Thirteen years ago, I walked into my shift at the ER as a brand-new doctor. By the time the sun came up, I\u2019d walked out as somebody\u2019s father\u2014and I didn\u2019t even know it yet.<\/p>\n
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\nBack then, I was 26, six months out of med school, still convincing my hands not to shake when things got loud and bloody. We were just settling into the usual chaos of a graveyard shift when the paramedics burst through the doors with a wreck that looked like it had taken out someone\u2019s entire world.<\/p>\n
Two stretchers. White sheets already pulled over still faces.<\/p>\n
And a third gurney carrying a three-year-old girl with big, wild eyes and a seatbelt bruise across her chest.<\/p>\n
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\nShe wasn\u2019t crying. She was too far past that. Her gaze jittered around the room like it was trying to find someplace familiar and finding nothing.<\/p>\n
Her parents were gone before the ambulance even reached us.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t supposed to be the one who stayed with her. I had charts, labs, other patients. But when the nurses tried to move her, she grabbed my arm with both hands and clung like I was the last solid thing in the universe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m Avery. I\u2019m scared. Please don\u2019t leave me and go. Please\u2026\u201d she whispered, over and over, as if repeating it might stop the entire world from disappearing.<\/p>\n
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\nI should have stepped away. Instead, I sat down.<\/p>\n
We found a sippy cup in pediatrics and filled it with apple juice. Someone dug up a picture book about a bear who lost his way home and found it again, and she made me read it four times because the end was happy. Maybe she needed proof that some stories still ended that way.<\/p>\n
At one point, she touched my ID badge with a small, tentative finger and said, \u201cYou\u2019re the good one here.\u201d<\/p>\n
I had to excuse myself to the supply closet just to remember how to breathe.<\/p>\n
Social services showed up the next morning. They spoke in low voices, using words like \u201cplacement,\u201d \u201cno known relatives,\u201d \u201ctemporary foster,\u201d and \u201cwe\u2019ll do our best.\u201d The caseworker knelt in front of Avery and asked if she knew any grandparents, any aunties, any uncles. Anyone at
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\nAvery shook her head. She didn\u2019t know addresses or phone numbers. She knew her stuffed rabbit was named Mr. Hopps and that her curtains at home were pink with butterflies. That was it.<\/p>\n
What she did know was that she did not want me to leave.<\/p>\n
Every time I stood up, her whole body tensed, her eyes wide with that same raw panic. She\u2019d learned in one violent instant that people can disappear without warning. Anything that looked like me walking away she treated like a new emergency.<\/p>\n
The caseworker pulled me aside.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s going into temporary foster care,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have a family who can take her.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words came out before I could stop them.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan I take her? Just\u2026 just for tonight. Until you find someone permanent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Are you married?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re single. You work nights. You\u2019re barely out of residency.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thirteen years ago, I walked into my shift at the ER as a brand-new doctor. By the time the sun came up, I\u2019d walked out as somebody\u2019s… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailyglow.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailyglow.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailyglow.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailyglow.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailyglow.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31599"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedailyglow.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31601,"href":"https:\/\/thedailyglow.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31599\/revisions\/31601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailyglow.fun\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedailyglow.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailyglow.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedailyglow.fun\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}