"Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur! Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr purr purr!"
Renee was standing near the table where the neonatal doctor, Arizona Robbins, was checking Ilaria, the baby was getting cranky with all the test which were being done by Arizona, the surgeon was trying her best to stop making the baby cry. Reyansh, who was in the middle of his Trauma shift had to make sure that they got Arizona to look after Ilaria as he believed she was best there is.
"Okay, I think everything is fine, we'll just check for any allergies, there is nothing wrong with her physically, no broken anything, no swelling, she's fine," Arizona said picking the baby up.
"Are you sure, like really sure?" Renee asked repeatedly.
"Yes, I am sure, it's fine, it happens with new mothers, they worry a lot," Arizona smiled.
"Uh, I am fostering her," Renee replied.
"Really, I would have never guessed,"
"Okay, I'll take her to run some allergy tests, I'll bring her back shortly," Renee just nodded as she and Arizona exited the room, Arizona went with Ilaria to the exam room while Renee went to sit in the waiting room outside the ER.
Archie Roche was brought in after the apartment above his had an explosion, he had experienced some severe burns which had been debrided and had a humerus fracture, Mark had confronted Archie after Richard had informed him about the meth lab. He had just finished stitching and fixing Archie and was walking out of the ER when he saw Renee sitting there, her hands drumming against her thighs which was a clear indication that she was nervous, he took a deep breath and sat down beside her. A couple of minutes had passed and Renee still hadn't realised that Mark was sitting beside her.
"Do I have to pound on you to for you to notice me?"
"What?"
"I have been sitting here for five minutes now, I have about 10 nurses smile down at me, the lady over there is sitting with her cleavage showing and you haven't even looked at me,"
"I am sorry, it's just Nara had some difficulty breathing, Callie was panicked so I sent her to do her job, it calms her down,"
"She's okay?" Mark asked rubbing her back.
"Yeah, they are running some allergy tests," Renee said.
"Where's your boyfriend?"
"His name is Reyansh and he had some meth explosion to deal with,"
"Ren, the police came an hour ago," Mark said softly.
"Oh, well he might have gotten busy,"
"Dr Foster," Renee looked up to see Arizona and Ilaria who now seemed to have stopped crying and was actually smiling.
"We'll get the reports tomorrow," Arizona said handing Ilaria to Renee.
"Hey baby, you okay?" Renee said as she moved a piece of hair from her forehead and Ilaria immediately borrowed her head in Ilaria's neck.
"She loves you," Arizona said with a smile.
"She does," Mark said as he ran a finger over Ilaria's forehead who grabbed his finger and wiggled it around.
"She's fine right?" Renee asked Arizona.
"Yeah, I'll page you when we get the reports,"
Renee was standing outside her next patient's room waiting for Richard, Mark, Meredith and her interns, the group was running late and Renee was getting very bored of standing outside the room in which Connie Williams was continually chattering. Connie was scheduled for removing her cancer on her tongue which seemed to just a touch but her recent labs had shown that the cancer was a bit more widespread. Renee had come to the hospital quite early that day, she had dropped Ilaria off at the daycare, she had completed her rounds, checked on her pre and post-ops, all before 10 am. The sound of distant chattering came in form of Mark, Richard along with Meredith and her interns.
"Oh, Joanne, this is why you and I need to get sick, these doctors." Elaine, one of Connie's friend, said dreamily as Mark entered followed by Renee who chuckled at Elaine's statement.
"One's more handsome than the next," Joanne said.
"Oh, and here comes the handsomest one of them all. Hi, Dr Webber," Connie smiled at Richard as he entered.
"Connie," Richard greeted.
"He took my appendix out three years ago. Barely left a scar. How's Adele?" Connie asked with a smile.
"Um, oh, she's good, good. Uh, marriage is hard. Uh, but we're dating again. Uh, and she agreed to date me tonight...but, um...more...more importantly, how...how are you doing?"
"Oh, I just had a little bump on my tongue removed is all. A couple of taste buds. I consulted with Dr Foster over here, turns out it was a little touch of cancer. So I'm here to have the rest out. I mean, you know, cancer, not the taste buds. I don't know exactly how bad it is because Dr Foster and Dr Sloan over there have been awfully quiet."
"Cause you don't let him get a word in edgewise is why," Elaine laughed at Connie.
"Uh, how is she, Dr Foster?"
"Well, we just got back the pathology report. Connie, unfortunately, the cancer is a bit more widespread than we'd hoped. It's over 60% of your tongue," Renee said trying to explain Connie the situation.
"Well, what... what does she do, chemo?" Joanne asked worriedly.
"I think the, uh, best bet is a microvascular free flap. Dr Grey? Mark said urging Meredith to continue.
"Uh, he'll remove the cancerous part of the tongue, and then reconstruct it with a strip of flesh from your legs. George?" Meredith said.
"Uh, the extra flesh will provide the bulk with your tongue needs to breathe properly, chew, swallow," George finished.
"And talk? Dr Foster? Dr Sloan...I'll be able to talk, won't I? Connie asked as she looked between Mark and Renee with consternation.
"You will be able to talk, Connie. I just don't know how...." Mark trailed as he looked over Renee.
"how well you'll be understood,"
"You'll be okay,"
Renee was sitting by the computer researching methods to help Connie with her cancer when she saw Reyansh, he just walked right past her without even looking at her, Renee furrowed her eyebrows and was about to call after him when she got a page from Arizona who requested to see her and Ilaria. Sighing she closed the medical file on her computer and walked towards the daycare where she could hear the squabble and scrabble going on inside.
"Good Afternoon Dr Foster, your shift ended early?" The caretaker, Missy, asked Renee as she(Missy) picked Ilaria from her spot on the floor where she was playing.
"No, Dr Robbins requested to see her, I'll bring her back in half an hour," Renee said as she took Ilaria from Missy and started walking towards Arizona's office, however, just as they were about to go, Richard paged her telling her to meet him by the nurses' station.
"Functional muscle transfer," Richard said when he and Renee saw Mark
"What?" Both Renee and Mark asked.
"For Connie Williams. I was reading up on glossectomies and saw the procedure. Could micro-surgically re-innervate her hypo-glossal nerve."
"It's a risky procedure,"
"A nerve graft? It's too risky. A free flap's still your best bet."
"Oh, even if that goes well, you and I both know she'll never speak the same. That woman loves to talk more than anyone I know,"
"What's a functional muscle transfer?" George asked as he walked up to them.
"You won't find it in the books, O'Malley. It's cutting-edge. You connect the nerves from the leg with the nerves from the tongue. Gives her a shot at really speaking,"
"Chief, I respect your saying but Connie is my patient and there are too many risks involved in this, Mark what do you say?" Renee said desperately trying to make Richard change his mind.
"If it works. They've only done a half a dozen of them," Mark said saving himself from Renee's nudge in the stomach.
"Better than none. Sometimes you gotta push the envelope, Sloan,"
"Why? Why is it better to do a surgery that neither of you have done than to do a surgery that you know at least gives her a chance to have a normal life?" Renee asked as George shook his head in agreement.
"Do you know how to do this procedure?" George asked sceptically.
"Are you saying that we're too old to learn new ways, O'Malley?" Richard asked he sounded offended.
"Yes," Renee shrugged.
"No," George answered.
"Are you saying we're old dogs who can't learn new tricks?"
"No, I just..."
"We're not old dogs," Mark said as Renee rolled her eyes at the big babies.
"We still got it," Richard said.
"Okay,"
"I did do a functional muscle transfer to restore elbow function once," Mark said proudly.
"With the help of Derek," Renee said but she was ignored.
"Elbow, tongue... that's pretty close. Come on. What do you say? Let's light this candle,"
"It's not close, Chief,"
"Yes, sir," Mark said smugly as he grinned at Renee who narrowed her eyes at him.
"You are old," Renee commented as Richard glared at her.
"Age is just a number, O'Malley,"
"Oh, yes, sir,"
"Ugh, they are such big babies,"