Dark Side Of The Room (Jack's Girlfriend)

Chapter 4

I wake up in my room. There are a few boxes and one that is open. I fold my blanket and the put my pillow in the box on top of it. I put the few remaining things I want to keep and then I travel out of my room.

I watch as Vic and Danielle put my things into the car. We all hug Kellin. He is flying out to Nashville now and Danielle is flying back down to San Diego. Vic and I are getting an apartment until the middle of December because he wants me to finish out my fall quarter classes so they don't go to waste.

Honestly, they will anyways because I'll have to go back to high school, but it's better than nothing. "What's your class schedule?" "Monday's 1:30-2:05, Tuesday's 7:30-11:20 and then 12:50-1:45, Wednesday's 12:50-1:45 and then 6:30-8:00 pm, Thursday's same as Tuesday, and Friday's 12:50-1:45." "That is a very odd schedule."

"Yeah, it was difficult before I was on my ADHD meds." He drives me to the doctor's office and comes in with me. I make him come back to the room with me.

"Okay, I'm going to do a small blood draw to check that increasing your meds is not going to make your blood levels bad." I nod and shift closer to Vic. She lightly cleans my arm and I shut my eyes tight, burying my head against Vic.

"She doesn't like needles much." "Oh, that makes a lot more sense." I feel the prick of the needle and tense up. "Hey, it's okay. Relax." He begins quietly singing to me and I relax.

She finishes. "I'll send these to our in building lab and then I want to talk to you about the results of the pap smear. I do want to do further testing." I give a small nod and hug Vic. "Please sit outside. I'll be out later."

He looks a little confused but nods. They both leave and she comes back. "I detected some abnormal cells. Normally they would be little cause for concern, but with your family history of cervical cancer, I want to do a colposcopy with possibly a biopsy." I nod.

She has me lie on the table and she begins it like the pap smear. "Okay, I need to wash your cervix out with a vinegar like solution. It may sting or burn a little but it'll be over pretty quickly."

I give a light nod and then I feel the burn. I lay there quietly. "I'm going to take a small biopsy to send to the lab and just for safety, I'm going to try and remove the rest of the abnormal cells. It will be uncomfortable, if not painful. I could give you some numbing if you wish."

I shake my head. I sit there quietly, letting her remove it all. She finishes and hands me a liner. "You might have some light spotting." I put it on. "If there is cancerous cells I'm going to have you to come in for a PET scan. If they aren't cancerous, I'm going to have you go in for another colposcopy in a month to see if they are coming back."

I nod. "What are the chances it's cancer?" "Lower because of your age, higher because of your family history. I would say about 40/60." "Oh." "It'll be okay. I'm pretty sure if it is anything that we have caught it early. You are strong and young, you could fight any of this."

I nod. She looks at the results to the blood test. "I'm going to have you increase to taking 1mg tablets midday and night." I nod and go back out to Vic. "Are you okay?" I shrug.

"I don't want to talk to you about it until I know more. About 4 weeks probably." He nods. I look at my phone. "My friends want me to go over." He hugs me. "Please be safe and call someone if you need them. You have all of my closest friend's numbers as well."

I leave and go downtown. I call Alex. "Hello, who is this?" "Rachel, Vic's daughter." "Oh hey, what's up, kid?" "Do you promise not to tell Vic what I'm telling you? I need to talk to someone and I promise it doesn't have to do with suicidal thoughts."

"Okay." "So girls normally have to go for pap smears every 3 years after they turn 21 or when they become sexually active. One of the reasons is to test for cervical cancer. Cervical cancer runs in my mom's side of the family so the doctor wanted to do it earlier. The results came back and I had abnormal cells. She had to do a colposcopy and a biopsy and I don't get the results back for four weeks and I'm terrified that it is cervical cancer and I don't want to tell Vic until I know for sure and I'm terrified."

"Oh honey, it'll be okay. You should tell him, but I respect your choice not to. You want to know something?" "Yeah." "They are screening me right now for penile cancer. Rachel, I know how scared you are and I'll be right there with you. If you get diagnosed, I'll be with you through treatments."

I wipe my eyes. "Alex, I'll stick with you as well if you get diagnosed." I am sitting with Alex a day into the third week. Tonight is his Seattle show and I'll be watching from side stage.

Both of our phones ring at the same time and we look at each other. We answer. "Rachel, it's stage 4 cervical cancer. I found a center in San Diego that is doing a clinical trial. It is 16-40. You could start tomorrow."

I wipe my eyes. "Okay." "You could come down today so I could start a catheter for you that will remain in place throughout your chemotherapy." "Okay, give me about an hour and a half." "Alright, I'll see you then." She hangs up.

I see Alex has tears as well. "Didn't go well for you either?" He shakes his head. "I'm flying down to San Diego after the show tonight." "That's where I will need to be headed. Can I fly down with you?" "Yeah, of course."

"I'm going to get a catheter. Come with me." "Okay." I bring him to my doctor's office. "Dr Nyguen, this is my dad's friend, Alex. He was just diagnosed with cancer and is starting chemo tomorrow as well."

She looks at him. "I could start a catheter for you as well?" "Please." She takes us to a room. "One of you will need to wait here while the other goes in. Who is going first?"

I point to Alex. "Why?" "Because there are things that if you notice you are going to become anxious, much more than I would." He nods. I sit quietly in the room and I hear the doctor in the other room. "Alex, I could give you a light sedative or not?"

He looks at his phone. "If I do how long will I be here for?" "6 hours." "I can't, I have a show tonight."