The following day, the three angels sat at the kitchen table waiting for
the phone to ring. Dr. Stanton had promised that someone would call them
by this afternoon with the results of Monica's blood test and it was nearly
3:00pm and still there had been nothing.
Monica wearily laid her head down in her folded arms, still not feeling any better, but tired of being in bed, even though she really didn't have the energy to do much of anything else. With each passing hour, she was becoming more and more frightened, though she was trying to keep this from showing with her friends as she could already see the deep worry in their eyes for her.
Andrew reached across the table and gently rubbed her arm, smiling as she peered up at him and managed a weak smile, "They'll call soon, sweetie, and then we'll get to the bottom of this."
"They'd better call soon," Tess grumbled, as she buttered some toast in the hopes of getting her Angel Girl to eat it. She knew her young charge had lost weight over the last five days as they could scarcely get her to eat anything at all. Laying the plate down in front of Monica, she looked at the paleness of the younger angel's face, "Humor me, baby and eat some of that, please?"
Sighing softly, Monica sat up and though not feeling in the least bit hungry, she picked up a piece of the toast and nibbled at it gingerly. It was at that moment that the phone rang.
Tess quickly grabbed it and after a short exchange, she handed the phone to Monica, "It's for you, baby. It's the doctor's office."
Monica took the phone as she tried to swallow the bite of toast, which suddenly felt like sandpaper in her throat. Finally managing to swallow it, she held the phone up to her ear, "This is Monica."
Andrew and Tess exchanged worried glances as Monica listened to what was being told to her and then agreed to come right into the office.
As she disconnected the call, she looked up at her two friends, trying to keep her voice steady, "They said the test results came back abnormal and they are asking me to come into the office now so the doctor can speak with me," She managed a weak smile as she rose to her feet, "Don't look so worried. They must be abnormal because I'm an angel and we aren't made the same way as humans, right?"
"Let's just go and hear what they have to say, Angel Girl," Tess replied, trying to keep her voice as light as she could as she reached for their jackets, "Angel Boy, are you coming with us?"
"Yes," Andrew answered, his voice tight as he felt anxiety welling up inside of him. Saying no more, he took Monica's coat from Tess and helped the weakened angel into her jacket.
***
Thirty minutes later, the threesome sat in Dr. Stanton's office, listening as the doctor explained the test results to them.
"We have a tentative diagnosis based on your blood tests and other symptoms, but we'll need to do another test in order to confirm our suspicions. I want to set that up for tomorrow morning, if that works for you, Monica."
"What kind of test?" Andrew asked, his brow furrowing and his concern for his friend etched across his handsome features.
"A bone marrow biopsy," Dr. Stanton answered, and then prepared to explain the procedure, but Monica cut her off before she could begin.
"Doctor, what do you think it is that I have?" Monica asked pointedly, though she felt herself shaking as she awaited an answer.
The doctor was quiet for a moment before she answered, "Nothing is confirmed yet, Monica. Please understand that. However, your test results have shown an abnormally high number of immature white blood cells. That coupled with the fact that your liver, spleen and lymph nodes are enlarged lead us to believe that you have leukemia. The bone marrow biopsy is to both confirm the diagnosis, and if our suspicions are correct, it will tell us exactly what form of leukemia we're looking at."
Monica heard no more as she felt the room beginning to spin as her face turned deathly white. She wasn't even aware of Tess calling to her or Andrew catching her as she slumped over in her chair.
***
Monica was dimly aware of being lifted off of the floor and being placed on a gurney. She heard Andrew and Tess talking to the doctors, but their voices seemed so far away, as she slipped further into the welcoming darkness.
The doctors wheeled Monica down to the emergency room of the hospital, her gurney being closely by Dr. Stanton, Tess, and Andrew. They placed the young angel in a slot between two curtains, and the doctors and nurses set to taking vital signs, and checking Monica over for injuries. As they finished their exam, Monica began to stir.
One of the nurses looked over to Dr. Stanton, who was talking with Andrew and Tess, "Doctor, I think she's coming around."
The young doctor walked over to Monica's bed, "Monica, can you hear me?"
Monica's eyes fluttered open, and she looked around her. "What am I doing here?"
"You passed out in my office upstairs. Do you remember?" Monica sat up slowly and nodded. "Monica, can you tell me when was the last time you had anything substantial to eat?"
"She hasn't since she got sick," Tess interjected, "I can't get that child to eat a thing."
The doctor nodded, "Uh-huh. That's what I thought. Monica, you've got to take better care of yourself, especially now. Not that I'm saying you don't, but your body is going to have different needs now, starting with food. Even if you don't feel hungry, you need to get vitamins or you're going to have spells like this. Even if you don't want to eat anything solid, you can drink a protein drink or something like that. You need the nutrition. I'll give you some vitamins to take, so we can keep this sort of thing from happening, OK?"
Monica nodded. "OK."
"Good," Dr. Stanton said, smiling. "Now, I'm going to set up that biopsy with the oncology department for tomorrow morning. I'll call you with the exact time."
"You mean you're not going to be doing it?" Monica looked confused.
"No, I won't be performing the procedure itself. That will be the job of the oncologist, a doctor who specializes in cancer. But, I will still be there, and I will be one of your doctors, so if you have any questions you can always call me." "Thank you, Doctor," Monica said gratefully.
"You're welcome. Now, I'll get you discharged and you can go home. Eat something and try to get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."
* * * * * *
"Good morning, Monica," Dr. Stanton greeted her young patient as she entered the curtain area of the surgical waiting area. Monica was already dressed in a hospital gown, her legs covered with a thin white blanket. A clear plastic tube ran from the bag of liquid above her bed and attached to the IV in the back of her right hand. Tess sat on a stool next to her charge's bed, and Andrew stood in the opposite corner of the curtained area.
"Good morning," Monica replied, smiling at the doctor.
"We're going to be taking you into the surgical room soon, but I wanted to go over the procedure with you, so there'll be no surprises." When Monica nodded, Dr. Stanton continued. "Now, you're going to be conscious throughout the whole procedure, but we'll give you a sedative through your IV to help you relax. We don't use a general anesthetic because the risks involved with that are too large to use it with minor surgery. The oncologist will give you a local anesthetic, and that'll numb the area. Then he'll make a small incision and insert the needle into your hipbone so he can extract the marrow. The last part of the biopsy involves actually taking a small piece of the bone out."
"Will it hurt?" Monica asked quietly, her fingers nervously toying with her plastic hospital bracelet.
"I'm not going to lie to you," the doctor said. "It's not going to be one of the most enjoyable experiences you'll ever have. But, the only part that will be uncomfortable is the last part, because we can't anesthetize the inside of the bone. It's not terrible pain though. You'll be just fine, and I'll be right there with you the whole time."
Monica took a deep breath and nodded slightly. "OK, let's get this over with."
"Good attitude," Dr. Stanton said, patting Monica's arm and smiling. "I'll tell the oncologist you're ready, and I'll see you in there." The older woman picked Monica's chart up off of the bed and walked over to the nurses' station, telling a nurse to alert the oncologist that they were ready before disappearing through the large double doors that lead to the surgical suites.
Once the doctor had gone, Monica turned to her friends with a brave look on her face, though her eyes betrayed her. Tess reached forward and squeezed her young friend's hand, "We'll be right here when you get back, baby," she said reassuringly.
Andrew stepped over to his friend's bedside just as the orderlies came to take her to surgery. Bending down, he gently kissed Monica's forehead. "I'll be praying for you sweetie."
"We both will," Tess added.
"I know you will," Monica told them. "I'll see you in a bit."
The orderlies disengaged the brakes on Monica's bed and wheeled her toward the same doors Dr. Stanton had disappeared through a few minutes before. They took her down a long corridor, and stopped before a set of doors labeled in large block letters "OR 4." There, one of the orderlies hit a button on the wall next to the doors, and they swung open. Monica was wheeled into the room, and her bed was placed next to the stationary surgical bed in the center of the room. She was asked to move to the other bed, and the orderlies helped her scoot over without disturbing her IV. Once Monica was situated, Dr. Stanton came in; followed by another man Monica recognized as the oncologist she had met that morning.
"Hello Monica," the man, Dr. Malcolm Vandersluis, greeted her. "We're going to get you prepped for the biopsy now. I'm going to have Dr. Stanton help you get positioned on your side so I'll have access to your hip, and then the nurses will drape the area and administer the sedative. I'll be back in a few minutes, OK?"
Monica nodded, and the Dr. Vandersluis exited the room. As he had instructed, Monica got positioned on her side, her head resting on a pillow. Female nurses arranged sterile sheets and drapes around her hip area, the only exposed area being a small patch of skin directly above the hipbone. During the draping process, another nurse injected a small amount of clear liquid into the port in Monica's IV, and she began to feel drowsy.
Dr. Stanton seated herself on a stool facing Monica "You're going to feel a little sleepy, but you'll be awake through the whole procedure, okay? How are you feeling?"
"I'm a little scared," Monica answered, her words slightly slurred from the sedative, her eyes heavy lidded.
"I know you are," Dr. Stanton replied. All at once, the mothering instinct in the older doctor took over and she reached out and took Monica's hand in her own, squeezing it gently. Monica squeezed back as tightly as she could.
A moment later, Dr. Vandersluis re-entered the room, and crossed over to Monica's bed. Her back was facing him, so she couldn't see him, but she could hear his words. "OK, Monica, I'm going to start now. The whole thing is going to take about a half hour from this point. I'll explain each step as I go along so you know what to expect. The first thing you're going to feel is a small prick. That's the local anesthetic."
The doctor reached over to the tray sitting behind Monica's head and removed a small syringe. He uncapped it, and inserted the needle into the exposed skin, and depressed the plunger slightly, moving the needle around as he injected more of the anesthetic. Monica gasped slightly as the needle went in, but relaxed.
Dr. Vandersluis withdrew the needle and the nurse handed him the next thing on the table, a scalpel. He nodded to Dr. Stanton, who began speaking to Monica quietly. "Now, he's using a scalpel to make a small incision in the skin where he'll insert the needle we talked about. You won't feel this part because of the local."
Once the incision was made, he was handed the largest thing on the tray - the biopsy needle. It was about 6 inches long, and metal, with a T- shaped handle on the end of it. The doctor gripped this handle, and positioned it at the incision site. "Okay, Monica, this is the big part. You won't feel anything until I get inside the bone, and then it'll be a little uncomfortable. I'll try to go fast, so just hang in there for me."
Monica gripped Dr. Stanton's hand even tighter as Dr. Vandersluis began to advance the needle. As he neared the inside of the bone, Monica tightened up and a whimper of pain escaped her. "It's okay, love," Dr. Stanton said. "I know it hurts, but it's important that you don't move. He's almost there, and you're doing great."
Dr. Vandersluis stopped advancing the needle, and the jolt of pain Monica had felt shooting through her hip subsided to a strong ache. "OK, we're there. You're doing very well Monica. The next thing I'm going to do is insert the plunger that we'll use to extract the marrow. This shouldn't be uncomfortable for you, so try to relax."
Monica let out a breath of air she didn't know she had been holding, and closed her eyes. Dr. Stanton smoothed the hair from the young angel's forehead as she watched Dr. Vandersluis extract the marrow with the plunger. Over the next 20 minutes, he took enough of the thick, pink, bone marrow to cover eight microscope slides, which were handed one by one to a nurse who would take them to pathology to be tested. Finally, he removed the plunger and leaned forward to speak to Monica once more.
"OK, we're almost home free. Now comes the other biggie. I have to remove a bone fragment from your hip so we can check the bone consistency. Monica nodded slightly and once again reached for Dr. Stanton's hand. As Dr. Vandersluis began to remove the bone chip, Monica was once again hit with a white-hot bolt of pain. She whimpered again and a tear rolled down her cheek from underneath her tightly closed eyes. "Hang in there Monica," the doctor said as he worked to remove the bone fragment. He finally pulled it out, placing it in a specimen cup before removing the needle. "OK, we're all done. You did beautifully Monica."
"It's over?" Monica asked.
Dr. Stanton nodded as the other doctor left the room to give the bone sample to a nurse so it could be sent to the lab. "It's over love. I'm just going to have a nurse dress the incision and then we'll take you to recovery to see your friends. You're going to have to lie very still for about an hour, to prevent any complications."
"No problem," Monica mumbled, her eyes barely open due to the effects of the sedative. Dr. Stanton chuckled at her patient's remark, and made some notes in her chart as the nurse put a bandage on the incision and helped Monica roll over onto her back. Two orderlies transferred her to a rolling gurney, easily lifting her small frame. She was then wheeled into the recovery room, which was just across the hall from the waiting area Monica had previously been in.
Tess and Andrew were allowed in just as Monica's bed was being deposited in the curtained area. "Hi baby," Tess said, brushing the hair off of Monica's forehead.
"How are you doing sweetie?" Andrew asked her.
"I'm fine right now, but as soon as this sedative wears off I think I'm going to be in trouble," Monica told him, her words still slurring together. Tess and Andrew laughed at Monica's remark, and she smiled slightly as her eyes slid shut. A few minutes later, she was sound asleep.
Monica wearily laid her head down in her folded arms, still not feeling any better, but tired of being in bed, even though she really didn't have the energy to do much of anything else. With each passing hour, she was becoming more and more frightened, though she was trying to keep this from showing with her friends as she could already see the deep worry in their eyes for her.
Andrew reached across the table and gently rubbed her arm, smiling as she peered up at him and managed a weak smile, "They'll call soon, sweetie, and then we'll get to the bottom of this."
"They'd better call soon," Tess grumbled, as she buttered some toast in the hopes of getting her Angel Girl to eat it. She knew her young charge had lost weight over the last five days as they could scarcely get her to eat anything at all. Laying the plate down in front of Monica, she looked at the paleness of the younger angel's face, "Humor me, baby and eat some of that, please?"
Sighing softly, Monica sat up and though not feeling in the least bit hungry, she picked up a piece of the toast and nibbled at it gingerly. It was at that moment that the phone rang.
Tess quickly grabbed it and after a short exchange, she handed the phone to Monica, "It's for you, baby. It's the doctor's office."
Monica took the phone as she tried to swallow the bite of toast, which suddenly felt like sandpaper in her throat. Finally managing to swallow it, she held the phone up to her ear, "This is Monica."
Andrew and Tess exchanged worried glances as Monica listened to what was being told to her and then agreed to come right into the office.
As she disconnected the call, she looked up at her two friends, trying to keep her voice steady, "They said the test results came back abnormal and they are asking me to come into the office now so the doctor can speak with me," She managed a weak smile as she rose to her feet, "Don't look so worried. They must be abnormal because I'm an angel and we aren't made the same way as humans, right?"
"Let's just go and hear what they have to say, Angel Girl," Tess replied, trying to keep her voice as light as she could as she reached for their jackets, "Angel Boy, are you coming with us?"
"Yes," Andrew answered, his voice tight as he felt anxiety welling up inside of him. Saying no more, he took Monica's coat from Tess and helped the weakened angel into her jacket.
***
Thirty minutes later, the threesome sat in Dr. Stanton's office, listening as the doctor explained the test results to them.
"We have a tentative diagnosis based on your blood tests and other symptoms, but we'll need to do another test in order to confirm our suspicions. I want to set that up for tomorrow morning, if that works for you, Monica."
"What kind of test?" Andrew asked, his brow furrowing and his concern for his friend etched across his handsome features.
"A bone marrow biopsy," Dr. Stanton answered, and then prepared to explain the procedure, but Monica cut her off before she could begin.
"Doctor, what do you think it is that I have?" Monica asked pointedly, though she felt herself shaking as she awaited an answer.
The doctor was quiet for a moment before she answered, "Nothing is confirmed yet, Monica. Please understand that. However, your test results have shown an abnormally high number of immature white blood cells. That coupled with the fact that your liver, spleen and lymph nodes are enlarged lead us to believe that you have leukemia. The bone marrow biopsy is to both confirm the diagnosis, and if our suspicions are correct, it will tell us exactly what form of leukemia we're looking at."
Monica heard no more as she felt the room beginning to spin as her face turned deathly white. She wasn't even aware of Tess calling to her or Andrew catching her as she slumped over in her chair.
***
Monica was dimly aware of being lifted off of the floor and being placed on a gurney. She heard Andrew and Tess talking to the doctors, but their voices seemed so far away, as she slipped further into the welcoming darkness.
The doctors wheeled Monica down to the emergency room of the hospital, her gurney being closely by Dr. Stanton, Tess, and Andrew. They placed the young angel in a slot between two curtains, and the doctors and nurses set to taking vital signs, and checking Monica over for injuries. As they finished their exam, Monica began to stir.
One of the nurses looked over to Dr. Stanton, who was talking with Andrew and Tess, "Doctor, I think she's coming around."
The young doctor walked over to Monica's bed, "Monica, can you hear me?"
Monica's eyes fluttered open, and she looked around her. "What am I doing here?"
"You passed out in my office upstairs. Do you remember?" Monica sat up slowly and nodded. "Monica, can you tell me when was the last time you had anything substantial to eat?"
"She hasn't since she got sick," Tess interjected, "I can't get that child to eat a thing."
The doctor nodded, "Uh-huh. That's what I thought. Monica, you've got to take better care of yourself, especially now. Not that I'm saying you don't, but your body is going to have different needs now, starting with food. Even if you don't feel hungry, you need to get vitamins or you're going to have spells like this. Even if you don't want to eat anything solid, you can drink a protein drink or something like that. You need the nutrition. I'll give you some vitamins to take, so we can keep this sort of thing from happening, OK?"
Monica nodded. "OK."
"Good," Dr. Stanton said, smiling. "Now, I'm going to set up that biopsy with the oncology department for tomorrow morning. I'll call you with the exact time."
"You mean you're not going to be doing it?" Monica looked confused.
"No, I won't be performing the procedure itself. That will be the job of the oncologist, a doctor who specializes in cancer. But, I will still be there, and I will be one of your doctors, so if you have any questions you can always call me." "Thank you, Doctor," Monica said gratefully.
"You're welcome. Now, I'll get you discharged and you can go home. Eat something and try to get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."
* * * * * *
"Good morning, Monica," Dr. Stanton greeted her young patient as she entered the curtain area of the surgical waiting area. Monica was already dressed in a hospital gown, her legs covered with a thin white blanket. A clear plastic tube ran from the bag of liquid above her bed and attached to the IV in the back of her right hand. Tess sat on a stool next to her charge's bed, and Andrew stood in the opposite corner of the curtained area.
"Good morning," Monica replied, smiling at the doctor.
"We're going to be taking you into the surgical room soon, but I wanted to go over the procedure with you, so there'll be no surprises." When Monica nodded, Dr. Stanton continued. "Now, you're going to be conscious throughout the whole procedure, but we'll give you a sedative through your IV to help you relax. We don't use a general anesthetic because the risks involved with that are too large to use it with minor surgery. The oncologist will give you a local anesthetic, and that'll numb the area. Then he'll make a small incision and insert the needle into your hipbone so he can extract the marrow. The last part of the biopsy involves actually taking a small piece of the bone out."
"Will it hurt?" Monica asked quietly, her fingers nervously toying with her plastic hospital bracelet.
"I'm not going to lie to you," the doctor said. "It's not going to be one of the most enjoyable experiences you'll ever have. But, the only part that will be uncomfortable is the last part, because we can't anesthetize the inside of the bone. It's not terrible pain though. You'll be just fine, and I'll be right there with you the whole time."
Monica took a deep breath and nodded slightly. "OK, let's get this over with."
"Good attitude," Dr. Stanton said, patting Monica's arm and smiling. "I'll tell the oncologist you're ready, and I'll see you in there." The older woman picked Monica's chart up off of the bed and walked over to the nurses' station, telling a nurse to alert the oncologist that they were ready before disappearing through the large double doors that lead to the surgical suites.
Once the doctor had gone, Monica turned to her friends with a brave look on her face, though her eyes betrayed her. Tess reached forward and squeezed her young friend's hand, "We'll be right here when you get back, baby," she said reassuringly.
Andrew stepped over to his friend's bedside just as the orderlies came to take her to surgery. Bending down, he gently kissed Monica's forehead. "I'll be praying for you sweetie."
"We both will," Tess added.
"I know you will," Monica told them. "I'll see you in a bit."
The orderlies disengaged the brakes on Monica's bed and wheeled her toward the same doors Dr. Stanton had disappeared through a few minutes before. They took her down a long corridor, and stopped before a set of doors labeled in large block letters "OR 4." There, one of the orderlies hit a button on the wall next to the doors, and they swung open. Monica was wheeled into the room, and her bed was placed next to the stationary surgical bed in the center of the room. She was asked to move to the other bed, and the orderlies helped her scoot over without disturbing her IV. Once Monica was situated, Dr. Stanton came in; followed by another man Monica recognized as the oncologist she had met that morning.
"Hello Monica," the man, Dr. Malcolm Vandersluis, greeted her. "We're going to get you prepped for the biopsy now. I'm going to have Dr. Stanton help you get positioned on your side so I'll have access to your hip, and then the nurses will drape the area and administer the sedative. I'll be back in a few minutes, OK?"
Monica nodded, and the Dr. Vandersluis exited the room. As he had instructed, Monica got positioned on her side, her head resting on a pillow. Female nurses arranged sterile sheets and drapes around her hip area, the only exposed area being a small patch of skin directly above the hipbone. During the draping process, another nurse injected a small amount of clear liquid into the port in Monica's IV, and she began to feel drowsy.
Dr. Stanton seated herself on a stool facing Monica "You're going to feel a little sleepy, but you'll be awake through the whole procedure, okay? How are you feeling?"
"I'm a little scared," Monica answered, her words slightly slurred from the sedative, her eyes heavy lidded.
"I know you are," Dr. Stanton replied. All at once, the mothering instinct in the older doctor took over and she reached out and took Monica's hand in her own, squeezing it gently. Monica squeezed back as tightly as she could.
A moment later, Dr. Vandersluis re-entered the room, and crossed over to Monica's bed. Her back was facing him, so she couldn't see him, but she could hear his words. "OK, Monica, I'm going to start now. The whole thing is going to take about a half hour from this point. I'll explain each step as I go along so you know what to expect. The first thing you're going to feel is a small prick. That's the local anesthetic."
The doctor reached over to the tray sitting behind Monica's head and removed a small syringe. He uncapped it, and inserted the needle into the exposed skin, and depressed the plunger slightly, moving the needle around as he injected more of the anesthetic. Monica gasped slightly as the needle went in, but relaxed.
Dr. Vandersluis withdrew the needle and the nurse handed him the next thing on the table, a scalpel. He nodded to Dr. Stanton, who began speaking to Monica quietly. "Now, he's using a scalpel to make a small incision in the skin where he'll insert the needle we talked about. You won't feel this part because of the local."
Once the incision was made, he was handed the largest thing on the tray - the biopsy needle. It was about 6 inches long, and metal, with a T- shaped handle on the end of it. The doctor gripped this handle, and positioned it at the incision site. "Okay, Monica, this is the big part. You won't feel anything until I get inside the bone, and then it'll be a little uncomfortable. I'll try to go fast, so just hang in there for me."
Monica gripped Dr. Stanton's hand even tighter as Dr. Vandersluis began to advance the needle. As he neared the inside of the bone, Monica tightened up and a whimper of pain escaped her. "It's okay, love," Dr. Stanton said. "I know it hurts, but it's important that you don't move. He's almost there, and you're doing great."
Dr. Vandersluis stopped advancing the needle, and the jolt of pain Monica had felt shooting through her hip subsided to a strong ache. "OK, we're there. You're doing very well Monica. The next thing I'm going to do is insert the plunger that we'll use to extract the marrow. This shouldn't be uncomfortable for you, so try to relax."
Monica let out a breath of air she didn't know she had been holding, and closed her eyes. Dr. Stanton smoothed the hair from the young angel's forehead as she watched Dr. Vandersluis extract the marrow with the plunger. Over the next 20 minutes, he took enough of the thick, pink, bone marrow to cover eight microscope slides, which were handed one by one to a nurse who would take them to pathology to be tested. Finally, he removed the plunger and leaned forward to speak to Monica once more.
"OK, we're almost home free. Now comes the other biggie. I have to remove a bone fragment from your hip so we can check the bone consistency. Monica nodded slightly and once again reached for Dr. Stanton's hand. As Dr. Vandersluis began to remove the bone chip, Monica was once again hit with a white-hot bolt of pain. She whimpered again and a tear rolled down her cheek from underneath her tightly closed eyes. "Hang in there Monica," the doctor said as he worked to remove the bone fragment. He finally pulled it out, placing it in a specimen cup before removing the needle. "OK, we're all done. You did beautifully Monica."
"It's over?" Monica asked.
Dr. Stanton nodded as the other doctor left the room to give the bone sample to a nurse so it could be sent to the lab. "It's over love. I'm just going to have a nurse dress the incision and then we'll take you to recovery to see your friends. You're going to have to lie very still for about an hour, to prevent any complications."
"No problem," Monica mumbled, her eyes barely open due to the effects of the sedative. Dr. Stanton chuckled at her patient's remark, and made some notes in her chart as the nurse put a bandage on the incision and helped Monica roll over onto her back. Two orderlies transferred her to a rolling gurney, easily lifting her small frame. She was then wheeled into the recovery room, which was just across the hall from the waiting area Monica had previously been in.
Tess and Andrew were allowed in just as Monica's bed was being deposited in the curtained area. "Hi baby," Tess said, brushing the hair off of Monica's forehead.
"How are you doing sweetie?" Andrew asked her.
"I'm fine right now, but as soon as this sedative wears off I think I'm going to be in trouble," Monica told him, her words still slurring together. Tess and Andrew laughed at Monica's remark, and she smiled slightly as her eyes slid shut. A few minutes later, she was sound asleep.