não confiam em nada disso. Háquers confiam no que veem, ouvem, percebem e sentem no exato presente. Em nada mais.

Os Segredos de um Háquer da Cabeça

1. Autoconfiança

Confie somente no presente. Não confie na memória. Quando o cérebro busca informações guardadas, ele as edita para que se encaixem nas circunstâncias do momento. A memória não é como se fosse obtida por uma vídeo câmera. E também não confie no futuro. O cérebro recorre à memória para a tomada de decisões. Assim como ele edita memórias, decisões são ecolhidas para causar o menor constrangimento possível. Háquers da cabeça não confiam em nada disso. Háquers confiam no que veem, ouvem, percebem e sentem no exato presente. Só. Nada mais.

1. Dr. Tom Bardino

Dr. Tom Bardino is a one time virtuoso physician who now sits at a dim lit office at the end of the hospital´s emergency hallway. He sees patients in cases where his front line colleagues fail to make the diagnosis. They feel like the case is lost anyhow, so why not give it a last shot? 

A young woman and her mother sit and wait for an opening sentence from Dr. Bardino. All they see is the strange doctor holding his forehead with one hand and fumbling a pen over a sheet of paper with the other. They begin to feel uneasy and after some minutes explode in a burst of anger asking what the hell did he think they sat there for. 

Bardino conjectures that a young woman complaining of severe abdominal pain showing no lesion in medical imaging and no clues in her blood work up could be under emotional distress. He asks her a series of personal life questions but these result negative. But when he asks her whether she sustained sexual abuse from her father, the young woman´s wide eyes and muted face are accompanied by an outrageous remark from mother sitting next to her. 

At this point Bardino is deeply connected to the patient´s inner workings. He falls into a dark space where he finds himself attached to a mass of entangled tissue about to engulf him. His seems unable to fire off the red immune darts that could defeat it. Later, Tom Bardino meets the emergency medical supervisor and tells him the woman suffers from retroperitoneal panniculitis. His colleague looks at him suspiciously only to hear Bardino emphasizing that if treated accordingly she should be fit within the next 24 hours.