As a patient he was there, looking at a fixed point, impressed to see and hear ten people talking about and surrounding him … But they do not ask anything.

His fastidious pneumonia had become something strange that sounded as “collapsed”, and that worsens, so he was admitted at ICU. He had an intense suffocation and he couldn´t sleep. He was nervous and anxious thinking how a simple surgery of a fistula had complicated.

He discussed during the whole night with the staff of nursing because of the claustrophobic mask of non-invasive ventilation. At dawn he returned again, this time with the auxiliaries in the morning who insisted on doing the hygiene with cold water. He refused because he thought it wasn´t the most important thing at that time.

At the same time, the medical staff was meeting in another room.

The man who would demand explanations about his lungs was unaware that precisely that day, a clinic and practice session of Tomography by electrical impedance had scheduled. The Hospital had just bought the first unit and the staff had to learn how it worked.

By midmorning he observed how the staff was monitoring other patient. He was sedated and asleep, very close to him. The open design allowed to view the rest of patients. Although fatigue overcame him he was observed the entire scene.

He asked: “What the hell happens today…all the doctors there concentrate?”. Curiosity became obsessed to the point of avoid him sleep.

After a while, they ended their task and conversed in group. Suddenly they went to his bed. There was one who seemed the chief told him that they would put a belt in the chest, without pain, which let them see how his lungs were working. “You had no fear, the system is safe”.

The monitor screen started to show images, participants commented on the movements of air entering and being distributed by the lungs, how they varied depending on the position of the patient and of the changes that were in the ventilator.


There was one who ran of the most of explanations. The other assenting with their heads, or asked about that machine. He seemed sure of what he said. All spoke of him, his lungs, but no one looked at him.

Images in dynamic motion, curves, smart tools, screenshots, distribution of air, areas of collapse, over-stretching… He heard words and jargon which he had never heard before, but he was sure that they spoke of him. The experience was ending by the tone of their words, some arguments were repeated. They seemed tired. A longer delay, we must visit other patients… And they began to go out of the Box.


The man who would demand explanations about his lungs was already prepared. He removed the face mask with fury and said: “-To me!, now I play!, I want you to explain me in a way that I can understand it!”.

She, her doctor, pulled her as a more sensitive and humane facet, and gave all the possible explanations until the man understood.

And he begged: “- Can you leave the machine here awhile, to my view?. The answer was obviously accompanied by an emotional smile.

Finally John, the man who demanded explanations about his lungs, could definitely rest and felt asleep.

@carlescalaf
Story based on real events.