We sit patiently in the hospital’s surgical waiting room, anticipating your turn in the operating room. While an early morning talk-show host drones on the television overhead, I quietly look around at the other pediatric patients whose experiences briefly intercept yours. The littlest ones are blissfully unaware of what awaits them in the next few hours, while the older ones bravely clutch a stuffed animal or toy, some of them whimpering and squirming in their parents’ laps. The adults in the room all look bleary-eyed, worried, and even slightly impatient. There are hundreds of places we would rather be at 6:00 on a holiday morning.
