I still remember vividly the day I brought you home. My heart was set on purple, but the woman at the store told me bluntly, “Honey, doctors only buy black…

I wanted to tell you that the night I stuck that needle in your belly I was probably more terrified than you were. I wanted to tell you that I saw myself in you…

The night he left, I laid in bed for hours trying to sleep. My mind raced and my heart ached. I couldn’t stand the silence, but there was no music I wanted to hear, no show I wanted to watch, no person I wanted to speak to. In search of a comforting sound, I reached for the stethoscope on my desk, placed the buds in my ears and the diaphragm on my own chest.

Between 2010 and 2012, she visited the Emergency Room 7 times – 3 for abdominal pain, 3 for headaches and once for a fall down the stairs. Each time a negative work-up followed by a swift discharge and a long drive home.