Chance of Love

Chapter 7

THREE WEEKS LATER

Amanda sat on her couch alone, a box of Kleenex in her lap. So much had happened she could not even manage to process it in her mind.

Report card time had come around again so she spent lots of time writing them and getting ready for the year end awards. Amanda always hated the month of June because it meant she would have to say farewell to the students she'd gotten so close to throughout the year. And this year was no exception.

She'd had some health problems that had made her take time off from work, but she had still managed to complete her report cards.

Her principal called her into his office the week before school had ended. Amanda thought he wanted to discuss the year end assembly with her.

"Amanda, I want to tell you how much we appreciate your hard work at the school every year," he said, smiling in a strained way.

Starting to feel anxious, Amanda replied, "Thank you. It's always a pleasure to be with the students."

After a short pause, the principal said, "That's what makes this so difficult to say."

"What is it?" Amanda asked, trepidation in her voice.

"This kind of conversation is always hard to have," the principal began. "Unfortunately, it's up to me to make some tough decisions every year and due to enrolment projections for next year, we won't be able to renew your contract."

Amanda could hardly take in his words.

"What do you mean?" she asked incredulously. "There are lots of kids at this school."

"Yes, but I have been told to eliminate one full-time position and you have the lowest seniority of everyone on my staff. I hate to do this, but we're going to have to let you go."

Amanda sat in her chair, feeling shock and tears came to her eyes.

With some more comments about how she had a good chance of getting on the substitute teacher list, the principal expressed regret about her departure.

Amanda barely maintained her composure before she left the office. How could her career be derailed after such a short period of time? What was she going to do?

Amanda felt like a failure as she prepared to teach her class the next day. She had been so numb the night before, she couldn't even call Mark to tell him what happened. How was she going to pay her bills? She barely had enough savings to get through the summer months. She knew there was no guarantee that she would make it onto the substitute teacher list, either. Even if she did, there was no way of knowing whether she would make enough money to support herself.

Amanda had not been able to see Mark lately due to her year end activities at school. Luckily, Mark had been very understanding. He was also busy with his work projects and his company's ball games.

Amanda didn't think things could get worse, but they did. She ended up going to the doctor because of excruciating pain in her abdomen. She'd experienced some cramps off and on throughout the year, but she had been able to stave them off with painkillers. Then the pills stopped working altogether.

She ended up going for an ultrasound test. She didn't tell Mark about it because she didn't want him to worry about her. She was worried enough for the both of them. She didn't want to know the results, but the doctor insisted on seeing her right away.

The day after school let out for the summer, Amanda's mom took her to see the specialist. He showed them the images from her ultrasound.

"As you can see here," the doctor said, pointing toward the picture on the monitor, "Amanda's uterus is filled with small nodes. We call them fibroids. What you're seeing here is an advanced case of endometriosis."