Healing Touch

Prologue

"I want you to cancel all my afternoon meetings, Lily." Jaime Sterling told her personal assistant over the phone as she paced back and forth in the private hospital room in the oncology wing.

She resented hospitals. They never smelled of anything else apart from sickness, blood and death. Being there made her feel sicker than she actually was, or than she actually hoped she was.

"Jaime Sterling," Doctor Michael Stevens called out her name.

Her heart was rapidly pacing.

St. James Medical Centre was a top cancer treatment and research center in New York City and she'd just come in for a checkup. Dr. Michael Stevens had come highly recommended by one of her clients. He was a good-looking man in his mid-forties with kind eyes and an easy-going nature.

He looked younger than his age, which made Jaime wonder if he was qualified enough, but then again, he was the chief resident of the oncology wing so, she relaxed.

"I regret to inform you that we found a lump," he said and waited for her to digest the information.

He had worked in the oncology department for over ten years and was still not used to announcing the sad news. He preferred telling his patients their treatment was successful and they were cancer free.

"I have breast cancer?" Jaime asked in an unsteady voice.

"Yes. You have stage IIIA of invasive ductal carcinoma."

Jaime's fear was evident in her eyes.

"I suggest we start treatment immediately to avoid it spreading any further than it already has."

"Treatment?" She was still at the lump part of the news. Her mind usually digested information quicker than this but she was having trouble believing and accepting that she had cancer.

"Yes, we need to perform treatments such as chemotherapy, hormonal therapy and other targeted therapies on your entire body in order to destroy any cancer cells that may have left the original tumor, as well as reduce the risk of the invasive ductal carcinoma from coming back."

Her hands shook from the news when she completely understood what it all meant. "What... What do you have to do first?" Jaime asked, looking into Dr. Stevens's eyes which looked back at her with sympathy.

"We need to start you off on chemotherapy in order to shrink the cancer before we can perform the surgery to remove the tumor," he said.

"Could you explain it to me?"

He walked over to her and in an attempt to reassure her, he lightly placed his hand over her shoulder and guided her back to the bed. Once seated, he met her gaze and began explaining as clearly as he could.

"Chemotherapy involves taking anti-cancer medicines. This can be done through direct injection into a vein or by mouth in form of a pill. The medicines travel through the bloodstream to all parts of the body, damaging all the cancer cells because they target rapidly diving cells.

"Normal cells in your blood, mouth, intestinal tract, nose, nails and hair also divide rapidly so chemotherapy affects them too. The healthy cells in your body can repair the damage that chemotherapy causes so if the side effects involved hair loss or lack of energy, this will likely change but the cancer cells will not repair themselves."

It was hard to imagine herself in her world with cancer. None of the members of her family had ever gotten it, which was why it had come as such a shock. "How long will the side effects last?"

"They will depend on the regimen you're on, the amount of medicine you're getting, the length of treatment and your general health. While you're recovering from chemotherapy, other medicines can help ease many of the side effects you may have."

Maybe she wouldn't have to take time off from work if the medicine could help take care of the side effects. "How long will the chemo last?"

"Three to six months."

She went silent, countless thoughts running through her mind.

"I'll leave you alone for a moment." Dr. Stevens said as he got up.

She was so lost in thought she barely noticed his exit.

***

Michael stepped out of the hospital room, saddened by the news he'd just delivered and went to his office to find his close friend Andrea Summers seated across his desk. "Andy, what are you doing here?"

"What? I'm not allowed to come visit my friend?" Andy asked.

Michael studied her for a minute. It had been almost a year now since she'd lost her mother to cancer. Almost a year since they had met because of the tragedy. But somehow through it, a beautiful friendship had developed.

"You're allowed," he said and went to sit down.

"You look sad." She sat up straight and closely studied him.

"I just delivered some bad news to a patient."

Her face went slightly grim. "I'm sorry. I know it's not easy."

Unfortunately, she knew and understood that all too well. Maybe it was both their understanding of the illness that kept them so close, the history, the effect and the role it had played in both their lives.

"Do you think the patient will beat it?" Andy asked.

"I honestly don't know. We've come up with a lot of treatments that can help beat cancer but without the patient's willingness to want to beat it, they're ineffective. So, these treatments are not a cure."

He scanned through Jaime's file, then placed it over his desk. He had several other patients who had it worse than Jaime, but it still wasn't easy. The cancer could always spread.

"I wanted to ask you whether I can volunteer to work here at the hospital. Preferably the oncology wing." Andy said and Michael searched for seriousness in her lovely face.

Andrea, or Andy as she preferred, was twenty-five years old. She was innocently beautiful with soft hazel eyes, full perky lips, and flawlessly structured facial features. She'd lost a lot of weight during her mother's time at the hospital because she'd been more concerned about her mother than herself, and Michael could see she was still struggling to regain it. Despite that, she was a very attractive young woman who was very easy to get along with.

"Andy, I don't think that's the best thing for you to do right now," he said, not wanting to remind her of how much she'd suffered through her mother's tragic ordeal.

"I feel like I need to be here. Maybe it's because I'm not ready to let go, I really don't know but I want to be here. I want to help people like you and me who have lost our loved ones to cancer. You were there for me. I think its time for me to be there for someone else."

The sincerity in her eyes contradicted all the reasons he wanted to state as to why she shouldn't have been there but he couldn't. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

He didn't blame himself for Angela Summers' death because her cancer had been discovered in the advanced stages, but his responsibility to her as his patient made him feel like he had failed her daughter, Andy.

"What about your work and school? Will you be able to manage it all?"

She was a financial advisor and ran a very successful website that she'd created with her best friend, Layla Adams, and she was also attending university in order to complete her studies.

The money she made from her successful website paid for her education and had contributed to her mother's medical bills in the hospital. She'd been forced to take in more projects than she could handle but because of her multitasking skills and through Layla's assistance, she'd been able to take care of her mother while she'd been at the hospital and had still managed to somehow carry out her other duties which had included attending school and working.

"Yes," she said.

Michael nodded and got to his feet, thinking it was time to get back to Jaime. "Okay, we'll do a trial run and see how it goes. Right now, I have to get back to my patient."

He left Andy in his office and headed back to his patient's room. Jaime was still seated where he'd left her. Her expression, although slightly relaxed was still troubled. He went and sat down beside her and talked to her like a friend would.