"Trent" Eric asked surprised to see him at his barracks door
"Just got an update from Luca sir, they are taking Jess to surgery in 8 hours to remove the tumours, they're still going to need to put her through a round of chemotherapy to deal with the leukaemia and make sure they kill off any remaining cells that they might miss, and they're doing a very short course of radiation as well, radiation will be completed by time we get back, she'll still be receiving the chemotherapy though, but Doctor Leighton is confident Jess can beat this within a few months" Trent said briefing him
"The surgery" Eric asked cautiously
"Is going to be extensive, I wouldn't be surprised if it's at least 48 hours before we get an update from Luca, he was told to expect Jess to be in surgery for about 30 hours, that's a list of what they're doing in the surgery, she'll remain in the ICU till she's stable, they they'll move her to gastrointestinal and start her follow-up treatment, all goes well she'll have 90 days of follow-up treatment and be in the clear" Trent said handing Eric a USB containing copies of all the information Luca had sent him to read
"That's a lot of surgery for one person, don't suppose they have said anything about her returning to duty after this" Eric asked taking the USB and plugging it into his laptop, he was surprised to see it was full of photos all individually labelled and put into groups based on the content, he opened the first photo, it was a written list of different surgical procedures
"Doctor Masterson is no doubt looking into it, at the moment however I think their bigger priority is Jess still making it down the aisle when she's scheduled to, trache tube and all" Trent said as Eric opened the next file, it explained one of the surgical procedures in depth, no doubt this was what Jess was going to be having done
"They haven't cancelled the wedding" Eric asked surprised looking up at Trent
"Nope, Doctor Masterson has encouraged them to leave the date as is, he said he'll get her there, she's not even going to loose her hair from the chemotherapy" Trent said
"Thought all chemotherapy made you loose your hair" Eric asked surprised
"Apparently not" Trent said as Eric went back to looking at the pictures
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Luca had made sure that it was exactly 30 hours after Jess had been taken into surgery, that he was back at the hospital ready for the news that Jess was out of surgery, it was another 6 hours before he heard the news he had been waiting for
"Luca" Doctor Masterson said noticing the man sitting on his own in the waiting room
"Doctor Masterson, the surgery" Luca said getting to his feet
"It's over, everything went according to plan, Jess is being moved to the ICU right now, you'll be able to go up and see her in 15 minutes, everything is working like it should, and looks really good" Doctor Masterson said
"When will she wake up" Luca said, he figured she'd be asleep for a while
"I'll reduce the sedation in 12 hour increments, as long as she's stable and not in distress, I'll reduce it" Doctor Masterson said, his body was screaming out for sleep, and was hoping his staff had followed his orders and made up the fold out in his office, the other surgeons had gotten to take breaks, but he'd stayed for the full 36 hours and was planning on sleeping in his office at least till Jess was fully awake
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"Hey Luca, Jess out of surgery I'm guessing" Trent asked pleased to receive another call from Luca
"She got out about an hour ago, Doctor Masterson said everything is looking good and working like its supposed to" Luca said flipping the screen again so Trent could see her, considering what Jess had been through, she actually looked better than what Trent expected
"Where's Jay, figured he would be there" Trent asked, surprised to see the man wasn't there
"He's not here, he's still in Australia" Luca said
"What, thought he would have been straight on the next available flight as soon as you called him" Trent asked
"So did I, he got all funny when I told him that Jess had been diagnosed with cancer, and was going in for emergency surgery, he just handed the phone over to Alie, wouldn't even speak to me, or answer any of my calls" Luca said, the whole experience had been totally unexpected
"Sounds like he's in shock, you spoken to Alie about it, Jess is going to want her dad there with her" Trent said concerned about Jay's behaviour and how it would affect Jess
"She's not sure how to take his behaviour herself" Luca said
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"Hey cuddle bug, surgery was a success, they managed to get all the tumours out, here you go" Luca said as he handed Jess a whiteboard and marker so they could communicate, it had been 2.5 days since Jess had come out of surgery, Doctor Masterson had officially taken Jess of all sedation 12 hours ago
'Dad' Jess wrote on the board, she wanted to know where her dad was, it had been nearly a full week since she'd been first diagnosed, he should be there by now
"He's not here cuddle bug" Luca said as he started stroking her hair as Jess turned the board back around to write something else
'Where'was the word she'd written
"He's still in Sydney, I know you want him to be here" Luca said continuing to stroke her hair
'Coming' Jess wrote on the board
"I honestly don't know cuddle bug, I haven't heard from him since I told him you have cancer, I don't know what's going on, this is not your fault" Luca said comforting her as she started to cry, she turned the board back around to write her next message
'YES, HE'S THINKING ABOUT MUM, THAT'S WHY HE DOESN'T WANT TO BE HERE, SHE DIED AND NOW I'M SICK WITH SAME' Jess had written this time in big letters, she was still crying, she held the board there for a few minutes before throwing the board and marker on the floor and turning away so she wasn't looking at Luca as an alarm started beeping
"Relax, getting worked up is not helping your breathing or pain, I'll have Alie drag his butt over here, I promise okay, now close your eyes and get some rest" Luca said consoling his crying fiance, he would have a hard time forgiving Jay for pulling this stunt, he climbed onto the bed, being careful not to get caught on any of the multiple drains and tubes that was coming out of her and pulled her in tight
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"Luca, how's Jess doing" Alie asked as soon as she saw Luca's face appear on the screen
"She's fine, but pissed at Jay is putting things lightly, he needs to quit thinking about Sara, and focus on Jess and her needs, and what she needs is her dad to be here" Luca said angrily
"He's been trying to bury himself in work, but he keeps disappearing from the office, I wonder if he's been at Sara's grave" Alie said, it suddenly dawned on her that that's where he could be going
"Can't hurt to check it out" Luca said