IV #2
Goran looked at her blankly. "You know that takes years of study?"
"Yes, I know. We have time to practice, I'm not asking people to become experts on genetic sequencers, just to know how to more or less do the analyses that are most needed right now," Nika explained to him.
Goran thought, then nodded. "That can be arranged. But we have a little problem that will need to be solved. And very quickly."
Nika looked at him. He seemed uncomfortable, yet he stood calmly surrounded by people waiting for him to speak. It seemed he could handle attention and pressure, and Nika thought they'd done well to choose him as representative. Her train of thought was interrupted by Goran:
"We have several diabetics." He looked at the gathered. "I'm one of them, and I know of three more with the same diagnosis who are currently in the rooms above us."
He took out a rectangular black container that until then had hung from the belt at his hip.
He opened the lid and showed a small vial of crystalline liquid on a small holder, as well as a few needles and a clear syringe, all packed in a practical way inside the container.
Goran took out the vial for everyone to see and said:
"This is insulin. I have to inject it once a day so I don't end up in a coma. There's enough insulin in this vial for two weeks, but that's only a personal dose."
He put the vial back in its place in the little box, which he then carefully closed and hung where it had been.
Then he looked at the gathered and explained: "Every diabetic is different. The dose I use may not be enough for another person, or it may be too much. The problem is that we can't know that until everyone is registered. The result of not taking insulin is the same in any case — a coma or death."
Goran paused dramatically so people would grasp what he was talking about. Then, after a short pause, Nika stated:
"Then we have to list all the people with diabetes."
"Certainly, that has to be done, but that doesn't solve the problem."
"What do you mean?" Nika looked at him.
"As I said, my personal dose is enough for about 14 days. After that, if I don't replenish the insulin supply, I fall into a coma." He looked at them calmly.
"Ugh, that's not good." She grew dejected, and the people murmured.
For a few minutes everyone talked loudly, proposing, forming theories that were immediately refuted by facts. Goran meanwhile stood calmly and waited for the people to settle. Finally, Nika brought a little calm:
"Wait, I have an idea." Then she hurried off down the wide cave passage.
The people looked at each other and, after a few indecisive seconds, followed Nika, who was clearly hurrying somewhere with quick steps.
It took a while as they hurried through the dimly lit cave, but finally they reached the exit and the brightly lit entrance of the clinic.
Nika looked for Vlasta, who was sitting at the reception desk taking notes while Erik gently massaged her shoulders.
Vlasta was surprised by the unexpected visit of a crowd of people and looked at them in confusion.
"Vlasta, do we have any insulin in the medical fridge?" Nika asked her.
"Insulin, you say? Hmm…" Vlasta thought, but then shook her head. "No, I don't think I saw insulin anywhere. Why?" She looked at the gathered people.
"Because we have people who will soon need insulin," Nika answered shortly.
"Hmm…" Vlasta was still pensive. "Insulin is produced from various bacteria in a laboratory, but that's a long job. You have to isolate the necessary bacteria, grow cultures, and induce them to produce insulin."
She looked at the gathered. "That's all I know about it. I've never worked on such projects."
Nika seemed pensive. She'd hoped they had insulin in the medical fridge, and now this was a problem.
The only person besides her who could train people to work in the laboratory needed insulin and could die if he didn't get it.
Not to mention the remaining people. She clutched her head.
Nothing but problems since she'd gotten up, her head already ached.
She looked at the gathered, who awaited her words, and it crossed her mind that people were just waiting for some kind of order.
Like sheep. Someone needed to direct them, spur them on, or tell them what to do.
People, when they don't know what to do, always expect someone to guide them.
She sighed. She wasn't there to judge people, but to solve problems she could influence.
Goran then cleared his throat, seeking attention.
"When they diagnosed me with diabetes, I educated myself as much as I could about the disease and the medicine."
He paused, remembering. "The disease was diagnosed in the 1920s, and the medicine, after some struggles over purity, was put into use. The point is that this first version of the medicine was obtained from animals by a method of extraction and purification and, finally, humanization.
Not to go into detail, the first doses of insulin were obtained from pigs."
People murmured. Goran had expected it and let them discuss what he'd told them. When they'd calmed a little, he continued with the story:
"The problem with that insulin was that it had to be purified and that it had a short shelf life. Then they began experimenting with how to make a longer-lasting version, that is, so that the injected insulin lasted as long as possible.
There they used insulin they extracted from humans and mixed with the earlier animal kind, forming a totally new version of insulin. Are you following me?"
He looked at the gathered, at which many nodded in confirmation.
That satisfied him, so he continued: "The whole point is that they extracted insulin from humans. Today's version of insulin is produced in a laboratory."
He nodded toward Vlasta. "Precisely by the process the lady explained. That process takes a while, I think I read that the whole process takes about 45 days. I don't have that much time. But there's one possibility that can buy me and the others time until the first doses are made in the laboratory.
Human insulin extracted directly from the pancreas." There he stopped.
People murmured again, and then a clear female voice from the crowd asked:
"Wait, are you proposing we take a pancreas out of people?" The girl sounded shocked. More murmuring and looks directed at Goran. He laughed.
"There's no need to extract the whole pancreas. It's enough just to draw out some insulin."
"How?" The same voice again.
"With a needle and a syringe," Vlasta cut in.
Everyone looked at her. She continued: "The process this yellow-haired one is proposing isn't too complicated. You need a long needle to draw some insulin from the pancreas. The process is simple, but unpleasant, and can take a while,
because it has to be done carefully so as not to disrupt the pancreas's function."