The Pearl Girls

Pumpkin's Surgery

Pumpkin woke up. He got excited. Pumpkin's gym class was going to play soccer today.

After eating his breakfast, which was some strawberries and a little sandwich, he got ready. "Got anything going on at school, Pumpkin?" He handed her the schedule. "Oh, you have gym class? Sounds like fun! I don't need to go to school anymore, I graduated."

Blue and Yellow were going to have a small math test. Pearl was taking cooking classes at her school. After dropping Pumpkin off, Volleyball gave him a hug. "Have a good day, see you in a few hours."

After an hour of learning about basic math, Pumpkin seemed to be much better at addition. The school bell rang. Pumpkin's class ran outside to play soccer. They all were in two teams. Pumpkin ran to kick the ball, and he missed. One of his classmates accidentally kicked him, thinking he was the ball. "Whoops! Sorry!", he called out as Pumpkin flew through the air towards the soccer net.

Mrs Quartz was at her desk, about to finish her crossword puzzle. Suddenly, crying was heard outside.

She went outside and saw Pumpkin holding his tail crying. "Pumpkin, what happened? Are you ok?"

Pumpkin was too caught up in his crying to respond.

"I'll call the ambulance. Everyone, please go back inside. I'll stay out here with Pumpkin."

Volleyball was called and told about Pumpkin's injury. "Oh no! This is terrible! Tell him I'll be on my way to the hospital."

Pumpkin was taken to the hospital, and was currently awaiting surgery. The spot where his tail was cut was bandaged up temporarily. He looked so little in his hospital bed. Volleyball was there to comfort him. He was asleep when she walked in.

She giggled. "Pumpkin, wake up. It's me." He woke up and looked at her. He smiled. "I heard about what happened today at gym class. Are you feeling okay?"

He nodded a little bit. "Hey, it's going to be ok. They just need to put you to sleep, then stitch you back up. Plain and simple.", Volleyball explained calmly. But he still seemed nervous. She softly pet him. "How about after your surgery, we go for some pizza if you feel up to it?" He nodded.

A nurse walked in. "It's time for his surgery."

Pumpkin walked onto the trolley and he was wheeled off. Volleyball followed. When he was wheeled into the operating room, the nurse left after he stepped onto a table. Pumpkin saw his doctor. "Hello Pumpkin. I'm Dr Maheswaran, and I'm going to be the one operating. Let's get this little problem solved.

She washed her hands and put on gloves, then put a face mask on her nose and mouth. "Volleyball, hold him steady while I give him a sleeping mask."

Volleyball softly held Pumpkin while Dr Maheswaran brought the mask closer. Pumpkin began to shed tears. "Pumpkin, it's only a mask.", Volleyball whispered. "You're going to fall asleep. You'll wake up in a little." Pumpkin's crying turned to sobbing as he started to break free of Volleyball and back away from Dr Maheswaran. "Pumpkin, calm down, it's okay... This is going to help you, trust me."

He hopped into Volleyball's arms, shivering in fright of all the surgical tools around him. Sharp ones... pointy ones... was there something that didn't look like it would hurt him?

"I'm so sorry Mrs Maheswaran, he's never been to a hospital before..."

"It's okay, he's fairly young. Most young children are afraid of doctors, unfortunately."

Volleyball looked at Pumpkin, a little concerned. "Pumpkin. If you want to be better, then you need to have this surgery. You know, I needed surgery once... it wasn't anything major, I just had some digestion problems."

Mrs Maheswaran nodded. "Yes, and I even took an Xray, like the one on your tail."

She kneeled down. "Pumpkin, want to know something?" Pumpkin nodded, looking at her. "I get your type of patient every so often, and they're always so afraid at the start. But then when they wake up, they feel more brave, they feel better. So let me tell you how this works."

"I'm going to put this mask over your mouth, and it will release sleeping gas which will cause you to go to sleep temporarily. Then, I'll stitch your tail up. Now, do you want me to put this on for you, or would you like your owner to?", she explained calmly.

Pumpkin approached the doctor, allowing her to put the sleeping mask on him. Then after he fell asleep, she removed it, and stitched him back up. "There. I told you it would be quick.", she whispered to Pumpkin. "Now, bring him home and put him in bed. He'll wake up in about 1 to 2 hours, if he doesn't, call me immediately."

"Pumpkin, wake up." He awoke to the smell of pizza. "Hey. You're back home. Are you feeling better?" Pumpkin nodded, still very tired from the gas. The girl smiled, and placed some pizza next to him. "See? It wasn't bad at all. I even got you a pizza on the way home."

"She said to spend the rest of the day in bed, so you can recover from your tail injury. You're gonna feel sleepy for the next few days, but it'll go away."

Volleyball sat down next to him and had a slice herself. "I'm going to spend the day with you, my brave little doggy." The two spent the rest of the day, watching TV, reading, playing games, and napping.