Mommy drove slowly, just like the bus driver. The streets were still icy. It had started to sleet again. The sleet hit the windshield. The wipers scraped back and forth, back and forth. I remembered that Mommy had told me not to go up into the tree house. If I had listened, I wouldn’t be hurt.
The pain in my stomach was getting worse. I settled back against the seat of the car and closed my eyes. It was a long, slow drive to the hospital.
The Hospital
When we reached the hospital, Seth was already waiting for us. The doctor in the emergency room took my pulse. He strapped something around my arm.
“I am going to take your blood pressure,” he said. “This will not hurt at all.”
The doctor was right. It did not hurt. Still, I squeezed Mommy’s hand. I wanted to make sure she stayed close by.
“Hmm,” the doctor said to Mommy and Seth. “We are going to need to take X rays.”
Mommy nodded silently. They wheeled me to the X-ray room and gave me a special X ray called a CAT scan.
The doctor looked serious. He did not say a word.
“We are going to have to admit Karen to the hospital,” he told us at last.
Then they put me in a wheelchair. They wheeled me to another room. It had a bed. Seth helped me climb into it. Around the bed was a big white curtain.
Finally Dr. Dellenkamp arrived. She examined me too. She looked at my chart. She studied my X rays.
“So, Karen,” she said. “Tell me what happened.”
“Well,” I said carefully. I did not want to look at Mommy. “I had to climb up into the tree house. For just a minute. Because the magic wand was up there. But on the way down, I fell on a tree stump.”
“Where did it hit you?” asked Dr. Dellenkamp.
“Right here.” I pointed to where it hurt.
Just then another doctor came into the room. He poked at my stomach. He talked softly to Dr. Dellenkamp and Mommy and Seth. I heard him say something about bleeding. Maybe this doctor did not understand.
“I am not bleeding,” I told him.
“You are bleeding internally,” Dr. Dellankamp answered. “That means you are bleeding inside your body.”
The doctors and Seth and Mommy stepped outside the room to talk. I did not like the sound of this. Dr. Dellenkamp came back.
“It looks as if you have ruptured your spleen,” she said.
I tried to remember what a spleen was. I thought of the science book that was in our classroom library. In it was a picture that showed the inside of the body. It showed the heart and the liver and the lungs and the intestines. I could not remember anything about the spleen.
“The spleen is on your left side,” Dr. Dellenkamp explained. “Right where it hurts.”
“What does rupture mean?” I asked.
“It means you might have torn the spleen and now it is bleeding.”
This did not sound good. I thought of climbing down the icy tree-house steps. Now I really wished I had listened to Mommy.
“We are going to give you more blood,” said Dr. Dellenkamp.
Uh-oh.
“And then we may have to do a little surgery.”
Surgery!
“We will watch you this afternoon,” said Dr. Dellenkamp. “We will see if you start to get better.” She nodded to the other doctor. “But if your spleen is very damaged, Dr. Holter will take it out tonight. You will be okay after that. Your body can get better without your spleen.”
I felt sick. I did not like the idea of having surgery. I tried not to cry, but everything hurt. My eyes welled up. Mommy squeezed my hand.
After the doctors left, a nurse came in.
“I am Brian,” he said. “I am going to give you more blood.”
He hooked something to my arm.
“So,” he said. “I heard that you were trying to ice skate.”
“Like Irina Kozlova,” I said.
“She is my favorite!” said Brian. “I watch her every time she is on TV.”
When he had finished, Mommy turned down the lights in the room.
“I want you to close your eyes and get some rest,” she told me.
I closed my eyes. But I could not rest.
“Every time I close my eyes, I think of the surgery,” I told Mommy.
After awhile, the doctors came in to check on me again. They told me I did not seem to be getting any better. They decided they would have to operate.
“The doctors will give you something to make you sleepy,” Mommy told me. “You will be asleep when they operate, and afterward you will probably sleep through the night. Tomorrow it will all be over.”
It was nice to think of tomorrow. But it was still today.
“You are my brave girl,” Mommy said. She patted my hand.
I looked around the cold, white hospital room. Somehow I did not feel as brave as Mommy thought I was. I did not feel very brave at all.
Sleepy, Sleepy Karen
The next thing I knew, I was waking up from a deep sleep. I opened my eyes. I was not sure where I was. A nurse was standing beside me. She told me my surgery was over.
“You are in the recovery room,” she said.
I did not want to be in the recovery room. I wanted to be home. I wanted Mommy. I felt so groggy, and so very, very tired. I closed my eyes and fell asleep again.
When I woke up, I was back in the room with the bed and the curtain. A tube was in my arm. Goosie and Tickly were on the pillow next to my head. How had they gotten there?
Then I saw Mommy and Seth. They were sitting beside my bed. Mommy brushed the hair from my forehead.
“You did very well, Karen,” she said. “Your surgery is over.”
Mommy was smiling at me, but her eyes were wet. I think she had been crying.
“Mommy,” I said. I started crying too. I did not know I was going to cry. It just happened. I tried to reach for Mommy, but my stomach hurt.
“Just lie still,” she told me. “Your body needs to rest. It has been through a lot.”
Mommy and Seth stayed with me all day. Daddy came to visit too. But no one else. I was too tired for visitors. I was still very sleepy from the surgery. But it was hard to sleep in the hospital. Nurses kept coming in and waking me up. They took my pulse. They took my temperature. Brian came in. He wanted to give me some shots. He reached for my arm. I pulled it away.
“Shots?” I asked. “What for?”
“Because we do not want you to get an infection,” he said.
I let Brian take my arm. “Okay,” I agreed. I did not want to get an infection. I already felt bad enough.
Mommy pulled her chair close to my bed.
“Would you like me to read to you?” she asked. She had brought a book with her. It was The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden.
That was a very good book, but I was too sleepy to pay attention. Still, I nodded yes. I liked the sound of Mommy’s voice. When I was little, Mommy used to read to me all the time. Now I mostly read books by myself. But I did not feel so grown up in the hospital.
My eyes were heavy. I closed them. As Mommy read, I drifted back to sleep.
When I awoke again, the room was dark. Mommy was there, but nobody else. A nurse came in.
“I am Sylvia,” she said. “I am going to take your temperature. I am glad to see that you have been resting.”
“Where is Brian?” I asked.
“Brian is the day nurse,” said Sylvia. “I will be your nurse during the night.”
The hospital was a busy place. There were so many doctors, so many nurses. Too many for me to keep track of.
Mommy told me that visiting hours were almost over. When I went to sleep for the night, she would leave. She told me to call for Sylvia if I needed anything. Mommy kissed me on the forehead.
“Tomorrow I will come very early in the morning,” she told me. “And you will have more visitors. Kristy will come and so will Nannie.”
“Will Andrew come?” I asked. “Will Hannie and Nanc
y?”
“Only grown-ups,” Mommy explained. “And older children like Kristy. Younger children cannot visit you in the hospital.”
Boo and bullfrogs!
“But you will feel a little better tomorrow,” Mommy said.
I put my head down on the pillow and hugged Goosie and Tickly. I hoped Mommy was right. I did not like feeling so sick.
A Visit to the Playroom
The next morning a nurse woke me up early. It was still dark outside. She took my temperature and checked the tube in my arm.
“What is this tube for?” I asked.
“It is called an IV,” she explained. “It is a special tube for feeding you, since you cannot eat yet. In a day or two, you will start eating again. Then we will take it out.”
A special tube! I felt very important.
“I hear you like Irina Kozlova,” she said.
“How did you hear?”
“All the nurses know,” she said. “You are famous around the hospital.” She winked at me.
Just then Brian peeked in the room. He waved to me. I knew how she heard! Brian had told her.
Soon Mommy arrived.
“Hi, Mommy!” I cried. “I am famous! All the nurses know about me.”
“Well, well,” said Mommy. “It sounds as if you do feel better today.”
That day, I had a lot of visitors. In the morning Daddy visited. Nannie came too. But she could not stay very long. She had to get home to watch Emily Michelle and Andrew. (Andrew was staying at the big house while I was at the hospital.)
When Daddy and Nannie had left, Brian came into the room.
“How is my favorite patient?” he asked.
“I have been busy,” I said. “I have had a lot of visitors.”
“That sounds like fun,” he said. “And now, how would you like to take a walk?”
“A walk? But where would I go?”
“There is a playroom at the end of the hall. You could go there.”
“No thank you,” I said. “I like it here in bed.”
“Is it good for her to take a walk?” Mommy asked.
“Yes, it is,” said Brian. “It will help her get stronger.”
“But I am hooked up to the IV tube,” I said.
Brian laughed. “The IV is on wheels,” he explained. “You can wheel it along with you.”
I pulled the bedsheet high around me. My tummy still hurt. I felt very weak. No one had told me I was going to have to take a walk.
“This is not fair,” I said.
Mommy looked surprised. “You do not want to take a walk?” she asked.
I remembered what happened when I fell out of the tree house. My stomach hurt more just thinking about it. “I might fall again,” I said. “The floor might be slippery. Someone might bump into me.” Suddenly, I was very afraid of accidents.
Mommy looked at Brian. She raised her eyebrows.
“Hey, champ,” he said. “An old skating pro like yourself? You have nothing to be afraid of. Your mom and I will help.”
Mommy and Brian started to help me out of bed.
“Wait!” I cried. “Not so fast!”
They let me go slowly. Mommy walked with me to the playroom. The toys there were old and broken. The paint was peeling off the walls.
“This is yucky,” I said. “The playroom is stupid. I want to go back to bed.”
Just then someone else came into the playroom. It was someone I knew! It was Christina. She is in second grade, just like me. She is in Mr. Berger’s class.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
Christina whispered something. I could hardly hear her.
“What?” I asked.
“I had my tonsils out,” she whispered again. “My throat is too sore to talk.”
I was glad to see Christina. We played very quietly. But I did not want to stay in the playroom long.
“It is important for me to rest,” I explained to my friend. “Maybe I will see you later.”
Mommy helped me walk back to my room. I walked slowly. Very slowly. I did not want to have another accident. I climbed back into bed.
“Do I have to walk any more today?” I asked.
Mommy looked at me for a moment. She fluffed my pillow.
“I think that is probably enough,” she said.
“Mommy,” I said. It was time for me to apologize. “I am very sorry I went into the tree house. You told me not to go. But I went anyway. That is why I had an accident. I will never do anything like that again. Accidents happen very fast. I did not know that.”
“I am glad you will be more careful,” said Mommy. “But I hope you will not always be so fearful.”
Just then more visitors arrived. Sam and Charlie and Kristy and Elizabeth. Boy, was I glad to see them. Their arms were piled high with books and games.
“We brought you some things from home,” said Kristy.
“Goody!” I cried.
I was happy to have things from home. Especially things I could do in bed.
Karen’s Great Idea
The next morning I rang for Brian. That is something very fun about the hospital. You can ring for a nurse. All you have to do is press a button.
“Hello, Your Highness,” Brian said when he saw me.
I was propped up on my pillows. I guess I looked like a queen.
“I would like an extra pillow, please,” I said.
“Your wish is my command.”
I giggled. I was getting very good at being in the hospital.
That day Seth came with Mommy to spend the morning with me. Mommy wanted me to walk to the playroom again.
“Do I have to?” I asked.
“You can show Seth how strong you are getting,” she said.
I did not like walking in the hallway. Someone had just washed the floor. It was slippery. I was afraid I might fall. Nurses hurried past me with carts and trays.
“They are not being careful enough,” I said to Mommy. “What if they bump into me?”
“Do not worry,” she told me. “The nurses know how to be careful. That is part of their job.”
When we reached the playroom, I saw Christina. She was sitting in a corner playing with a broken toy.
“I do not know why they call this a playroom,” she whispered. “There is not very much to play with here.”
Then Christina told me she was leaving the hospital that day. Even though her throat still hurt, she was going home.
“I will come say good-bye to you before I go,” she promised.
Later that day, I had a big surprise. Hannie and Nancy were on the lawn outside my window. Mrs. Dawes had brought them. They could not visit me inside the hospital, but they could come to my window!
“Halloooo up there!” they shouted up.
“Halloooo down there!” I called back.
“Pamela Harding skinned her knee!” they called.
Pamela Harding, my best enemy! Still, I was sorry to hear that she had skinned her knee. It just goes to show how easy it is to have an accident.
“She is lucky she didn’t land on her spleen!” I shouted back.
Hannie and Nancy laughed. Then Mrs. Dawes told them they had to go home.
“Good-bye, Hannie!” I called. “Good-bye, Nancy! I will see you soon!” Ooh. My tummy started to hurt. Maybe I should not have shouted so loudly.
Just then another visitor arrived. It was Ms. Colman.
“Hello, Karen,” she said. She was laughing. “I see you still like to use your outdoor voice. Even in the hospital!”
Ms. Colman told me all about school. She told me about the projects our class was working on.
“Have you finished writing the letters?” I asked.
“We are finding all the addresses we need,” she said. “It takes a bit of research. That is the last part of our project. Then we will mail the letters.”
Hmm. I had not written my letter to Irina yet. I did not know if I wanted to now.
After Ms. Colman left, I t
urned on the TV. I flipped through the stations. On one station was a skating program. Irina Kozlova was on it! I watched as she jumped and turned. It looked more dangerous than I remembered. When she was through, everyone applauded. People threw flowers and stuffed toys on the ice for her. Irina skated around the rink, picking them up.
When Irina stepped off the ice, a reporter asked her a question.
“Irina,” the reporter said, “what do you do with all the stuffed toys people give you?”
Irina smiled at the camera. “I am very grateful for all the presents,” she said. Irina spoke with a Russian accent. “But I cannot use them all, of course. So I give them to a hospital. I hope the toys help the children in the hospital feel better.”
A hospital. Irina gives the toys to a hospital. That gave me a good idea. I could not wait to tell Christina. When she came to my room to say good-bye, I said, “Christina, I have a gigundoly wonderful idea! When we go home, we can collect toys. Then we can donate the toys to the hospital.”
I did not know exactly how we would do this, but I knew that I wanted to try.
Home Again
I did not have to stay in the hospital much longer. After a few more days, Dr. Dellenkamp said I could go home.
“But I do not want you to be exposed to any germs,” she said. “You need to recuperate first.”
“Recuperate?” I did not know what that meant. In the hospital, everyone used big words.
“It means you need to get well,” she explained. “So I would like you to stay home from school for two weeks.”
That sounded good to me.
When it was time to leave, Brian brought me a wheelchair.
“Good-bye!” I waved to all the nurses.
Mommy and Seth wheeled me to the car.
The car ride home was scary. The roads were slippery again. What if the car skidded on the ice? What if the car skidded on the ice? What if we had an accident?
When we got home, I went straight to my bed. Mommy helped me. Then she left me alone.
“Hmm,” I said to myself. “What I need is a little bell. Then I could call Mommy and Seth like I called the nurses.”
I remembered a bell I had won at a fair. It was in my drawer. I took it out and put it on the table next to my bed.