Ed Gavagan: A story about knots and surgeons

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Maria Filekova Reviewer: Zuzana Piovarciova

You know, we wake up in the morning,

Poznáte to, ráno sa zobudíte,

you get dressed, put on your shoes,

oblečiete sa, obujete sa,

you head out into the world.

vyrazíte do sveta.

You plan on coming back, getting undressed,

Plánujete sa vrátiť, vyzliecť,

going to bed,

ísť do postele,

waking up, doing it again,

zobudiť sa, urobiť to znovu

and that anticipation, that rhythm,

a toto očakávanie a rytmus

helps give us a structure

nám pomáha vytvoriť si štruktúru,

to how we organize ourselves and our lives,

podľa ktorej si riadime svoj život

and gives it a measure of predictability.

a ktorá nám poskytuje istú mieru predvídateľnosti.

Living in New York City, as I do,

V New Yorku, kde bývam,

it's almost as if, with so many people doing so many things

robí toľko ľudí toľko vecí

at the same time in such close quarters,

súčasne a v takej blízkosti,

it's almost like life is dealing you extra hands

že je to skoro ako keď vám život rozdá

out of that deck.

z balíčka ešte nejaké karty navyše.

You're never, there's just, juxtapositions are possible

Môže nastať toľko kombinácií,

that just aren't, you don't think they're going to happen.

ktoré by vám nikdy ani nenapadli.

And you never think you're going to be the guy

A vôbec nemyslíte na to, že budete tým mužom,

who's walking down the street

ktorý ide po ulici

and, because you choose to go down one side or the other,

a na základe toho, či pôjde po ľavej alebo pravej strane,

the rest of your life is changed forever.

sa mu navždy zmení celý život.

And one night, I'm riding the uptown local train.

Raz v noci si tak idem metrom z centra.

I get on. I tend to be a little bit vigilant

Nastupujem. Bývam trochu ostražitý,

when I get on the subway.

keď cestujem metrom.

I'm not one of the people zoning out with headphones

Nepatrím k tým, ktorí si nasadia slúchadlá

or a book.

alebo zoberú knihu a vypnú okolie.

And I get on the car, and I look, and I

Nasadám do vagóna, rozhliadnem sa

notice this couple,

a všimnem si jeden pár,

college-aged, student-looking kids,

vyzerajú ako študenti,

a guy and a girl, and they're sitting next to each other,

chlapec a dievča, sedia vedľa seba,

and she's got her leg draped over his knee,

ona má prehodenú nohu cez jeho koleno

and they're doing -- they have this little contraption,

a pracujú na niečom - na taje malej vecičku,

and they're tying these knots,

a snažia sa uväzovať uzlíky,

and they're doing it with one hand,

robia to jednou rukou,

they're doing it left-handed and right-handed very quickly,

veľmi rýchlo ľavou aj pravou

and then she'll hand the thing to him and he'll do it.

a ona mu potom tú vec podá a viaže on.

I've never seen anything like this.

Nikdy predtým som niečo také nevidel.

It's almost like they're practicing magic tricks.

Ako keby si trénovali kúzelnícke triky.

And at the next stop, a guy gets on the car,

A na ďalšej zastávke nastúpi nejaký muž

and he has this sort of visiting professor look to him.

a vyzerá presne ako prednášajúci na vysokej.

He's got the overstuffed leather satchel

Má prepchatú koženú brašňu,

and the rectangular file case and a laptop bag

zložku s papiermi a tašku s notebookom

and the tweed jacket with the leather patches,

a tvídové sako s koženými záplatami na lakťoch

and — (Laughter) —

a — (Smiech) —

he looks at them, and then

pozrie sa na nich a potom

in a blink of an eye, he kneels down in front of them,

si okamžite pred nich kľakne

and he starts to say,

a hovorí:

"You know, listen, here's how you can do it. Look,

„Počujte, aha, takto sa to robí. Pozrite,

if you do this -- " and he takes the laces out of their hand,

ak urobíte toto..., “ berie im šnúrky z rúk

and instantly, he starts tying these knots,

a hneď začína viazať uzly

and even better than they were doing it, remarkably.

a robí to ešte oveľa lepšie ako oni, pozoruhodné.

And it turns out they are medical students

A vysvitne, že sú to študenti medicíny

on their way to a lecture about the latest

na ceste na prednášku o najnovších

suturing techniques, and he's the guy giving the lecture.

zašívacích technikách a on tam ide prednášať.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

So he starts to tell them, and he's like,

Začne im hovoriť:

"No, this is very important here. You know,

„Toto je veľmi dôležité. Viete,

when you're needing these knots,

keď budete tieto uzly potrebovať,

it's going to be, you know, everything's

viete, všetko sa bude diať

going to be happening at the same time, it's going to be --

naraz, bude to...

you're going to have all this information coming at you,

zo všetkých strán na vás budú hrnúť informácie,

there's going to be organs getting in the way,

budú vám zavadzať orgány,

it's going to be slippery,

budú sa vám šmýkať ruky

and

a

it's just very important that you be able to do these

je veľmi dôležité, aby vám tie uzly

beyond second nature, each hand, left hand, right hand,

išli úplne automaticky, každou rukou, ľavou, pravou,

you have to be able to do them without seeing your fingers."

musíte ich vedieť urobiť, aj keď si nebudete vidieť na prsty.“

And at that moment, when I heard that,

A v tej chvíli, keď som to počul,

I just got catapulted out of the subway car into a night

ma to v mysli vykatapultovalo z toho vagóna metra do noci,

when I had been getting a ride in an ambulance

v ktorej ma odvážali v sanitke

from the sidewalk where I had been stabbed

z chodníka, kde ma dobodali,

to the trauma room of St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan,

na jednotku intenzívnej starostlivosti Nemocnice sv. Vincenta v Manhattane,

and what had happened was

kvôli

a gang had come in from Brooklyn.

jednému gangu z Brooklynu.

As part of an initiation for three of their members,

Prijímali troch nových členov, ktorí museli v rámci iniciácie

they had to kill somebody,

niekoho zabiť

and I happened to be the guy walking down Bleecker Street

a ja som bol zhodou okolností tej noci ten muž idúci Bleeckerovou ulicou

that night,

prechádzajúci Bleeckerovou ulicou

and they jumped on me without a word.

a bez varovania sa na mňa vrhli.

One of the very lucky things,

Mojím šťastím bolo,

when I was at Notre Dame, I was on the boxing team,

že keď som bol na strednej, chodil som na box,

so I put my hands up right away, instinctively.

a tak som si hneď inštinktívne dal ruky do bojového postoja.

The guy on the right had a knife with a 10-inch blade,

Chlapík napravo mal nôž s 25-centimetrovou čepeľou

and he went in under my elbow,

a bodol ma priamo pod lakeť,

and it went up and cut my inferior vena cava.

prešiel vyššie a prerezal mi dolnú dutú žilu.

If you know anything about anatomy,

Ak viete niečo z anatómie,

that's not a good thing to get cut,

nie je dobré, ak vám ju prerežú

and everything, of course, on the way up,

a samozrejme ani cievy, čo sú vyššie

and then — I still had my hands up —

a potom — ruky som držal stále hore —

he pulled it out and went for my neck,

vytiahol ten nôž a a pokračoval smerom ku krku,

and sunk it in up to the hilt in my neck,

zabodol mi ho do krku až po rukoväť,

and I got one straight right punch

no ja som zasadil pravý hák

and knocked the middle guy out.

a zrazil stredného chlapíka na zem.

The other guy was still working on me,

Ten druhý stále ešte na mne pracujúc,

collapsing my other lung,

prebodávajúc mi pľúca,

and I managed to, by hitting that guy, to get a minute.

v tom sa mi podarilo udieť toho chlapíka, aby som získal trochu času.

I ran down the street and collapsed,

Utekal som dolu ulicou a následne skolaboval,

and the ambulance guys intubated me on the sidewalk

záchranári ma na chodníku intubovali

and let the trauma room know

a povedali úrazovke,

they had an incoming.

že majú príjem.

And one of the

Jedným

side effects of having major massive blood loss

z vedľajších účinkov veľkej straty krvi

is you get tunnel vision,

je tunelové videnie.

so I remember being on the stretcher

Pamätám si, že som bol na nosidlách,

and having a little nickel-sized cone of vision,

moje zorné pole bolo vo veľkosti 5-centovej mince,

and I was moving my head around

tak som hýbal hlavou dookola.

and we got to St. Vincent's,

Dostali sme sa do Nemocnice sv. Vincenta,

and we're racing down this hallway,

uháňajúc ako o závod po chodbe,

and I see the lights going,

vidím mihot svetiel.

and it's a peculiar effect of memories like that.

Takéto myšlienky majú na človeka zvláštny účinok.

They don't really go to the usual place that memories go.

Neuložia sa na zvyčajné miesto k ostatným spomienkam,

They kind of have this vault where they're stored in high-def,

ale ako keby boli uložené vo vysokom rozlíšení v nejakom trezore

and George Lucas did all the sound effects. (Laughter)

a George Lucas k nim spravil všetky zvukové efekty. (Smiech)

So sometimes, remembering them, it's like,

Takže keď si na ne znova spomínate,

it's not like any other kind of memories.

nie sú ako ostatné spomienky.

And I get into the trauma room,

Dostávam sa na úrazovku,

and they're waiting for me, and the lights are there,

čakajú na mňa, sú tam svetlá

and I'd been able to breathe a little more now,

a už sa mi dýcha trochu ľahšie,

because the blood has left, had been filling up my lungs

lebo krv je už preč, predtým sa mi hromadila v pľúcach

and I was having a very hard time breathing,

a ledva som dýchal,

but now it's kind of gone into the stretcher.

ale teraz sa nejako vsiakla do nosidiel.

And I said, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Povedal som: „Môžem nejako pomôcť?“

and — (Laughter) —

a — (Smiech) —

the nurse kind of had a hysterical laugh, and

sestrička sa začala hystericky smiať,

I'm turning my head trying to see everybody,

otáčal som hlavou, aby som všetkých videl

and I had this weird memory of being in college

a zrazu sa mi objavila táto zvláštna spomienka, ako som bol na vysokej škole

and raising,

a snažil sa vyberať peniaze

raising money for the flood victims of Bangladesh,

pre obete povodní v Bangladéši

and then I look over and my anesthesiologist

a vtom sa pozriem hore a anestéziológ

is clamping the mask on me, and I think,

mi nasadzuje masku a ja si myslím:

"He looks Bangladeshi," — (Laughter) —

„Vyzerá ako Bangladéšan,“ — (Smiech) —

and I just have those two facts, and I just think,

mám len tieto dva fakty, ale myslím si:

"This could work somehow." (Laughter)

„Možno sa to nakoniec podarí.“ (Smiech)

And then I go out, and

Potom stratím vedomie a

they work on me for the rest of the night,

lekári na mne pracujú po zvyšok noci.

and I needed about 40 units of blood to keep me there

Počas operácie som

while they did their work,

spotreboval asi 40 jednotiek krvi

and the surgeon took out about a third of my intestines,

a chirurg mi vyoperoval asi tretinu čriev,

my cecum, organs I didn't know that I had,

Cecum (začiatok hrubého čreva), orgány, o ktorých som ani netušil, že ich mám

and he later told me one of the last things he did

a neskôr mi povedal, že keď už bol skoro na hotový,

while he was in there was to remove my appendix for me,

tak mi ešte mi aj vyoperoval slepé črevo,

which I thought was great, you know,

čo si myslím,že je úžasné, viete,

just a little tidy thing there at the end. (Laughter)

na koniec mi to tam ešte aj upratal. (Smiech)

And I came to in the morning.

Prebral som sa až ráno.

Out of anesthetic, he had let them know

Keď som už nebol pod vplyvom anestetík, povedal,

that he wanted to be there, and he had given me

že tam ráno chce byť a dával mi

about a two percent chance of living.

asi 2 percentnú šancu na prežitie.

So he was there when I woke up,

Takže tam bol, keď som sa prebral

and it was, waking up was like

a zobúdzanie sa bolo ako

breaking through the ice into a frozen lake of pain.

keby sa podo mnou prelomil ľad a spadol som do zamrznutého jazera bolesti.

It was that enveloping,

Tá bolesť bola úplne všade

and there was only one spot that didn't hurt

a existovalo len jediné miesto, ktoré ma nebolelo,

worse than anything I'd ever felt,

viac ako čokoľvek ostatné,

and it was my instep,

a to bol môj nárt,

and he was holding the arch of my foot

a v tom mi už chirurg držal chodidlo

and rubbing the instep with his thumb.

a palcom mi masíroval nárt.

And I looked up, and he's like,

Pozrel som sa naňho a on mi hovorí:

"Good to see you,"

„Rád vás vidím.“

and I was trying to remember what had happened

Snažil som sa rozpamätať, čo sa stalo,

and trying to get my head around everything,

pochopiť to,

and the pain was just overwhelming, and he said,

bolesť bola úplne zdrvujúca a povedal:

"You know, we didn't cut your hair. I thought

„Neostrihali sme vám vlasy. Myslel som si,

you might have gotten strength from your hair like Samson,

že možno čerpáte silu z vlasov ako Samson

and you're going to need all the strength you can get."

a budete potrebovať všetku silu, čo máte."

And in those days, my hair was down to my waist,

V tých časoch som nosieval vlasy po pás,

I drove a motorcycle, I was unmarried,

jazdil som na motorke, nebol som ženatý,

I owned a bar, so those were different times. (Laughter)

vlastnil som bar, to boli to iné časy. (Smiech)

But

Takže som

I had three days of life support,

strávil tri dni na podporných prístrojoch

and everybody was expecting,

a každý čakal,

due to just the massive amount of what they had had to do

že keďže mi museli toľko toho operovať,

that I wasn't going to make it,

tak to neprežijem,

so it was three days of

takže tri dni

everybody was either waiting for me to die or poop,

všetci čakali, že buď zomriem alebo sa vykakám

and — (Laughter) —

a — (Smiech) —

when I finally pooped, then that somehow,

keď som sa nakoniec vykakal,

surgically speaking, that's like you crossed some good line,

v chirurgii je to ako keby som prekročil nejakú dobrú hranicu

and, um — (Laughter) —

a — (Smiech) —

on that day, the surgeon came in

v ten deň prišiel chirurg a

and whipped the sheet off of me.

odhrnul mi prikrývku.

He had three or four friends with him,

Boli s ním traja alebo štyria kamaráti,

and he does that, and they all look,

odhrnul mi prikrývku a všetci sa pozreli

and there was no infection,

a nemal som žiadnu infekciu,

and they bend over me and they're poking and prodding,

zohli sa nado mňa, rýpali a štuchali do mňa

and they're like, "There's no hematomas, blah blah,

a hovorili: „Nemá hematómy, blá blá,

look at the color," and they're talking amongst themselves

pozrite sa na tú farbu,“ a rozprávali sa medzi sebou

and I'm, like, this restored automobile

a bol som tam ako keby som bol nejaké opravené auto

that he's just going, "Yeah, I did that." (Laughter)

a chirurg hovorí: „Hej, to som urobil ja.“ (Smiech)

And it was just,

A bolo to jednoducho úžasné,

it was amazing, because these guys are high-fiving him

pretože títo doktori mu gratulovali,

over how good I turned out, you know? (Laughter)

ako dobre som sa vydaril. (Smiech)

And it's my zipper, and I've still got the staples in

A stále som bol plný stehov a svoriek

and everything.

a všetkého.

And

A

later on, when I got out

neskôr, keď ma pustili domov

and the flashbacks and the

a záblesky minulosti

nightmares were giving me a hard time,

a nočné mory mi strpčovali život,

I went back to him

som sa vrátil k tomu chirurgovi

and I was sort of asking him,

a spýtal sa ho:

you know, what am I gonna do?

„Čo s tým budem robiť?“

And I think, kind of, as a surgeon, he basically said,

A keďže bol chirurg, v podstate mi povedal:

"Kid, I saved your life.

„Chlapče, zachránil som ti život.

Like, now you can do whatever you want, like,

Teraz môžeš robiť, čo chceš,

you gotta get on with that.

ďalej musíš ísť už sám.

It's like I gave you a new car

To ako keby som ti dal nové auto

and you're complaining about not finding parking.

a ty by si sa sťažoval, že si nevieš nájsť parkovacie miesto.

Like, just, go out, and, you know, do your best.

Proste choď a, veď vieš, snaž sa zo všetkých síl.

But you're alive. That's what it's about."

Si nažive. To je podstatné.“

And then I hear, "Bing-bong," and the subway doors

A potom tom momente počujem zvuk zatvárajúcich sa dverí vagónu v metre

are closing, and my stop is next, and I look at these kids,

ďalšia zastávka je tá moja, pozriem sa na tých študentov

and I go, I think to myself,

a ako idem si pomyslím:

"I'm going to lift my shirt up

„Vyhrniem si košeľu

and show them," — (Laughter) —

a ukážem im jazvy," — (Smiech) —

and then I think, "No, this is the New York City subway,

ale potom si pomyslím: „Nie, toto je newyorské metro,

that's going to lead to other things." (Laughter)

pomysleli by si o mne divné veci.“ (Smiech)

And so I just think, they got their lecture to go to.

A poviem si, že musia ísť na prednášku.

I step off, I'm standing on the platform,

Vystupujem, stojím na nástupišti

and I feel my index finger

a ukazovákom

in

sa dotknem

the first scar that I ever got,

svojej úplne prvej jazvy,

from my umbilical cord,

z pupočnej šnúry,

and then around that, is traced

okolo ktorej sa tiahne

the last scar that I got

posledná jazva, ktorá mi zostala

from my surgeon,

od môjho chirurga

and I think that, that chance encounter

a pomyslím si, že to náhodné stretnutie

with those kids on the street with their knives

s tými deckami s nožmi na ulici

led me

ma priviedlo

to my surgical team,

k môjmu tímu chirurgov

and their training

a ich tréningu

and their skill

zručnosti

and, always, a little bit of luck

a, ako vždy, troška šťastia

pushed back against chaos.

zatlačená do pozadia pred chaosom.

Thank you. (Applause)

Ďakujem. (Potlesk)

(Applause)

(Potlesk)

Thank you. Very lucky to be here. Thank you. (Applause)

Ďakujem. Mám veľké šťastie, že tu môžem byť. Ďakujem. (Potlesk)