Page 5 of Dr. Grump's Surprise Baby

Emily studied it. It looked as if the people who had been chosen to go with Dr. Berger today were those he considered to be the best — the ones who had been the most vocal and active during yesterday’s rounds were all on that list. She felt a hint of despair. How was she going to make up for her mistake yesterday if she wasn’t able to get any more face time with Dr. Berger?

There would just have to be something she could do to make this up, that was all. In the meantime, she would work as hard as shecould and make as good an impression as she could on everyone at the hospital. It was all she could do.

Dr. Nash turned out to be a good-natured man in his early forties. He led them around the pediatrics ward and introduced them to his patients, and by the time they were an hour into their day, Emily couldn’t help feeling glad that she had been put on this rotation. She wanted to learn under Dr. Berger, but there was simply no denying that Dr. Nash was easier to get along with. He was cheerful and friendly, and his patients seemed to like him a lot.

“All right,” he said. “Why don’t we split up and get vitals on the patients in each of these rooms? Ask them how they’re doing and answer any basic questions you can, but be careful not to overstep your knowledge base. I’ll come around to each room one by one.”

They nodded. Emily’s pulse accelerated — this would be a chance to care for a patient by herself, something she had never done before. It was true that she wouldn’t be doing very much, but even so, it was a big step.

She paused outside the door, took a deep breath, and picked up the clipboard that hung on the outside. The patient inside the room was named Daniel, and she felt a clench in her stomach when she saw that he had been diagnosed with leukemia. She scanned the clipboard. His prognosis was good, but even so…

Well, it was time to do her job.

She opened the door and went into the room. The boy inside was sitting up in his bed, legs crossed, playing with a video game.

“Hey, Daniel,” she said, giving him a bright smile. “I’m Doctor Swinton.”

“I haven’t seen you before,” he said.

“I’m new,” she admitted. “I’m an intern here.”

“Great, they gave me a new doctor?”

“You’ve been seeing Dr. Nash, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, he’s on his way, so nothing to worry about there. He just sent me ahead to get your vitals, if you don’t mind.” She held up her stethoscope. “You don’t even need to put down the video game, okay?”

“I can keep playing?”

“Hey, I wouldn’t want you to lose your progress!” she laughed. “What are you playing?”

“Power Invaders.”

“I don’t know that one.”

“Do you play video games?”

“Not very many,” she admitted. “Maybe you can show me how it works. But first, I need to get your vitals down on my clipboard. Otherwise, Dr. Nash is going to think I wasn’t doing my job, and he’ll probably tell me that I have to make you turn your game off when I do this next time.”

“Yeah, okay,” Daniel said.

“Do you prefer Daniel or Dan? Or Danny?”

“Daniel’s fine. Danny is a kid name.”

“Fair enough.” She noted down his blood pressure. “How long have you been here, Daniel?”

They fell into easy conversation about his treatment so far, what he liked and disliked about the hospital, which nurses were his favorites and which ones had a hard time finding a vein when they needed to do an IV. By the time Dr. Nash arrived, the two of them were laughing together as if they’d been friends for years.

“Well, I see everything’s going well in here,” Dr. Nash said, smiling at the two of them. “Dr. Swinton, why don’t you keep notes for me while Daniel and I have a quick conversation, and then you can come along with me to talk to his mother.”

Was everyone getting the opportunity to speak to the patients’ parents? Emily felt a surge of relief mingled with pride. Maybe something had finally gone her way. Maybe someone had finally recognized that she was good at what she did.

Now she just needed Dr. Berger to see in her what Dr. Nash already seemed to.

CHAPTER 3

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