and Austin understood the procedure, and they said they did. He said it would be brief, and then he talked to Jaime, and told her she was going to get sleepy for a few minutes, the doctor was going to put little tubes in her ears, and then she would wake up and she’d come back to her mom and dad, and they could go home.
“You’re not coming with me?” Jaime looked suddenly panicked and leapt into her mother’s arms, as Austin watched, looking grim.
“May I?” Zoe asked the anesthesiologist and he shook his head.
Two attendants came to take her to surgery then, and Jaime tried to cling to her mother and looked imploringly at Austin. He felt like a monster as he let them take her away on a gurney, and then he and Zoe sat down in the small room to wait for her. Her clothes were neatly folded on the bed.
“I don’t know why we had to do this now,” he said with the sound of Jaime screaming for them still ringing in his head. “Why couldn’t we wait to see if she had more ear infections? This seems so extreme, and premature to me.” The only reason he had agreed to it was because Zoe said Cathy thought it was a good idea.
“It’s not extreme, it doesn’t hurt, and ear infections do. It’s the smart, responsible thing to do,” Zoe said convincingly, as they waited.
“She’s only three, for heaven’s sake. My nephew didn’t have it done till he was six.” Austin stood and stared out the window, and Zoe sat quietly in a chair, and forty-five minutes later, Jaime was back. She looked wide awake and had already come out of the anesthetic. Dr. Parker was with them, as the attendants rolled her into the room, and she sat on the bed and smiled. Austin looked enormously relieved, as he picked her up and held her with tears in his eyes.
“It went perfectly,” the doctor assured them as he took off his surgical cap. He was still wearing scrubs as he smiled at them both, and then at Jaime. “She was very brave, but when I was talking to her, she fell asleep. She can do whatever she wants today, normal activity, and a big breakfast, I’ll bet. And no more nasty ear infections like all the ones she’s had till now. Too many for mom to even remember how many there were.” He smiled at Zoe, as Austin glanced at her with obvious surprise. “Give me a call if you have any questions or problems. I don’t think you will.” He shook hands with both of them and rushed out, as Austin stared at his wife, and gently set Jaime down on the bed.
“Did you tell him she’s had a lot of ear infections, ‘too many to even remember how many,’ in order to convince him to do it?” Austin asked her in a low voice.
“I can’t recall what I said. I told him how bad the last one was, that was enough,” she said as she started to get Jaime dressed.
“But she’s only had two in her whole life,” Austin said, trying to hide his anger from their child. “You lied to him, Zoe, didn’t you, so he’d do it?”
She turned to him and looked him in the eye. “I don’t want her to get any more ear infections. Is that so terrible?” Austin didn’t answer her, and as soon as Jaime was dressed, they went home in a cab. He didn’t say a word on the way downtown, as Jaime chattered, and Zoe avoided his eyes.
Zoe was giving Jaime breakfast when Austin went for a walk, and as soon as he left the building, he called Cathy on her cell.
“How are you?” she asked, surprised to hear from him.
“Pissed, I think.”
“Is Jaime okay?” She put her doctor’s voice on immediately, ready to focus on the child.
“She seems to be, she came out of the surgery in less than an hour. Was this your idea or Zoe’s, and did you really think it was a good idea?”
“What surgery? What happened? Did she get hurt?” She sounded surprised.
“We just had ear tubes surgically implanted, with Jaime under general anesthesia. I have the distinct impression that Zoe told the specialist Jaime had recurring ear infections. And she told me you thought it was a good idea.”
“I don’t know anything about it, in this case. I have patients who’ve had the procedure, but only after