The Dark Side - Danielle Steel Page 0,49

hour recovery time. We can remove them at any time, but I think you’ll find that they’ll keep her from getting the frequent ear infections she’s had till now. The tubes are the magic, not the doctor in this case. When would you like to do it? I do it at the hospital, and I can do it on a Saturday morning, if you like. That way, she won’t have to miss any school.” He picked up the phone on his desk, and asked his nurse a question about his schedule. “I can do it on Saturday, two weeks from tomorrow, if that works for you.” He was easy and accommodating, and Zoe looked pleased. She had made a decision that was going to spare Jaime years of pain from ear infections, like the misery she’d just been through. No matter that she’d only had two before, she would surely have more now that she was in school. It was good preventive medicine. The only problem was that she hadn’t mentioned it to Austin, but when she explained it to him, she was sure he would agree.

“That’s perfect,” Zoe agreed to the date he suggested. They shook hands, and he told her that the nurse at the desk would give her all the pre-surgical information she needed. And then she went to find Jaime at the toy box, she had building blocks and Legos all over the floor and a doll with tattered hair.

They went back downtown, and Zoe was satisfied with the appointment. Now all she had to do was tell Austin about the surgery, and sell him on the idea. She was certain they were doing the right thing. She hadn’t mentioned it to Cathy either but she told herself she would approve too. It was preventive medicine, after all.

Chapter 10

Zoe mentioned the ear tubes to Austin on Saturday night while they had a late dinner, after they put Jaime to bed. They’d had a busy day with her, doing errands, and Zoe took her to a birthday party for one of her new friends in school. Her social life was about to expand exponentially with twenty children in her class, which Zoe thought was a good thing. All the more reason not to be out sick all the time, with coughs and colds and ear infections.

“I took Jaime to see an ear, nose, and throat doctor this week, by the way,” Zoe said casually.

“What for? Are her ears bothering her again?” He looked surprised.

“No, she’s fine. Just some preventive medicine before it happens again. He suggested ear tubes as a prophylactic measure. Apparently, they work brilliantly.”

“That sounds simple enough. But won’t she pull them out?”

“That’s the whole point. The doctor inserts them, and we leave them in as long as we want, until she outgrows the need for them or they fall out on their own. Cathy warned me that she’d be sick constantly for the first two years of school, from exposure to other kids. At least that would rule out ear infections. I don’t want her to go through that again, she was miserable. And I’m sure you don’t want that either.”

“The doctor puts them in? Is it a big deal?”

“He says it only takes a few minutes. They give her a general anesthetic to insert them, and a few minutes later, it’s all done.” She made it sound incredibly easy, as Austin looked at her hesitantly.

“They give her an anesthetic to do it? That sounds like a big deal to me. I don’t like the idea of them putting her out.”

“You’d rather have her screaming in pain from an ear infection every few weeks?” She made it sound like those were the only two options, but Austin wasn’t convinced.

“What does Cathy think? Did she suggest it?”

“She said she’s going to be sick almost constantly for the first two years of school.”

“You told me that. What does she think of surgically implanting ear tubes?”

“Lots of kids have them,” Zoe said blithely. “She thinks it’s a good idea.” It was a bold-faced lie and Zoe knew it, she thought the end justified the means. And the end in this case was a good one. She hadn’t mentioned it to Cathy, because she didn’t want to argue with her, in case she thought it unnecessary or premature. But Zoe didn’t want to wait for another ear infection to do it. Why let Jaime go through all that pain again if it could be prevented? With