Aphasiac

Chapter Eleven

Three Rivers OB/GYN Associates PA/Baptist Medical Center
May 13, 1997

Dr. Willis shook David's hand and offered both him and Paula a chair in front of his desk. "Thanks for getting here on time guys," he said. "Dr. Jonah Goetz will be here in a moment. He called about an hour ago to say he'd be a few minutes late. He got tied up in a meeting. Do you have anything you have to get to in a hurry?"

"No," David reassured. "We've got all day."

"Great." Dr. Willis turned his attention to Paula. "How are you?"

"I'm all right," Paula said. "Worried, but alright. Could you tell me again who this doctor is?"

"Well, he's one of the best childcare specialists in North America and he has agreed to look after your little one. I met him at a social event almost eight months ago and he's a wonderful man. I called him a few weeks back and he agreed to look at a tape of the ultrasound. I sent it and he called back a few days later and told me he wanted to help you folks out." There was a knock on the office door. "That's him now." Dr. Willis stood and opened the door.

Dr. Jonah was a young, well built, black man. Both David and Paula stood and shook his hand. He smiled warmly. "David, Paula, pleasure." Paula smiled back at the attractive man. "I know what both of you are thinking."

Paula and David looked at each other. "What?" It was almost in unison that they spoke.

"You're wondering why a man as young as I am is completely bald. You're wondering whether or not it's natural."

Paula laughed. "I am kind of curious. You look a lot like Montel Williams."

"I'll take that as a compliment no matter how you meant it," said Jonah. "My mother used to say that Montel was the sexiest black man to ever walk the earth." He winked at Paula. "Baldness is in my family. My brother is twenty-one and already has very little hair. My father was completely bald except for two little tufts above his ears and so was my grandfather. Not me. I take after my mother. Thick, beautiful, dark hair. I shave it off.

Paula frowned. "Why?"

"When children have to undergo chemotherapy treatments they risk losing their hair like any adult. A bald child is not a happy child. I shave my head so I look like them and can interact with them as their friend, not their doctor."

"That's a wonderful thing for you to do." Paula and David took their seats again, feeling completely at ease with such a gentle man.

Jonah set a briefcase on the desk and pulled out the videotape. "I was kind of reluctant to take this on when Dr. Willis called me. I don't usually take cases involving unborn or newborn children but his incredible faith in me made me change my mind."

He walked to the VCR, put the tape in and turned on the television. The image of their child came up on the screen. Alive, moving, and beautiful. Dr. Jonah took a pencil from a cup on the desk and pointed to an area of the throat where a small, dark mass was visible. "This is the tumor right here. We call this Laryngeal cancer because it is on the larynx." He pushed the pause button, leaving a frozen image of their baby on the screen and sat on the corner of the desk facing them, toying with the pencil in his hands. "Now, I can't guarantee that this is a benign tumor. We can't ensure the child's safety if we try rooting around in your womb for a biopsy sample so we're going to have to go on faith. There has been no significant changes in the last month of ultrasounds so we're taking that as a good sign. If it is benign, it will not spread to more of your child's body; however, there will be some local growth and this can cause damage to the larynx because of the pressure of the growth. If it's malignant we'll just have to work fast and hope we get it all on the first try. We are going to have to operate immediately after birth because there will be airway obstruction and, depending on the damage there could be some bleeding. We'll do tests on the tissues to determine whether or not this is a malignant mass. If it's not you shouldn't have to worry about a recurrence."