The Good Life

Chapter 25

Next Tuesday Marla sat in the passenger seat of her mother’s Toyota Camry as they drove to the neurologist for her scheduled doctor’s appointment. It was a long drive – so Marla told her all about everything after the evening Bruno called her in a panic.

“Mom, he was really concerned. I don’t think he’s just doing this because he can.” Marla’s mother told her.

“I don’t think he is either, mama. I really like him. I mean, like more than Aaron and we were going to get married after I finished school.”

“Recueras que Aaron fue horrible.” Marla’s mother responded.

“Yeah, he was a jerk. I can’t believe he hooked up with that stupid hooch. But that’s in the past. This is hard though. Bruno’s already gone. I don’t even know what to do with myself. He said he wanted to come to the doctor with me. He knew he couldn’t. He was really bummed.”

“I can’t wait to meet him in two weeks, mija.”

“I hope it’s not a complete disaster, mom.”

* *

Marla completed her EEG complete with all the goop on her head. She sat next to her mother waiting anxiously for any type of changes in her seizures. Based on the reported changes, the doctor wanted to review the records right away.

He called them into the office and had her hop onto the exam table. The older Hispanic doctor, with slicked back dyed black hair reminded her of her uncle. He was always very warm.

“So, tell me about what’s going on, Ms. Gonzales. It’s not normal for us to be seeing each other in the middle of the year…”

“I know, things have always been so…normal… so. I…” she started getting nervous about telling him about the first seizure which was even gross to think about. “I think I had one of those catemenial flare up things we had talked about a few years ago. It happened when I was with someone. It wasn’t bad, just a little one. That was in March. Everything went back to normal, a few twitches nothing more than that. Then, I was with the same person maybe a week ago….”

“It was a week ago.” her mother interjected.

“Okay, so a week ago. We went out for dinner. It was one of those fancy LA places were paparazzi go to catch celebrities and their dates. And I guess they wanted to take pictures of my date and me. My hand was pretty twitchy when we got there, but when we left I guess things got blue and white and I woke up all sore and my tongue hurt pretty bad.”

“When did you last ovulate, Marla?” he asked her bluntly.

She counted on her fingers. “Last week…”

“I’m not changing any medication. Just be careful with the paparazzi. If you’re still dating that guy make sure he keeps you away from those lights. Also try to avoid really great sex that same week just to keep yourself from having those petit mals. If you have them at different times we might have to reevaluate.” He smiled a grandpa smile at her. It kind of grossed her out, but it was endearing to think the doctor was thinking of her. There weren’t any changes in your EEG/ It was just a different reaction. It could happen. Please keep track of your cycle. I will see you in December.”

“Oh….but….nevermind.” She started thinking about that weekend. They had been with each other several times that weekend. If she was ovulating – and they should have been – nothing happened that weekend. She was fine. It was perfect. She stopped herself from asking any questions about it and moved on. “Thank you.”