The Doctor's Mate

I woke up to the sound of my cell phone, my dad was finally returning my call. My back had been killing me for the past week from all the stress from work. I knew exactly what he was going to tell me so I cut him off as I answered my cell and told him flat out no to his first idea.

"Dad, I'm not going to go to a different chiropractor. I'm sorry, and I don't want you to drive 6 plus hours to come and adjust my back and neck. There has to be something else I can do."

"Well I don't usually recommend this but try a massage. It might work."

"Okay sounds good. See you at Christmas. I gotta go otherwise I'm going to be late for work." I hung up before my dad said anything else. I worked at a hospital not to far from my apartment but just to cross the street in the busy New York City could take ten minutes. Now don't get me wrong, I love New York, I just don't like the traffic. I slipped into my shoes and pulled a sweatshirt over my head and headed out my door locking it behind me. I scurried down the stairs and into the dark city. The lights were still on but it was dark none the less. I crossed the street my first try and practically ran the rest of the distance to the hospital.

I'm a child life specialist, and I absolutely love my job. Sometimes it's a little stressful but for the most part I love it. The kids are little angels. "Morning Elise!" Lilli the counter girl called to me. I smiled at her and kept walking. I had to run up to flights of stairs to my first appointment. A little five year old girl had been admitted into or hospital around 3 A.M. this morning with bruising, swelling and internal organ damage. It wasn't the first time I'd seen this I'm sorry to say. She would have to go into a cat scan and maybe have a surgery or two depending on the damage to her organs. It was very apparent to me that this girl came from an abusive family.

I refused to take the elevator just because I feared that I'd get stuck and other people not capable of using the stairs needed to get in it. I took the stairs two at a time and walked onto one of my floors. Children pediatrics floor three. I walked to the front desk on the floor went behind the desk and checked myself in. I looked for my clipboard. "It's right here."

"Thanks Liz, looks like a crazy day."

"Five people in the last hour have been emitted. A little slow but all the rooms on this floor are full. I'm not sure about four though." Liz took a sip of a coffee she had in her hand and went back to typing on the computer patient information. Liz is one of the best front desk girls I know and she's a great nurse.

I walked to my first room and then turned around. "Hey Liz... Do you know any one who could give me a good massage? My back is killing me!"

"Yeah, Dr. Lukes, he usually works on floor six but I think he's on the cancer floor today. He's certified in it, I'm told that he does a pretty good job. And he's pretty cute." She didn't look up from the computer until her last sentence. I smiled and told her thanks and went back to my first room. All the nurses were convinced that they could set me up with a doctor here. I on the other hand wasn't so sure. I opened the door and began my day.