Preview 1- Science and Faith
Jonathan Glenn Tracy (24) knew pain very well, it was like an old friend of his. At 11 he'd lost his mom with caused him a lot of emotional pain , he'd been beaten up many times in school so he knew a lot about that kind of pain. But at 15 he experienced a new very intense pain brought on by something his father said would make him better, he knew this was true but he still didn't like it. This pain was caused by Chemotherapy to cure Hodgkin's Lymphoma, which is a form of cancer. John suffered for almost 8 months with this stupid disease and the awful treatment to cure it. Even though all this John still graduated from high school at 16 and went to Harvard and graduated from there at 19 with a degree in astrophysicist and astronomy. After leaving Harvard he went to work for NASA and became one of the youngest people every to go into space at the age of 21 he then left to work with this dad and brothers in the IR. He was happy. But little did he know that he would soon have to relive all the pain from his youth.
John groaned as he walked into the kitchen of his family's island home. His back was aching, the back of his neck hurt, even though he had around 10 hours of sleep he was still tried, his stomach was killing him and his head was throbbing. His first though was he had an hangover but he didn't have that much to drink the night before. When he entered the kitchen his father, Scott and Virgil were in there. Jeff was reading a paper, Scott (26) was drinking coffee and Virgil(22) was typing away on his laptop.
"You okay son?" Jeff asked concern thick in his voice, every time John got ill he got worried, really worried.
"Been better." John mumbled sitting across from his dad.
"What's wrong?" Scott asked. Virgil was still typing away on his computer. John explained everything that was wrong with him. When he finished Virgil suddenly stopped typing and looked at John with concern in his eyes. The medical side of Virgil took over.
"John I need you to answer a few questions. Okay?" John nodded confused. "Where is the back pain?"
"My lower back." John answered.
"The Pain in your neck were is it localized?"
"Either side of my spin but not in the middle."
"you cut yourself shaving yesterday how long did it bleed for?"
"A few minutes why is that important?" John asked.
"One more question. How much do you weigh and how much did you weigh before you last went up to TB5"
"I weigh about 126 pounds and I used to weigh about 140 pounds before I went up."
"First even before you went up you were underweight you had a BMI of 17.53 you know have a BMI of 14.09 which is really unhealthy. But you need a blood test." Virgil said.
"Why does he need a blood test?" Jeff asked.
"It's better if I didn't say." Virgil said.
"Virgil." Jeff said.
"You should reorganise the symptoms Dad." he said. Jeff thought for a few minutes before it finally hit him.
"No. It can't be. It just can't be." Jeff muttered.
" I don't know dad but it looks like it." Virgil said.
"Can someone explain?" John said.
"That would be nice" Scott said.
"John, all of the stuff you explained are early symptoms of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. It could mean that your cancer has returned." Virgil said.
"Give me the blood test now." John said.
An hour later John sat in his father's office with Scott and his dad. Every possibility was running though his head. Virgil could only determine his white blood cell count with the blood test but that could show whether he need to see his oncologist in New York ( John had to have check ups once a year so they still paid his oncologist). Virgil came in to the office with a worried look on his face.
"We're taking a trip to New York." Virgil said.
"Fuck." John muttered.