The Conspiratorial

If you were ever sick enough to go to a hospital in San Diego, chances were pretty good that you ended up at a facility in the Scripps network. Scripps has 5 huge hospitals, 10 clinics, 9 medical centers. In addition there were numerous affiliate outpatient sites and well being centers.

According to Scripps’ literature, ”patients can expect the most advanced technology, renowned medical expertise and complete patient support synonymous with Scripps Health. Our World of Healing resources help patients address their health concerns and lead healthy lifestyles.”

Both Raymond and Sandra worked in clinical trials. Sandra loved her work and felt a true sense of satisfaction because of the help she was giving. Raymond never would admit it, but he worked for Scripps clinical research because he wanted to be near Sandra. Whatever his primary motivation, he did find his work fascinating and engaging.

Part of clinical research is of course running trials on new, possible breakthrough drugs and medical treatments. Clinical research was an important part of making sure new drugs and procedures were safe. Scripps employees who volunteered to run these clinical trials stood a very good chance to gain promotions. Trials that were successful had to be published and that publication became the primary marketing resource to get the drugs on the market. New clinical studies were posted almost daily so the art of picking and choosing which one to get involved with was primarily determined by which ones you thought would succeed and which ones would fail. Today, the newest clinical trial involved the h5n1 virus – bird flu.

Sandra grabbed the posting and immediately filled out the form. For once, her consideration had nothing to do with career advancement. She walked down to the directors temporary office. The director visited this facility once a week. She handed the application directly to Chris. Chris Van Gorder was Scripps CEO. He was instrumental in getting Sandra hired and had what you might call a professional crush on her. While Sandra did not abuse that relationship, she was able to get just about anything she wanted. She handed the application to Chris and said emphatically, “Chris, put me on this team.”

Chris looked up, a little incredulous. “Ok, done. But, Sandra, it’s just the flu. Why do you want this. We do flu trial every year and you’ve never asked for it.”

Sandra fumbled for words because she knew Chris was right. “I know, I just want to lay low this summer and this looks like an easy one. Can you put Raymond on it to? Oh…and, it’s not just the flu – it’s SARS.”

Still perplexed but agreeble, Chris put her application in his folder. “Get me his app. I don’t see a problem.”

“Great! Thanks.” Sandra left the office and immediately started filling out Raymond’s application. Before she left the building she dropped Raymond’s application off in Chris’ office.

 On the way home, she dialed Raymond on her cell phone. He answered on the first ring. Before he even got to say hello, Sandra was talking. “Raymond, you’re working on the clinical trials for h5n1. I just thought you should know.”

“Oh?” responded Raymond. “How did I get on that list? Sounds actually kind of boring.”

“Not this time. Meet me at Shades. We have a lot to talk about. Say five-ish” With that, Sandra hung up. She hadn’t felt this exhilarated in a long time. Driving though side streets, her GPS was expertly guiding her to a place she’d only been to a handful of times. As her mind started wandering, she had to ask herself why she would pick a cafe well off the beaten path to meet up with Raymond. She rationalized that it was quiet and charming, she loved the view. Not a single thought that surfaced indicated that there was a growing attraction to Raymond. She pulled into the Shades parking lot at 4:45, scoped the terrace for good seats sat down and ordered a glass of wine. As she settled, she looked up and across the room was someone waving at her. It was Raymond.

Sandra stood back up with her glass of wine and made her way across the terrace. “Wow, you got here quick.”

“I actually wasn’t that far away. I love this place. How do you know about it?” Raymond asked.

Sandra actually had to think about that. “I think I had a date here once.” She really wasn’t interested in going too much into why this place. “It really just popped into my head, so I thought, why not? And here we are. Anyway….”

Raymond interrupted, “Ok, what did you sign me up for and why?”.

Sandra opened her folder. All of a sudden, it was not seeming like the fantastic idea that she first ran with. Not wanting to seem ambivalent, she forwarded the document to Raymond. “This is a clinical trial that is testing the effacacy of a new vaccine on h5n1. Sars.”

Raymond was still puzzled. “So?”

“Well,” said Sandra, “there are two things that caught my eye. One is that there is a live viral component to the trial. Two, they’re testing a inhalent form of the vaccination. They already have some positive test results for the injectible form. We could get some of the live specimens for your, you know, your project.”

Raymond burst out laughing. “Seriously? The other day you ready to walk out and have no part of it. Now you want to procure one of the most deadly flu strains. I think I’ll pass, thank you very much. I kind of like this thing I have become very fond of called… l-i-f-e”. He spelled out the letters for the word life. On top of that, I kind of like my job. What are you thinking?”

“Well,” admitted Sandra “to be honest, I think your microscope and frequency radio thing-a-ma-bob have got me excited. I really did not put much more thought into it than that. Do you think this is something we could work on?”

Raymond only heard one word in that entire question. The word “we”. That was all he need to get excited about the project too. “Ok, if we do this, you realize that we are both putting our jobs on the line? Do you really want to do this?”

The excitement was building up again for Sandra. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained. But first, I need to understand that equipment of yours. We have three weeks before these trials begin. How much can you show me in that period of time?”

Raymond considered the opportunity to be with Sandra for the next three weeks. “Well, there’s a lot of work to do. We have to establish our own clinical trial, figure out how to conduct our own tests under the radar and bring you up to speed on the operation of the Rife machine and microscope. That’s a LOT of work for the next three weeks. Are you game? really?” At this point, Raymond was waffling between the actual project which he didn’t want to do and the prospect of having Sandra’s undivided attention 24/7 for the next three weeks and possibly for the entire summer.

“Let’s do it!” Sandra blurted out. And thus, Raymond’s decision was made for him.