"Hello. I apologize for the wait. We had an emergency patient," Dr. Ray greeted as he entered the large wooden office Dad and I were waiting in.
Dr. Ray was a typical doctor. He possessed short, neatly combed salt and pepper hair and wore powder blue scrubs under a long white coat.
"You must be Mr. Lee," he held out his hand. Dad happily accepted it and confirmed the question like statement.
"And you must be Violet. My name is Dr. Ray Moore, but you can just call me Dr. Ray," he offered me a handshake and quickly sat down in a chair across from us.
After looking through my papers, he began typing away on the computer next to him.
My palms became sweaty while all the nervousness in me boiled, watching him leisurely go through things on the computer.
Two X-Rays of my spine popped up onto the screen and Dr. Ray moved his seat to the side, allowing Dad and I to get a better view of the photos.
"Okay, here," Dr. Ray pointed to the image on the left of the screen. "Your doctor from Alaska sent your previous X-Rays to us as you know. So, this is last year's X-Ray."
Pointing to the right he said, "This is the one you just took. You can see there is a fairly big difference. The first one looks to be about 16 to 18 degrees, this one looks to be approximately 21 to 23," he gestured toward the curve on the right.
I stared at the screen in disbelief. I had done all the exercises that my therapist suggested, wore my brace at least 12 hours everyday, if not more, and yet it only got worse.
Dad looked at me worriedly and pitifully pulled me into a side hug.
"My suggestion would be to find a surgeon and begin discussing the surgery," Dr. Ray softly announced. "Now, sweetie, I know that it's sounds scary, but at this point, it seems to be the best option. You could wait a few more years, but I don't think the brace will do any good at this point."
I chuckled humorlessly to myself. "I'm not scared. Yeah, I just gotta find a surgeon now."
"Do you know of any?" Dad asked, still holding me in a tight embrace.
"I'm happily willing to be your surgeon, but if your searching for the best orthopedic surgeon, I would suggest Dr. Charles Henry. He lives in New York," Dr. Ray said.
Dad and him continued talking about the available doctors and what the procedure would be like, but I had already fallen into my own world.
I can't remember what I was thinking of exactly, but I was definitely scared. My hands felt numb and bile rose to my chest.
~•~•~•~•~•~
When we returned home, Dad explained the situation to Mother.
She immediately insisted that we go to New York for the surgery, while Dad was a bit reluctant.
She and Dad argued over the matter viciously. I attempted to intervene and add my own input, but they both dismissed me like the matter didn't concern me.
Mother persisted that I have my surgery done by the best of the best. Dad was worried that the bill would be overly costly, as did I.
Then, suddenly Mother said something Dad and I never would've expected in a thousand years.
"Damn it Blake! Just shut up and listen," she huffed. "You know how I told you my parents live in Taiwan and run a business?"
"What does this have to do with anything?" Dad asked angrily.
YOU ARE READING
Although it's the First Time
Teen FictionViolet Lee is 16 and has been constantly moving around since she was young. Recently, she's moved from freezing Alaska to burning California. She's not necessarily a loner nor is she an outcast. She just simply doesn't have much to say, which attrac...
