Chapter Four: Part two: The first surgery

Chase, Cameron, and Foreman found Jess eating her lunch, while looking over case files. "You're all staring at me. Is there something you want?"

Chase sat down next to his sister. "Can you remove a 5 1/2 cm tumor?"

Jess looked back down at the chart in her lap. "How old is the patient?"

Cameron cut Chase off before he could answer. " She's three."

Jess looked up with a worried look. "I'm taking it that the biopsy came back positive for cancer. Let me see the CT scan." Foreman handed it to her. Jess held it up to the light and studied it. "I want to talk to the parents first."

Jessica entered the patient's room and went over to the little girl's bed. 'Hi, I am Dr. Chase. What's your name?"

The little girl looked at Jessica and smiled. "Katie." Then she pointed to Robert. "He's Dr. Chase."

Jessica let out a little laugh. "He's my little brother. He isn't too little is he though?"

"No."

"Katie, would it be okay if I spoke to your mom and dad outside for a few minuets?" Katie bit her lower lip. "We will be right outside that door. I promise that I won't keep them long."

"Promise?"

"Yes. What about I leave my brother, Dr. Cameron, and Dr. Foreman in here to keep you company?"

"Okay."

Jessica led Katie's parents into the hall where she proceeded to talk to them about Katie's cancer. "The reason that Katie keeps rejecting food is that she has a tumor in her stomach. This type of cancer is deadly. Due to its size, many surgeons will not remove it. It's an extremely dangerous operation, but without it…it's only a mater of time."

Katie's mom looked into the room and inhaled sharply. 'You said many doctors. What does that mean exactly?"

" Most surgeons won't operate of a tumor bigger than 5 cm, because there can be more complications. Your daughter's is 51/2 cm. Luckily I was trained under an oncologist. I have successfully done this type of surgery before."

"What are you trying to say?"

"You should let me do this."

"What happens after you remove the tumor?"

"We've caught the cancer early enough, if we successively remove it all Katie will be just fine. There is always a chance the cancer could come back, but very slim."

"When will the surgery be?"

"I need to check the board, but I can probably book an O.R. for this afternoon." Katie's parents smiled. A small bit of hope seemed to appear on their faces.

Jessica was lucky and got to book an O.R. for two that afternoon. They got Katie prepped for surgery and Jessica scrubbed up. Interns, Attendings, Residences, House, Wilson, the Ducklings, and Cuddy packed into the gallery. Once inside the operating room, Jessica went up Katie who was not under the anesthesia yet. "Are you ready for a nap Katie?"

Katie nodded her head in a yes.

The anesthesiologist placed the mask over Katie's face and within the minuet she was out. Jessica nodded to one of the nurses to turn on the stereo, which had some soft rock in it. Jessica rolled her head in a circle then asked for a ten blade. The surgery lasted thirty minuets, which was rather fast. In this case, it was good sign.

After the surgery, Jessica went to speak to Katie's parents. "She did extremely well. It was an easy surgery, but you can probably tell that by how fast we were done. Katie is going to be throwing up for a couple of days, because of the operation. It will eventually subside go away completely."

Katie's parents made a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much Dr. Chase."

"No, I just did the surgery. Thank the Diagnostics Department for finding the tumor. You can see Katie now." Jessica led them back to Katie's room. "She's still groggy because the anesthesia is barely wearing off. I'll be back later to check on her."

After leaving Katie's room, she went to the Diagnostics Department. House looked up as Jessica entered the room. "Nice surgery. Is there something I can do for you?"

" I'm going to have Katie come back in a month, just to make sure the tumor hasn't grown back. If you need anymore tumors removed, I can do them for you."

"I'll keep that in mind kangaroo."

Jessica smiled, let out a laugh, and started to walk back to the surgical floor. I cannot believe that I was just referred to as a kangaroo. At least he has the right country. As Jess was walking down the hall, Wilson stopped her. "What can I do for you Dr. Wilson?"

"I just wanted to congratulate you on your first successful surgery here."

"Why do I feel like I just got a slap in the face?"

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to insult you. I was trying to pay you a complement."

"You're not very good at that." Jessica could tell that she was making Wilson uncomfortable.

" You performed an excellent surgery."

"Thank you." Jess started to walk away, but turned around. "You're not use to people, let alone women making you nervous. Are you?"

"You don't make me nervous." It was obvious that Wilson was lying.

"That's what I thought." Jess turned back around and walked to the door that led to the stairs. Wilson went back to his office feeling like a complete dork.

As Jess entered the surgical floor, all the residences came up and congratulated on how amazing the surgery had gone. A few of the attendings congratulated Jessica as well, but all of the interns clapped for her.

There are unspoken rules on the surgical floor of a hospital. One is that, the attendings, residences, and the interns are all part of a different click. They work together, but keep apart to a point. The second is, the first surgery at new hospital, is always a warning. Of just who you are and that you're the competition. The third rule is the most important though, because it pertains to the whole hospital. Doctors from other departments do not mess with any of surgeons, because that is when they join forces. All of the surgeons seemed to notice some of the rules were beginning to blend.

Sorry it tok so long to update. I couldn't get on the internet until today. Enjoy!