*Disclaimer: All of my information came from the website .org No plagiarism is intended! I also own Nothing Twilight related.*
A/N: Yay! I was stuck but now I'm not. For now at least…
This chapter is brought to you, again, by Taylor Swift and her song Tim McGraw. I'm sorry if there are some of you who 'omg i HATE taylor!' but that's not my problem. Plus, how can you hate someone you don't even know? Are you sure you're not just jealous?
Anywho…On with the chapter!
Also! I've put links on my profile for each chapter. They're on there with links to a few other things for this story. I get bored…
Chapter 7: Tim McGraw (BPOV)
Thursday, March 18, 2010
It was noon and I was sitting in the doctor's office waiting on Carlisle – Dr. Cullen – to get finished with another patient before he saw me.
My phone started ringing in my pocket. I didn't know who it could be because everyone was supposed to be in school right now. I looked at the caller ID. Mike. That's right! He was still in New York with his family. I'd forgotten.
"Hello." I answered.
"Hey, Bella. Feeling better?" He asked.
I didn't want to tell him over the phone about my leukemia. Frankly, I didn't want to tell anyone about my condition but I couldn't do that. I lied. "I'm better now. It's noon. How'd you know I'm not in school?" I asked.
He gasped. "Shit! I'm sorry Bella. I forgot about the time zone thing. I'll call you back later."
"No!" I said with a chuckle. "I'm not at school right now. It's okay."
"Why aren't you at school?" He asked. Confusion was thick in his voice.
I lied again. "I took a personal day. You know, a day away from crazy teachers." I forced a laugh.
He believed it. "Alright. So…what've you been up to?"
I bit my lip. "Nothing much." I mumbled. I hated lying to him but there was no reason to worry him while he was on his vacation. "How about you? Having fun in New York?"
"Yeah. The wedding was boring. Mom has been shopping all trip and Dad has been hanging out in the louge of the hotel chatting up some high-money stock brokers. I've been usually out around the pool." He sighed. "It would be a hell of a lot better if you were here with me."
Aww. Mike always knew what to say. "That's sweet. I'm sure being there would make me feel better right now." Just then Carlisle came into the room. "Mike, sorry, but I have to go. Call you later?"
"Sure. Love you."
"Yep. Bye." I hung up and turned to Carlisle. "Sorry about that."
He smiled at me. "That's quite alright. Now, how are you feeling today?" He asked.
I shrugged. "Same old, same old; tired, weak, achy."
"And the foot?" He said, gesturing to my braced appendage.
I wiggled my toes. "It's great. I walked on it without the brace yesterday and everything seemed to be working."
He tsked. "Bella, with acute lymphocytic leukemia, your bones and muscle tissue are week. You shouldn't walk on it that soon without the brace. You could do more damage."
I rolled my eyes. "I know. But could you look at it? I really don't think I need the brace anymore."
He sighed and sat down on his rolly stool. He picked up my foot and took the brace off of it. He held it carefully in his hand and felt around the back of my ankle, pinch, poked, and bended and asked me if it hurt. I'd shake my head. Finally he said, "I don't think the brace is necessary anymore but you shouldn't do any running or things of that nature. Nor should you walk a far distance."
I nodded. "So what can you tell me about the leukemia?"
He laughed. "You're the first person I've met that doesn't cringe when they say leukemia."
I shrugged. "Well it's just a word. I mean, it's not like if I say it I'm going to die."
He nodded and went back to my previous question. "Seattle Cancer Care Alliance is one of the best cancer centers in the nation. It has a wonderful pediatrics center that specializes in caner among children and teens. I think because of the stage of the cancer, I'm going to recommend a bone-marrow transplant. It's a four month process. The first month is the work up and conditioning process for the transplant, the second is the actual transplant where you will become and inpatient for about two weeks. The third and fourth months are recovery and follow up appointments. You may have to stay in the hospital for three-fourths of the process. Most patients who receive this treatment have a successful recovery. The Fred Hutchinson Transplant program at SCCA was ranked number one in the United States for bone-marrow transplants. I assure you that you will be in great hands there. And I will continue to be your doctor as long as I can." He gave me an assuring smile.
"Thanks." I said. "How soon can we start this then?" I wanted to get this over and out of the way. I wanted my life back.
"Here," He pulled a piece of paper out of the manila folder he had in his hands and gave it to me. "This is a step by step brief description of the transplant procedure."
I looked over the paper in my hands.
The Transplant Process
Step1: Planning Ahead. In this step, you will be making arrangements for your stay in Seattle during your treatment and deciding who will be staying with you. You will also make financial arrangements.
Step 2: First Visit. Here you will meet members of your medical team that will help you through the entire process. You will also be given a medical evaluation, which means several conferences with your medical team, and settle into your temporary home at SCCA.
Step 3: Conditioning. At this stage, you will receive some "warm up" treatments before the actual transplant. These treatments include things such as chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. You will be given medications to help with the side-effects of the conditioning therapy. It is these therapies that cause hair loss. You will most likely be hospitalized during the therapy process.
Step 4: Transplant. You will receive the bone-marrow transplant through a central line or a single point of injection. This is a fairly quick procedure but is significant nonetheless.
Step 5: Engraftment. This is the stage at which the transplant starts showing effects meaning it starts producing healthy white blood cells. Signs of engraftment show up usually 10 to 28 days after the transplant.
Step 6: Recovery. You may be in the hospital for the first half of your recovery. The second half will be spent as an outpatient. This stage will be acted on after engraftment.
Step 7: Long-term Follow Up. Once you return home you will be under the care of your personal doctor. You should still continue to have regular checkups with your personal doctor.
I looked up at Carlisle and smiled. "This sounds like a plan."
He smiled back at me. "Then we'll talk to Charlie and Renée as soon as we can."
I bit my lip. "I haven't actually told my mom yet."
He looked at me sternly. "Bella, you need to do that and soon."
I nodded. "I'll do that tonight and have her get a flight up here as soon as she can."
As soon as Charlie and I got home I told him I was going to call Mom.
"I don't think she's going to be too thrilled about you not telling her sooner." He said.
I shrugged. "I know. But late is better than never." I took the cordless phone up to my room.
"Hi, Mom." I said in a soft voice.
"Bella! Honey, it's been too long since I've gotten a call from you!" Renée said cheerfully. "How have you been? Are you still with Michael? How's Esme doing?" She kept rambling off questions.
"Esme's doing great. Yes, I'm still with Mike. And I'm fine under the circumstances." I told her.
She was immediately aware. "Under the circumstances? What does that mean?"
I took a deep breath. "Yesterday I was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL."
"Oh my God! Bella! Why didn't you call me sooner!" She said, raising her voice an octave. I could hear Phil in the background asking what all the fuss was about. Renée didn't give me a chance to answer her question. "I'm buying a ticket online right now. I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Thanks, Mom. I talked to my doctor and we've already come up with a plan. I hope you get here soon. I love you."
I could hear tears in her voice. "I love you too baby. Bye." We hung up. It made me so mad to hear people crying over me. I'm not dead! I wanted to shout. I went back downstairs and put the phone in its cradle. Charlie was sitting on the couch.
"How'd she take it?" He asked.
I shrugged. "Fair enough." I sat down on the couch next to him.
"You know, Bells, we're gonna have to talk with the school and you're going to have to explain some of this to your friends."
I nodded. "I know. But I'm only going to tell who I have to tell."
The phone started ringing. He nodded and stood up to answer it. I changed the channel on the TV to CMT Country Countdown. The song and music video playing now was Taylor Swift's song Tim McGraw. The song was about half way through.
September saw a month of tears, When you think: Tim McGraw, And I'm back for the first time since then:
An' thankin' God that you weren't here,
To see me like that
But in a box beneath my bed,
Is a letter that you never read,
From three summers back
It's hard not to find it all a little bitter sweet,
An' lookin' back on all of that, it's nice to believe:
I hope you think my favorite song
The one we danced to all night long:
The moon like a spotlight on the lake
When you think happiness,
I hope you think: "That little black dress"
Think of my head on your chest,
An' my old faded blue jeans
When you think Tim McGraw,
I hope you think of me
I'm standin' on your street,
An' there's a letter left on your doorstep,
An' the first thing that you'll read:
Seeing the boy in the music video find the letter that she wrote on his front door made me think. I'd written something like that the month after Edward and I had broken up. It was just a few days before I started dating Mike.
"Bells that was the station. They said they need me to come in for a bit. Will you be alright here by yourself?" Charlie asked me as he came back into the room.
I nodded. "Edward should be here in a little bit. I asked him to bring me my homework."
He nodded. "Alright. Bye Bella." He pulled on his jacket and left.
I turned off the television and went up to my room. I dug through my desk drawer searching for the letter I'd written to Edward. Finally I found it under a heaping pile of old notebooks.
Edward,
I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted the way I did. But neither should you. We both screwed up. I know I've probably destroyed any chance we had at a successful relationship. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want me back after my over reaction. I should've let you explain yourself instead of jumping to conclusions. I guess I was just waiting for something to happen that proved you were too good for me. I've always known that you were. I'm sorry.
Bella
There were smudges on the paper where tears had stained. Reading the letter about had me to tears again. Just then I heard the doorbell ring. I folded up the letter and put it in my pocket. I went downstairs to answer the door.
"Hey, Bells." Edward greeted me with a smile. He held up his backpack. "I have your homework."
I nodded and bit my lip. I gestured to the living room. He walked in ahead of me. "Thanks." I mumbled.
"No problem." He said as he pulled my books from his bag and put them on the coffee table. He stood there awkwardly with his arms at his side. "I'll um…I'll get going then."
I stopped him as he walked past me. "No. Um…Stay, will you? We can, uh, do homework together." I suggested.
He smiled and nodded. "Alright."
We spent the next three hours sitting in the living room chatting about anything and everything, homework forgotten. It was as if everything was okay. Like it was before Edward and I started dating. I liked it.
We had just started on a conversation about colleges when the house phone rang. I got up and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Bella." Mike said. "Guess what?"
I glanced at Edward who was looking intently at a piece of paper in his hands. "Um…what?" I said.
"I'm coming home early! I'll be back in Forks by tomorrow night. Would you like to do something then?" He asked me.
I thought about it. I had another appointment tomorrow. But this one was just a meeting with Carlisle. Plus Renée was probably going to get here. "I don't think that will work. I have a lot of stuff going on tomorrow. Can we do something Saturday?" I suggested.
"Yeah. Saturday's fine. I'll see you then. Love you."
"Bye." I hung up. I went back into the living room where Edward still sat looking at the one piece of paper.
"Yoo-hoo." I said with a chuckle as I waved my hand in front of his face. He blinked and looked up at me. He folded up the piece of paper and put it in his pocket. "What was that?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Nothing." He changed the subject. "So can I asked about your um, illness?"
I smiled apologetically. "You can say leukemia, Edward. Cancer, even. It doesn't bother me. And yes you can ask about it. What do you want to know?"
"What are your options for treatment?" He asked.
I told him about the bone-marrow transplant and showed him the step by step process paper. He nodded his understanding and asked if he could talk to Carlisle about it. I told him that was fine with me.
We finally finished our homework and when Charlie got home we ordered pizza and had dinner. Edward went home around 7pm. Over all, today was okay.
A/N: Send me a review! Pronto! Haha!
So, school will be starting up soon so I won't have as much time to write and update. :( But I promise that I will write any chance I get! Thanks so much for supporting me story! Love y'all!
-Kelli