CH.5 - Cancer!?!

"Laura! Laura! Laura wake up!" I hear a voice yelling while I am being shaken by the shoulders. "Seth call an ambulance!" My mom instructs my stepdad as she continues to shake and pat me. "Here's her sugar tester." My younger brother says running into my room handing it to my mom. I start to slowly raise my head. I open my eyes and mumble, "mom what's going on?" Mom answers with concern in her voice, "You were unconscious." She pricks my finger and applies my blood to the test strip. "I was just taking a nap..." I say confused. "We have been calling and texting you for a day and a half and you didn't answer so we came over and found you unconscious." Mom informs me. She reads the result, "98... your sugar is fine?!?" She says confused. She then checks my pupils and feels my forehead. "The ambulance is on the way, and the rescue squad should be here in a few seconds." My stepdad says as he pokes his head in shielding his eyes. I realize I am still mostly naked. I turn bright red with embarrassment and grab my blanket and whip it over my body. My mom hands me my pajama pants and shirt and helps me put them on, even though I feel fine and can do it myself she insists she help.

We hear a knock and someone calls in through the front door, "Rescue squad." My stepdad lets them in and shows them to my room. My mom explains to them the situation and informs them about my diabetes. They check my pulse, blood pressure, pupils, and blood sugar. "Your blood sugar is perfect, but your heart rate is slightly high and your blood pressure is slightly low. Are you having any symptoms right now?" The man from the rescue squad asks. I look at him slightly confused. "I'm a little dizzy, but I'm sure that's just from being overwhelmed and confused about what is going on. All that happened is I got tired so I took a nap, I don't think it was even a very long nap it doesn't look very much later than it was when I went to sleep." I say. "I see... do you mind answering a few questions and do a test to check your reflexes and memory?" The man asks. "No, I don't mind." I say. "Okay. Can you touch each of your fingers to your thumb starting with your pointer finger and ending with your pinky finger then reverse?" He asks as he does the motion himself to show how it should be done. I do it as he instructed. "Perfect now try the other hand." He says as he smiles. I repeat the movements with my other hand. "Good. Now can you walk down the hallway one foot directly in front of the other touching your toe to the back of your heel and turn around and walk the same way back?" He asks. I stand and do exactly as he asked. "Good it doesn't seem like you are having any problems there. Now can you answer a few questions?" He asks. "Okay." I say, still slightly confused about what's going on. "Who is the president currently in office?" He asks. "Donald Trump." I answer. "Good. What is today's date? He asks. "Um... Monday, March .... the... twelfth I think." I say. "What year?" He asks with a blank face. "Two thousand eighteen." I reply. The man looks over to my mom and asks, "How long did you say that you couldn't get ahold of her?" She says, "A day and a half." The man looks over to me and writes something on his clipboard. "Miss. Laura, are you absolutely sure that today is Monday the twelfth?" He asks. " I'm not sure what the number is for sure, but I do know that it is Monday." I reply. "What happened before you took your nap?" He asks. "I ate breakfast and took my medicine, and I broke up with my boyfriend..." I pause for a second and think to myself, "I don't think I should tell them about what I saw." I continue to speak, "I didn't take it too well and my irritable bowel started acting up so I spent about an hour in the bathroom, then I got really tired so I checked my sugar. My sugar was 98, so I laid down and took a nap." I say. "Today is not Monday it is Wednesday the fourteenth. It's possible that you had a stroke or something similar so you might want to go in to get a few tests done to make sure you are okay." The man says. I stare at him confused and look around the room at my family's worried faces. I hear the ambulance pull into the driveway. "I guess I'll go in." I mumble still confused on how that was possible, but I didn't want my family to be worried. The ambulance technicians came in and the man from the rescue squad got them up to speed. They load me onto the gurney and into the ambulance. "Can my mom come with me please?" I ask. "Yes honey." The grey haired lady says with a sympathetic smile. The younger man jumps out the back and walks over to my mom and speaks to her. They both come back to the ambulance and he helps my mom in.

~ We arrive at the hospital ~

The ambulance technicians unload me from the ambulance and the younger man helps my mom out. They rush me in and place me into a hospital bed. My nurse comes in and the technicians brief her on the situation. Someone comes in pushing a cart with a computer on it in and signs me in and has me sign some paperwork. The person with the cart leaves and the phlebotomist comes in and takes my blood while my mom speaks with the nurse. After my blood is drawn the nurse hands me a cup and escorts me to the restroom. I pee in the cup and give it to the nurse. She escorts me back to my room and hooks me back to the heart monitor. "Your urine and blood work results should be done in about an hour. You just relax here for a little bit and I'll be back to take you to get a scan done. Okay sweetheart." The nurse says kindly as she smiles and hands me the remote. "If you need me just press the button. Do you need anything before I go?" She asks. "I'm pretty hungry and thirsty, do y'all have anything I can eat and drink?" I ask. "The cafeteria is closed right now, but we do have sprite and water. I can get you that and I'll see if I can find some crackers or something for you to eat." She says. "That's great! Do you have diet sprite?" I ask. "I believe we do. If we don't would you like Diet Coke?" She asks. "No I can't have dark soda even if it's diet... it makes me acidic... but if you don't have diet sprite I can do water or tea." I tell the nurse. "Okay sweetheart. I'll be back in a bit."she says with a smile and leaves the room. I look over at my mom. She is sitting in a chair next to the bed texting someone with a worried look on her face. "Mom... are you okay?" I ask. "Yes baby I'm fine... I'm just a little worried about you." She says trying to muster a smile. "Did I really sleep for a day and a half?" I ask. "We had messaged you Monday around one in the afternoon. You didn't read it so I messaged again a few hours later. You didn't reply so I figured you were busy unpacking and didn't see my message. Then all day Tuesday you didn't reply to any of my messages. Then today I still couldn't get ahold of you even after calling three times. We came over to check on you and you didn't answer the door, so we came in and found you in your underwear sprawled out on the bed. We tried to wake you up, but you wouldn't. We tried for about ten minutes to wake you up before we called for help." Mom explained. "Oh... do you think I had a stroke? I didn't have any of the symptoms... I just got really tired after all the issues I had after breaking up with Mike." I say feel somewhat sad and concerned. "I don't know sweetie... Stewart and Ethan had to stop and get gas but they will be here soon. Brandy and Kevin are on their way here from nursing school. It'll probably take them about an hour to get here." She says when a BA-DING from her phone interrupts her. She looks at her phone and types a message back. "Sis and Bob just got here." She says. "Why did you break up with Mike? I thought everything was going good between you too." Mom asks. "Well... about a month ag..." I'm interrupted by my aunt and uncle busting through the door. "Laura! Baby are you okay! What's going on?!? Do the doctors know what happened yet?!?" Auntie Sissy cries out rushing in through the door with her face wet with tears. Uncle Bob comes in behind her his face paler than a piece of paper. "Auntie Sissy!" I exclaim my eyes wide as I clench my chest. She surprised me so much that I could hear the bleeping from the heart rate monitor speed up for a few seconds until I calm myself. Auntie Sissy covers her mouth with both hands and has a look of intense worry and concern on her face. "Sorry baby I didn't mean to scare you." She quietly says looking like she is going to cry. "I'm okay. You just surprised me." I say with a slight chuckle and smile brightly at her. "You nearly gave me a heart attack kid, but your aunt here nearly put the nail in my coffin running in here yelling like that!" He laughs as he gently pats my head. "Are you okay? Have they found anything out yet?" He asks. "I'm fine. They haven't taken me back to scan my brain yet and the lab work hasn't come back yet." I inform them. A sigh of relief escapes Auntie Sissy's lips as she sits down in the other chair next to mom. Uncle Bob leans against the wall next to her.

Mom pats Auntie Sissy's back gently. "Laura will be okay... I just have a feeling she'll be fine." She tells Auntie Sissy. Auntie Sissy's expression softens a little more. "Laura, what were you going to say about why you broke up with Mike?" Mom asks turning back towards me. "She finally broke up with him!?!" Auntie Sissy asks with a stunned look on her face. "Yeah... I broke up with him." I tell her. "Good! Now you can actually find the right person for you! Just like I told you will happen if you did! He was bad news anyway." Auntie Sissy excitedly says smiling. "Sis! Did you tell her to break up with him!?! They were getting along great! Why would you do that?" Mom asks angrily. "I had a dream. He's nothing but trouble and it would have ended badly for Laura. If she broke up with him she would soon after find the person that she is meant to be with. So yeah I told her she should break up with him and I told her about the dream." She says somewhat snappy. "Laura, did you break up with him just because of Sis telling you to?" Mom asks me. "No. I wasn't going to break up with him because she told me to. I know her dreams usually do come true, but sometimes they don't. I felt like he was the one I was made for, so I wasn't going to leave him... till he... started..." I'm interrupted by Auntie Sissy. "What did that bastard do! He didn't do anything to hurt you, did he?!?" Auntie Sissy asks with flames basically shooting from her eyes. "Sis!!! She is obviously upset about breaking up with someone she felt she was made for! Calm down!" Mom interjects. Auntie Sissy calms herself and leans back into her seat. "Go ahead Laura." Mom says looking curiously at me. "Well... about a month ago he started making... jokes... about coming up here to rescue me... and... kill... y'all... so you couldn't control my SSI check. I tried explaining the reason why you are the one who takes care of my bills and why you help me budget my money. He obviously didn't understand and thought y'all were horrible and taking advantage of me. I asked him to stop making comments about killing y'all... but he didn't. Before this happened he said it again so I kept my word to him and broke up with him because he wouldn't stop." I explain. "If that little s**t shows up and tries anything, I'll end him." Uncle Bob says angrily mumbling. "I told you he was bad news, baby. I'm sorry you had to find out this way." Auntie Sissy sympathetically says. "Do you think he will come up here to try and start trouble?" Mom asks. "No I don't think so... he's pretty broke. I don't think he has enough money to... but he was saving money so that when I saved enough to visit he could take me on a fancy date and buy a new house for us to live in. I was going to decide if I wanted to stay in Oklahoma when I went to visit." I say looking down. I hadn't told them I was thinking about moving out there yet. "Uncle Bob stands up with a stomp flames basically exploding out of his eyes. "If that little bastard shows his face around her he's dead." Uncle Bob speaks through his gritting teeth. At this point the nurse comes in with a wheelchair. She looks at Uncle Bob with wide eyes as her face slightly pales. He glances at her and instantly turns pink and sits down with his arms crossed and his eyes shut. The nurse wheels the wheelchair cautiously to the other side of the room avoiding Uncle Bob at all costs. She looks at me confused and concerned. I smile at her trying to assure her everything is fine. Her fearful expression fades. "Miss. Ellen, are you ready to get your scans out of the way?" She asks. "Yes." I answer. "I wasn't able to get you anything to eat or drink just yet. The doctor wants to wait till your labs come in first just in case we need more tests." She explains as she unhooks me from the monitors and helps me to the wheelchair. "Your labs should be back by the time I get you back in your room." She informs me as she smiles. She cautiously avoids my uncle as she makes her way to the door. "There are other family members here to see you." She says then looks at my mom. "Only three visitors are allowed back at a time." She states. Uncle Bob stands and begins towards the door. The nurse pales and stiffness up. "I'll switch out with some and wait in the waiting room." He says. The nurse slightly loosens up after he passes us and heads towards the waiting room. "I'll have her back in a few minutes." The nurse smiles at my mom and aunt as we leave the room. "What was up with that man?" She asks me as we head to the scan room. "Oh... he was just angry at my boyfriend... Err... well... ex boyfriend now." I say slightly embarrassed about accidentally calling Mike my boyfriend out of habit.

~The nurse and I arrive back at my room after the scans~

"Alright here we are!" The nurse says smiling as we enter the room. I see my mom, aunt, and stepdad look up from their conversation and smile at me. "There you go." The nurse says as she helps me into my bed. "I'll go check out your labs and be back to let you know if you can eat yet." She says as she finishes hooking me up to the monitors, then leaves the room. "How are you feeling?" My stepdad asks. "I feel fine. I don't even feel sick or like somethings wrong." I say slightly confused about why I feel perfectly fine when there could be something seriously wrong with me. The doctor and the nurse from earlier walk in. "Hello Miss. Ellen! I'm Doctor Habib." The doctor introduces himself in a rich Arabic accent. "I am here to discuss with you your lab results. It seems that we have found some abnormalities in your lab work." He states with a slightly confused look on his face. I sulk as my heart drops into my stomach. "It seems that you have an extremely high level of white blood cells and antibodies in your blood. This suggests that it is very likely that you have cancer and quite possibly a tumor. We have already scanned your brain and there was no sign of a tumor there. Which is good. Also there is no sign of damages from any stroke. You also show no sign of heart attack. There was a large amount of a certain chemical that your body releases when you undergo stress. This indicates that you may have fainted from stress." He pauses and adjusts his glasses. "Miss. Ellen, you are diabetic are you not?" He asks as he looks at me over the top of his glasses. "Yes sir." I answer. "You are doing extremely well considering your last A1C. You have a perfect A1C which is a dramatic change from your last one. I take it you have changed your diet greatly. This is good." He says smiling. "Actually I haven't changed it at all!?! I hardly ever eat things that I shouldn't and my blood sugar still runs high... come to think of it in the past three months my sugar levels have been running extremely high... like almost always being in the two to three hundred range... my A1C should be the same or higher?!?" I say with a extremely confused look on my face. "That's true! I even asked her to postpone moving so I could help keep an eye on her!" Mom tells Doctor Habib with a confused look. "Did her labs get mixed with someone else's?" My stepdad asks. "Hmmm... I do not think that is the case, but just to be certain we can have them done again." Doctor Habib states with a slightly concerned and confused look. He turns to the nurse and asks her to redraw my blood. She leaves to get her blood draw kit. BA-DING! My mom's phone sounds. Everyone slightly jumps at the sudden break of silence. Mom looks at her phone. "Brandy is here." Mom says. Auntie sissy slowly stands. "I'll trade out with her and let Bob know what's going on." She says. She kisses me on the head and gives me a small smile then leaves the room. The nurse comes in and draws my blood while humming a tune. Her humming surprisingly helps me with my anxiety concerning needles. I usually have to have complete silence when having my blood drawn or anything concerning needles and my body done or I have a panic attack and try to rip peoples faces off.

"There we go. All done! I'll take this back to the lab." She says as she stands and heads towards the door. Dr. Habib stops her. "I will take it to the lab and see that it is done properly this time." He says putting out his hand. The nurse places the bag of vials of my blood into his hand. He takes it an leaves the room. The nurse looks toward me and smiles. "Am I able to have anything to eat yet?" I quietly ask the nurse as my belly let's out a loud grumble. The nurse looks down and thinks for a second. "I don't think you can... not till these labs come back. The doctor said for you not to eat until he is sure you don't need more tests done. I'm sorry sweetheart." She sadly says. She leaves the room stepping around my sister as she comes in.