Chapter 14 - Lily’s real diagnosis
One fear haunted me.
What if Victoria caused everything?
What if Lily had never been sick?
Doctors refused that simplification.
Lily had real conditions.
Mild migraine tendency.
Iron deficiency corrected over time.
Two documented viral infections.
Anxiety after losing her mother.
Occasional vasovagal fainting.
One episode of dehydration before Victoria entered our life.
She was not a healthy child transformed entirely by Victoria.
Nor was she medically fragile enough to justify round-the-clock care.
Then after Victoria was removed:
No unexplained sedation for six weeks.
No sudden overnight deterioration.
No mysterious injection marks.
Her nausea improved.
But she still had one migraine.
One faint feeling after a school assembly.
Real body.
Real symptoms.
That mattered psychologically.
Lily asked:
“Was I fake sick?”
“No.”
“Victoria said doctors think I make stuff up.”
“Some symptoms didn’t have clear causes.”
“That means fake.”
“No.”
Dr. Carter joined one follow-up call and explained:
“A symptom can be real even when we don’t know the cause.”
Then:
“Some recent sleepiness may have been caused by medication you should not have received.”
“Will it happen again?”
“We have no reason to expect that if you’re not exposed again.”
“Did she poison me?”
Dr. Carter paused.
“I don’t like that word because it can mean different things. We know you were exposed to a sedating medication that wasn’t ordered for you, and investigators are determining how.”
Careful.
Then Lily asked:
“Could I have died?”
Another pause.
“Any unauthorized medication or IV manipulation can be dangerous. But your measured levels and hospital course did not show that you were near death.”
Good.
No trauma inflation.
Then physical recovery.
Bruises faded.
Punctures healed.
No infection.
No long-term organ damage found.
Psychological effects stronger.
Nightmares.
Fear of needles.
Fear of silk robe belts.
Fear when adults whispered.
Therapist:
Dr. Amy Cole.
Child trauma specialist.
Not forensic investigator.
Different.
She worked on:
Control.
Consent.
Medical procedures.
Telling adults no.
Then hospital child-life staff created a ritual before blood draws:
Explain.
Ask.
Count.
Lily chose which arm when medically possible.
Small autonomy.
Then me.
I stopped saying:
“Be brave.”
Because sometimes children hear:
Don’t protest.
I started saying:
“You can be scared and still tell us what you need.”
May you like
That was harder.
Better.
