In the morning, as promised, Voight had driven her to the appointment. After calling Al to take over the unit for the morning, he took a seat in the waiting room of the oncology department, as the nurse escorted her into the examination room. "I'm just going to have you change into the gown. They wanted to run a few more tests and I'll be back in a minute to draw some blood." She nodded, and entered the small bathroom attached to the room to pull on the shirt.
Once she had changed, she took a seat and waited. It hadn't been a very long wait, but she was very ready for this to be over and done with.
The procedures took about two hours and she was achy and exhausted as she took a seat back in the chair in front of the doctor. "Alright, Miss Lindsay-." "Erin's fine." She interrupted. The doctor nodded. "Erin, the procedures that we have completed today will definitely give us a more in depth idea of what we're looking at here. So to get started, after looking at the imaging we've done here, the tumor growth is fairly large." She held up the film to the lighting for Erin to see. Sure enough, she was looking at a lump the size of a child sized fist. "So, what does that mean for how we're going to treat this thing?" "Well, normally with a Stage II, we would start with surgery. This would include a hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. The surgeon will try to remove as much of the tumor as possible. After surgery, chemo is our next move for at least six to seven sessions. This would require an additional month or so of hospitalization." Erin was completely overwhelmed, and the anxiety that struck her on all of these procedures had her internally panicking. "Normally? Is that not what you plan to do?" "With your case, I want to try chemotherapy, or radiation to shrink the tumor and then perform surgery to only remove one or both ovaries dependent on how well the shrinking works. Of course, the choice is yours, but these are our two presented options. Now, this has to be a lot for you to have to process, and I'm sure you have a dozen questions?" Erin stared at her, a million questions running rampant through her mind.
How was she supposed to choose the surgery? Would the chemo work? What was she supposed to do about her job? Would she survive this? Would she even see remission?
"Erin? Do you have any questions or would you like the day to figure them out? I wish I could give you more time to decide, but we just don't have time to waste, unfortunately." "I'm honestly so overwhelmed. How do I even make that decision? What would you do?" She asked, running a hand down her face in frustration. "I can't even imagine how hard this is to have to make a choice on. What I can tell you, is that either way, I want you to know I'm going to do my very best to make sure you beat this." She sat in silence once more, picking nervously at the dark shade of polish on her nails. "I'll take the second option." She said finally. The doctor gave her a small smile. "Alright, I'll start the paperwork and referrals up for the sessions, and you should hear back by tomorrow afternoon at the latest for when we'll start. We will have to admit you, as I said, but we will make sure you have the best care. I'll get you a list of what you'll require to bring with you, as well. Any other questions for me?" Erin just shook her head. "Okay. Hang tight, I'll be right back."
With that, she was alone in the room once more, resting her head in her hands and letting the tears she had been holding back from everyone, finally fall. How was this her life?
After taking the informational packet the doctor gave her and changing back into her own clothes, she found Voight sipping coffee, still in the same spot she had left him. He stood as soon as he caught sight of her, and dropped the cup into the trash bin on his walk over to her. "How'd it go, kid?" He asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans, as they walked toward the elevator. "Well, they want to start treatment as soon as possible, so I'll hear back tomorrow about the whole plan. I have to pack up my stuff though, she told me that I'd have to spend the next month here for chemotherapy." She handed him the folder, and he flipped through it their ride down to the first floor. Just as the elevator stopped, he handed the folder back to her. "It sounds like they have a good plan in place." "Yeah. I hope so." She said quietly.
As they passed through the triage for the ER and past the nurses desk, Will bumped into them. "Erin?" He asked incredulously. He couldn't believe who he was seeing. "What are you doing back in Chicago? I thought you were gone, gone?" "Just back here for a little while before I head for New York again." She said with a small smile. "Oh. Is everything okay?." He asked, and she avoided his eyes as she nodded. "Perfect, just um, helping on a case. It was good to see you." "Well, good luck with it. Nice to see you. Sargent." He nodded in Voight's direction before heading into one of the treatment rooms. That was seriously awkward. She thought to herself.
Once inside the car, she practically melted into the seat, and very much regretting having said no to coffee this morning.
Two updates for my amazing reviewers! You're all so good to me with the love for this story, y'all get a second one today!