AUSTIN:

I was in pediatrics today. I kind of liked the interior of the exam rooms in pediatrics, they were adorable. I was meeting with a mother named Kaitlyn who looked about the same age I was when I met Ally and she had a three-year-old daughter named Hayley. I looked at her and I said,

"Hi, guys."

Kaitlyn smiled.

"Hello, doctor."

She whispered to her child,

"Say hi, Hayley."

The toddler waved to me. I asked her,

"I'm going to talk with mommy for a while. OK?"

She said,

"OK."

I asked her,

"What seems to be wrong with her?"

Kaitlyn said,

"She hasn't been sleeping very well, she gets very hungry and very thirsty easily and she's been needing to urinate a lot."

I said,

"Well, I'm going to need to do a finger prick test on her, because it sounds like she has diabetes."

I turned to the little one.

"I'm just going to need to clean your finger and then I'm going to poke it with this thing. It may hurt a bit, but not for too long. You can sit in mommy's lap if you want."

I went to the sink and cleaned my hands, put on latex gloves and I grabbed a lancing devise and a hand sanitizer and a band-aid with Dora The Explorer on it.

"Hold out your middle finger,"

I told her. I cleaned her finger and then told her to inhale and I pricked her finger. She responded better than most children I'd dealt with or seen who'd gotten their fingers pricked. I had dealt with young children who had to get shots, fingers pricked or blood drawings. But of course, the South Miami pediatrics department cared about children and we did whatever we could to keep children happy.

We had lollipops, stickers with kids' cartoon characters on it, we had nice, caring people. I covered her finger with the band-aid with Dora The Explorer handed her a sticker with Sofia from Sofia The First. I said,

"You're a very brave girl."

That brought a smile to her face. I loved children, even when they were resistant. I was definitely excited for the baby girl that was going to be Ally's and mine. I mentioned to Kaitlyn,

"You should probably bring her to the hospital in a few weeks so they can do some tests on her."

She looked at me.

"OK. Say bye, Hayley."

Hayley smiled her toothy smile at me.

"Bye."

I said,

"Bye bye."

I got a call on my phone from Trish, Ally's best friend, and the girl who worked at Cosmic Kratom, where I sometimes ordered medical marijuana for my patients.

"Hey, Trish, what's up?"

I said.

Trish's voice held concern.

"Austin! I just took Ally to the South Miami emergency room!"

I asked,

"What? Why?"

Trish said,

"Her hands and feet are all swollen and she was throwing up and just fainted."

I asked,

"Are you with her?"

Trish said,

"Yeah. Please, get here as soon as you can."

I said,

"I'm on my way."

This was kind of concerning. What could be wrong with my wife? I certainly hoped she was OK. But whatever it was, I had full confidence that I could treat her, and this baby. After all, I was a doctor, and I couldn't remember the last disease or injury that had gotten the best of me.

I wasn't scared of ailments, they were scared of me.