Page 110 of Unbreakable
With a gloved finger, the nurse poked around the wound, then twisted her lips. “It’s a little warmer than I’d like.”
“Is that normal?” I asked.
“Some of it’s the body’s immune response to try and heal itself up,” she said, continuing her prodding while Grey’s hand tightened on mine. “Let me go get your doctor and have her take a look.”
She peeled off her gloves and took a pump of hand sanitizer on her way out.
Grey had my eyes, turning that brown on me. “Is something wrong, Daddy?”
Another knife to the heart: Greyson calling me Daddy. He’d stopped calling Jeanine and me Mommy and Daddy a while before. It was another indicator of just how vulnerable he was feeling. He needed us.
“They’re going to get you figured out,” I said, not really sure myself. Did he have an infection? How the hell did my son get an infection in one of the best children’s hospitals in the country?
The doctor breezed into the room with a broad smile, olive skin, and a ponytail of deep brown hair, planting her hands on her hips. “Where’s the kid with the cool robot arm?”
Greyson was beaming. Healthcare workers who work with kids are genuinely saints. Another wave of emotion passed over me.
She offered me a hand, which I shook. “I’m Doctor Haddad. Are you Dad?”
My voice was still crackly, but I managed a “yep.”
“Dad, he’s done so good this whole time,” she said, cleaning her hands after our handshake. “Kath tells me we need to take a look at this incision.”
She silently examined the cut, mumbling numbers to the nurse, who typed them into the computer. After peeling off her gloves and tossing them aside, she stared at Grey’s arm as if weighing her options.
“Kath, will you get me a swab?”
The requested swab was produced from a drawer and the doctor dabbed it over the injury.
“Alright, Greyson. We’re going to send that Q-tip off to the lab to make sure your body’s doing the right thing. While we’re waiting, we’re going to try a cream called an ointment on this to see if that helps at all. Is it itchy?”
“Itchy and hurts,” Grey said.
“The cream should help with both, and we’ll check it again in a few hours.”
“When can I go home?” he asked, his voice so tiny.
I squeezed his hand a little tighter.
“When we’re sure you’re all patched up. Let’s see what this cream does and what the lab says. Do you have any questions, Greyson? Dad?”
“Can I talk to you outside?” I asked.
The nurse said she’d hang out with Greyson while I talked to the doctor. I squared up to her in the hallway. “Does he have an infection?”
“We’ll see what his labs say. If he does, we’re catching it early. I don’t want to sugarcoat it. It could be fine, or it could get bad. We’ll keep a close eye on him. He’s in the right place.”
I stared at the floor between our feet, nodding and scraping my teeth over my bottom lip. I sniffed, trying to hold back the tears that kept surfacing for me.
“Will you be here for a while?” she asked.
I nodded. “As long as I can be.”
“I’m going to send our social worker in to chat with you, and Jeanine if she’s here too.” It struck me that the doctor knewJeanine’s name without even checking a chart. Jeanine had been so involved in his care that his surgeon knew her.
“Thank you. Thanks for taking care of him.”
“Of course. Let Katherine know if you think of any questions for me.” And with the swish of her lab coat, she took off down the hall.
