I'm Under lock and key

Chapter 8

I wake up in the hospital the next day. Only this time there are different doctors. My old doctor is nowhere to be found.

A nurse calls out into the hallway for somebody and moments later an old man, who apparently is my doctor, walks in. He starts writing things down on his clipboard.

"Hello Claire ", he greets me," how are you feeling?"

"Better" I reply," what happened to me?"

"Well," he says becoming serious, "we have ruled out the idea of your damaged head causing the blackout. We really aren't sure what happened. We think there may be something happening internally that caused it. Have you had any kind of aches or pains lately?"

"Umm. I have been having some pretty bad headaches lately" I reply nervously.

" That's what I thought"he says darkly as he turns to the nurse," I want a Cat-Scan on her head. If that doesn't pick up anything, I want a Pet-Scan as well" she nods and heads out the door.

" What's happening?" I ask panicking

"Nothing to be worried about. Just routine testing" he replies as the nurses enter the room.

The nurses unhook my I.Vs and push my bed down the hallway, even though I can walk perfectly fine. Probably...
__________________________

After they take the Cat-Scan I am allowed to go back to my room for a while. Michael walks in and his eyes are red.

He walks over to me, pulls a chair over and sits down. He grabs my hand looks at me for the first time. He takes in a sharp breath at the sight of all my tubes.

"This is all my fault" he says sadly.

"No it's not" I say," the doctor said it was something internally that caused it"

" I know. But look at you! Look at all those tubes they stuck in you. What could they possibly need to put inside you?" He says trying to amuse me.

I giggle, "Well, this one is fluid because I threw up a lot in my sleep apparently", I say pointing to the different tubes coming out of me,"This one is pain killers for my head, and this one is some kind of drug to keep me from passing out again."

"Well then, I guess they came up with something you needed" he replies.

Just then the doctor comes in. He walks over by Michael and he immediately gets up. My hand feels cold without Michael's wrapped around it.

"So Claire, we have decided to go Ahead with the Pet-Scan" he says.

"Okay, so do you have any idea what is wrong with me?"I reply.

" Well, we have an idea but we need that scan to confirm it, and probably a second opinion. There's nothing to worry about right now."

"Okay", I say still not reassured," when will the scan happen?".

"We were hoping right now, if that's okay with you. If you need some rest, that's okay also".

"That's fine with me" I say. The faster this is over the faster I know what is wrong with me.

" Your family wanted to talk to you first, so I'll be on my way" he says getting up and exiting.

My family walks in and Michael gets up and heads towards the door. Jake grabs Michael's arm as he passes.

They glare at each other for a moment and I hear Jake spit at him,"life ruiner".

Michael stays calm and says nothing as Jake taunts him. Sarah nudges Jake and he lets go. My family walks over and sits down next to me.

" How are you feeling?" Sarah asks.

"Good" I reply,"my head hurts though".

I hear Jake mumble something but choose to ignore it.

"Well, we better let them scan you now, Claire." she says.

"Okay", I reply,"you're not mad at Michael are you?"

"Yes" Jake says.

"No" Sarah and Bill immediately reply.

"Michael didn't do anything wrong" Sarah says glaring at Jake.

Sarah tells the doctor that we are ready for the scan and firmly grabs Jake by the arm. I'm imagining all the things Sarah might have him do for punishment as I am wheeled away for yet another scan.....
__________________________

I have the scan and The doctor requests that my family come into my room so he can talk to them. I have Michael come in also, just in case it is anything serious. Once everyone is situated the doctor begins his rant.

" So, as you all know Claire suffered from a concussion just over one week ago. She recovered well until yesterday. We have run several tests and have a good idea of what caused her collapse."

Michael grabs my hand and squeezes hard as the doctor continues," There appears to be a Lymphatic mass surrounding her Hippocampus and Entorhinal Cortex. Though extremely rare,we believe that this was triggered by her concussion. The mass has grown amazingly fast and is about the size of a cutie fruit."

I am trying to process all of this very quickly. Lymphatic mass? Hippocampus?

"So, what you're saying is my baby Claire has brain Cancer." Sarah buts in.

" Yes. But, we think we can treat it with Chemotherapy without damaging her brain much. The only possible side effect of this may be slight memory loss, seeing as how the mass is situated around the two main memory sections of the brain".

I can't move, I can't breathe. I have Brain Cancer, and I am going to die...