boys

boys are funny creatures.
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I was standing in the dining room trying to find a table to sit at when I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was one of our surgeons, Dr. Mark.

"I saw your husband today."

The confused look on my face must have spurred on a more elaborated explanation.

"Emmit was in Post ops today. His mom was asking, 'Where is Emmit's wife meggee'."

Now, as my nachos with been dip began to cool, everything made sense. Emmit was a 10 year old patient a few weeks ago that had made his intentions to me known during his time on the ward :). I had seen him and his mom walking out of the port that afternoon while I was jogging. Apparently his affections weren't as fickle as I had thought them to be....he's still thinking about me. However, while I'm not a fan of breaking hearts, I don't really think it could work out between us :)
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Edwin is slightly moody. Or maybe it's just that he is seven.

His reason for needing surgery is a bit bizarre. Not very long ago he was hit in the back by a soccer ball. His back began to swell and he developed a severe infection, causing all the skin on his back to become necrotic. A local hospital debrided the dead tissue and sent him to us for a skin graph. His pre-op photos is rather graphic- his entire back was skinless.

Edward and I are friends. The first day I took care of him he was a bit mopey, so I made extremely silly, sad faces at him and told him he needed to practice making the same kind of faces. I then explained him the golden rule of my shift, no smiling.

"You will be in big trouble if you start to smile, so I only want to see very sad faces."

When I explain this to children, they generally can't help but smile even if they are grumpy. Of course, then I have to reprimand them in ridiculously sounding stern voice and do my best to convince them to frown again. This generally brings on laughter (if all goes as planned).

Like most kids, Edwin gets very excited about playing games and being outside. On Tuesday we played memory together (sort of..he didn't quite get it) and last night Edwin, Massa, Matthew and myself sat on a blanket and treated ourselves to a few rounds of Jenga (they were very short rounds seeing the kids seemed to be drawn to the most unstable Jenga pieces...always.).
Mid-Jenga, Edwin became fascinated by my stethoscope. When we finished toppleing the blocks for the third consecutive time, I sat in a bed and began to moan about the pain in my leg. Edwin then had to be my nurse. He assessed my lungs and heart, but he wasn't very concerned about my pain control. So I just had to suffer.

Edwin asked to wear my ID and walked around the ward all night wearing both my stethoscope and ID. He told the other parent's and his mother

"I am wearing my wife's ID."

I think both he and Matthew, a newly admitted 6 year old, both had little crushes on me. The two of them followed me around all night. If I was sitting (trying to fill out my paperwork..) each took a side of my chair and simply stood next to me. Every once in a while Matthew would sneak little kisses on my cheek (he's quite good at stealing a girls heart..) while Edwin would flash me lingering smiles when we were separated by distance.

I feel am being ruined completely for the normal. I never get this much attention form my patients at home. And really, what could ever replace having a 6 year old with cheek kisses and a seven year old with lingering smiles vying for your affection? Edwin actually made me promise I would come by to see him today before I finished my shift last night.

These children are priceless.