Author's Note:
Hi there! The author finally talks :) Thank you so much for reading, reviewing and following - I never thought this would actually be somewhat popular. Apologies if I'm wrong with any of the details regarding American hospitals in the next few chapters - I'm English, so I don't know much about them. If I get something wrong, feel free to PM me and correct it!
Anyway, I'm rambling. Thanks again for reading - I hope you continue to enjoy it!
"Great! If you'd like to come this way," he said, walking off towards his office. The two young doctors followed, as did Mom and I, but at a distance.
"Last time these student doctors came, you had to suffer through three months of those trial drugs," Mom complained.
I nodded. "Yeah, but they haven't killed me yet!"
"Hazel."
"Sorry."
Mom was ushered into the office by one of the student doctors while the other led me to the free bed.
"Is there anything I can get for you while you wait?" he asked.
I shook my head. "What am I waiting for?"
"Your regular doctor just needs to finish explaining your case to us, and your mum can then fill in some forms to agree to us being able to shadow your case. Josie will then come and assess your condition, and you might have to go for some scans to make sure everything's okay."
Everything's not okay, if you hadn't guessed, I thought, but merely nodded and thanked the student before he toddled off back to the office.
It didn't take long for my mom to emerge from the office. She quickly walked over to where I was sitting.
"Hazel," she said.
I looked up momentarily from the magazine I had been flicking through – someone had left it on the side. An almost solemn look spread across her face.
"They want to take you for some scans, just to check out your lungs. It's possible that some water may have got in your lungs, or…"
"What?" I asked.
"The cancer may have spread further. They don't know, nothing's definite – it's just a means of checking out the problem."
I nodded, putting the magazine back on the table next to me. "Am I going now?"
The two student doctors walking towards my bed answered that question for me.
"I'll be here when you get back, okay?" Mom said as the doctors wheeled me away.
"Okay," I choked out, remembering the last time I had said those words. With Augustus. The thought almost made me cry, so I must have looked like I was in pain.
"Are you all right?" the female doctor asked, looking quite worried. I nodded, not wanting to explain why I was on the verge of tears. She must have trusted my judgement, as she turned around and continued to wheel me out of the ward towards another part of the hospital.
"We're just going to take some X-rays," the male doctor explained. "I presume you've had some done before?"
"Yeah," I replied. "Although it was quite a long time ago now – I've been doing fine on Phalanxifor so I haven't needed any for a while."
"Ah, okay," the male doctor commented.
We stayed in virtual silence until we got to the X-ray room.
"Now I know all girls your age hate being asked this question," the female student began, using one of the most patronising voices I'd ever heard, "but since you're 16, I have to ask you. Is there any chance you could be pregnant?"
I shook my head before thinking back to the first and only time I'd had sex. With Augustus. We'd used contraception, so surely there was no chance?
"Wait." I put my hand up to show her I was thinking. "There might be. Like, I'm probably being paranoid, but I think it's best to check, right?"
"Right," the doctor agreed. "Tell you what, I'll get you a pregnancy test now and you can go test while we're prepping the machine."
"Thanks." Fear struck me as she left my side. What if I was? It wasn't possible, I told myself. We used contraception, and I would have noticed by now. I hadn't had any symptoms as such, so this was just a necessary precaution that would show nothing. Calm yourself, Hazel.