Page 112 of Fake Love

“Deal.” I say to her before I look over at Jen and give her a smile so success.

She gives me an eye roll but there is a smile fighting to come out.

For the next hour or so, the three of us watch some weird soap opera that I’m sure has been around since I was a kid.

We finally take our attention from it when the room door opens. I half expected the nurse, since it’s around the time she usually does her rounds, but it’s not her.

It’s her doctor. The very same one that has been helping her during this whole brain tumor journey.

He’s been on her case since she was brought in. After doing some scans the last couple of days, he hasn’t really stepped foot in here since then.

I chalked it up to it meaning that if we didn’t see him, everything was good.

Now that he’s here, I can’t help but think that maybe I was wrong.

Maybe no news, isn’t good news after all.

“Nora, how are you feeling today?” the doctor ask, walking to her bedside.

Jen stands up from her spot and comes to stand behind me and watch my mom interact with the man.

Ma gives him a shrug. “Better, but I would really like to go home.”

The doctor nods. “I understand. You will be home soon, I promise..”

I hear a but at the end. Like he wanted to say more, but stopped himself.

Apparently I’m not the only one that picked up on it, because as I watch my mom, I see her whole body go rigid.

“But?” She asks the doctor, not caring to wait for him to start speaking again.

The doctor doesn’t answer, he just from my mom then over to me and Jen, silently asking us to leave.

Not going to happen.

“Whatever it is, I will be here to hear it.” I tell the man, standing my ground. No way am I going to be leaving right now and definitely not when he looks like he’s about to deliver bad news.

He lets out a sigh. “The scans we took yesterday showed an abnormality. They weren’t very clear since it was in a location that we weren’t looking at, which is why I ordered more scans for you this morning.”

I did question why they took mom for some scans, and when I asked the nurse that wheeled her out, she just said it was doctor’s orders.

“And? What did you find?” I ask, getting straight to the point.

The bastard has the audacity to look at me and then to my mom ask to ask for permission to answer my question.

My mom gives him a nod yes.

“Nora currently has three tumors that we are keeping a close eye one. Two on her left side and one her right. We found a fourth one right under the one on the right. Its small, and covered by tumor three, and because it was hidden that might be why we haven’t seen it until today. Or it could be a new tumor that has formed in the last month or so since our last scan.”

The only thing that I can concentrate on is the words ‘new tumor. Everything before that and after, doesn’t register one bit.

“Are there any test you can doo to see if it is a new tumor?” Jen’s voice comes through, taking me out of the cloud that I’m in and making the effort of being my saving grace.

The doctor shakes his head. “I wish I can say that there was a way. I’ve even looked through Nora’s past scans to see if we had missed it on one of them, but nothing comes up. Right now, we can only test if its cancerous or not and keep an eye on it. I want to see if we can get a few more test in today and see what we are dealing with. It gives me a better idea on how to proceed.”

“So you want to open up her head. That’s what you’re saying.” I spit out.

There’s anger in my tone, I can hear it and so can every single person in the room.

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