“How are you feeling, sweetie?” I asked, pulling a wooden chair right up to the side of her bed.

“My stomach feels a little sore,” Grace whispered, her voice raspy from the breathing tube.

“But that awful sharp pinching on my right side is gone.”

Dr.

Ramirez came over to the side of the bed, her warm smile easing the last of the tension in the room.

“The laparoscopic procedure went as smoothly as we could have hoped,” Dr.

Ramirez said, resting her palm gently on the bed rail.