***Willow Pond***
Jonathan and Jennifer are sleeping. They have about an hour before Jonathan's alarm goes off. Jennifer wakes up with a start, and realizes she's in pain again. She quietly gets out of bed and manages to get to the bathroom to get some medicine. She lies back in bed again and tries to be still, waiting for the meds to work.
She manages to fall back asleep again, and then all too quickly, Jonathan's alarm goes off. He tightens his arm around her, and pulls her close.
"Morning, darling".
"Morning."
He leaned over and kissed her, and then got up to get ready.
She was downstairs making them breakfast when he came down.
They had a nice breakfast, and then he had to go.
"I'll be home around 5 tonight, darling. Love you, have a good day".
"Love you too".
She kissed him a few times, and then he left. She immediately went to the medicine cabinet and took some more medicines.
"Thank god I have an appointment with Susan today", she said aloud as she put the top back on the pills.
A few hours later, she headed out to her appointment.
***Kendall Medical Group***
Jennifer signed in, and waited to be called back.
She was in the exam room only about 10 minutes when Susan came in.
"Jennifer, hi! How are you?"
"Ok, I guess. I have been having these pains, and they wake me up at night, and I am having to take more and more medicines to deal with them. So, I figured I better come figure out what is happening".
"Ok, well, we can take a look and figure it all out".
After a thorough exam, Susan came back in with the test results to talk to Jennifer.
"So, it seems as if you have what appears to be fibroid tumors on your uterus. We can take them off here, only takes about 15 minutes, and we will give you a local so you don't feel it. We will test them to make sure after we get them out, of course. You will be sore tonight though, and probably bleed a little for the next few days, so you are going to be on pelvic rest- no sex, no heavy lifting. This is very common, nothing to worry about".
"Will that make the pain go away?"
"Yes. I can prescribe something for you to take for the next few days to get over this, as well".
"Thank you, I appreciate it".
About 2 hours later, Jennifer was dressed and headed to the pharmacy, before heading home.
***A couple hours later***
Jennifer had basically laid around on the couch with a heating pad after she got home. The pain pills that Susan had given her really helped a lot. She was on the couch with a blanket when Jonathan got home.
"Hi gorgeous". He came over and kissed her.
"Hi darling".
She shifted so that she could snuggle up to him.
"Want a cocktail?"
"No thanks".
He got up and fixed his own drink and then came back and sat with her again.
"Darling, I am not up to cooking tonight. Why don't we order something to be delivered?"
"Sounds fine to me". He had a concerned look on his face.
"Are you feeling alright?"
"I had a doctor's appointment today, and had to have a minor procedure done. Susan put me on pelvic rest for the next three days."
"Three days of pelvic rest? Sounds serious".
"She said it was routine. I should be back to my normal self in a few days".
He grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
"Do you want to go to the cabin? I can take some days off".
"No, I think I just want to stay here. We are the closest to the doctor's office here if something happens".
He nodded.
"Well then we just have the one important decision left".
"What's that?"
"What do you want for dinner?"
She playfully swatted him. "You pick".
They finally decided on Chinese, and she called and placed the order.
He got up and got her some water, and then sat back down with her.
"Here's to a quiet restful relaxing evening".
"I'll drink to that". They clinked glasses and then took a sip.
A few hours later, they went upstairs to bed, and she took another pain pill. She was looking forward to being able to sleep without waking up from stomach pain. It would be the first time in weeks.
***2 days later***
Jennifer was feeling better, and she and Jonathan were both more than ready for the pelvic rest to end.
Jennifer was in the kitchen when Jonathan came down. She had made them bacon and eggs, and sliced fruit.
He came up behind her and pulled her close to him.
"How many more days, darling?"
"1, I think". She leaned back and kissed him.
He wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I miss you".
"I miss you too".
They had a nice breakfast and he gave her several long kisses when he left.
She took another pain pill, and then went to the study to start on an article. Around 10:30, Susan Kendall called.
"Hi Jennifer, can you come in today? I got your test results back and I want to run one more in-depth test".
"Sure, do I need to bring Jonathan with me?"
"I don't think so."
"Ok, I will be right there".
She hung up, and headed to change clothes and then went to Susan's office.
***Kendall Medical***
Jennifer came in and was taken back right away. Susan came and explained everything to her.
"I am going to have the nurse do a blood draw, and then I want to do an ultrasound, and an MRI. They won't take long at all".
She was done in about an hour, and was waiting again for Susan to come in and talk to her.
Susan came in and pulled a chair up next to her.
"I am going to send these test results to the lab, and I am going to put a rush on them, so we will find out tomorrow. However, I wanted to explain to you what I am seeing".
Jennifer swallowed hard.
"I am seeing a shadow around the right side of your uterus. The bloodwork indicated a higher number of white cells than we would like. So, I took your blood and put it through a tumor marker test. The ideal number for this is 0. Yours came back at 12".
"What are you saying?"
"Well, I want to be absolutely sure. But, preliminary results indicate that you might have a cancerous tumor on your uterus. That's why I did the more in depth test, to be sure. And I am sending the results to the lab, so that we can be absolutely certain".
"And if the lab says yes, what then?"
"Well, then we find you an oncologist, and if they confirm what I am seeing and what the lab says, then you and the oncologist will determine a course of treatment".
She nodded.
"This isn't the end of the world. We still don't know anything yet, ok? I am just being extra cautious".
"I appreciate it".
"Do you have any questions?"
"Yes. Does this mean I have to extend my pelvic rest?"
"No. But I am going to extend the pain pills prescription for you, at least until we have more definitive answers".
"Thank you."
Jennifer laughed a nervous laugh.
"Jonathan is going to be so happy".
Susan smiled and wrote out the prescription.
"Promise me you aren't going to worry about this all day and night?"
"I promise."
"Good. Now, I will call you as soon as I hear anything, ok?"
Jennifer nodded.
She and Susan exchanged a hug and then Jennifer left.
She zoned out thinking about things on the way home, and somehow found her way to Willow Pond.
***Willow Pond***
She came in and headed straight for the study.
She was known in the journalism field for copious amounts of research, so of course, she was about to research this. The results she found were not good. She didn't like the statistics that she found on uterine cancer, and she didn't like the treatment options that she found for it. The more she read, the more her head spun. All her life, she had tried to be healthy, take care of herself, eat right, exercise. Apparently, cancer doesn't discriminate and pick the unhealthy people.
She decided she needed to clear her head, so she went and put on her bathing suit and went and got in the hot tub.
Jonathan came in around 5:45, and looked for her all over before finally finding her on the patio. He went and changed and decided to join her.
She had her head leaned back and her eyes closed. She had tried to think this out, to figure out what she wanted to do, if they told her what she didn't want to know. However, she didn't really get anywhere. Instead, she got overwhelmed. She decided to think about it after she found out what she was dealing with.
She opened her eyes when she felt Jonathan slip into the hot tub next to her.
She looked up and kissed him, and then scooted closer to her.
"Hard day?"
"No, just wanted to relax".
She kissed him a few more times.
"What was that for?"
"Because I love you".
He wrapped an arm around her.
"Darling…I sat through 4 of the most boring meetings today…and the whole time, all I could think about was how much longer till I could come home to you. And I was thinking how much I want you to work with me at the office, but how that would be a horrible idea, because I wouldn't be able to get anything done, and we wouldn't be able to focus on anything else".
"Oh?"
"So, I started thinking to myself, trying to figure out why I was having so much trouble focusing today, and I came to one conclusion".
"Oh, what's that?"
She was staring into his gorgeous blue eyes.
"That I love you more than words can say, in amounts that cannot be measured, and there's nothing in the whole world that is going to change that".
He covered his mouth with hers, and gave her several long kisses.
"I love you too, so, so much".
She rested her head on his shoulder, and quickly spritzed her face with water so that he couldn't tell that she had tears running down her face.
They soaked for a little longer, and she scooted behind him to give him a back rub. At least, that's why he thought that she scooted behind him. The real reason was because she knew that if he looked at her, she would crumble and tell him everything.
She couldn't hurt him like that. She couldn't tell him that she was sick, and that their love affair was possibly ending. Most importantly, she didn't want him to see her like a shell of her former self, wasting away to nothing. She wanted him to always remember her like the woman he fell in love with.
Jennifer hadn't really been a praying person, and she still wasn't. But every now and then, when an emergency happened, she would say a silent plea to her mom to help her out.
As she rubbed Jonathan's back, she was pleading over and over on the inside- "Mama, I need you. Please, Jonathan needs me. I need him. Please make this ok".
Jonathan realized that she had grown quiet, so he moved and pulled her in front of him.
"Sorry darling, guess I zoned out".
He gave her a nice long back rub, and several neck kisses, and then just held her.
He could tell that something was bothering her, but that she wasn't ready to talk about it yet.
"Darling, why don't you let me take you out to dinner?"
"No, I don't really feel like it. I made us a lasagna this afternoon. I can pop it in the oven real quick".
He helped her out of the hot tub, and then climbed out and wrapped them both in a towel.
He started kissing her neck.
"One more day, huh?"
"Yep, one more".
She kissed him, and then headed into the kitchen.
Hiding things from him, if her suspicions were right, was going to be harder than she thought.