Fighting Cancer (EulBert)

Chapter Twelve

Italicized words = Flashback

It was Sunday and the whole family accompanied Eula and Albert to the hospital for her weekly check up. They were all inside the oncologist's clinic.

"Good morning, Doc," Albert greeted doctor and the girls did the same thing but Eula remained silent.

"Good morning," Dr. Peters said in return. "So Mrs. Martinez, how are you feeling?" He asked Eula yet once more, got no response from her.

"Mahal.." He tapped her shoulder gently. "I'm fine. Nothing's new," she said briskly.

Albert, his daughter and the doctor just sighed.

"Okay," Dr. Peters said, "Hindi na 'ko magpapaligoy-ligoy pa.. I gave you two weeks to decide, kung magsswitch kayo from Imunotherapy to chemotherapy. Or kung we'll try to take out the tumor surgically. Tatanungin ko muli kayo dahil bago tayo magsimula ng Immunotherapy, hindi po kayo pumayag." He continued. "Nasa inyo pa rin po ang desisyon, Mr. and Mrs. Martinez."

Albert's POV

Nandito kami ngayon sa ospital. The results will come out today. We will know later if Eula is positive or negative to cancer. Naghihintay kami ni Eula sa labas ng clinic ni Doctor Peters, an oncologist.

Later on, a nurse called. "Mrs. Eula Martinez?" We both looked at her direction. "Ikaw po 'yun, Ma'am? Pasok na raw po kayo sabi ni Dr. Peters." We nodded and smiled at the nurse.

She's anxious, I can feel it. That's why I held Eula's hand which was cold as ice and took a gander at her. She nodded and we entered the clinic.

"Good afternoon, Sir, Ma'am," the doctor greeted as we entered the clinic.

"Good afternoon, Doc," I replied as I reached for a handshake. Eula did the same.

We sat down and faced the doctor. "So, Doc? Ano raw po yung nasa kidney ng Misis ko?" I asked nervously.

"Confirmed, Sir. The growth that we found in Mrs. Martinez's kidney is a tumor. It is malignant in which abnormal cells divide without control and can invade nearby tissues. Kung baga, out of control." He answered.

My world stopped. Did I hear it correctly? I felt Eula tremble. She was shaking and when I looked at her, she began to tear up. She was trying her best to control it, she doesn't want anyone see her break down. Lalo na in front of her Doctor. Silence filled the room as I wrapped my arms around her.

"A-anong stage na po, Doc?" I asked.

"At this point we cannot be certain. We will take more tests kay Mrs. Martinez for us to answer that question." Dr. Peters said as he looked at my wife who has tears continuously falling from her eyes.

"What should we do kapag nalaman na natin yung stage?" I asked once again.

"It's your decision. One thing to do is to surgically take out the tumor."

"What is the best thing to do, Doc?"

"Well, the simplest thing is to surgically take out the tumor from her liver." He said. "But we cannot be sure because we still do not know if the cancer cell has spread out, or if the liver is too damaged, because if it is, then we cannot risk it. But there are different options like radiation therapy. Dito po, we use high-powered energy from sources to shrink tumors and destroy cancer cells kaya kapag lumiit na yung tumor, we can take it out by surgery. Immunotherapy, wherein we use the immune system to fight the cancer cells and chemotherapy where we use drugs to kill the cancer cells rapidly." He continued, and silence once again invaded the room. No one dared to talk until I heard my wife's silent sobs.