1/
Virgo Season

Grady Hospital, September 2018

This diagnosis is messed up. Totally, completely messed up. It makes you have to endure excruciating pain--physically and emotionally.

Day after day after day.

Yup.

Disfiguring. Relapsing. And almost nothing in your control.
2/
"I& #39;m a person who used to stuff not working out. & #39;Cause for me it never do."

That& #39;s how you described your every day life, filled with curious eyes craning in your direction but then darting away like they didn& #39;t see. But they see.

Of course, they see. How could they not?
3/
You hadn& #39;t smiled once the entire hospitalization. Not once. And to make matters worse, on this day you& #39;d spent the entire day waiting for a procedure that called for you to have nothing by mouth.

NPO.

Then it got delayed.

You went OFF on me the moment I walked in.
4/
Me: "Hi--"
You: "Hi? Hi?! I ain& #39;t ate shit ALL DAY! It& #39;s almost 2pm!”
Me: “Sir, I& #39;m so sorry.”

You rolled your eyes and sucked your teeth. Hard.

You: "I bet YOU ate since midnight." *mumbling* "This some bullshit."

I sighed and nodded. Because honestly? It was.
5/
You: *pointing* “I tell you one got damn thing--they BET not postpone my test to tomorrow. Y& #39;all ain& #39;t sticking me with NOTHING on my birthday, you hear me?"

My eyes flung open. Your birthday? I scanned your armband.

Damn.

Me: "Hey, a fellow Virgo!"
You: *nothing*

Sigh.
6/
Me: "I’ll find out right now about your procedure. I& #39;m so sorry about you waiting so long and being hungry."
You: *nothing*

Turns out that an emergency happened. Your procedure got bumped. After being NPO all day.

You shrugged.

You were used to stuff not working out.
7/
Me: "They said that they could take you first thing in the morning."
You: "So much for & #39;Virgo season.& #39;"

More mumbling. More expletives.

Me: "Let me look into getting it pushed to the next day, okay?"
You: "Nah. F it. Just let me go on and get it over with to feel better."
8/
*silence*

Me: "Hey, why don& #39;t I bring you something to eat for your birthday tomorrow?"
You: *nothing*
Me: "Tell me what can I bring for you?"

You were silent at first. Then came an imperceptible raise of your left eyebrow.

You: "If I could have whatever I wanted?"
9/
Me: "Yeah. Like, don& #39;t say Peter Luger& #39;s Steakhouse."
You: "Peter who-ger?"
Me: *chuckling* “It’s this really good steakhouse. But that& #39;s in New York so that ain& #39;t a option."

*thinking*

Me: "Know what else? Our whole team won& #39;t eat after midnight with you. Okay?"
10/
For the first time in the whole time I& #39;d been caring for you, I saw the corner of your mouth turn up in a tiny smile.

You: "Shit, I bet your whole team gon& #39; be calling to get me rolled in on time then."

You sniffed out a chuckle.

Me: "Ok. So what& #39;s the birthday order?"
11/
You stared at me incredulously. Then you shook your head and smiled.

You: "I& #39;m not a fancy-type guy. Give me a Burger King Whopper? With Cheese? Maaaan." *rubbing hands together* "Ain& #39;t NOTHING like a flame-broiled Whopper!"

Now you were squinting your eyes for emphasis.
12/
Me: “Wow. I haven& #39;t had one of those since I was 40 weeks pregnant with my second son. Ate it right there in the drive thru!"
You: “Please tell me you got some onion rings and a shake with it?”
Me: "I think I just got the Whopper."
You: "Aw doc, you tripping!"

*laughter*
13/
You: "Ain& #39;t complete without the onion rings and the vanilla shake!"
Me: *smiling* "Yeah?"
You: "You GOTS to dunk the onion rings in the shake, doc!"
Me: *laughing* "Yeah?"
You: "OH yeah."

That made me smile big and wide. And finally, it made you do the same.

Finally.
14/
As promised, you went for your procedure early the next morning. We saw you on rounds--all of us still NPO--and all was well.

Then we got busy. Super busy. Around noon, mid-admission, I remembered my promise.

Shit.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

So much for Virgo season.
15/
We were on long call. And the reality of physically being able to leave Grady to go to ? That was a no-go.

Shoot.

My interns even looked on UberEATS to see if that might work but we knew the vanilla shake would be melted by the time you got it.

Damn.
16/
I walked to the cafeteria to get you something else. I knew you’d be fine with it. Or even with nothing but an apology.

You were used to stuff not working out. Remember?

The plan was grab you a slice of pizza as a backup. But right when I got to the door, I froze.
17/
It was your birthday, man. And stuff should work out on that day.

I took out my phone and stared at it. Then, I texted my husband and said I urgently needed his help. And no, this is NOT the first such text he has received being married to me.

Or even the 400th.

Nope.
18/
But lucky for me, my busy non-physician husband is always down for the alley-oop when I really, really need his help getting the ball through the net.

Which is exactly what happened.

No details shared. No privacy compromised. Just a dope assist for a buzzer beater.

Yup.
19/
And so.

On this day? You got to have it your way with just what you asked for. A flame-broiled Whopper with cheese. And some onion rings, too.

Oh, and a vanilla shake to dunk them in.

And it was still cold.

#illeatyouupiloveyouso #amazinggrady #morethantheminimum
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