“Which one do you think would help?” she asks Ava.
Ava uses her good hand to look through them. She finds a large one with a rainbow, unicorn, and sparkly stars. She holds it up to Ruby.
“I think that’s the perfect one for you. You must be magical to have found that one,” Ruby says.
Ava nods again. I swear she’s about to start sucking her thumb, a habit we only rid her of a few months ago.
“OK, we are going to X-ray with our magical sticker,” I declare.
“I’ll call and let them know you’re on your way,” Ruby offers.
I mouth, “Thank you,” as I walk us out the door and down the hallway. Ava keeps the sticker clutched in her hand until we walk into the room with an X-ray machine.
“Hey, Doc,” my friend and X-ray technologist, Gilbert, says.
“Hey, G, I got a special patient today. This is Ava. Can we get a quick picture of her hand?” I ask.
“Sure thing.” He walks over to us and smiles down at Ava. “You want to see inside your hand.”
Her eyes widen. “Uh…” She opens her mouth to speak and closes it.
He points to the X-ray machine. “I have a special camera that can take a picture of the inside of your hand. You just have to set your hand on that little table,” he explains. “Think you can do that?”
She purses her lips and considers his request.
“Maybe,” she says quietly and then looks at me for reassurance.
“I think you can,” I encourage her as I walk us over to the table. “Shall we put your sticker on so you can have some magical powers?”
Her lower lip trembles, and she sucks in a breath. Looking from the table back to me, she nods.
“OK, I’m going to set you down and I’ll put it on. Then I’ll be here with you,” I say as I peel the back off the sticker and place it on her t-shirt.
Gilbert gives me a look, and I motion to the adult-sized X-ray shield. He brings it over to me and helps me secure it. Then he grabs a child-sized one for Ava, and we get it on her.
“OK, little buddy. Let’s set that hand on the table,” Gilbert says. He carefully helps Ava position her hand, encouraging her the entire time. Thank God he’s the tech today. The other tech is this grumpy woman who definitely wouldn’t have been as cool with Ava.
“Good job!” he says once he has her hand in the right position. “I’ll be right back. I gotta take the photo. Stay real still.”
He walks around the corner, and I hear the sound of the machine. We repeat the process twice more with different positions. Only one position makes Ava cry, which rips my heart out once again. God, I hate to see her in pain; it’s like a gut punch.
When he finishes, he walks around the corner. “You wanna see your bones?” he asks.
She trembles, and I realize she doesn’t understand. I take off our shields.
“Come here, Peanut. It’s really cool,” I urge as I pick her up. She wraps her arm with her good hand around my neck as I carry her to the screen. I point at her hand.
“That’s what it looks like inside your hand,” I explain.
“That’s my bones?” she asks.
I nod. “Yep.” I lean forward as I study the images. I sigh with relief when I don’t see any broken bones.
“No breaks,” I state. “You have a sprained joint. So, we are going to get it wrapped up, and then we’ll go get a treat. You should be good as new in another two–three weeks.”
“What’s a sprained joint?” she asks.
“I’ll explain everything while I patch you up. Thanks, G,” I say to Gilbert.
