Not Always What It Seems

The News

"Honey, let me help you." Mike insisted.

I was trying to open a water bottle, only to get frustrated with my cast.

"I got it." Mike smiled as he passed me the bottle of water.

"We have to go soon. I just want to go brush my teeth again before we go then I'll be ready." I told Mike.

"Alright, I'll wait down here." Mike said back.

I went up the stairs to brush my teeth, instantly feeling sick to my stomach. I took a couple deep breaths and tried to relax my body. Being dizzy has taken such a huge toll on me from these headaches.

Once I was done brushing my teeth, I slipped on a pair of flats from my closet and walked downstairs to meet Mike.

"I got your phone and purse, good to go?" He asked.

"Ya know, I'm not useless." I giggled.

"But I'm here to help. I just want you to do as little as possible." Mike kissed my cheek.

The ride to the doctors consisted of small talk and low music. As we pulled up, Mike came and opened the door for me.

"Thank you." I smiled as I took a hold of his hand.

"Anything for you!" He said as we walked inside.

I signed in at the front desk and waited for my name to be called.

"Carrie Fisher?" A woman said eyeing the room.

I smiled as I stood up and Mike and I followed her behind. I was motioned to sit on the bed and did so.

"I just want to grab your weight, blood pressure and I have a couple questions to fill out." The nurse stated.

I stepped onto the scale as she asked and saw my weight was down to only 112lbs.

"Okay, seems as if you lost 11 pounds since you've been here last. Has anything changed in your diet from 2 months ago from your check up?" The nurse wondered.

"No, nothing at all." I said worried.

"And you're here for headaches, right?" I was asked.

"Yeah, more like horrible migraines. They make me dizzy and I get sick." I pressed my lips together.

"That may be our answer to the weight loss. Let me just take your blood pressure and I'll ask you a couple questions then we'll get the doctor in here." She said.

My blood pressure was normal, so my worrying calmed down a bit. She asked me a couple of health questions and within a few minutes the doctor stepped in.

"Hi, Mrs. Fisher. I'm Doctor Collins. I see you're having lots of trouble with migraines?" Collins wondered.

"Yeah..." I replied.

"Okay, we're going to have to refer you to our specialist at the hospital. His name is Doctor Shepard. He will take great care of you so we can figure out what's going on." He said writing on my paperwork.
"Now, these headaches cause dizziness and nausea?" He asked wanting to make sure.

"Yeah, they're pretty bad." I rubbed my cast.

"Okay, okay." He wrote more.
"I'm going to go print out referral papers and we'd think it would be best to head straight there afterwards."

"Okay, we can do that." Mike butted in.

An hour and a half later...

"Okay, I got your results here from the scans." Doctor Shepard stated sitting down in a chair.
"Unfortunately Carrie, It seems as if there is a cancerous cyst in your brain. It's in a really tough spot, but I believe I can surgically remove it. It's risky, but I am almost positive I can do it. I will inform you, there are other choices. I would like to try chemo therapy to see if we can get this to shrink. If it works, I'll have a better chance of removing it..."

The minute I heard I had a cancerous cyst, his works went away. I was in complete shock and didn't understand why this was happening to me.

"You will only need about three trials of chemo to test this out. I will admit, this is going to take a toll on your body, but I believe we can beat this thing." He looked me in the eyes.

"Okay. Well how long can I push this off for? My husband has hockey and I have a couple events that are coming up, I..." I said only to be quickly cut off.

"I recommend we start this process this week Mrs, Fisher. This cyst is rapidly growing. I don't think we should take any chances." He admitted.

Mike sighed, "Care, I will let my coach know I'll be out for the rest of the season. They'll understand. We can reschedule your events. Okay?"

"Well...I guess we should get this moving." I said as a tear escaped my eye.
"How long would I have... if I didn't do this?"

"Possibly 6 months tops, if you're lucky." The Doctor said looking at me then Mike.

"Okay, when do I start chemo?" I asked.