Nine Years Ago
Chapter 2
The Research God
“Ugh.” Valentina, my twenty-four-year-old patient, rolled her eyes and turned away from me as I entered her room and looked at her chart on the laptop in the hospital’s computer cart.
“Well, it’s nice to see you too,” I said.
“I fucking hate you,” she said.
“No, you don’t. I’m your favorite doctor.” I smiled at her, looking up from her labs, which were good enough to widen my smile even further.
“You keep saying that, but you’re not really my favorite doctor. You only think that because I’m your favorite patient,” Valentina said.
“I have no favorite patients. I love you all the same.”
She drew her finger in her mouth, pretending to gag.
“Are you really going to be sick?” I asked, only slightly concerned.
“No, but you look disgusting. It should be illegal.”
“What should?”
“For doctors like you to walk around in front of patients like me.”
“Doctors like me?”
“Yeah, you, strutting in here in your pencil skirt, white coat, with your—with your honey skin, amber eyes, and legs for miles. Flaunting all that in front of pale skeletons like me. It should be illegal for you to be that perfect.”
I snorted. “I’m not perfect, Valentina. Far from it. And you are not a skeleton.”
“I am. I’m a skeleton of my former self . . .” She trailed off, her gaze miles and miles away.
I hated seeing her so defeated. Damn it, Valentina. We knew. We knew the fight we had ahead of us. She couldn’t give up on her treatment now. She wanted to be aggressive, and we’d only barely started. I was disconcerted by how low her spirits were so soon after beginning treatment.
It’s only the start. She is in a bit of shock, just adjusting.I made a mental note to, if she was still in this mood in a few weeks, explore adding psych to her clinical team.
I sat on the chair next to her and brushed a long strand of hair away from her forehead. She smiled, though it was weak.
“But seriously,” she said. “Why are you all dolled up? And hey! You weren’t at rounds this morning,” she complained.
“I wasn’t at rounds because I’m off today. And I’m not dolled up.”
Valentina arched an eyebrow. “So,that’show you dress on your days off?”
“What? This is professional!”
“No hot date? I’m disappointed. Remember, I have to live vicariously through you!”
I laughed at that. “No hot date. I’m here for a meeting. I get a new boss today, and the people upstairs are having a bit of a welcome thing for him.”
“You dressed likethat, and put on all that makeup, for a new boss? I smell something fishy. Give it up, Ramirez.” She spoke with the authority of a coach.
“DoctorRamirez. It cost me to get my degree, so you best show respect. I’m just trying to look professional. My new boss is kind of a big deal. I thought I should put my best foot forward.”
“A big deal?” she asked, not buying it.