Surgery
Maura decided the reason she didn't like working on live people was the other live people involved. She became a doctor to make people's lives better. The thought of having to tell someone she couldn't save their loved one was too much to bear sometimes. She was too soft-hearted to deny Jane when she looked at her with that pleading look she only got when something was an emotional crisis. And, it seemed, TJ had a similar look. She made him keep it short, but she couldn't deny him a minute with Travis before the surgery. She used the time to pull her assistants aside and give them instructions, giving TJ some illusion of privacy in the process.
Wanting to get in and out as quickly as she could while still being thorough, she had no intentions of going into long explanations once she started. She needed everyone to understand what their role was before they began. Troy had practiced on Nell while Maura prepped Travis, making sure the blood supply she'd started with was doing it's job, replacing both improvised chest tubes and making sure the oxygen and defibrillator were within reach. He seemed confident in his ability to keep Travis still. April was tasked with holding back the muscle and tissue in order to allow Maura to work. Casey was to keep the suction going for the same purpose and to monitor Travis' blood needs. Maura had asked Robert to be present as a back-up in case she needed more hands or needed some tool she hadn't managed to think of that only Robert would be able to get for her fast enough.
Travis had been in and out of consciousness and, as she was giving him the local anesthesia, she spoke quietly to him directly, much like she might talk to one of her victims on the autopsy table, assuring them she was going to find out what happened to them. She knew she'd never been a particularly reassuring person, but she tried. "I'm going to do everything I can to make this better for you, Travis. But, I won't lie. It's going to hurt. A lot. I need you to stay with me, okay? You stay with me and I'll make sure you get your chance to be pampered by a Hammond. I'll make this go as quickly as I can. I promise."
Having done all that she could for him without cutting him open, it was now time to take that final step. When the members of her team were in place, she nodded to Troy, indicating he should immobilize Travis, and then began.
The procedure was an anterior thoracotomy; she made the incision through the fifth interspace, motioning for April to get in there even as the trapped blood began to pour out of the thoracic cavity. This was when time was of the utmost essence. She had to work quickly to clear the clotting, close the hole in his lung, repair the damaged tissue and blood vessels that she could while clearing away the tissue that would die later from the blast effect, and making sure that she got everything repaired she could because was only getting one shot at this. She couldn't go in and open him up again later to clean-up the way most modern trauma surgeons would these days. She was setting post-GSW surgery back about three decades.
And she was doing it all while the patient was awake and able to scream from the pain as she worked on one of his more vital organs.
Maura just had to focus, block the sounds of Travis' distress, and get them both through this with clean, precise work that would hold up to the stress and trauma both the recovery process and their every day demands would put on the body. Later she could give in to the private emotional affects of afternoon's work and the toll working on live patients always took on her. But for now, she remained focused, drawing on the same cool reserves that had earned her the hated nickname 'Queen of the Dead' among those in Homicide that followed Detective Crow and his ideas.
By the time it was over, patient, doctor, and assistants were all exhausted. The floor looked like a battlefield with the amount of blood Travis had lost. But, Maura was confident in her work. Now it was a matter of waiting to see how well Travis' body responded to the procedure, waiting to see if his system stabilized. Mostly, just a lot of waiting.