Her name was Krystal, Hektoen International Journal of Medical Humanities

Her name was Krystal; she was four years old, and she was tiny—her head barely reaching the top of my knees. She was in the hospital, again, for another surgical procedure. She had undergone twenty-one surgeries since she was born, most related to her defective bowel development, and all the surgeries had occurred at this Chicago hospital, even though it was a long trek from her home in west Texas. I was a student nurse on my pediatrics rotation, and she was the patient that most amazed me.