Jet wakes in a hospital room to beeping monitors and her family’s alarmed relief. Dianne tells Jet a doctor will explain everything and that Jet must choose for herself. Jet remembers being attacked and tries to joke that the attacker “didn’t do a very good job,” but her parents and Luke remain grim and shaken.

Dr Lee, a neurosurgeon at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, examines Jet’s eyes and confirms Jet has been hospitalized about thirty-six hours. Dr Lee explains Jet arrived in critical condition: comatose, intubated, and briefly in cardiac arrest from blood loss. Imaging and surgery revealed multiple blows to Jet’s head, a skull fracture, and a subdural hematoma that was evacuated; the skull was repaired with screws and mesh.

After a follow-up CT scan, Dr Lee identifies a rare clivus fracture at the base of Jet’s skull. A tiny bone fragment has separated and is now pressed against the wall of Jet’s basilar artery, a major vessel supplying blood to the brain. Dr Lee says removing it is normally considered impossible because of the depth and the extreme risk of nicking the artery and causing catastrophic bleeding.

Dr Lee then links the danger to Jet’s polycystic kidney disease: weakened arterial walls mean the fragment’s pressure will certainly cause a large aneurysm to form and rupture quickly. Dr Lee estimates Jet likely has only days, maybe a week, before a fatal hemorrhage. Jet’s father breaks down, blaming himself for the hereditary disease, while Jet insists it is not his fault.

Dr Lee presents the only option: an attempted surgery to remove the fragment, despite overwhelming odds. Dr Lee explains Dr Fuller, who performed Jet’s initial surgery, refused to attempt the removal; Dr Lee will only proceed if Jet fully understands the risk. When Jet asks for numbers, Dr Lee states Jet has less than a ten percent chance of surviving the operation, leaving Jet to frame her choice as dying now versus dying in about a week.