PART 10 – My Daughter’s Surgery Had Revealed the Damage, but the Question of How It Happened Still Had No Answer

The medical staff eventually allowed me to receive more information about Lily's condition.

I listened carefully.

I wanted to understand what the doctors were watching for after the operation.

I wanted to know how much time she would need to recover.

Every medical word mattered to me now.

The surgeon had already explained that a portion of her damaged intestine had been removed.

I couldn't get that fact out of my head.

My little girl had gone to sleep as an ordinary five-year-old.

She had woken in pain.

Now she had undergone major surgery.

I thought about the way she had held her stomach.

She hadn't known what was happening.

She had only known that something hurt.

I felt guilty for every minute I had spent wondering whether it was a bad dream.

I knew I had taken her to the hospital as soon as I understood how serious the pain was.

Still, a mother always finds something to question about herself.

I kept wondering whether I should have noticed something earlier.

Then I reminded myself of the facts.

I hadn't known about the magnets.

I hadn't seen her swallow them.

I hadn't knowingly allowed her to play with anything dangerous.

And when she needed medical help, I had taken her immediately.

I needed to remember that.

Daniel continued asking questions about what I had noticed before the emergency.

I answered him.

I told him I hadn't known there was anything inside Lily.

He seemed unwilling to accept that answer.

Patricia occasionally added comments about my responsibilities.

I stopped responding to those remarks.

There was no point.

The officers had been told about the security camera.

The footage was something they could examine independently.

I didn't need to invent an explanation.

I needed the actual events.

I kept thinking about the time the surgeon had mentioned.

More than a full day.

That detail was important.

It meant the magnets had entered Lily's body before the night she came into my bedroom.

The investigation needed to consider that period.

I couldn't establish the exact moment myself.

I couldn't say who had been near her at every hour.

That was why the recording mattered.

I wanted the officers to compare what they found with the medical information.

I wanted them to look at the timing.

I wanted them to ask the right questions.

I had no interest in protecting somebody who might have harmed my child.

And I had no intention of accepting blame simply because I was the person who had taken her to the emergency department.

I looked toward the hallway.

I wondered when I would be allowed to see Lily again.

I wanted to tell her that the operation was over.

I wanted to tell her she was safe with the doctors.

Most of all, I wanted her to know that I believed her.

Those little fish she had described were never a dream.

She had been telling me something was terribly wrong.

I would never forget that.

Click here to continue reading: PART 11: Daniel Kept Asking What I Had Done, While I Kept Waiting for Someone to Ask What Had Happened to Lily