The Good Old Days

Febuary 2005 (I'll Say it's All for You)

Cathy was about three months into her pregnancy now, her friends and family have all heard the news. Everyone was happy for her and Joseph and they have been receiving a lot of congratulations on what they said would be their final pregnancy, which was also their first planned one. Lately though, Cathy had been experiencing some unusual pain in her abdomen, she had initially brushed it off as being part of the pregnancy, but she had also been unusually tired. Joe finally convinced her to go to the doctor. He had referred her to the hospital for some scans.

"Joe, you need to calm down," Cathy said to her husband as he drove. He kept shifting uncomfortably in his seat, and she could tell he was anxious, "The doctor doesn't know what's wrong, but I'm sure it's nothing. It's not the first time my stomach's hurt during pregnancy.

"I know, I know..." Joe said, "But it's never been as bad as this."

"Four prior pregnancies does a lot to your body," Cathy told him, "I'm probably just more sensitive to it now."

Joe just silently agreed and kept his eyes on the road. He just wanted to hurry up and get there.

At the hospital, they checked Cathy in at the desk in the imaging unit. They didn't have to wait long before her name was called.

"I'll be back soon," Cathy said, giving Joe a kiss.

After she disappeared around the corner, Joe's anxiety kicked up a notch. He was fidgety, and did his best to keep himself calm, but the fact the doctor even sent them here had him worried.

About thirty minutes later, Cathy came back out.

"Well?" Joe asked.

"They said they'll have the results ready in an hour," she said, "So the doctor said to stay until then."

Joe just sighed, he wanted to know now.

The two spent the next hour flipping through magazines, and Joe was messing around with his new slide phone he had gotten recently.

"Mr. and Mrs. Hayes?"

They both looked up and saw the doctor standing there.

"Please follow me."

He led them a short distance down the hallway into an exam room and shut the door.

"Please sit," he said as he logged onto the bulky, off-white computer to pull the images up.

The couple watched as the MRI images popped up on the screen.

"Okay," he said, "We examined the images, and we found something."

That's the last thing Joe was hoping to hear.

The doctor pointed at the screen with a pencil, "You see this? This is an ovary. If you compare it to the one on this side, you'll see this one is much more swollen."

"So what's that mean?" Joe asked, not knowing if he wanted the answer.

"Mrs. Hayes, we believe you have ovarian cancer."

Both of them felt like the air had been sucked out of the room.

"I... What?" She said, not sure if she heard him right, "C-cancer?"

"I know, this is the very last thing you wanted to hear," the doctor said as he pulled up another image, "Right now, it looks to be contained to the ovary, which means it's still early on."

"So... It can be treated?" Joe asked, "We can get rid of it?"

"Normally, I would recommend removing the ovary completely in this case," he said, "However, that kind of surgery during pregnancy is very risky. The only other option is chemotherapy, but-"