Taking Chances

19. Just Thinking

Pacing about the doctor's office, Lindsey was reading signs and posters; all of them having to do with separate parts of the body and just the pictures made him cringe, so he easily took in his doctor's certificates that were framed which made him feel better.

"Have a seat," Stevie assured since she was pretty much lounging in the chair she was in, ready to fall asleep.

"Man, I hate hospitals," he went over to sit down next to her, the chair beside his wife that was in front of the absent doctor's desk. "To think I have to go under the knife?" he sighed.

"Lindsey..." she set her hand over his for the millionth time. "Honey, I love you and I feel awful due to the stress you're feeling. But right now I'm so tired, I might just kill you if you don't settle down."

"Hey, put me out of misery. If it were you, I would not mind, babe," he put his over hers.

Just as she leered at him, the door opened and his young, female doctor came in---for the first moment, it catching Stevie's attention.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Dr. Hayward came in a little exasperated.

"You're fine," the blonde waved it off, remaining in a business stature. "Um, would you please do me the favor of reassuring him that he'll be fine? He's driving me nuts."

Giggling lightly, "I think things are gonna be wonderful. We talked on the phone last week, Lindsey, and I told you my thoughts. We're gonna do this laparoscopically, so it's minimally invasive. We'll have you under general anesthesia and--"

"That makes me sick."

"That makes him sick."

They both piped in at the same time and looked at each other, Stevie never meaning to undermine his words.

"Nausea?" she asked, clearing her throat and making note of it.

Nodding, "Bad experience getting my wisdom teeth pulled back in the day and I puked everywhere," as he looked down at his wife's left hand over his. Her wedding ring on her hand just continued to stand out to him and he wasn't sure why---maybe because she still wore it.

"We'll have a medication for you to take before that so you don't have a bad experience. I have all of the procedures and guidelines for you to follow on paper so you can take that home. Like any normal surgery, you can't eat anything after midnight and you can have water up until two hours before the procedure and we'll also give you your medication since it's integral or you'll get heartburn post surgery."

Both nodded with care and full focus.

"So, scheduling... When would you like to have it? I'd like to have it done as soon as possible," she claimed.

Leaning forward, "When's the soonest?"

"Mm... The Friday after next," she muttered, making sure. "In the morning at eleven which you'll need to get to Thompson Peak a couple hours before to get checked in, fill out forms and such things. From there you'll be taken to get prepped for surgery and from there we'll begin."

"How long does the procedure take?" Stevie asked.

"Most surgeries take about two to four hours and since the tumor is so little I'd expect nothing more. Like I said, it depends but that's my best guess," she assured.

"Okay," he nodded.

"And then same with coming back from the anesthesia, it might take some time to come back from, but it depends on your body."

He nodded once more and leaned back in his chair, afraid his past drug abuse would play a part into the way his body now adjusted to regular drugs.