It has now been a couple of weeks since Gail and Holly took Sophie out for the day even though Gail makes sure she visits her a couple of times a week to see how she is going and to draw pictures and read stories together. When Gail isn't with Sophie or at work, she hangs with Holly doing things that new couples do. As they get closer and open up more their relationship continues to get stronger by the day but Gail is headed for a week of bad news, how will she handle it!
Wednesday
Gail was joking and talking with Traci in the station about a case when all of a sudden she went paler than her usual shade and suddenly passed out on the floor of the Precinct. The noise of her head hitting the floor made every officer in the office searching for what made the crashing sound look up from what they were doing. Traci immediately tended to Gail on the floor; she is out cold. Chris is on the radio requesting an ambulance and Chloe already has keys in her hands to go get Holly from the lab. She yells to Dov to make sure he calls her the moment they know what hospital they are going to take her too.
A couple of minutes later, Gail started to open her eyes. She can feel the cold of the floor and the voices around her, but she can't recall how she got to be where she was and she can't seem to be able to speak properly. Traci was putting a blanket that Dov got from booking around her to keep her warm as her body was sweating and already she could feel a migraine coming on. As Traci notices Gail's eyes opening, she rubs her shoulders gently and tells her not to move and that medics are on the way. Gail tries to speak but the desire to close her eyes is just too great.
By the time Chloe picks up and takes Holly to the hospital, Gail is already in emergency with Traci by her side getting checked over by the intern on duty. Holly notices Traci first and heads in her direction as she needs to know what is wrong with her girlfriend. Chloe wasn't able to tell Holly much of the details besides hearing an awful thud and then seeing Gail on the ground. When she gets over to the hospital bed she introduces herself to the intern but makes sure she doesn't get in his way. Gail's eyes are open but Holly can tell that something is definitely wrong as the deep blue colour that she always sees has turned grey.
After having blood tests and a MRI, the doctor discharges Gail to Holly's care and tells her to come back on Monday to outpatients for all the results. For now though Gail is to go home and sleep for the next couple of days. The doctor hands Holly a prescription for pain meds and sleeping tablets to be filled at the pharmacy as he warned that Gail's head and neck are going to be sore tomorrow and for a couple of days at least.
Sunday
By the time Sunday rolled around Gail was feeling a lot better, she was still very tired but she thinks to herself that for the last couple of months that she has been feeling like that, that maybe she just needs a holiday as she has been a bit run down lately.
As Gail and Holly were lying in bed cuddling and talking, Gail's phone rang.
"Crap, it's Mother!" she says rolling her blue eyes while looking at her phone before tossing it back on the bedside table. After it stops ringing, within a second it is ringing again.
"Way for Mother to ruin a beautiful Sunday lay in with my beautiful girlfriend" the blonde says to Holly before sitting up in bed and answering her phone as she knows that when Elaine really wants to talk there is no stopping her.
"Good morning Mom!" she says but in a timid manner. She wishes she could be stronger when she talks to her Mom, but over the years her confidence in speaking up to her has dwindled and she is just like a child that her Mom leads along and Gail dutifully follows.
"Oh Gail, thank goodness you picked up" Elaine says sounding like she had been crying.
Gail immediately picks up on the fact that something is wrong "What is it Mom, is everything ok?"
"Darling your Uncle Lloyd has passed away" she says sniffling into the phone.
"What? When? How?" is all Gail can get out as she is in total shock. Her Uncle Lloyd on her father's side was such a loving Man. She can recall endless memories of him while she was growing up. Each summer up at the Cabin he would come up for a long weekend with her cousins who were much older than she was. She always felt left out while her brother and cousins would run around together, but her Uncle Lloyd would always sit with her on the porch and tell her stories that always ended in them laughing.
"He was sitting on his favourite garden chair overlooking his Rose garden, Aunty Mavis went to take him his morning cup of coffee and paper and found him, they suspect he had a heart attack" Gail recalls the Rose garden and how proud he was of it, he had won numerous awards in gardening competitions and was even featured in numerous Garden magazines.
"I can't believe it, how is Aunty Mavis coping" Gail softly asks her mother.
"She is doing ok, even though she is sad she is comforted by the fact that he died peacefully while sitting in his favourite spot in the entire planet"
After talking to her Mom for a little bit longer, she hangs up the phone and turns around where she finds Holly is waiting to hold her, to comfort her. "I'm so sorry Gail, tell me about him?" Gail leans her head into Holly's shoulders as Holly rubs her fingers in comforting circles on her back. She sighs and then actually chuckles at one of her memories before pulling slightly back so she can see the brunettes deep brown eyes and she tells her the stories her Uncle used to tell her. Even though she hurts that her uncle has died, she laughs at the wonderful memories he has left behind.
Monday
Since Wednesday Holly has been off work on leave to look after Gail; tending to all her needs and whims. As they sit patiently in the corridors of the hospital waiting to be called by the doctor on call in outpatients, Holly notices Gail watching a Mother and her newborn baby and smiling. It makes Holly wonder about the future with Gail and whether her girlfriend wants to be a mother one day. Her thoughts are broken as a middle aged doctor calls out "Gail, Gail Peck" Gail stands and takes Holly's hand and walk in together.
"Come in, take a seat" he gestures to the girls.
Holly quickly introduces herself to the doctor.
"Right then, I'm Dr Kalas and I will run through your results from your blood tests and scans" he rummages through some paper before turning to Gail.
"Well Gail, all your results have come back and show a normal study except for one thing" Gail looks at him with concern and Holly squeezes Gail's hand for reassurance.
"Your iron levels are extremely low which in turn has made you anaemic" Gail pulls her head back at this puzzled.
"Uhm I have always suffered from low iron count, so I am already on Iron supplements so how can that be?" Gail quizzes the doctor.
"Well if that is the case, we need to look for answers on why you aren't absorbing the iron" the doctor hums to himself and tapping his fingers for a little bit before adding "I probably would recommend a pelvic ultrasound to make sure there is nothing going on down in your uterus" the doctor says to Gail while rubbing his chin while still thinking. He taps away at his computer while Gail looks to Holly but Holly doesn't seem to be concerned as she gives her a comforting smile which makes the blonde relax a little in her chair.
The doctor turns to the printer and takes off a piece of paper before turning back to Gail, "Right if you go up to level 6 and go to Imaging hand them this and they will organise the scan. Come back on Wednesday and we will have your results and we will go from there. Oh and until then take double the amount of your iron tablets we have to get your levels up"
As they head to Level 6, Gail quizzes Holly on why she would need a pelvic exam. Holly responds in her usual nerd self "One of the more common causes of anaemia in women is Fibroids" without pausing she continues "80% of women will have fibroids, they are growths enclosed in capsules attached to the wall of your womb but most of the time you don't need to do anything and you get no symptoms"
"Are they cancerous?" Gail asks really worried
"No, and they don't spread to other parts of your body" the brunette answers.
After getting the scans Gail was exhausted so Holly took her home to have a nap.
Tuesday
Gail was due back at work today but when she woke her head was pounding. As she stood up to go get the painkillers she could feel herself get dizzy so she quickly sat back down again. By the time Holly walked back into the bedroom Gail had managed to sit back in bed with her legs drawn in and her head leaning on her knees groaning.
"Honey, are you ok?" the brunette says while running over to her to see what was wrong.
"Yeah I just felt dizzy and now I'm getting a migraine" Holly looks into her eyes and can see that they have turned grey again.
"That will be from the anaemia" Holly says while massaging Gail's head and shoulders to release some tension.
Holly put Gail back to bed and got her some strong painkillers. While in the kitchen she called Oliver to let her know that Gail wouldn't be at work.
Gail slept most of the day only waking up for more painkillers and to drink fluids.
At around 4:30 in the afternoon Gail was feeling slightly better, even though her whole body hurt the sickening feeling from the migraine was gone. She was about to go for a shower when she heard her phone ring, she recognised the number as a work one so she answered it.
As she didn't know who it was she simply answers "Gail Peck"
"Oh Gail" Traci says "uhm, I have some bad news" she tells Gail as her voice starts to break from grief.
"What is it Traci?" Gail's mind is racing a million thoughts at what could be wrong.
"I wanted to be the one to tell you as I know you two got along so well and well" she pauses
"Trace?" Gail is becoming more panicky at what could be wrong.
"Julie from Purchasing was coming back from her holiday in Singapore and when they landed in Vancouver for a stopover they rushed her to the hospital but she didn't make it"
"What?"
"She had Deep Vein Thrombosis and they couldn't save her"
Even though they stayed on the phone for another five minutes not many words were spoken as she was in shock.
Julie was a beautiful middle aged woman with a wonderful heart and soul. She and Gail got along and would joke around in the office and sometimes have serious chats together in the kitchen. On the weekends she would volunteer with her mother doing charity work to help the homeless. She never said a bad word about anyone, was always positive and in good spirits. It was a joke in the office of how Julie the good natured one could get along so well with Gail.
The moment Holly walked back into the bedroom; Gail walked over to her with tears in her eyes and wrapped her arms tightly around her waist not wanting to let her go. After awhile Gail told Holly about Traci's phone call and all about her friend at work that passed away.
Wednesday
Gail and Holly were sitting back in Dr Kalas room when he looked over the results of the Pelvic Scan. Gail was looking at his facial expression trying to take in whether he was going to give her good news or bad news.
"Well it seems that we have found the reason for your anaemia. You have a 57mm long submucous fibroid on your left ovary and a 24x22x19mm one on the right next to it. There are also other smaller ones in there. Now without treatment your anaemia is going to get worse so I am going to refer you to a Gynaecologist for treatment but it will require surgery. I would recommend you get onto this straight away"
"Surgery?" Gail asks the doctor worried.
"There are no medicines that will get rid of fibroids, the Gynaecologist will run over his recommendations, but you are looking at either an Endometrial Ablation where we remove the offending growths or worst case is a Hysterectomy where we remove the uterus"
"Can I still have children?"
"Well if you have the Ablation there is still a chance that you can still have children, however it is also probable to have fibroids grow back in the future, with the Submucous types that you have it can make it more difficult to fall pregnant, with a Hysterectomy well there can be no chance of having children".
Gail sits there taking it all in as Holly continues to hold her hand for support. Gail can feel the anxiety in her build the more the doctor talks about the fibroids, surgery and the possibility that she might not be able to have children. The week of bad news has finally caught up on her and she starts to tear up, she pulls her hand away from Holly's and runs out of the Doctors Office. Holly calls out to her girlfriend, but she is gone.