The Love of Jury Duty

Waiting For Good News

I felt kind of cool and special wearing this get up. I'd never seen the inside of an operating room before. I guess there was a first time for everything.

I was shocked he chose me to go with him. Especially in front of his dad like that. The further down this hall we went the colder it was getting. Damn! I thought shivering.

"Wait here."

A nurse stopped me just before they went into the room. I could hear Jake upset that he was alone with strangers in a very scary situation. I kept thinking about Lilly too and was hoping she wasn't sitting in the lobby about to lose it.

The nurse came back and escorted me inside after telling me not to touch anything. I jokingly pretended to touch the door and she made a face at me.

This was scary even for me so I could only imagine how Jacob felt. I stood next to the operating table and looked around for a moment. It was cold, somewhat dark to my surprise and very intimidating with all of the machines and things in here. 

I looked down at Jacob and made a face. He would've normally laughed or smiled but you could tell he was very scared.

"It's Ok to be scared. Want to know a secret?"

"Yeah" he mumbled quietly

"I'm scared too."

"Don't be scared. It's OK."

I chuckled. I couldn't help it. He was just like Lilly...selfless.  The nurses and anesthesiologist finished getting set up and I knew it was time. I was just hoping he wasn't going to be too scared.

"Hi Jacob my name is Jacob too."

I smiled and nudged his arm slightly

"Pretty cool huh?"

Jake looked at me like he was going to cry and I sighed and half smiled. I was trying to make him feel less scared but it wasn't working.

"Can I call you Jake?"

"Yeah." He mumbled

"Oh good. I only let my friends call me Jake. I guess that means we're friends now. Is this your daddy?"

"No. Mommy's boyfriend."

This guy was good. If Abby ever needed surgery I'd want this guy in the OR.

"What's your favorite color?"

"Red."

"Red? Hmmm I don't have red. Let's see I have blue, green, purple and pink."

"Blue is my favorite color." I smiled. "I'm just sayin."

"Blue" Jake smiled

"What flavor did you want? I have bubble gum, cotton candy, cherry, chocolate, grape..."

"Cotton candy." He smiled excitedly

There's flavors or scents!? This guy is making surgery seem fun. Which is exactly why he was doing it. And it made Jacob more comfortable which is all I wanted.

"Can you take a deep breath and exhale slowly? Like this?"

He showed Jacob how to do it and he followed along. I half smiled starting to feel anxious and nervous. I knew what was coming and I just wanted everything to be OK.

"Ok Jake this is a special mask. See it's blue? I'm going to put it over your nose and mouth. And then I'm going to turn on this silly gas that smells like cotton candy and then you're going to take deep breaths like I showed you and we're going to count to ten. Does that sound OK?"