MIKA
Thursday
"Good job Nealah."
I smiled high-fiving my four-year-old patient.
"Okay sweet girl, now we're going to measure your height and weight," I said and I walked with her and her mom to the scale and height chart on the wall.
The nurse wrote her height and weight down, then we headed into the room.
I looked over her records and checked to see what we would be doing today. Nealah was a regular patient of mine and her medical charts looked about the same. She had just come in to get a shot today.
"Mom, how has she been feeling?" I asked smiling as I played with Nealah.
She was a four-year-old African American girl with light brown skin and her hair in two small puffs. She had a pair of hot pink Barbie glasses. Her mom had her pink winter coat and backpack wrapped in her hands as Nealah played with a toy I had just given her. She was the cutest.
"She's been good Dr. Rose. She got better once she took that medication you prescribed," her mom Nadia said looking at a happy Nealah.
"Her teacher said she been doing good in school now too since you recommended that she might need glasses."
I smiled happily to hear the news.
"I'm happy to hear that," I said listening to everything her mom had to say.
The nurse then brought in the syringe and the medication. Nealah's mom told me more about how good Nealah was doing as I received the items and prepped them getting ready for the shot. She was proud of her daughter just like any mom would be.
Nealah's mom was coming from Harlem to come to see me this morning. She had come during lunch at work to take Nealah to get her shot since we were mostly here Monday through Friday 7 am - 5 pm for pediatrics. Nealah's mom worked at the UPS downtown.
I washed my hands in the sink with soap and water. Nealah was playing with one of the toys she had gotten from the nurse and I quickly moved in to give her her injection without her noticing, then just like that we were done.
"Good girl. All done." I smiled after placing a small Hello Kitty bandaid over the injection site.
She smiled back at me then placed her hand over the bandaid realizing what had just happened. I gave Nealah a high five then got up and grabbed a lollipop for her from the cabinet just above my head. Since she was a regular patient of mine I knew what flavor she liked.
"Still like strawberry Nealah?" I asked her smiling toward her.
"Yes please Dr. Rose," she said sweetly stretching her hand out to receive the lollipop I was giving her.
"So it's going to be a little sore for the next day or so, but that's about it," I said to her mom. "Any questions, concerns, or comments?"
Nealah's mom looked at her daughter then at me.
"No, I think we're good. Thank you, Dr. Rose."
We then all got up and I walked Nealah and her mom out to the waiting room where they had entered after she put on her pink little coat. She was so cute.
"Thank you Dr. Rose!" she said walking through the front door of the office.
"You're very welcome Nealah!" I joyfully said, then walked back into the room to pack up for the day.
It was 5 pm and I was clocking out to head out of the hospital for the day. I was tired from staying up last night researching some information for a presentation I had to do next Friday at the medical school. It was over a pediatric disease called Damon Disease or HCM, which was a cardiac muscle disorder.
I got all my belongings from my office and entered the elevator and hit the ground floor. Today was a busy day. I had patients in the clinic back to back since seven this morning. Everything went smoothly and I also had to make some consultation calls for patients who I had to refer to Neurology or other specialized fields.
"Dr. Rose!" I heard someone shout ecstatically as soon as I got off the elevator.
I looked around a little puzzled until I saw my best friend Candice running to hug from the lobby of the hospital.
"Girl! I didn't know you'd be here today!" I hugged her tightly.
My best friend was here finally!
We got Candice's small suitcase loaded into my dark blue BMW and she slid into the passenger's seat as I got in the driver's side. I played dancehall, Yea Yea by Aidonia, on the Aux. Candice was Jamaican and I was West Indian as well and she loved her some Aidonia. We both had been living in the US for years now though. Since we were little girls. Candice and I met each other in High School through Gina. They were both in a dance period at the school.
She was in New York for only five days so we could plan Gina's baby shower and hang out altogether for a little. It's been about five months since we saw Candice. I heated up the light brown leather car seat cause since Candice lived in Cali, she was not used to the snow and cold out here and neither was I to be honest.
Candice had her natural hair straightened which was a look I hadn't seen her with before but it looked cute on her.
She started singing the song playing from my aux. I was ready to have fun with her tonight!
~~~
Candice and I stepped out of the Lyft in front of a karaoke bar down the street. We were about to catch up since we hadn't seen each other in months.
"So, any new men in your life?" Candice asked after ordering a Long Island from the menu.
I looked at her pouting looking up from the drink menu.
"Nope," I said. "And to be honest, I don't even know if I'm going to find anyone. Some of these guys are weird. You give them your number and then next thing you know they're texting you 24/7, getting mad at you for not texting back, feeling like they're your man, and being rude to you if you not sending them what they want."
Candice sucked some water through her straw listening to me and thinking of a reply. I finished my navy blue turtle neck.
"I admit it, you're right, but there must be some guy out there who meets your high standards," she said.
Huh?
"My high standards?" I laughed after deciding on a drink.
"Yeah, sometimes you have high standards, but nothing's wrong with that. You'll find a guy who meets them one day, but just be mindful of your expectations."
I grinned shaking my head. In some ways maybe Candice was right. I was a little stubborn so I wanted to continue the conversation.
"Name one time," I said lightly waiting for an example of a time.
The bartender, who as a muscular dark skin man, placed Candice's drink on the table in front of us and winked at her. She swirled her straw with her tongue and gave him a flirtatious smile. I forgot to mention that Candice was not single-single right now, but she was on a break from her man.
He was "acting a fool," she said cause he got upset one day when she was trying to go out with her friends wearing something short and tight and he kept nagging her to change. They had been involved for about two years now, they were not official either, that's why she said that he had no right to tell her what she could or could not wear, plus she thought that he was taking too long to make it official with her.
"Remember the Timmy guy?" she asked looking up at me from her drink.
"Timmy?" I ask with a scrunched forward. "Who the hell is that?"
I didn't know who she was talking about.
"Timmy from college," she reminded me.
Oh, him. Timmy was a guy from Norway with blond hair blue eyes who liked me back in college, we had met at a school event. He was a genius hands down and he passed our honors courses with flying colors. The bartender placed my drink next to my hand and I thanked him and took a sip of my margarita.
"Yeah, what about him?" I stirred my drink waiting for her to remind me of the story.
"Remember why you canceled him?" She rose her eyebrows at me. I shook my head. "You broke it off with him because he was calling you too often."
"Yeah, he was too clingy, I told him I had work to do and he was calling me still like four times in a row in one day," I said drinking some more of my margarita.
This was good. Candice gave me a "this nigga look."
"And what about Frank? Whatever happened to him?" She rose her hands in the air.
"He wasted food, and he took the last piece of chicken at this one event we went to and didn't even leave any for me and I was right behind him!" I said.
She gave me a look and I thought about what I was saying for a minute.
"You're actually right," I finally said slumping down on the stool. "Maybe I do have some unrealistic expectations."
"A little bit," my best friend said. "But the important thing is that you make sure to manage them and be open to different people and new experiences."
I twisted my mouth to the right. She was right. Sometimes it's nice to have a best friend who is a therapist, but other times in situations like this, I couldn't argue with her cause she knew the deeper connotations of what was going on with me. I thought about what Candice had said for a minute. Was that one of the reasons why I had been single for so long? I had never thought that my standards were too high. I realized as I got older that I could sometimes be a little idealistic and I ended relationships a little prematurely, so I guess that had to do with my expectations...
A few minutes passed and Candice and I had gotten a little quiet, then she broke the silence when the karaoke had started up for the night. The first song that came on was Partition by Beyonce.
The guy on the stage was starting to move with his drink in his hand. He swayed to the right then to the left pretending to switch his hair behind him.
"Lemme hear you say "Hey Ms. Carter"
Candice and other people in the bar yelled back: "Hey, Ms. Carter!"
"Say, "Hey, Ms. Carter!""
Candice said it at the top of her lungs: "Hey, Ms. Carter!"
"Give me some!"
The guy turned around and started shaking his hips. Candice and all the women in the bar started cheering him on.
"Woohoo!" Candice screamed and placed her empty glass on the bar table.