Hi! Just saw this awesome movie and can't stop. So good. Wanted to write about it all. Not writing anything new, just giving things more detail...enjoy. :)
The wooden chair let out a squeak as Adam Larner shifted his weight around to accommodate his hurting back. The intermittent pain burned at the small of his back at the most inopportune times. There had been no rhyme or reason for it. He probably would have let it continue for another few months, but then came the night sweats and he found himself concerned.
"What in the…" Rachael, his girlfriend, yelled jarring him awake one night.
Adam's eyes flew open. His eyes shifted through the darkness as his left arm stretched out to turn on the light on his nightstand. The light flickered on and both of them closed their eyes blinded for a moment. Before he opened his eyes again, he felt a heavy blanket of wetness covering him. As he placed his hands all over his body frantically, he found his clothes soaked with sweat.
"Jeez Adam," she exclaimed "It's November. How are you sweating?"
Adam looked over at her. She wore one of his grey hoodies and even though she had been sitting up, she had the covers close up to her chin. He brought his eyes back to himself and took in the sight of his bath in bed. Rachael's hand placed gently on his forehead causing him to jump.
"It doesn't feel like you have a fever. What the heck?"
Adam rubbed his head in confusion. He sat up which sent a shot of pain up his back and caused him to wince. He took his hands and rubbed the aching area.
"Your back still hurting?"
"A little." he downplayed as he stood up and walked over to the other side of his room.
As he switched pajamas, Rachael put the blankets down at her waist. She watched his face contort as he lifted his legs into different pants. He had been complaining about his back hurting for the past month. There really had been no reason for it. He had been the most careful guy she knew.
"You should probably see a doctor."
"You're probably right." Adam agreed as he laid back down.
Two things stood out to Rachael at that moment. One had simply been that he put on shorts and tee shirt on and not some heavy layered clothing. The other had been how quickly he resigned to needing to see the doctor. She had suggested it bracing for a fight. She had been quite surprised at the easy omission he gave her.
So here he was three weeks later. The pain still persisting and the night sweats continuing. He went to the doctor. He didn't seem all too worried, but ordered blood work and CT scan of Adam's back. The orginal plan had been for Adam to return after a month if things progressed, but not even a week after the tests he received a phone call of the doctor wanting him back immediately.
Adam tried not to give it too much thought. He never experienced any type of medical issue in his twenty seven years of life, so he didn't have much concern. He probably just pulled something and it had been giving him grief. Every once and a while, a scary thought would bombard his normal sensible mind. He batted it away like a persistent fly.
The door pushed open and in come the doctor. Adam rose to shake his hand, the doctor not even looking at him walked right past. Adam raised his eye brows and sat back down. The doctor still not looking at him placed a folder down and pulled a voice recorder out his pocket. He began talking in another language and Adam tried to listen in. He couldn't understand a thing.
Feeling like a child in school, Adam raised his hand. The doctor continued speaking the gibberish until he cleared his throat. The doctor pressed a button on the recorder and placed it down.
"Yes?"
"Is there something wrong with me?" Adam inquired.
Still not looking at him, "Yes." and he proceeded to ramble back his reply.
He pulled out his computer screen that showed pictures of the scans. He used his pen to point to the spinal cord and circled around an area.
Still greatly confused, Adam put his hand in the air again. "I'm so sorry….I don't understand…"
"It's a malignant tumor." the man answered with no tact whatsoever.
Adam's eye brows furrowed and tried to read the man's face. "In me?"
Once man agreed, Adam explained how it couldn't be possible for him to get a tumor since he never smoked, drank, and even recycled.
"Actually, your case is quite fascinating because your cancer…"
Those were the only words Adam heard of that long paragraph. He felt blindsided. The numbness that crawled all over seized him like one of his night sweats. It covered everything. As he sat drowning in the diagnosis, he missed the doctor saying important things like surgery, chemotherapy, and his prognosis. Adam stood up and walked over to the window. The beginnings of winter led everyone outside to be bundled up and be protected against the elements. He desperately wished that he could do the same against this situation. Only one question had been in his mind and he had to ask.
"I'm going to be okay, right?"
The doctor looked down at the folder and spoke slowly. "If you need to talk to someone, there's an excellent staff here in the hospital. I'll get you set up."
That did not answer Adam's question at all. His fears increased as he convinced himself the doctor wanted the to be an unsaid answer to mean it didn't look good.
Adam left with an appointment for later that week to begin the agonizing process of chemotherapy. He walked out of the hospital with more questions than when he first walked in. His mind spun in a thousand directions as he tried to process it all. He realized quickly he had to tell the people in his life. Who first? His girlfriend? Best friend Kyle? His mother? Oh that idea terrified him knowing the woman would jump all over him and would place so many worries on him.
When Adam stepped up on the bus, he resigned not to tell any of them. Before the next red light, he knew full well that would not go over well for any of them. Whoever he saw first, he would inform them with the little information he had. First, he had to research and process it alone before he dared open his mouth.
