Doctor Montgomery – not Doctor Montgomery Shepherd anymore, thank God – announced that she would be leaving Seattle Grace in the next couple of weeks, so that's a load off my mind. She did stare at me rather harshly when she said it though. No doubt she thinks that its my fault that her husband chose me over her. I guess it kinda is.
"Dr. Grey?" A woman at the nurse's station calls.
"Yes?" I answer, approaching her desk.
"There's a telephone call for you." She handed the phone over to me. Confused as who would be calling me at work as no one I know has my work number, I accept the call.
"Hello?" I press my ear to the phone.
"Is that Dr. Grey?" A woman's voice hollers down the phone.
"Yes." I reply, clutching the phone close.
"Ah, this is Dr. Newsome from the medical home." She informs me. Oh God, I hold my breath. Mom.
"Is my mother all right?" I ask hurriedly, imagining a thousand different scenarios of what could have happened to her.
"Um, I'm afraid not." She sighed. "Your mother's illness has been deteriorating. She has become violent, very violent. We've had to strap her down permanently at night and have been giving her constant sedatives during the day."
Oh God. I feel ill. My eyes are welling up, I can't stop it. This is my mother, my mother! How did it get to this point? "Will she recover from this?"
"We've been giving her continuous therapy. On some days, she shows improvement and awareness of her surroundings, but it never lasts long. On other days, she doesn't respond at all and insists on seeing her patients at the hospital." She sighs again. That's really not helping. "Dr. Grey, violence has not been a trait of your mothers until this point, so I can't promise anything. I called to suggest that you come and visit more often. In many of these cases, familiar people really help."
I wipe a tear back as it falls. "um," My voice cracking under the emotional pressure. "As a surgeon, my schedule's always unpredictable, I'm almost always busy." I can't see her like that anymore, it's too much for me to handle alone. I'm only one person.
"But Miss Grey –" She protests.
"I'm sorry, I really must go." I interrupt and hang up the phone, running to the nearest storage closet to hide my uncontrollable tears from falling in front of everyone.