Done Adulting Vol. 2 Ch. 39

“Hi,” Becky said as she stood at the desk in emergency. “My humanologist told us to come here. My little boy is having some severe abdominal pain. Dr. Bowers said he’d call ahead for us.”

“Yes,” the receptionist said as she glanced at her computer. “In fact, they can take you right now. If she wants to take him right over there, they’ll call her in a minute if you can fill this out.” She handed Becky a clipboard and pointed Amanda to a row of chairs.

“Thank you,” Becky said. The two of them walked to the row of chairs, passing through the waiting area and glad they didn’t have to wait, though it occurred to Becky not having to wait meant Dr. Bowers must have thought it could be a genuine emergency. A human hospital was not nearly no crowded as one for amazons, but no one likes a wait.

“Webb,” a nurse called before Amanda could sit down with Jamie.

“I’ll be right in,” Becky assured both Amanda and Jamie. The nurse waited with a kind smile as Amanda carried Jamie in cradled in her arms.

“Hi,” the woman said, “what are we seeing this little fella for?”

“Abdominal pain,” Amanda explained.

“Oooh, well, that’s no good. Is he verbal?”

“Yes,” Jamie said for himself.

“He’s unregressed,” Amanda added.

“Completely?”

“Completely,” Amanda responded, thinking to herself, you wouldn’t know it when he’s sick.

“I’m going to take some vitals and start an IV. Can you lay him down here?” Amanda placed Jamie in a bassinet. “Can you undress him for me?” Amanda unzipped his sleeper and removed Jamie’s diaper cover. The nurse placed a pulse oximeter on Jamie’s finger and ran a thermometer across his forehead.

“I thought those didn’t get used on littles,” Jamie tried to say with a laugh.

“Only in here, to be quicker,” the nurse told him. “They’ll use a regular one in your room. Don’t worry.”

“I’ll try not to,” he responded sarcastically, knowing most bigs never pick up on littles’ sarcasm.

“I’m going to put an IV in. Do you know what that is?”

“Yes.”

“He’s afraid of needles,” Amanda interjected. “Gimme your hand, Baby Bear.” Jamie closed his eyes tight and tried to hold still. Amanda took Jamie’s hand, prepared for him to crush her fingers. The nurse readied the IV and Jamie’s other hand.

“You’re going to taste something metallic. That’s normal ... Quick pinch ... There. That wasn’t so bad.”

Amanda kissed away the tears on Jamie’s cheeks, prying his fingers loose.

“Hey,” Becky said when she came in. “How’s my brave boy?”

Jamie’s “Okay, Mommy,” was an arrow to her heart. Amanda stepped aside to let her sit down next to him.

“Last thing I need to do is take some blood,” the nurse said.

Jamie whimpered. “It’s okay, baby,” Becky cooed. “Look at me. It’s gonna be okay. You’re being very brave.”

The nurse looked hurt to be doing this to him. All regressed littles cry at needles, more or less, but something about this unregressed little’s tears struck her harder. “Make a fist for me, Jamie,” she said. She put a tourniquet on his arm and started palpating for a vein. It was easier to find one on Jamie, with his lower body fat than most littles.

Please get it in one try, Becky pleaded silently as she took Jamie’s hand this time.

“Can you hold his arm for me,” the nurse asked Amanda as Jamie trembled. She rubbed an alcohol wipe across the vein she was aiming for. “Another quick pinch.”

Jamie gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, pushing the tears out and holding his breath.

Please get it in one try, Amanda silently pleaded. The nurse missed the vein but didn’t retract the needle. As she redirected it, Jamie’s fortitude gave out.

“Uhuh uhuh uhuh, waah.” Jamie got teary more often than one would expect of an unregressed little, but he didn’t often break down and cry.

The nurse found the vein and pushed the vial into place, twisting it as it filled. “You go right ahead and cry,” the nurse said in a sympathetic, babying tone. She took out the vial and put in another one. When it was full, she removed it and the needle, putting a bandaid over the spot.

“All done. You did very well. You can’t have this now, but maybe your mommy will hold onto it for later,” the nurse said as she handed Becky a lollipop. “I’ll go see if they’re ready for you.” She stepped through a rear door.

Jamie had stopped crying. “Will it hurt you if I pick you up, Baby Bear,” Becky asked.

“I think so,” he said regretfully. He wanted to be held. The nurse returned with an orderly.

“This is James,” she introduced the orderly. “He has the same name as you. Isn’t that neat? He’s going to take you to a room.”

“Thanks,” Jamie said weakly. Becky and Amanda echoed his gratitude, and the orderly wheeled Jamie out in the bassinet. They went down the corridor, passing doors through which faint cries came, but it was quiet in the hall, just the sounds of their footfalls on the tile. In the room, the orderly assured them another nurse would be in shortly and took a blanket from a cabinet, giving it to Becky, who laid it over Jamie Bear.

They didn’t wait long for a nurse, who went straight to the bassinet after sanitizing her hands. “Hi, Jamie. I’m Brenna. I’m going to be your nurse on this floor. How are you feeling?” She made eye contact with Becky and Amanda.

Jamie appreciated that she was addressing him and not Becky or Amanda. “My belly hurts a lot.”

“Can I feel?” Jamie nodded, and she lowered the blanket to just below his stomach. She prodded him just below his navel, provoking a grunt from Jamie. She prodded a little more firmly, and he grunted more loudly.

“I’m sorry, Jamie. I know that hurts.” She pulled the blanket back up. “I’m going to go get the doctor, and she’ll look you over.” She turned to Becky, who looked outwardly calm, and Amanda, who looked like she was trying to look calm. “If he needs changed, please leave his diaper on the counter. We’re going to want to weigh it to see what he’s putting out.”

“What do you think it could be,” Amanda asked.

“I’ll let the doctor say,” the nurse replied. “But I’m not worried,” she added. “It won’t be long.”

Becky approached the bassinet and put her hand under the blanket. She decided to change Jamie. Amanda pulled a chair close to the head of the bassinet and sat down, running a hand through Jamie’s hair.

“Can we get you anything,” Amanda asked while Becky changed him.

“No.”

“Sweet boy.” Becky put the used diaper on the counter and pulled up the other chair. The nurse came back in.

“The doctor is right behind me. She wants to get you started on some antibiotics and something to help that pain.” She hooked an IV bag to the line in Jamie’s arm and hung it on a pole, then injected first the antibiotics and then the pain meds into the port.

“Mmmm,” Jamie groaned. It eased the pain but made his head spin. A sudden heaviness and nausea passed over time.

“Feeling that already?”

“Yeah.” The doctor came in.

“Hello, I’m Dr. Jenner.” She shook hands with Amanda, who was closest to the door, and then Becky.

“I’m Becky,” she introduced herself, “and this is Jamie and Jamie’s sister and guardian, Amanda.”

“What’s going on here,” the doctor asked as she looked down at Jamie and pulled the blanket down. As gently as she could, she felt Jamie’s belly.

“He woke up sluggish and was running a low fever that got higher,” Becky answered. “He had diarrhea, and I called the doctor when he said his stomach really hurt.”

“Can he talk,” the doctor asked.

“Yes,” Amanda replied, “he’s not regressed at all.”

“That rules out him eating anything from under the sink,” the doctor said. “Where does it hurt, Jamie?”

“Low and just a little on the right.”

“Here?”

“Lower ... There!”

“Okay. Sorry that hurt. Your white blood cell count is high, which means you probably have an infection. I want to use an ultrasound machine to see inside your tummy.” The nurse stepped through the door that led to the central nursing area and was back in a moment with the machine.

“This is gonna be a little cold,” the doctor said as she squeezed a clear jelly onto Jamie’s belly. She put the ultrasound probe on his belly and pressed in as lightly as she could as she watched the screen. Jamie gritted his teeth while Amanda held his hand and Becky tried to make out what was on the screen.

“See this,” the doctor said to Becky. “That’s his appendix. It’s infected.” She took the probe away and gently wiped off Jamie’s belly.

“What’s an appendix?”

“Something humans have. It’s not important.”

“What does it do?”

“Nothing. It’s a vestigial organ, like their tailbone from when they had tails.” Neither Becky nor Amanda knew humans had tails. Did they dock them at birth?

“So what do you do about that?”

“It has to come out.”

“Oh my,” Becky said. “There’s no way around that?”

“If the appendix gets too inflamed, it will burst and spread bacteria all over his abdomen, and then he’ll be much, much sicker. It’s best to just take it out. It’s a very routine surgery. Even human doctors can do it safely.”

“What happens now?”

“Well, if he were a big he’d need to wait for a few hours for an operating theater to open up, but since he’s a little we should be able to take him straight to surgery.” Jamie had noticed how fast everything seemed to move. The place was small and not very crowded, which made sense since there were a lot fewer littles than bigs.

“Right now,” Amanda asked.

“Yes, and the surgeon will decide, but he’ll probably need to stay at least overnight.”

“It’s okay, baby,” Becky assured her. “It’s just one night, and we can stay here with him, right?”

“Of course. I’ll go call the OR.” The doctor departed while the nurse put Jamie’s diaper on a scale and entered the number into her tablet.

“Everything will be alright,” Jamie told Amanda. “A lot of humans have this procedure.”

“I know it’ll be alright, Jamie Bear. I just didn’t want them to rush in case you were faking. You’re not, are you?” Jamie smiled.

“No. But like I’d tell you anyway.”

Becky took out her phone and dialed Lauren. “Hi, Laurie. Sorry we had to cancel ... We’re at the littles’ hospital ... No, no. Nothing very serious, but Jamie does need to have a minor procedure ... They need to remove something called an ‘appendix.’ ... It’s something humans have; not important, the doctor says ... We’re gonna be here overnight. Do you think you could stop by the house and pick up his teddy bear and let Kazoo out? ... I’ll call the neighbor about feeding him and putting him in ... No rush. Just for when he wakes up ... A change of clothes for me and Manda would be great ... Thank you. Text me if you need anything or when you get here ... Bye.”

“I don’t need my bear,” Jamie said.

“Yes you do,” Becky said. “Of course you do.” Of course her Baby Bear needed his teddy bear. She tucked his blanket around him and sat down beside him, but she didn’t get to sit long.

A different orderly appeared, and he wheeled Jamie upstairs with Becky and Amanda at his side. He took them to a new room, where a new nurse appeared with new questions about his allergies and how he slept and his medical history.

“Has he ever had an allergic reaction to anesthesia before?”

“I don’t think so. Jamie?”

“No.”

“Is he on any medications?”

“No,” Becky answered.

“Has he had anything to eat or drink today?”

“Just a little water and some breastmilk.”

“How much milk?”

“A bottle,” Amanda said. “About five hours ago.”

“Okay,” the nurse said. “I’ll let the anesthetist know that. The surgeon will be in in a couple minutes.”

“What do you wanna do when we get home tomorrow, Jamie Bear,” Amanda asked.

“Rest, I guess.”

“Rest? That’s no fun. I was thinking we’d invite Amy over to play football, and it can be you and me versus her and Ella. And then maybe we can go out to lunch and then go for a swim. Sound fun?”

“I don’t think so.”

“You never wanna do anything I wanna do,” she said softly, “but if it’s so important to you, we can just rest at home. I do need you to help me pack boxes though. And can you lift a mattress?”

“Manda, you’re being silly.”

“Someone has to be, faker.”

“Hello,” said another doctor as he came in, followed by another. He tapped his tablet a few times. “Can you tell me his name?”

“Jamie Webb,” Becky replied.

“Perfect, and what are we going to be doing?”

“You don’t know,” Amanda said.

“Just making sure we’re on the same page,” he gently replied.

“Removing his appendix,” Becky answered.

“We’ve got the same thing here,” the doctor replied. “I’m Dr. Stevens, and this is Dr. Troy, who’ll be Jamie’s anesthetist. Does anyone have any questions?”

“Can you tell me what you’re going to do,” Jamie asked.

Dr. Troy answered, “I’m going to give you something right now to make you very relaxed, and then when we get to the operating room, I’ll give you something to make you sleep, and when you wake up, you’ll feel much better.”

“And while you’re asleep, I’m going to make a few very small holes in your tummy and take out the thing that’s hurting you using a very tiny pair of scissors I can see on a TV. It only takes a few minutes. You’ll wake up next to your mommy,” the surgeon added. While he was talking, the anesthetist injected the sedative into Jamie’s IV port. “Any questions from the two of you,” he asked Becky and Amanda.

“If he’s faking it, you’ll tell us, right,” Amanda asked with a wink.

“Oh, I’ll come right out,” he assured her.

“Any risk of complications,” Becky asked.

“Just the usual ones for minor surgery. We’ll be in and out very fast, and he’ll be able to go home tomorrow.” Becky nodded.

“If everyone is ready...” the anesthetist prompted them.

Becky leaned over the bassinet and gave Jamie a long kiss. “I’ll be there when you wake up. Don’t be scared, okay?”

“You don’t be scared either,” Jamie managed to say groggily.

“Have a nice nap, Jamie Bear,” Amanda said with a kiss of her own. “I’ll see you in just a little bit.”

“See you, Manda.”

The surgeon held the door, and the anesthetist rolled the bassinet away. Becky and Amanda waved, and Jamie waved back. Watching Jamie laying in that bassinet, looking so small and helpless, Becky and Amanda both felt a swell of motherly emotion, intense love and pity and fear. Becky swallowed it down and picked up the diaper bag and her purse, knowing someone would be along in a moment to take them to a waiting area or recovery room.

“You wanna get something to eat real quick,” Becky asked Amanda. “Baby?”

Amanda responded by choking on a sob, then letting it go, overwhelmed by tears as she put her arms around her mom. Becky dropped her things and put her arms around her daughter.

“Shhh, everything will be alright. Don’t be scared.”

“What if he’s not okay?”

“He’ll be fine. You heard everything the doctors said.”

“But they don’t even know what the thing they’re gonna take out does.”

“It’ll be okay. I promise.”

“He’s so tiny.”

“I know,” Becky said, her own tears falling silently. She didn’t want Amanda to see them, so she wiped them away. “Everything will be okay. You did such a good job today. We’ll see him real, real soon.”