Page 72 of When Stars Collide
“What I want is to get this lympho-Pictionary thing done, so that we can get on with the surgery and I can get out of here.”
“Lymphoscintigraphy,” Luke corrected me. “Although, it is kind of like Pictionary, because it gives the oncologist an image of your lymph nodes, showing them which ones they need to remove.”
Elle and I looked over at Luke simultaneously. “You had to bring the doctor with you, didn’t you?”I asked.
She squeezed Luke’s hand. “He may come I handy, if the need arises.”
A young nurse around my age entered the room, checking the iPad in her hand. “Mena,” she called, looking up at the occupants in the room.
“Psst. That’s you,” Elle whispered, when I didn’t immediately get up from my chair.
“Maybe there’s another Mena.”
“Just get up.”
I stood, my heart pounding, a heaviness in my stomach. As much as I wanted this whole day to be over, I also didn’t want it to start. I looked back to see Elle following behind me, grateful that she—and Luke—had made the journey to New York. Without them, I would have had to rely upon Jo … or worse, my parents. My relationship with Jo remained strained since the blowup two weeks ago. She’d made it a point to come home late from work, purposely avoiding me. When she did speak to me, it was usually one-word responses to my questions to her.
“Right through here.”
The nurse directed us into a sizeable room housing an equally as large piece of equipment that reminded me of those used for CT or MRI scans, complete with a table. In the corner of the room was a wide viewing window. Inside of that room were computers and other electronic equipment. Ironically, I wished Luke was in the room with us to explain to me what everything was and what it was going to be doing to me.
The nurse handed a hospital gown to me. “You’re going to need to strip down to your bra and underwear. The tech is right next door and will be with you in a few minutes.”
Elle sat down in one of the chairs next to the table upon which I would most likely be examined while I stripped down to my underwear and put my arms through the holes of the gown.
“A little help here,” I called back to her when I struggled to reach the strings in the back to tie it.
She hopped back up from her chair, all too eager to assist me. “See, I’m going to be useful, after all.”
“Don’t go getting a big head. If it wasn’t for my Tyrannosaurus Rex arms, I’d be able to tie the strings together myself.”
“Do you want a sailor’s knot, a butterfly loop, a—”
“How about any knot that closes the gown and keeps my rear from being exposed?”
“That’s good, because I don’t know how to make any of those other knots I just mentioned.” Elle pulled the gown closed and had just finished tying it when a knock appeared at the door.
“Come in.” I called out.
“Are you Mena?” a young man dressed in scrubs asked.
“That’s me.” I hopped up onto the table, figuring that’s where he’d want me to be.
He reached out his hand to me. “I’m Jordan, the tech who’s going to be performing your procedure today. I presume you’ve never had a lymphoscintigraphy before?”
I shook his hand, answering him, “That would be a correct presumption, Jordan.”
Jordan smiled. He had large, brown eyes, which reminded me of those of a Labrador Retriever I’d had growing up. They were kind, compassionate eyes—the eyes anyone would want to see right before undergoing a traumatic event.
“Here’s the gist of what’s going to happen. I’m going to inject you with radioactive isotopes just under your skin at the site of your malignancy, which will allow Dr. Nelson up there to locate the sentinel lymph node.” Jordan nodded to the window, where a middle-aged, balding man now sat working at one of the computers.
“Hear that, Elle? I’m going to be radioactive, just like the song.”
“Imagine Dragons,” Jordan said. “I’m a huge fan.”
“Who isn’t, Jordan? Who isn’t?”
“You’ll be receiving three separate injections, and I’m not going to lie, they’re going to sting. The isotopes I’m injecting into you will then travel to the lymph nodes where, if your malignancy has spread, it would have gone. Those lymph nodes will be dyed blue from the isotopes, which will allow them to show up on the imaging we’re going to do right after I inject you and give the isotopes a few minutes to make their way to where they need to go. Dr. Nelson will then mark where your sentinel nodes are. In your case, given the location of your malignancy, we would expect the affected nodes to be located somewhere in your groin area. He’ll then print out a CD for you to take to the oncologist, showing them the location of the lymph nodes they will need to remove during your surgery today.”
