November 8. 2019
Pediatric Neuro Conference Room | Memorial General
AJ - Medication's not working.
The words came out flatter than AJ meant them to—but her heart had already started pounding.
Dr. Choi , the pediatric epileptologist, looked between her and Dave with practiced compassion.
Choi- Mateo's still having breakthrough seizures despite Keppra. We titrated carefully, but the focal cortical dysplasia is resistant. It's time to consider resection.
AJ swallowed hard.
Choi -You're talking about... brain surgery.
Choi nodded.
Choi- A focal craniotomy. Temporal lobe. It's small, but we'd remove the lesion and surrounding epileptogenic tissue."
Dave's jaw clenched beside her.
Dave - How risky?
he asked. Choi was honest.
Choi- Low, for someone with AJ's experience. But it's still a craniotomy on a toddler. There are risks—bleeding, infection, speech delays, memory impacts, if the tissue borders language zones.
AJ stared at the scan on the screen: **Mateo's brain**, color-coded and mapped.
She had operated on worse. Bigger bleeds. Deadlier tumors.
But none of them had ever smiled at her from a high chair
---
AJ's Office – Later That Night
AJ -I should do it. I know his anatomy. I've been studying his scans for weeks. I've mapped the coordinates down to the micron.
Dave stood across from her, shaking his head.
Dave - Absolutely not.
AJ -I can do it, Dave.
Dave- And if something goes wrong?
Her voice cracked.
AJ - Then at least I'd know it was *me.* Not some stranger. I couldn't live with someone else—
Dave- No.
Dave crossed the room, voice low and firm.
Dave - You don't get to split yourself like that. You're his mother. Not his surgeon.
She looked away, eyes brimming.
AJ - But I don't *trust* anyone else.
Then let's find someone you can.
---
November 10 2019
Two Days Later | OR 3 – Surgical Planning Meeting
AJ stood beside Dr. Eleanor Rivas, a visiting pediatric neurosurgeon with a reputation as cold as steel and hands like lightning.
Temporal craniotomy with intra-op EEG guidance. No hippocampal involvement. Lesion is isolated but borders his auditory processing loop.
Eleanor glanced at her.
Eleanor- You want to scrub in?
AJ hesitated.
AJ - I want to watch. From the gallery.
Eleanor - You sure? Because watching someone cut into your child's brain isn't for the faint of heart.
AJ's jaw tightened.
AJ- Nothing about this is.
---
Day of Surgery | Observation Gallery – 7:04 AM
Mateo was wheeled in, tiny and sedated. His head already prepped and marked.
AJ sat in the darkened gallery, shoulders tight, heart screaming.
Luke stood behind her—silent. Still.
Dave sat beside her, gripping her hand like a lifeline.
Below, Eleanor began to cut.
And AJ—surgeon, mother, fighter—watched the most important battle of her life unfold through glass.
---
