Retributed

Chapter 20

Retributed: Chapter 20

~One Week Later~
~Nelle Bells P.O.V.~

Lexis and I sat in the brightly lit office together. He was in the left chair as I was in the right one and we held each other's hands, our fingers intertwined and when he'd look over at me, I always smiled in assurance that not matter what the turn out is with this meeting, everything will be okay. 

"Alright, good morning Lexis." A woman said as she came walking in, extending her hand out for Lexis to shake which he did when he let go of mine for a second and then reached back for it. A white cloak on over her olive green dress and her thick rimmed glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose. "Oh and this must be your wife, Chanelle." She too extended her hand out to me and I gladly shook it with yet another smile on my face. 

"Good morning." Lexis and I said in unison. She walked around to other side of the light tan desk and pulled out a file from one of the cabinets below. Opening it up, I watched her eyes scan the pages back and forth, flipping though the pages just as fast. 

"So we did some testing with a biopsy sample a little while back because we had some suspicion that Lexis, you may have lung cancer. You've mentioned your father and grandfather both had it and upon getting the results back it came back that yes you do have it. You have the type non-small cell lung cancer and with all the x-rays and MRIs you've had recently with other doctors, we were able to find a tumor in your right lung." She explained and I gave his hand a firm squeeze, as he dropped gaze to his lap for a brief moment before nodding to go on. "Our best methods of treatment for this and the stage that it's in would be either surgery or radiotherapy. Lexis how are you feeling about all this? I know I'm just laying it all on you but I figured it had been some time that passed and you wanted to get to the chase already." She continued to explain in her sweet tone, kind of reminded me of Lolo and I sat quietly, hoping he would say something but remained quiet. 

"I'm sure this is a lot for him right now to hear. Especially with what he's had to go through already but I had a couple of questions I wanted to ask." 

"Of course I understand and we have all day to sit and discuss this so please ask all questions and share any concerns." 

"What stage cancer are we looking at?" 

"Here it says stage four but his biopsy showed it was more like stage three but developing into stage four, this is what the little side note says." She said as she turned the paper my way to see and I didn't like seeing it was labeled as stage four but the note on the side was a small bit of relief. 

"At least it's not full on stage four and you think radiotherapy will help?" 

"I can never guarantee that it will stop all the cancer for good. Realistically speaking, the therapy could just slow it down but it would still be progressing, it could stop it for a while but it could come back- its different with everybody and we just have to see how his body takes the therapy or if we have to do surgery, that's also an option if he would prefer. Chemotherapy isn't entirely ruled out as it could help but I see radiotherapy as the most effective." 

"We'll have to talk about that when this all settles in-"

"How much longer do you think I have to live?" He suddenly asked and I looked over at him to see he was looking dead at her. He was calm but his voice still seemed tired as he hasn't been sleeping so well lately. 

"I can't say how long. All I can say is about five years but that's just the standard that we say across all types of cancers. You could continue live well into your nineties or you could pass away within three months as some examples. I personally believe you'll exceed five years once we get started on a method of treatment and if you keep up with your health. I understand you need time to decide all this but the sooner you reach an answer of how you want to treat this, the better it is."