5:30 a.m. on March 3rd, 2020, April and Maggie start heading to the hospital. April’s a 7 year old about to have surgery on her ear. She has to go in because they are going to reconstruct her ear drum. Once there, April starts to feel nervous as they get put into a room. They have been waiting an hour until... 

“April are you ok?” Maggie asks, sounding concerned. 

“No. I’m really nervous” April says with tears running down her face.

“What are you nervous about?” Maggie questions. 

“There're so many scary objects and I don’t know what any of this stuff is..”

“ April there’s nothing to be nervous about. Yes it can be scary and nerve racking but it will all be ok. The doctors will take really good care of you and by the time you wake up. I’ll be here waiting for you. It will feel like two seconds once they put you to sleep.” 

“What if something goes wrong?” whimpers April. 

“Well if that happens the doctors know what they are going to do and if something does go wrong the doctors will know how to fix what went wrong. Just breathe… They gave you a warm blanket. Is that helping?” 

“Yeah, sort of. It helped me feel comfortable and they keep checking on me to make sure I’m ok.” 

“The doctors and nurses are checking on you because they know this can be scary and they want to make sure that you are alright before they take you back.” Maggie says while looking into April's eyes.

April takes a deep breath. 

“There you go just keep taking deep breaths. You’ll be ok” Maggie says as she puts her hand on April’s hand. 

“Thank you Maggie. I’m just a little scared that everything will be different.” April states as she looks down at her feet sticking out of the blanket. 

“Everything will be alright April. And if things do change, it will be a good change.” Maggie smiles at April.   

April smiles back at Maggie.

A few minutes later. April starts trembling when she sees the nurses come into her room.

“Are you ready sweet heart?” one nurse asks in a calming tone.

“I.. I guess so.” April says with a tremor in her voice.

“Ok! We are going to take you back now.” a nurse says smiling, “She will be done in about an hour. If you would like to wait in the waiting room Maggie,”.

“Yes of course. Thank you” says Maggie.

Maggie looks over at April and says, “You got this. You’ll do great!”