Empty Synapse

     It was strange that my dad looked tired.  Usually when he's on a case, he becomes driven.  But I could see he was stuck.  He came and talked to me about the bodies that came in.  It all started the same, neurological disfunction and then slowly communication between all cells stopped and finally death.  It started out as a loss of communication between the neurons or nerve cells.  For some reason the chemical communicators or neurotransmitters were not spreading through the synapse.  The synapse is the space between the neurons and it is in this space where chemicals are released and messages transmitted.  He suggested botulism and they tested for it.  But everything came out negative.  They suited up not knowing anything other than all the victims lived within a five mile radius of the hospital. They performed autopsies and ran tests and control tests. Nothing, Nada, Zilch!  He worked for a microbiology lab that often helped the CDC with local food contamination issues.  He had quite a reputation for solving where the origin and what the vector was for most local airborne or food borne problems in Star Valley.  But today he had no clue where to go from here.
     I went to my room and left my dad unloading a packed brief case full of the laboratory results he accumulated during the day.  Surely he would be able to piece the puzzle together with all that data and find the vector in this array of miscellaneous papers.  He always said that if you remain calm and look at the clues the answers would surface.  Just never give up was his motto.
     I was thinking about space and how important space actually was.  What looked like nothing between the neurons was actually filled with everything the neuron needed to make the organism react, move and feel. Our cells needed to communicate to function as tissues which make up organs which make up organ systems which make up the organism.  Without communication we're just an island of single cells.  But evolution has caused our cells to become so specialized that cells cannot function alone in our bodies. The chemical neurotransmitters released by enzyme interactions and ion channels opening and closing was the only reason we sent signals through our nervous system.

BeaNspirations:
Hey dear friends, would you like to try and make an ending to this story.  Outrageous ideas welcomed. I'm visualizing this whole scenario and seeing nerve cells with it's one eyed head like ganglion and long tail like axon.  What would make it unable to connect with other nerve cells?  Have the Azuki BeaNs come in and help with this dilemma. Happy writing!

Prefix:
Neuro- means nerves!
   

Follow Your Dream

     Carrie always felt responsible for her mother's health, not because she caused her pain, but just that she felt if she wasn't there, maybe her mother would die.  Her older sister left for college and never turned back.  Sure Laura comes home for a week here and there, but even when she returns, she's meeting up with friends or shadowing doctors and planning her future.  Carrie looks up to her sister, always proud of her accomplishments and yet feels she and her mother have been abandoned by her too.
     "Carrie, where's my pill," she hears pain in her mother's voice and runs to get the nitroglycerine tablets.  Her mother must be having chest pains again.  As she watches her mother put the tiny pill under her tongue, she too relaxes when she sees the creases lining her mother's forehead and framing her eyes begin to relax.
     "Oh thank you Carrie, that wasn't too bad.  I'm much better now."
    " Mom, I'm setting you up with another doctor's appointment," Carrie told her mother.
     "No, her mother replied  "he's just going to say the same thing.  Diet and exercise, diet and exercise for you, but you know Carrie, we all die.  I'm not afraid of that."
     " Yea, but you can try to live a healthier life, couldn't  you?  You have to eat what I cook for you."
Carrie pleaded.
     "Hey Carrie," her mother's voice had already changed the subject, "did you call Aunt Doris?  She's a college advisor you know.  You're a junior now, you have to start thinking about where you want to go and she might be able to help you get a scholarship.  You're such a good student," Mother beamed.
     "I was thinking I could just go to junior college first, I really don't know what I want to do," Carrie said.
    "Ok, but you think about it," mother said as she rested her head back, feeling tired again.
     Carrie felt tired too.  She went into her room and stared at the ceiling.  She then noticed something swinging on the fan above her bed.  First she thought they were spiders, but when she stood on her bed, she noticed they were little beans.  When they started to talk she felt dizzy and sat back down. They jumped on her shoulder and Hope-BeaN whispered, "Calm down, we're here for you.  We're BioBeaNs and we're looking for compassionate smart kids to not lose hope or direction.  The world needs you."
     "I haven't lost hope.  I'm hoping everyday that my mom won't have a heart attack.  I buy healthy foods for her to eat and try to get her to walk, but it's so hard.  I never lose hope though," she countered.
     "I'm not talking about the hope you have for your mom, I'm talking about you," Hope BeaN said smiling.
     "But don't you think she needs me," Carrie whispered.
     "She's told you to go away to college, she wants you to follow your dreams," Hope BeaN reminded her.
     "But what if she dies when I'm away," Carrie said, her own heart aching.
     "Carrie, if you trust me, I can show you what's inside your mom.  This can help you to see, she won't die of her disease yet.  But I can't guarantee she won't get in an accident or die in some other way.  But this is true for everyone.  You can't live your life wondering 'what if' Carrie.  This is your time, right now is your time and your mom knows this too.  Don't give up your dreams," Hope BeaN insisted.
     "Well I'm very curious, how do I see she's OK," Carrie asked.
     A wind whipped up through Carries room as the BeaNs jumped in her ears and took her into the fray where she began to shrink to the size of a blood platelet and in a weird out of body transcendent moment, she was in her mom's superior vena cava.  She moved down into the right atrium of her heart and looked down, seeing the inferior vena cava.  Everything looked pretty clear with just a little plaque build up.  She glided down to the right ventricle and into the pulmonary artery to the lungs.  Here she felt energized as oxygen filled her heart.  From there she went to the left atrium then through the mitral valve into the left ventricle.  Her ride speeded up with a large push as she sped through the aortic valve then spinning through the aorta and traveling at breakneck speeds throughout her moms body. Carrie kept her eyes open and observed that there were no large clots anywhere in her mother's circulatory system.
     When they returned back to the fray, Hope BeaN indicated her mother's angina (heart pain) was mild and could be controlled with medication.  It's just that her sedentary lifestyle causes stress in her body and this stress is causing her not to want to move then her pain begins.  It's not a good cycle but it is one she can get out of if she chooses to.
     Carrie began to cry and asked, "Am I the reason she's in this cycle?  Am I enabling her?"
     "No Carrie!  Your mom is an adult and makes her own choices.  Please don't take on so much responsibility for her yet.  Someday you may need to come back and help her, but not today.  Today you need to listen to your heart for direction," Hope Bean said.
     They all returned to Carrie's bedroom and the BeaNs smiled at Carrie.  "You will always be a wonderful daughter.  Just because you're going forward with your dreams doesn't mean you can't call your mom and share your journey with her.  It might just inspire her to follow her dreams too," Hope BeaN encouraged.
     Carrie felt free for the first time in a long time, a little afraid, but hopeful!

BeaNspiration:  Don't be a worrywart!

A Moral Dilelmma

     David was sitting on his bed in the graduate school dormitory contemplating quitting the prestigious genetics program he had been in for the past year.  Fascinating as it was, ethical questions ate away at him and his confidence had been shattered by the competitive nature of some of the professors and the brilliance of his classmates.  How did I even get in this program, he wondered?
     As he held his head in his hands, he felt something flicking the back of his neck.  Worried that they were mosquitos, he began swatting at them.
     "Stop it!" the small creatures yipped.
     Startled, David looked up and saw two small flying BioBeaNs.
     "Oh, I've finally cracked," David sighed.
     "No, David.  Don't be startled.  We're BioBeaNs and we're from a different dimension.  Just call me Phil and this here is Lil' Phil," Phil said as an introduction.
     "Why are you here?" David asked.
     "We don't think you should quit.  The world is coming apart between our two dimensions and the energy web has frayed.  We BioBeaNs need to work with humans to save our planet."
     "Well there's so many people smarter than me and definitely more sure of themselves than I am, so you're better off asking any of them to help you."
     " No David.  Your classmates have a lot to offer and can definitely help too, but you David, you are meant to lead," Phil declared.
     "What are you talking about?  I'm the most unsure one of my group.  I'm torn apart by whether the genetic engineering we're attempting is right.  Sometimes I feel like splicing out and splicing in genes is playing with the master plan, if there even is a master plan.  See, I have no knowledge of truth and my conviction sways.  I have questions but no answers," Phil acknowledged.
     "This is why we need you David.  We BioBeaNs have a lot of knowledge but we don't have imagination or much of a questioning ability, " Phil responded.
     "I guess you can say we see the trees, but not the forest," Lil' Phil added.
     "You David, you see everything.  When we were looking at your class, most are thinking just of themselves or their research project, but you David, you are looking at everything and trying to see how it will affect the whole world.  You raise questions that need to be heard.  Stay in the program, learn more and share your confusion.  It's important!"  Phil BeaN pleaded.
     David stopped for a moment, in that very moment. For the first time it was clear to him...EVERYONE is important.  His contribution was just as valid as the #1 spot candidate Sarah Burton.  He would continue to pursue his education.  He knew he had an affinity to the subject and he remembered, how even in high school when students complained it was too complicated, he loved that. It made it even more miraculous in his eyes.  Just the idea that mutations, linkages and all the complicated mechanisms for replication, transcription and translation even existed at all, showed him how amazing life is.  He needed to tear this apart, understand it, and present it to the world.
     The BioBeaNs were happy they convinced David to continue.  They left David energized and ready to contribute ethical evaluation to the study and implementation of genetic research.
   

You are Important!