Chapter 44
“Uhhh,” Andrea moaned as she was brought out of the fog by a ringing sound. After the second chime she realized it was a telephone. She was lying on her back and as she tried to lift her right arm off the bed and roll over onto her left side she grimaced as pain shot up from the bend in her arm to her shoulder. She looked down to where the pain was radiating from and saw all the signs that blood had been taken, and from the way her arm felt it must have been quite a bit.
She used her left arm to push herself up and once she was in a sitting position in the bed, she swung her legs off the side of the bed and sat like that for a moment to steady herself. “Ohh,” she moaned again, realizing how truly crappy she felt. Her head was spinning, she felt sick to her stomach, and her body was so weak it was shaking. “Where is everybody?” she asked rhetorically as she used the wall to brace herself so she could make her way to the bedroom door and open it.
As she stepped into the hallway she heard voices, one male voice sounded as if he was on the phone, another male voice was asking what “she” was saying, and a female voice was telling one of the male voices to be quiet and let “him” talk. Allowing the wall to guide and support her once more she moved ever so gingerly down the hall until she reached the landing at the top of the stairs.
“Oh, I’m gonna barf,” she said aloud, getting dizzy and nauseated as she looked down the staircase. She started to wobble and grabbed onto the railing to catch herself. She took each step like a toddler, putting one foot onto a stair and then the other onto the same stair and so on until she reached the landing at the bottom. She let out a loud sigh as she planted her feet on level ground, causing the three bodies that accompanied the voices she heard to turn around and look at her.
“Andrea, what are you doing? Come sit down,” Annie panted as she ushered her cousin over the couch and threw a blanket around Andrea’s visibly shaking body. Nick looked tenderly at his wife for a moment and then turned his attention back to phone call he was on as Annie sat down next her cousin on the couch and held her in her arms. Annie, Andrea and AJ listened intently to the one-sided conversation from Nick, Andrea wondering who he was talking and what he was talking about, while Annie and AJ wondered how they were going to help Nick tell his wife the news that was going to change all of their lives forever.
A minute later Nick gently placed the handset back on the receiver and turned around to face the three people staring at him with wide, questioning eyes and fearful expressions.
“The doctor wants us to go down to the hospital; she has some more procedures she needs to do now because of the results from the preliminary blood tests that came back,” Nick explained, trying his hardest to keep his voice from cracking.
“Nick, what are you talking about? What happened? I was just walking on the beach with AJ and then I woke up in the bed. What is going on?” Andrea asked as pulled her hand away from her chest thinking that might make it feel lighter.
“You passed out, from what we didn’t know, but now we are finding out,” AJ said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “No matter what the doctor tells you though, we are all here for you. You are not going to be alone through any of this, I promise you.”
Andrea looked over at AJ and saw the compassion and sincerity in his chocolate eyes, but noticed his lips told a different story. He’s worried, she noted to herself. He’s keeping something from me…they all are. She broke her gaze with him and looked down at her cold, clammy hands, then realizing they were shaking she clasped them together in an attempt to stop it.
“Come on baby,” Nick coaxed as he walked over to her and pulled her off the couch to a standing position. “We have to get going.” He wrapped the blanket around her tightly, hoping it would make the shivering stop, and escorted her out to the car with his arms holding onto her securely and protectively. “Are you guys coming?” he asked over his shoulder as he walked out the door.
“Yeah,” said Annie as she and AJ rushed out the door behind Nick and Andrea.
Fifteen minutes later all four were sitting in the office of Dr. Elizabeth Gabella waiting for her to join them.
“Good afternoon everyone,” a cheery, professional voice said from behind them. Four heads turned around simultaneously and gave the doctor apprehensive smiles. “I met some of you earlier, but I did not have the pleasure of introducing myself to our patient,” she said smiling as she walked in front of Andrea and extended her hand. “I’m Dr. Gabella and I will be handling you case for the duration of your stay in Malibu.”
Silently Andrea shook the doctor’s hand, never looking up to meet her pleasant gaze. Dr. Gabella understood her anxiety and passiveness, knowing Andrea had good reason to feel that way. She walked around her desk and took a seat in the large, cushioned captain’s chair. She scooted the chair forward so that her lower body was tucked comfortably under the large black-cherry wood desk and rested her arms on top of it with her hands folded together.
“Okay Andrea, I’m sure you’re wondering what is going on and why you are here,” Dr. Gabella began, speaking clearly and articulately. The sound of her voice brought a calm feeling to Andrea, even though the tension was bubbling beneath her skin. “I took some blood samples from you after arriving at your friend’s house and brought them back here to test. The first thing the results showed was the presence of HCG in your blood; do you know what that is?”
Annie gasped as a smile spread across her face. She knew what it was from her own doctor’s appointment a week and a half ago. Andrea, Nick and AJ looked over at her, and her eyes filled with tears of happiness. We’ve shared experiences and done almost everything else in our lives together, and now we get to do this together too, she thought happily to herself. She moved her hand down to her flat belly and rubbed it slightly hoping Andrea would realize what the doctor was telling her.
While Andrea sat dumbfounded in her chair, trying to figure out what her cousin was trying say, Nick and AJ caught on right away.
Nick let out a squeal as he jumped out of his chair and pulled his worn-out wife onto her feet, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her off the ground as he did so. Dr. Gabella leaned back in her chair with a smile spread across her lips, glad that they could have this moment of happiness before she dropped the bombshell on them.
“We are going to have a baby!” Nick shouted as he set Andrea down and leaned in to kiss her. She turned to look at the doctor, who nodded her head in confirmation.
“Oh my God,” Andrea squealed as kissed her husband, then turned around and allowed Annie to smother her with hugs. “I can’t believe this, we are pregnant together!” The two girls shrieked causing Nick and AJ to cover their ears and give goofy looks to each other.
“Congratulations Mom and Dad,” Dr. Gabella said, trying to coral everyone back in their seats and focus them back to the other matter she had to discuss with them. “There is something else that I need to talk to you about Andrea.”
Andrea turned back to Dr. Gabella, her stomach turning over at the sound of her voice, fear rising up in her throat like vomit. She quickly sat down in her chair, tugging at the hem on the bottom of Nick’s shirt for him to do that same. Once everyone was seated again, they waited impatiently for Dr. Gabella to continue.
“I ran several tests with your blood sample trying to figure out why you blacked out and feel so run down and exhausted. Pregnancy is definitely a cause of that, and if that would have been the first test I got back, I might have cancelled the rest thinking I found the culprit. However, I did get a few tests back before the HCG test, and that is what I need to talk to you about now.” Dr. Gabella’s face was somber, which flawlessly matched her tone of voice.
Andrea looked into her eyes this time, as if pleading with Dr. Gabella to spare her the bad news that was looming in front of her. “Okay, I’m listening,” was all she managed to say.
“I found a cancer marker in one of your blood tests and we need to do further tests to determine what stage you are in. Being pregnant does not pose any risks to your heath right now, but I will be able to tell you more after the mammogram and surgery.” Dr. Gabella stopped, letting what she had just said sink in to the minds of every person present, wondering to herself if she had done a good enough job breaking the news. It is never easy telling someone they have cancer, she thought to herself gravely. Especially someone so young.
Andrea said silent in her chair, her face showing no emotion or even understanding of what she had just been told. It was as if her body had separated from her mind and she heard nothing the doctor had said.
“Andrea?” Dr. Gabella asked, concerned that she had not gotten a reaction out of her patient.
“I’m sorry,” started Andrea, shaking free of the blackness she was previously consumed in. “I didn’t catch that.”
“I know this is hard to hear, but ignoring it or pretending it isn’t there isn’t going to make it go away,” Dr. Gabella said gently. From the expression on Andrea’s face, she was not sure if Andrea was pretending or if she really didn’t hear what she had told her.
“Make what go away?” Andrea asked, completely perplexed by what Dr. Gabella was saying to her.
“Baby, didn’t you hear what she just told us?” Nick asked as he took his wife’s hand in his and held it tightly. A tear fell out of each eye and rolled pensively down his cheeks.
Andrea looked at her husband, then back at Dr. Gabella, then over at Annie and Alex, then back to Dr. Gabella. “Why is everyone staring at me like I’m a cancer patient? What is wrong? No I didn’t hear what she said…all I heard was something about a marker and that was it.”
Dr. Gabella took a deep breath. She knew that Andrea was dissociating herself from the situation and that she had blocked out the bad news before it hit her ears to prevent herself anymore anguish. “The marker I was talking about, Andrea was a cancer marker. In the test I ran, it determined that you have breast cancer.”
Tears filled Andrea’s eyes as the words the doctor spoke filtered through her ears and into her brain. I’m going to die, she panicked inside, her ability to rationalize and think logically abandoning her quickly. What about the baby? What about my life? Why is this happening?
“Andrea, I know this is scary to hear, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.” Andrea turned her focus back to Dr. Gabella, ready for what she had to say next. “I am 90% sure that we caught this early, but we need to do a mammogram and most likely surgery to verify that. If we caught it early enough, all you will need is a lumpectomy right away and possibly some cancer therapy after the baby is born.”
Andrea nodded and Dr. Gabella picked up the phone and starting making the proper calls to schedule the procedures Andrea needed. She sat there quietly, a tear falling from an eye every few seconds. She felt Nick tighten his grip on her hand, and she started to cry harder as the realization that the hopes and dreams she had for her life no longer carried a guarantee of coming true, a realization that slapped her sharply across the face.
