Better Than None by Olivia Jake Read Free Book Online Page B

They too were pros. I wondered how many
people they treated each day, the place felt like a factory.
    “How are you feeling today, Mrs. Lawson?”
    “How do you think?” my mom spat back. I was about to apologize for her,
but she did it herself.
    “I’m sorry, it’s just, how do you think I feel? I mean, how am I
supposed to answer that?” Tears welled up in my mom’s eyes and I took her hand
in mine.
    “You’re right. And I’m sorry. Tell you what. Next time, I’ll just say
hello and if you’re feeling like sharing with me, you go on and do it. And if
not, we’ll just leave it at that. Sound like a plan?” The nurse was a
sweetheart and this obviously wasn’t her first ornery patient. I was impressed
with her tact. My mom just nodded and smiled, a little embarrassed at her
outburst.
    “Ok, I’m going to access your port. Oh, looks like it’s a new one!” The
nurse pulled my mom’s shirt to the side to reveal the port that had been
inserted less than a week ago on the right side of her chest. The skin covered
it, but it still protruded, looking like something out of an alien movie.
    “First time?”
    We both nodded.
    “Ok then. I’ll walk you through it. We access your port and take some
blood.”
    Before the poor woman could finish my mom screeched, “More blood?”
    The nurse just laughed. “I know, we drain you every damn time. Just
think of us as vampires, only not nearly as sexy.” That finally got a smile out
of Barb.
    “All right, so yes, we’ll be taking your blood each time you come in so
that we can monitor all your levels. The chemo can do funny things to you, so
we always want a baseline, not to mention other things we’re looking for. Then,
after the blood, your first drip is the anti-nausea, and that’s about 15
minutes. Then, it looks like Dr. Rosenberg is pulling out all the stops on you.
Lucky lady! You’re getting two of our finest chemos. So after the anti-nausea,
then you’ll get the first medicine, and that drip will take about 20 minutes.
Then when that one’s done, you get the other, which is another 20 minutes or
so.”
    As awful as this all was, everyone other than Dr. Rosenberg had been
nothing but nice. I appreciated this nurse’s information and her delivery. She
talked to us like we were adults.
    “And that will be the plan each time?” I asked.
    She nodded. “Unless Dr. Rosenberg changes anything, yes.”
    “And will we be seeing him today?” my mom asked.
    “He’ll be making rounds, walking the floor and will stop by to say
hello and answer any questions.”
    “Oh good.” My mom seemed pleased we’d be seeing him. I hadn’t even
given it much thought. The last time I’d seen him was at the bar, which I’d
conveniently forgotten to share with Barb.
    “So, if we’re all set, just go ahead and lean back and relax.”
    Barb had some sarcastic retort on her lips but she held it. Through all
the visits and procedures so far, she was losing patience. We could both recite
the questions that every doctor, every nurse asked. All the talk of systems
being synched was all marketing b.s. because even though all the information
was in her chart, they invariably asked the same questions over and over. It
became an inside joke with us, which was a nice relief amidst the crap.
    Once the IV was inserted and we were settled, I looked to the woman
next to us and caught her eye. We exchanged soft smiles and there was something
warm about her. I guessed she was maybe early-to-mid 40s, but again, without
hair, eyebrows or eyelashes, it was so hard to tell. She didn’t have anyone
sitting in her guest chair and my heart went out to her, that she had to go
through this alone. Just then, Dr. Rosenberg came up behind her and her
expression changed as she felt his hand on her shoulder and looked up to him. I
saw him squeeze her shoulder as they just stared at each other, neither saying
a word. The woman’s eyes welled up and Dr. Rosenberg took a deep breath before
he