Page 8 of Missed Notes (Rixon High 5)

“Ash,” Mom whispered.

They knew.

Deep down, they knew it too. But it was their job to remain upbeat and positive. To play down the gathering storm.

The secretary informed us Dr. Peters was expecting us, and we made our way down the hall to his office.

Every step felt like wading through quicksand, my heart crashing violently in my chest.

“Sofia?” Dad touched the small of my back, gently ushering me forward through the open door. Mom glanced back and smiled. Uncertainty glittering in her dark eyes.

“Sofia. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, it’s good to see you all again.”

“Dr. Peters.” Dad shook his head. “We weren’t expecting a call this quickly.”

“I got Sofia’s blood work back from the lab and wanted to move on this sooner rather than later.”

“Move on what exactly?” Mom shifted in her seat, grabbing my hand.

“We ran a complete blood count with differential. Where a CBC tells us the total number of white blood cells in your blood, a CBC with differential measures the specifics of your white blood cell count, plus all your other blood cell levels, including red blood cells and platelets.

“Sofia’s results indicate an abnormal white blood cell count.”

“Okay, what does that mean?” Dad asked.

I already knew what it meant.

Thanks to Dr. Google, I knew far too much.

“It means, I’d like to schedule Sofia for a bone marrow biopsy today—”

“B-biopsy.” Mom choked over the word. “You think she has… cancer?”

“I believe Sofia may have Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia or CML for short. We won’t know for definite until we run the biopsy. But I suspect that’s what we’re dealing with.”

“Oh God, this can’t be happening.”

“Mya,” Dad reached across me to grab her hand while I sat there, numb.

I didn’t know what I’d expected to happen when I heard the word.

Leukemia.

Cancer of the blood.

Cancer.

It rattled around my skull like nails.

“Sofia, do you have any questions?” Dr. Peters said. “I’m sure this is a lot to take in.”

“Will it hurt?”

“The biopsy?”

I nodded.

“You might feel some brief discomfort. We’ll also perform what’s called a bone marrow aspiration while we’re doing the examination. This means we’ll draw a sample of fluid from the bone marrow. It’ll help us see exactly what we’re dealing with.

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