divulgence // luke hemmings au

47

TRIGGER WARNING : MENTIONS OF LUNG CANCER AND TREATMENT PLEASE BE ADVISED.

Five whole days went by and Luke's world turned upside down.

Luke got a page to the pulmonologist that he's been communicating with and who has ordered all the tests he's been going through.

Luke knew it was bad news when he walked into the doctors office, and saw the doctor sitting at his desk and saw a woman standing in the room with a badge labeled counselor.

The doctor took a long drawn out deep breath and pulled up the images from the scans, and started pointing at various little spots on both of his lungs.

At the end of the conversation, the doctor broke the news: Luke had early stage lung cancer, that's why he has been sick for as long as he had been with cold like symptoms.

Luke was shocked, not knowing how to react initially but apparently men in their fifties are more likely to receive a diagnosis like this compared to any other age group.

The doctor explained how it's good that they caught this early and that when it's in an early stage like this it's the most treatable, laying down all the options going forward.

Luke didn't cry initially, it wasn't until he ran into Sierra who saw this look of bewilderment on his face and stopped him in the hall and that's when he grabbed onto her and cried explaining his diagnosis. She felt bad yet remained strong for her long time best friend.

Luke just got a life altering diagnosis and Sierra was worried about upsetting him any further if she started getting emotional as well, promising herself that she would save the tears for later on that night.

All she could think about was Luke's wife and children, how they would take the news and what the future would be like going forward.

Luke took the long way home that night, radio turned up, windows down, trying to figure out how to tell his family, suppressing his tears every time the doctors words replayed in his head.

He has gone through so much in his fifty three years of life and he didn't know how much more he and his family could take.

But eventually he found himself pulling into the driveway and locking the car with his beeper after grabbing his bag from the backseat. He unlocked the front door and went inside dropping the bag on the floor, tossing his keys on the counter and slipping his shoes off on the mat.

He turned on the light, seeing the clock said 8:11pm.

He walked up to the staircase stopping, "Elliot, Elsie, Eloise are you guys home and awake still?"

Three little voices answered and then he started to hear foot steps.

"Sabrina!" He called out into the house and she came rushing, "yeah I'm here what is it?"

Soon all his family was standing in the middle of the house staring at him confused. "I need to talk to you all in the kitchen please"

He requested and they followed and he started coughing, Sabrina raising an eyebrow.
All of them took a seat at the kitchen table, Luke looking at all of them.

"I wanna start out by saying that I love each and every one of you so so much. I'll never stop loving you guys" Luke started out the somber discussion, his tone was soft yet shaky, his family looking at him concerned and confused.

"I know you're probably tired of me going through coughing fits and sore throats and all that and that's why I wanted to tell you all that I've been looking into this ongoing sickness with a few doctors back at the hospital where I work" he explained looking around the table.