Mary grabbed her jacket and headed downstairs. She suddenly paused at familiar, irritating voice. "Where do you think you're going?"
"To the doctors." Mary sighed.
"Why?" Dominique glared.
"I've been sick for two weeks." Mary said, quickly leaving the house, before Dominique was able to say another word. But as she slammed the door shut, she heard her call her name. She ignored it and headed down the driveway. She shivered at the cold air. It was only fall and it was cold outside even though they were in California. Mary couldn't imagine what the winter was going to be like. She waited at the end of the driveway for Tami to arrive. When she finally did, she slipped into the passenger seat, smiling at her friend. "Hey."
"Hey, how are you feeling?"
"Like crap. I think I might actually have a fever today." Mary leaned against the back of the seat, feeling exhausted, even though it was only noon.
"That's not good. Hopefully the doctor can give you some medicine and you'll feel better by tomorrow."
"I hope. I still have to get that stupid English essay done. But every time I try to do it I just feel so tired." Mary sighed, pulling a compact mirror out of her bag. "Ugh, my hair looks a mess today."
"It looks gorgeous, as always." Tami took a glance at Mary, shaking her head. "Besides, you're going to the doctors."
"And then out to lunch with Joey."
Tami raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Oh and he is really going to care. He thinks you're gorgeous no matter what. And you are. I'm totally jealous."
"Why? You're gorgeous too."
"Thanks, but not as gorgeous as you." Tami pulled her car into the parking lot, stopping by the entrance.
"Yeah, okay." Mary said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Bye and thanks. I'll text you or something."
"Yeah, let me know how the doctor goes." Tami said. "Bye."
Mary's shoes clicked against the pavement as she made her way into the building. She pulled the door open and headed to the front desk. She quickly checked in, before taking a seat. She flipped through a magazine, until a young nurse called her in. She followed the woman down the hall and into a room, where she took her blood pressure, weight, temperature, and pulse. "Hmm, you do have a high fever. 101.8. And did you say you had a fever any other time?"
"Um, I haven't checked. So I don't know."
"Okay, and how long has this been going on for? Two weeks?"
"Yeah, about two and a half."
"Okay, well Dr. Casady will be in with you shortly." The nurse slid a paper into a file and slipped it into the bin outside the door. Mary observed the pictures on the walls and read the facts on the posters. She slightly jumped as the doctor entered the room.
"Hello, how are you?" Dr. Casady grabbed the file on the way in and closed the door.
"Okay, you?"
"I'm good." She slipped the paper out of the file and grabbed a pen. "So what's going on?"
"Um, I've been sick for almost three weeks. And I thought it was just a cold, but my boyfriend is convinced it's not."
"Okay. Tell me your symptoms."
"I've been feeling very tired and weak, headaches, coughing, I feel like I can't breathe, chest pain, I've noticed I've also been having night sweats, and I haven't taken my temperature but I think I've had a fever before."
"Okay, have you been taking any medications for your symptoms?" She peeled her eyes off of her clipboard to look at Mary.
"Um a few times I have taken Motrin for my headache and when I thought I had a fever, but it didn't seem to help. I've also taken some cough medicine, but that didn't work either."
Dr. Casady flipped through her files to see Mary's last physical. "You seemed to have lost weight since your physical, which was in…September. You've lost twelve pounds. Which is usually a sign that something is wrong because it is only a two-month period of time. Have you been trying to lose weight?"
"No, I actually eat a lot." Mary laughed. "But I have also been noticing my appetite has been decreasing."
"Okay. And you're fever was high, as well." She rested her pen on the counter and came closer towards Mary. She gently felt her neck, feeling for lymph nodes. "Your lymph nodes are swollen, which usually indicates that you are sick." She slid her stethoscope on her hearts and listened to Mary's heartbeat. "You do seem congested." She looked at her ears, throat, eyes, and nose, before feeling her underarms. "I think we're going to run some tests just to be safe. You're underarm lymph nodes are swollen, as well."
"What kinds of tests?"
"Well, your white blood cell count was high on your last physical, but didn't appear to be a problem. We're going to check it again and I'd like a chest x-ray, and a biopsy of a lymph node."
"Why? What's wrong with me?" Mary's became nervous at the tone of Dr. Casady's voice.
"Well, what concerns me is the fact that these symptoms have lasted for so long and that your white blood cell level is high. You could indeed have just a flu or virus, but just to be safe we want to make sure of more serious conditions."
"Serious conditions? What kind of serious conditions?" Mary's asked nervously. "My mother died of cancer."
"I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. We just want to be safe."
"Where do I go for these tests? When do I get them done?"
"Well the biopsy we can do here. All we do is take a sample with a needle. It only feels like a pinch. The chest x-ray should be done as soon as possible, in fact I'll call and get you an appointment for today."
"Okay." Mary bit her lower lip, fearing the worst. She didn't know what to think. The doctor was telling her it was most likely nothing, but that happened to her mother. And then her mother died. Maybe she should have listened to Joey. Maybe she should have gone to the doctor sooner. Was it possible she was dying? Or maybe she was freaking herself out for no reason. Maybe it really was just the flu or a virus. But she'd just have to wait and see.
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