Jessica Turner was feeling slightly anxious walking back into the Bravo team room, she had just received the all clear on passing her fitness tests earlier that day, considering that her new husband of 3 weeks was at work, along with her sister in law and her father, her stepmother already had lunch plans and her adopted daughter was at school, the house was going to be quiet, Jess decided to take the time and go to the base to set her cage back up. They all shared the big beachfront house that Jess had purchased when she first moved over 18 months earlier from Australia, it was run as a BB by its previous owners, 8 bedrooms all with their own private bathrooms plus a huge owners retreat had meant their was plenty of room for not just Jess, Luca and 8 year old Zalie, it had plenty of space for her Jess's father Jay and stepmother Alie to reside there as well, and Luca's sister Laura lived there quite happily with Brock spending majority of his time home sleeping there so he could be with Laura. Then there was Cerbs and Pepper also living there, 6 adults, 1 kid and 2 dogs in total living inside, and there was still space to spare. Outside there was a new addition in 10 chickens that had been handed in at the horse rescue that Laura worked at, Alie was immediately excited about the possibility of being able to have fresh eggs to cook with, so had immediately decided that a chicken coop that was dog proof had to be built in the back yard to go with her greenhouse and veggie garden and mini orchard that she was restoring, Alie firmly believed that fresh was always best when it came to feeding her family, it was the Italian mother and grandmother coming out in her, and what better way to ensure that your ingredients were fresh than getting them yourself from your own garden, or using eggs from your own chickens. Jess's cage was not entirely packed up this time around, but like most times Jess had been away for a bit, she had new gear from her dad to unpack and fresh medical supplies. Jess had put the boxes on the table in the middle of the room and started to zone out and focus on getting her new supplies unpacked
"Bookworm is back" Sonny said as he walked in to the team room an hour later with the rest of Bravo on his heels following their morning PT session
"And she's fully loaded" Ray chimed in noticing the extra boxes that were sitting on the table with the WST Tactical logo on them, didn't take a genius to realise where the contents had come from
"Missed me" Jess asked poking her head out of her cage with a smile on her face, it was the usual cheeky smile that Bravo team could all instantly recognise as belonging to their little sister
"Like crazy, looks like your dad really outdone himself this time, hey she's got beer" Clay said looking through the open box close to him, Sonny promptly helped himself to the bottle to examine it
"And it's all mine, keep your grubby texan paws of" Jess responded curtly taking the bottle out of Sonny's hands and put it back in the box
"Ah last time I checked, you ain't supposed to be drinking alcohol" Sonny responded taking the bottle back out of the box
"Did I say it's got alcohol in it" Jess responded taking the bottle back from Sonny, putting it back in the box and moving it into her cage for safe storage, it had taken her nearly 9 months of searching for a substitute she could enjoy with her brother's when they were celebrating, there was options available, but they were full of artificial sweeteners, which could cause diarrhoea quite easily for someone with her digestive and bowel issues, this one was free of both the alcohol and the artificial sweeteners, she had no intention of sharing with anyone
"Chelsea gave the all clear on it then" Trent said with a smile, he knew a potential alternative had been found for the beer issue, but it was down to Jess's dietitian to give the final okay on whether it would be a suitable addition to her diet
"Yep" Jess said with a grin back on her face, her dad had approached the company who produced the beverages after the all clear had come from Chelsea to invest in the business as they were still relatively small compared to other companies and confined to Australia still, Jay had the ability to get them into the middle east through Kahleed, and into the US, and surely the US military would have some interest in having access to a alcohol free alternative to provide its soldiers, particularly in environments where alcoholic beverages were forbidden, on ship, in the middle east, their definitely was potential for the product, and the owners were more than happy to bring someone with Jay's contacts on board
"So wait up, that stuff has actually got zero alcohol in it" Jason asked trying to get his head around the whole concept that Jess now had beer she could enjoy with the rest of the team
"Yep, they got a whole range of beverages" Jess said pulling out some smaller bottles for her brother's to look at of the spirits and top shelf items, beauty of Jay now owning part of the business, he got samples to try, which he would regularly hand the excess over to his daughter to distribute amongst her brothers
"What's the fun of that if you can't get drunk" Sonny asked sceptically picking up a bottle of whisky to examine it
"Ah being social" Trent said picking between the bottles to see what was on offer
"Enjoying time with your friends" Jess said as the others started looking themselves realising that the sample bottles were up for grabs
"Not feeling left out, or getting in trouble with the MP's for drunk driving" Jason said picking up a couple of tequila bottles for himself and a mixed selection he'd send to Emma for her to try
"Bet it tastes like crap" Sonny said opening the bottle to smell it as curiosity started to get the better of him
"Tastes better than what you pickle your liver with" Jess said as she noticed him stick his finger in the bottle to taste the contents, to Sonny's surprise, the contents didn't taste that bad
"Something smells good" Brock said suddenly getting a wiff of something else coming from Jess's cage as he walked past it to get to his cage and store the few bottles he had picked out for himself
"That would be my lunch, I've got to meet with the trainer at 1300, want to give it a chance to settle" Jess said as she lifted the lid of a round container that had a cord plugged into a socket to check the contents
"That smells really good, and definitely not something that's prepared by the US military" Trent said getting a decent smell now
"Smells like it's got to much flavour" Clay said laughing, military rations could be notoriously bland at times, especially compared to what someone like Jess was use to eating when she was home, yes her diet was supposed to be bland, but it always had loads of flavour Clay noted, he knew it was the Italian heritage that gave Jess her pallate, now Alie was there full time, she'd set up a huge veggie patch and herb garden in Jess's backyard, she'd put in fruit trees and bushes as well, a nice green house to help ensure the supply for more of the year, and when Laura mentioned some hens that had been handed in at the rescue and needed a new home, Alie had built a enclosure and had them move in to help provide fresh eggs for her cooking, sure you could buy free range eggs from the supermarket, but to Alie, you never could tell for sure if they were really fresh, and to her, fresh is best, and these eggs were going to be truly fresh
"Yeah don't think they serve chickenscaloppine ai funghi, with spinach, potato and stelline around here, have to see the trainer's at 1240, want to give my lunch time to settle" Jess said smiling as she checked the contents were ready, her appointment would take place why the rest of the team were heading to lunch, and she didn't want to be working out with food still sitting in her gut, sure she could skip it, top up on formula if she wanted but she knew her brothers would get on her case about skipping meals in that situation, satisfied the contents were ready, she removed the metal container from inside the larger device using a holder like she used at home for hot bowls she'd remove from the microwave
"Wait, you cooked that in there" Jason asked curiously and impressed at the same time
"Wouldn't say there was much cooking involved, only had to add the water and packet to it and press the button" Jess said as she settled down to eat the contents of the bowl, it was 1100 so she had time to relax and not rush her meal, something she had been warned about doing as it could lead to an upset if she ate to much to fast
"New rations" Ray asked noticing a variety of freeze dried packaged meals and snacks in a box, as well as what looked like some smoothie sachets, powdered soups, energy bars and baked snacks in long life packaging, turning over to read the ingredients, he quickly realised that these were not packed with any where near the artificial preservatives and processed ingredients that standard rations were, he actually recognised a good 95% of the ingredients as being edible as Brock and Clay started rummaging through the box to see what they could find
"They only came in a few days ago, put it back Clay, you to Brock" Jess said not even looking up from her meal, she knew how they thought
"How, you always share" Clay protested at Jess calling the pair of them out, and how she knew they were in the box anyway
"She's on some pretty severe dietary restrictions for the next 6 months, she's not allowed to share, we need to try and avoid any stomach upsets" Trent said explaining the situation to the 2 younger men of Bravo, Jess would share them with her brothers if she could, but she was now severely limited in what she could eat, she couldn't risk them eating her supplies and potentially not being left with food for herself
"So what can't you eat" Jason asked concerned, if Trent was calling them severe, then it wasn't just one or 2 items
"No raw vegetables, everything must be cooked well and not have any skins, fruit must also be peeled and seedless, no processed meats, no cabbage, onion or garlic, no beans or lentils, no whole grains, no chunky nut spreads, nothing with seeds, low fat, low sugar, no artificial sweeteners, no soda" Jess said starting to reel of the list that had been drilled into her the last few weeks by Chelsea, Aubree and Doctor Masterson, it had to be ostomy friendly, low fibre, low residue, low fat and low sugar, on the other hand she could dose up on the proteins as much as she wanted, which would help keep her feeling satisfied and were often quite calorie dense, and Alie had really outdone herself with her food preparation at home, she grew seedless tomatoes, cucumbers, if she could get a seedless version of a vegetable, she'd put that in so Jess could safely eat it, she'd char grill the capsicums so they could be easily peeled and could be substituted in recipes, was trialing alternative recipes for her preserves, recipes that she'd been taught by her own mother she was disregarding in favour of having something on hand her daughter could safely enjoy
"And it's really hard to tell what's in half those meals they feed us" Ray said highlighting the fact that they could not always identify the ingredients of what they were being fed, this was no different to a person dealing with allergies to him, it was clearly safer for Jess to have her own food
"Exactly, I mean I could eat it and be fine" Jess said, it wasn't life threatening if she was to eat something she wasn't supposed to
"Or we could be at a critical point in a mission and have you go down with stomach cramps because you have gas trapped in your stomach or bowels that you can't get out, or a bout of diarrhoea causing you to become dehydrated, you're sticking to the diet Chelsea gave you, and you clear it with me before you try anything that might be iffy, understood" Trent said sternly interrupting Jess, Chelsea had warned Trent already Jess wasn't happy with the dietary restrictions and was having trouble complying on occasions, last thing he wanted was for her to think that she could cheat and not face the consequences with the support of the rest of the team as they were unaware of the potential risks, Jess could no longer pass gas like the others due to not having a anal cavity anymore, Doctor Masterson called it a Barbie butt, it looked normal, but possessed zero function, everything now diverted through the hole in her abdomen he'd created, she could vent manually if needed if the pain was to bad, but that was impossible to do in full kevlar as it required access to her abdomen which at times would not be practical
"Lima Charlie" Jess said acknowledging Trent's order, she knew he was only watching out for her
"Good, now did you see that OT Aubree found" Trent asked curiously looking at her, Jess had protested slightly against seeing them as well on the pretense that she wasn't disabled, but Trent had learnt to trust Aubree on her judgement whether they could help or not, Aubree had had to sit Jess down and explain to her that why Jess didn't see herself as disabled, she does have a disability, it was just classed as invisible and she needed to recognise it, once Aubree took her through the definition of disability, Jess had become more willing to accept the situation, and became more willing to accept going to see the OT who to her surprise actually dealt with cancer patients over people who had physical disabilities
"Aha, everything is in here that's been discussed" Jess said producing a folder that contained the report from the OT detailing the coping strategies they'd recommended for patients to follow at home and in the workplace
"Right, hand it over" Trent said indicating he wanted to read the document himself
"I don't know how much of it is practical under the circumstances" Jess said, the OT hadn't made any specific recommendations for Jess to apply in the workplace as she was not in a typical workplace, it came down to what was practical for her to use without interfering with the way things were done
"You let me be the judge of that, you focus on doing what you're told and finish eating your lunch" Trent said looking straight at her as Jess continued to eat her lunch in silence with the rest of the team looking on waiting for her to snap and turn into moody Jess and go of about him mother henning her, suprisingly Jess kept quiet on the whole topic and just continued to eat her lunch
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"You were a bit harsh earlier weren't you Trent" Jason asked concerned over Trent's sudden change in attitude towards how Jess took care of herself
"Got permission to be from Blackburn, Lindell, and her doctors, most cancer patients when they return to work after treatment will start part time until there body feels ready to go to full time duty, Jess can't do part time in this job, she's got to be ready to go when she's called on, and even though she passed her fitness tests, she's not going to be full strength for a bit" Trent said explaining the situation without looking up from his lunch, he didn't like being seen as the bad person in all of this, but he had his orders coming from a higher authority
"So this is all about what exactly" Ray asked suddenly concerned, he wanted to make sure he understood what he was being asked to do
"Keeping on her case to make sure she's ready when she's needed, so she doesn't crash and burn at a critical time" Trent said looking up now to meet the others in the face
"You think she will" Clay asked
"As far as her being compliant with seeking medical care, taking medication, that's not a problem I'm concerned about" Trent said
"Then what's the problem" Brock asked
"Jess is having some issues coping with the new restrictions on her life, like her diet, the frequent monitoring and appointments, and the fact she's dealing with a having a disability that will limit her ability to be involved in certain aspects of this job, she can't go for weeks outside the wire like she use to trapsing through bush, it's 96 hours max and she'll be in a lot of abdominal discomfort as her bowels will be at capacity, and that's only thanks to the dietary restrictions she could go that long, if we're any longer than that, and there's no way to do her bowel routine, she's of the mission, she is struggling to accept that" Trent said softly
"I wouldn't say Jess is disabled" Jason said looking annoyed at Trent for saying so
"I don't like saying it either, but a disability is defined as a physical or mental condition that limits a person's movements, senses, or activities. Jess falls into the third category, a physical condition that affects her ability to perform certain activities, her ability to eat and go to the toilet are altered, and all the different strategies available can't change the fact she needs to do things differently in those areas compared to the rest of society, I mean she's still a part of Bravo and that will never change" Trent said
"She's just got to do things differently now, take extra precautions and realise she has limitations that need to be acknowledged" Ray said sensing Trent was digging himself into a hole and needed some reinforcement
"Okay, so how do we help Bookworm do that, I mean you can't be expected to take on that task alone just cause you're our medic, it's gotta be a team effort right to keep her going" Sonny asked as he and Trent looked around the group who all nodded their heads in agreement that they were in this as a team, it wasn't just Trent's job
"Okay, here's a list of coping strategies that the OT she saw gave her that are recommended for cancer patients dealing with the side effects of treatment and returning to the workforce, we need to work out what she could apply to the job here and what's out of the question as being impractical" Trent said producing the report from the OT for the group to read
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"You all look very deep in thought" Eric said noticing the look on everyone's faces as he entered the Bravo team roomq
"Trent's just got us going through this stuff for Jess, looking for strategies she can implement here when she's on base or deployed" Jason said holding up the report the OT had provided, he wasn't sure if Eric had been aware of the visit she'd had, but he assumed it was likely
"I was wondering if you'd finished with the report yet, was wanting to give it a read myself, anything useful in it" Eric asked confirming to Jason he knew that Jess had seen someone
"Not quite, there's a few interesting ideas we can talk to her about implementing however" Trent said, the group had managed to brainstorm and adapt a couple of the recommended strategies, now they just had to convince Jess that they'd work
"You sure she ain't going to go at us for mother henning her again, I know she was quiet earlier" Clay asked worried that they might experience a repeat of Denpasar when Jess had snapped at Jason for suggesting she take a day of to rest during her first mission back after her injuries 6 months earlier had left her requiring a permanent feeding tube
"Maybe you Clay, but she's been talked to about not getting snappy at certain people for being concerned and trying to help" Trent said smiling slightly, Luca had had a few conversations with Jess about not jumping to conclusions when her brothers were concerned about her welfare, and that they had a right to be worried about her at times, just like the rest of the family was, and that they didn't have any ulterior motives in play like when she was dealing with the Bubble heads, she could trust them all not to sell her out if she was struggling with her health, back in Australia she only had 2 she could trust to help out of the 36 bubble heads she was stationed with, now she had easily not just her team, but her whole squadron and command behind her without question, as well as others
"So not to get snappy at you, but the rest of us are fair game" Jason asked wanting to find out where she would draw the line
"Not exactly, had fun talking about me for the last hour and a bit, sir" Jess said walking back into the team room, stopping briefly to acknowledge her CO before heading to her cage to drop her gym bag, her dark hair was wet indicating she'd probably showered after her session
"Tired" Trent asked noticing a small yawn escape from Jess's mouth
"A bit, expected to feel worse actually" Jess said surprised she still had some energy left after such an intense workout
"So what do you mean by we're not exactly fair game, you're not going to get snappy at us and turn into moody Jess if we say anything" Jason asked curiously
"Depends on whether you're willing to accept that there's going to be times when I'm allowed to be frustrated and angry at the world for things that you might not understand or think is important, that their may be times when my priorities won't align with the rest of the teams, and I'm not doing it to be difficult, I'm doing it because I have no other choice" Jess said leaning against the door frame of her cage with her arms crossed and looking straight at her team leader, Luca had also talked to her about setting boundaries along with her psychologist, as long as the boundaries were respected, Jess didn't have the right to get upset at her brothers for trying to help and being supportive
"We would never accuse you of being difficult Jess, or say that you have no right to be angry or upset about the situation you're in, just speak up so we know what's going on, you said it yourself, you're not a mind reader, well neither are we" Jason said letting her know that he understood what she was saying, she was hard to read at the best of times, as long as they knew why she was angry or upset, or done something that didn't match with what Bravo was doing, he was okay with that
"You've certainly been dealt a bad hand in life with your health, especially since you've been here, none of us would have blamed you if you'd not chosen to fight to come back" Eric said walking over to where Jess was and putting his hand out and squeezing her arm gently to let her know he was still going to be there supporting her as he'd done when she first arrived, he doubted that anyone else in this command would have had the strength to come back after being beaten down so many times before, it was a strength he admired
"It's been hard to make that decision, especially this time around" Jess said looking at the group, Jay had told her multiple times that this was not the same as her mum's battle that she'd lost 25 years ago, but the thought of the fact from her first diagnosis of cancer to her mum's death, was just under 6 years, Jess couldn't help but feel she was now fighting the shot clock herself, would that time be better spent retired and looking after Zah, being a wife, her and Luca had talked about adopting again, expanding the family, would that be a better use of her limited time she had left, or did she continue to do a super hero and go of to save the world as Luca referred to it
"You're fighting an enemy on 2 fronts, and one of them you can't see coming, and you can never be positive they'll remain wiped out for ever, and we can't provide backup, no one blames you for being wary of cautious" Ray said, he knew that Jess was worried about potentially dying from the cancer on top of being worried about all the ways the job could kill her as well, at least they could help keep her safe in the job, fighting the cancer if it came back, that was something that they couldn't help her do
"Every day I wake up worrying about shit I never have before, whether it's back and I don't know it's there, and it's scary, I can disarm explosives all day long without thinking one wrong move and that's it, but this" Jess blurted out before starting to tear up a bit, she turned and walked back into her cage so she didn't have the others looking at her, she'd been trying to appear strong all day as various people spoke to her but she couldn't any more, she felt so silly about the whole phobia she'd developed around the subject, apart from the bit of lower back pain that started before deployment she felt fine, she didn't want to miss any symptom again and the thought she could was driving her insane
"Which is exactly why we're checking your counts weekly, and you'll be having all the tests done that Doctor Leighton asks for before they're due, and the minute you notice something is wrong, you're going to tell one of us and it will be called in, and we'll make sure it's thoroughly investigated and not brushed of like your back pain was before and you'll have someone with you at all appointments if you're getting tests done, even if it's thought to be minor, if Luca or your parents are not able to go, then someone else from Bravo will be there, I know some of the biopsies are quite uncomfortable" Trent said getting up and walking over to her cage to embrace her, Luca would regularly give Trent little updates on what was happening at home, this phobia had featured heavily in their night time discussions and Luca knew his wife would try and downplay it when things got bad around people, he could tell when she did it, but not even Jay could always read how she was feeling like Luca could which led to a nearly disastrous ending 6 years ago, Luca felt that the best way to keep her safe was to minimise her exposure to the triggers in a way so she wouldn't be facing them alone without support from people she could trust
"Putting it mildly, excuse me" Jess said pushing herself away from Trent before grabbing a small plastic container from a tub and walking out of the team room towards the closest female head, Trent recognised the container as a urinary catheter, Jess was going to empty her bladder, he was glad that she'd openly admitted to how she was feeling to the rest of the team, it would make it easier for everyone to understand how she was feeling and why he wasn't allowing her to go to appointments on her own anymore, and he was sure that one of the others would volunteer if he was busy for some reason, give her a hand to squeeze when she needed it
"She's getting biopsies still" Clay asked concerned, he assumed that Jess being in remission meant she didn't need any done
"Mostly monitoring her bone marrow as that's where the leukaemia starts, acute leukaemia can develop in 3 weeks so earlier it's caught the easier it is to treat, but anything else suspicious they'll do as well, unexplained lumps, stuff like that, a lot of biopsies, patients get the option to fast for so they can be given a sedative, if it's an emergency one, there may not be time to fast to be given the sedative, the bone marrow biopsy and lumbar punctures are quite painful and she'll need time to recover, minimum of 24 hours before engaging in physical activity, and they're pretty important so if we're called out right before they're due, she could be having to stop at the infirmary to get them done on her way to the plane, do her recovery while we're in the air and hope she has no serious side effects" Trent said explaining the situation with the biopsies, due to the Li Fraumeni Syndrome it meant that any unexplained potential symptom that could indicate cancer, no matter how unlikely it was had to be thoroughly investigated for cancer as the first stop at the early possible convenience, there was no more saying we'll wait and do tests if it's still bothering you in a week's time, or we'll do a biopsy if things don't change
"Sounds delightful" Sonny said sarcastically
"Putting it lightly" Trent said moving back to his own cage
"So what strategies did you have in mind" Eric asked eager to find out what they'd come up with