Lydia Johnson just finished her sophomore year of high school. She spends her days hanging out with her best friend Harper Green and babysitting her baby sister. Lydia has had a crush on Hunter Baker since 6th grade. He finally broke up with Claire...
My alarm goes off at 7:00 am. Today is the day that I get to start my position at the hospital. The temperature high for today is 90° F. I walk into the bathroom and start to get ready. I heated up my Beachwaver curling iron and sprayed my hair with a heat protectant. I did loose curls in my hair and did some light makeup. I went back into my room and changed into a blue sundress and some white Steve Madden Kimmie Sandals.
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I got Kensley up at 9:00 am and got her ready for the day. I changed her diaper, fed her a bottle, and got her dressed. I set her on her play mat while I packed her diaper bag. We got in the car and drove to Harper's house. It was a 20-minute drive from Harper's to the hospital.
I arrived at Madison Hospital in Madison, Alabama, at 9:45 am on the dot. I went inside and went to the Neurology floor to meet my mom. She took me down to Peds to meet Kate. Nurse Kate Sullivan is a pediatric nurse at the hospital. She has been friends with my mom for years because she worked with my mom on her first case. Kate is only 23, so she is only 7 years older than me.
"Hey, Lydia! Your mom has told me so much about you! It's nice to meet you!" Kate is so gorgeous and seems like a lovely person. I can't wait to get to know her.
"Hi! It's nice to meet you too! You must be nurse Kate." I'm so happy to start my new position. Last night, I barely got any sleep because I was too excited to start reading to kids.
"Yes, I am! Why don't we get straight to it? Did you bring some books?"
"Yes, I did. I brought a couple of my favorite books from when I was little." I grabbed The Notebook, Charolette's Web, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.
I have read to 3 kids so far, and I have an hour and 30 minutes left. All of them were incredibly nice kids. All three of them have Cystic Fibrosis. The last kid I read to today is in room 207. I knocked on the door and opened it. A little girl was sitting on the bed that smiled at me when I walked in. She was a gorgeous little girl and looked very happy to see someone other than doctors.
"Hi! My name is Lydia Johnson, and I came to read to you today!"
"Hi! I'm Savannah Pressley! I'm 12 years old, and I have stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma. It is a rare cancer that forms in soft tissues. Mine formed in my neck, and I've been fighting it since I was 8." I just met this girl, and I feel so much more attached to her than the other 3 kids. Something about her story and how she expresses herself pulls me in.
"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry, honey! I did bring some books with me today to see if I can cheer you up. Which one do you want to read?" I showed her all three books that I brought with me today. She had a smile on her face from ear to ear that made me so happy that I took this job.
"I think I'm going to go with this one," she pointed to The Notebook, "I've read the Harry Potter books already to pass the time in the hospital, and this one pulls me in more." A smile spreads across my face at the fact that she picked my favorite book. We ended up reading around 4 chapters, and then we started talking about our home lives. I told her about my dad and how my mom met Braxton after he passed. I told her all about Hunter and about Harper and Coleton. She told me that her parents are fighting a lot right now but can't afford divorce lawyers because of her treatment. She also told me that she doesn't have many friends because she is permanently hospitalized. When she does start to make a friend, they get scared that she may get them sick too. It broke my heart to hear that her only friends were her nurses and doctors.
