"Over the years, her body has tried to fight off the foreign objects," Dr. Lawson continued, his tone urgent. "It has formed a massive, calcified abscess around the sponge and the metal. But the infection has now breached the protective tissue. That is why she is in so much pain. That is why she is losing weight. Her body is in the early stages of severe sepsis. She is slowly being poisoned from the inside out."
Tears blinded me. Seven years. For seven years, my beautiful, vibrant little girl had been carrying around a ticking time bomb inside her, left behind by a careless surgeon. And for months, she had been crying out for help, only to be told by her own father that she was faking it.