Hold Your Breath

Chapter 1 - Disease

Anemia.

Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia to be exact. I sat still on the uncomfortable doctor's office bed, my hand absentmindedly playing with the cheap paper that lay on top. Silence fell over the room, until my mother was the first to break it

"Oh"

Their doctor began to explain the blood disease, how they should go about treating it, and the possible causes. I didn't pay attention much, my mind still focused on that one word... anemia. It was strange, I felt fine, aside from the slight fatigue, and occasional shortness of breath. My ears picked up the last part of Dr. Wesley's words.

"There is one thing I need to mention. This is a very rare blood disease, like I had mentioned before" Did he? Oh well, this is what I get for tuning him out

"What are you trying to say?" My mother asked, I had then taken notice how tightly she gripped her handbag.

"Well, Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia is a lifelong condition, which means she will most likely require ongoing treatment. "

Something wet hit my hand, I touched my cheek, sure enough I was crying. This was, this was not how my life was supposed to end up. I was supposed to graduate high school, go to college in Chicago. Not this, I wasn't supposed to be sick.

"Will she be treated here?" My mother asked, by now she was white knuckling her handbag, tears welled up in her eyes.

Dr. Wesley shook his head "That's actually another thing I wanted to talk about. She will have to be moved to a hospital to further her treatment. Do you have a hospital your family normally attends, or would you like us to recommend one?"

My mother could hardly speak, she just shook her head frantically and managed to utter the word "recommend."

Dr. Wesley nodded his head before leaving the room, mentioning something about paperwork. I turned to my mother, opening my mouth to speak to her, only to see she was already on the phone.

"Of course" I thought bitterly.

Many people had addictions in this world, some people liked drugs, others liked coffee or alcohol. I however am fairly certain my mother has an addiction to talking on the phone. For an long as I can remember, she had to talk to at least one person over the phone once a day. I didn't bother to try try and listen to whatever conversation it was that she was having, opting to stare at the wall instead. By the time my mother was done with her conversation, Dr. Wesley had come back into the room, paperwork in hand.

" I just got off the phone with Ocean Park. It's a great hospital, excellent staff, and a school, so she will not be missing out on her classes. They can have her as early as Monday I have her file right here, all you have to do is bring it in with you, they'll have paperwork there for you to sign. Is two days enough to pack?" He asked, handing over the papers to my mother.

She briefly looked at me before turning back to the doctor and nodding. I watched as she put my file into her bag, sealing my fate. Okay, little dramatic, but you get the point. Biding my doctor goodbye, my mother walked out the door, I hopped off the bed and followed after, realizing that it will probably be a very, very long time till I ever step into this building again. No more monthly check ups, no more uncomfortable doctors beds.

God my life sucks.