Magnolia Blooms

23. Smithereens

Maggie was given a sedative and after a few moments, when it took effect, she started to calm and then she fell asleep.

She doctor came in about an hour later.

"Hi there," he said, sitting down in one of the chairs in the room. Debby was on the bed, holding Maggie. Josh was in the other chair by Maggie's head, holding her hand and stroking her hair. "So, help me understand what happened at lunchtime."

"Well, for starters, Maggie hasn't been eating for the past few days. Nothing. No lunch, no snacks, no dinner, no breakfast. Today. When we tried to get her to eat something, she had, well, a tantrum doesn't quite explain it," Debby said.  "She said the monsters put a rock in her stomach so she can't eat or drink."

"The monsters?" The doctor asked.

"Well, for the last while, Maggie has been having these horrible nightmares. She said there were monsters in these dreams that told her she was stupid and that we didn't love her and we'd throw her away like her biological parents did.  She's been seeing Dr. Kate Abernathy for the past couple of months. We thought we were making progress. Her nightmares, though still horrible, aren't as frequent. But now she's literally stopped eating."

"And have you determined who these 'monsters' are?" The doctor asked.

"We thought they were her biological parents. It made sense to us based on what her social worker told us when we were adopting her."

"Has she complained about any stomach issues? Nausea? Vomiting? Pain? Difficulty having a bowel movement?"

"No," Debby shook her head. "None of that. Just just insists she's not hungry. But today, today she went off the rails."

The doctor nodded.

"And she said it was the monsters stopping her from eating?"

Debby nodded.

"And they put a rock in her stomach?"

Debby nodded again.

"Okay. I'm going to do a CT scan of her abdomen, make sure there isn't anything physically wrong. If that's inconclusive, we'll try an MRI.  If we still don't find anything, we might have to look at psychiatric issues."

Debby nodded. Whatever it took to help Maggie, Josh and Debby were prepared to do it.

Debby looked over at her sleeping daughter and couldn't help but worry about what was happening to her.

The doctor said he'd get the tests booked and hopefully get the CT scan done.

"The problem is, we need her to drink the contrast. And if she isn't eating or drinking, that might be a problem. We might have to use an intravenous contrast."

"We'll try to get her to drink the contrast," Josh said.

"Okay. Great. You guys are doing all the right things. I know you're worried. That what parents do. Worry about their kids. We'll get to the bottom of this."

Josh and Debby smiled slightly at the doctor. He left and they went back to fretting over their daughter, now blissfully asleep.

Debby dozed off while lying on the bed with Maggie. Josh did the one thing he knew he shouldn't do. He went online and looked up Maggie's symptoms. Nothing seemed to fit. She wasn't being picky. Picky eaters at least eat something.  Maggie hadn't eaten anything. She didn't seem to think she was fat or trying to avoid eating. Not that he'd seen or heard. Her activity hadn't increased and hadn't really decreased before winding up in the hospital. She wasn't complaining of any problems with her stomach or going to the bathroom. None of it made sense with the few things Josh looked at.

He sighed and closed out his web browser. He was just going to manage to find something that would worry him until it was ruled out.

He leaned on the bed and rubbed Maggie's little hand with his thumb. He was so afraid to lose her. From the day he found her Josh had loved her.  His first instinct had always been to protect her. But he couldn't protect her from something they couldn't understand.

Maggie slept for about three hours. When she finally opened her eyes, she looked around as if she were confused about where she was.

"Hey there, Bug," Debby smiled at her.

"Hi, Mama," Maggie said, leaning her head on Debby.

"Hi my precious girl," Josh whispered.

"Hi Papa," Maggie said.

"How do you feel?" Josh asked.

"Tired," Maggie said, rubbing her eyes.

"I bet. You got very mad at Mama and Papa and they had to give you medicine to calm you down."

Maggie frowned.

"But, you neber make me mad," Maggie said.

"Do you remember getting mad at us about eating lunch?"

Maggie shook her head. Debby didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Are you hungry? Do you want something?" Josh asked.

Maggie shook her head. She still wasn't hungry.

"The doctor came by while you were sleeping," Josh said. "They want to do some tests to look at your tummy and see if we can see the rocks."

"Do I hab to?" Maggie asked.

"Yes, Bug," Mama Debby said. "You have to have these tests. The first one the doctor wants to do is called a CT scan. They're going to want you to drink some water with special medicine in it that will help them see inside your tummy."

"They're gonna cut my tummy open?" Maggie asked.

"No, sweetheart," Debby smiled at Maggie's innocence. "They'll give you a drink and it has something in it called 'contrast'. It helps your tummy get ready for pictures."

Maggie frowned. It still sounded like they'd have to cut her tummy open to see it.

"It's like an X-ray," Josh said. "But it shows so much more, if you have enough contrast."

"Ohhh," Maggie said, still unsure what they meant.

"So you're going to have to try to drink it, okay?"

Maggie nodded, looking a little unsure.

"What if the monsters take the rocks away before the city scan?" Maggie asked. Josh smiled at the mispronunciation.

"Well, let's hope they do, so you can eat, okay?"

Maggie nodded. She did miss eating. And she felt so tired now.

"The doctor will tell us when he has the CT scan booked. So we don't have to worry just now. Okay ?"

Maggie nodded. She didn't know what was worse? Not being able to eat because of the rocks or that the rocks were invisible.