#Tani

Sofia

It's another slow day at the hospital. I don't know what's going on but God must be in a good mood! I haven't seen the inside of an OR in 23 hours. Do you know how rare that is for a pediatric surgeon? "Dr. Gutzman? there's a patient here that needs a consult." I smiled at the surgical intern and followed her down the hall. I walked into the room behind her and my eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw who the patient was. "The patient is 7 year old Sofia Cabello and she is here today to see if you could remove a brain tumor." I recognized the name and patient as the little sister of a girl in famous group who my best friends and I love. I have to stay professional here. You got this Tanya. "Hi sweet thing! My name is Dr. Gutzman but I let all my special patients call me Dr. G." I winked at her and she giggled. "How are you feeling today?" I walked to her beside, opposite of the side her parents were on. "Well my head hurts but I'm okay." I smiled at her and looked up to her parents. "I'm going to take a look at her scans and see if the tumor has grown from her previous scan. As soon as I figure out how extensive the tumor is then I'll let you know what I'm going to do." Her parents thanked me. I looked back down to the little girl and put my hand over hers. "You get some rest and I'll be back as soon as I can." She smiled. I turned around but before I could reach the door I heard a little voice call out to me. "Dr. G!" I turned around and she motioned for me to come toward her. I walked back to where I was standing a minute ago but she motioned me closer. I bent down and she cupped her hands over her mouth and put them up to my ear. "My sister and her friends are coming soon. If the tumor is worse.. Don't tell them, just tell my mom and dad." I pulled back up and smiled sadly. "Don't worry sweet thing." Her parents looked at me and I smiled reassuringly.

Damn it. I've only ever seen a tumor like this one other time and it was on a one year old baby 4 years ago. "Dr. Edwards you better book an OR room, this little girl should have had this removed months ago." I threw the scans down on the table and walked out of the room enraged. I almost lost my last patient because we didn't operate soon enough. I pulled out my cell phone a dialed a familiar number. "Tanyaaaaaa what's up?" I chuckled at my friends hello, "Kenzie can you bring Bryn up to the hospital? I think there's a patient I want her to talk to. She has the same thing Bryn did." I heard quiet breathing coming from the other end. I know it's always hard for her to talk about what her daughter went through. "Of course. Let me tell the girls I'm leaving and I'll be over as soon as I pick her up from school." I hung up the phone and took a deep breath before walking back into my patients room. Her mom was sitting by her sleeping daughters bed crying. I cleared my throat. "Oh sorry Dr. Gutzman, her dad just stepped outside for a minute." She stood up quickly and wiped her tears away. I sighed, "listen, I know how hard this is for you. I may not understand from a parents point of view but my niece had the same thing and I just know that it's hard to watch someone you love go through something like this. I do think it would be good for Sofi to talk to my niece about it, if you don't mind?" She shook her head no and gave me a warm smile. "Are you the one who operated on your niece?" I heard a familiar voice behind me. I turned around to be faced with my patients older sister. "I did. When her mom brought her to the hospital I didn't know them but I helped remove the little girls tumor and her mom became my best friend." I watched as the singer walked towards her sister and sit on the edge of the bed. I tried to keep my cool and be professional as the rest of Fifth Harmony walked in followed by Mr. Cabello. "Page me when she wakes up and we can talk about how to proceed." I tried to sound comforting before walking out of the room. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Fifth Harmony is in the room behind me. No big deal. Actually this is crazy. "AUNT TANYAAA!" I snapped out of my thoughts and caught the little brunette running towards me in my arms. "Brynlee! How many times do I have to tell you not to run in the hospital?!" I smiled kissed the small girls cheek. "She's fine Kenzie!" I chuckled at my friends eye roll. "Dr. Gutzman your patient is awake." I smiled even brighter. "Perfect timing! Come on kenz and please be cool." I ignored her confused look and carried my 5 year old niece into the room I've been in and out of all morning. Sofi was sitting up in her bed and laughing at her sister. "Sofi, I want you to meet my niece. This is Bryn and she had the same thing as you." Bryn smiled shyly and looked around the room. "Where's mommy?" She questioned. I looked around and saw my friend standing outside the room with wide eyes. I laughed, "Kenzie you can come in." She walked in slowly and stood beside me. "Mr and Mrs. Cabello could I talk to you outside?" I put Bryn down and followed them out the door. "Can I come too?" Camila ran out after us. "It's up to your parents." I looked to them and they nodded. "Okay well our best option is to remove it completely and the chances of it growing back very slim but there are risks. The tumor is very close to the occipital lobe and there's a risk of her losing her eyesight, and there's a 20% mortality rate but not removing it is limiting her life to 5 more years at the most." There's no point in sugar coating it even thought the heartbroken faces of her family broke my heart. This is what I got myself into when I became a surgeon, doesn't mean I have to like this part of the job.