Six Ways From Sunday

Chapter 5

 I sat in the doctor's office, waiting for Dr. Williams to come into the room. All morning I'd had a bad feeling about my appointment, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what was wrong. Dr. Williams finally came into the room and flipped through my chart.

“Well, Charli, it looks like you've done well since the surgery. What brings you in this morning?” Dr. Williams asked with a smile.

“The site is sore. I mean, really sore. To the point that it throbs. It's been that way for about a week now. I'm just afraid the site might be infected.” I said the words in a rush, hoping that saying it all fast would make it all go away.

Dr. Williams' expression went from cheerful to concerned in a flash. Infection could mean that my surgery would have to be reversed. I didn't want that at all. I didn't want to go back to the way things were before my surgery. With the surgery, no one needed to know about my problem. No one needed to pity me.

He took a look at my head, swabbed the site, and then sent the swab off to the lab. “We'll know more in just a few minutes. If it is what I think it is, the test won't take very long.” True to his word, his pager went off a few minutes later. He called the lab, listened for a moment, then put the phone down. “I'm sorry Charli, but there is an infection. We'll need to go in and remove your implant.”

“Is there anything else you can do? Antibiotics maybe?” I was going to cry. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I'd feared this very thing ever since my surgery and now it was going to happen. I couldn't bear to go back to the way things were before.

“We can try antibiotics, but I have to warn you that it may very well be too late for that. We may still need to go in and remove the implant. I know you don't want to do that. I know you don't want things to be the way they were before the implant. But you won't have a choice if the antibiotics don't work. I'll give you a prescription for a Z-Pack. This type of infection should respond to that. If it doesn't, you'll have to have surgery. I'm sorry.” He handed me a prescription for a Z-Pack of antibiotics. I took it, thanked him, and walked out of the office. The next thing I knew, Ashley was standing in front of me.

“Charli, what's wrong? Why are you crying?” Ashley looked panicked, like he didn't know what to do or say. He probably didn't. Hell, I didn't know what to do or say to him. I didn't remember calling him to come get me.

“Did I call you?” I asked him. I honestly couldn't remember. Everything was a blur after I'd walked out of the doctor's office.

“Yeah. You sounded really upset. You just said come get me. Andy gave me the address for the building because you hung up before I could get it from you.” Instinctively, he put his arms around me. He knew I needed to be held I guess, because he stood there and held on to me while I stood there and cried my eyes out. When I finally finished bawling like a baby, I stepped back with a blush on my face.

“I'm sorry. I'm just having a really shitty day today. I was late for my appointment, I've got a sinus infection, and I'm just not in a good mood.” Yeah, I was lying again, but dammit, no one needed to know everything about me. The only person who needed to know everything about me was me.

“Come on. We'll get some lunch and then I'll take you wherever you want to go.” Ashley pulled me along to his car and opened the passenger door.