The Surgeon’s Best Friend Dilemma - Chapter 9

'Hello, Chloe. My name is Natasha. I’m one of the doctors who treated you when you came in.’ When there was no response from the little girl in the big hospital bed, she knew it was time to deploy her secret weapon. ‘And this is Eddy, my dog. He loves people and I thought you might like to meet him.’

She edged towards the bed with her canine companion, who was thankfully on his best behaviour. There had been a concern when Eddy saw Evan that all his training would go out the window, but once they’d moved past the initial excitement, Eddy had settled back into his professional role. Almost as though he could sense how important this was to everyone involved. However, it had been decided that Evan would do his best to stay in the background so as not to cause a distraction. To either of them.

Chloe slowly turned her head to look, her curiosity clearly piqued. When she saw Eddy, she held her hand out to him and let him nuzzle his wet nose into her palm. She moved then to pat his head, one slow stroke after another, until a smile gradually spread across her face. Natasha breathed out her relief and she was sure she could hear Evan behind her doing the same.

It was a breakthrough, but they still had a long way to go.

‘I can bring Eddy to see you whenever you want. He’s a good listener if you ever want to talk to him.’ It wasn’t always easy for the younger patients to communicate directly with the adults treating them. Natasha could imagine how scary this was for the little girl having gone through such a trauma and being separated from her loved ones, but hopefully, with Eddy’s help, she might eventually feel safe enough to open up.

‘Is he allowed on the bed?’ A small, croaky voice asked, and Natasha’s heart almost burst with pride for what Eddy had been able to accomplish already, and for Chloe’s bravery.

‘I won’t tell if you don’t,’ she whispered, then turned to Evan. ‘What about you, Doctor?’

Evan zipped his lips and she could see the impact the moment had on him too as his eyes welled up. A now animated Chloe sat up in the bed and patted the space beside her, though Eddy waited for Natasha’s instruction before accepting the invitation. He was such a good boy.

‘Hi, Eddy.’ The little girl leaned in to whisper to her new furry pal, and Natasha was thankful he didn’t paw at her bandages and cause her more pain. He simply lay there and let her talk as she stroked him, as he’d been trained to do.

When Natasha turned to glance at Evan, he was grinning at the scene too. Probably as pleased with himself as he was with her and Eddy that this might just work after all.