Chapter Nine
Eddie hummed to herself as she prepared her a cup of tea on a Saturday morning in early May. That coming Wednesday was her appointment with Dr. Gupta, she was nervous and still felt it was unnecessary, but it would set her Jamie's mind at ease.
Eddie decided to take the cup to sit in the sunroom. It was such a lovely day outside and she hadn't been getting out much since the side effects of the new pills had been causing her legs and back to ache. With half a muffin and her tea, Eddie set out to enjoy the quiet morning while Frank and Jamie were still sleeping. Joey was coming over a little later to help Jamie with some yard work. Eddie sometimes liked the time to be solitary and with her own thoughts.
Eddie walked gently towards the sunroom, but suddenly gasped as she felt a sharp pain shoot down her back and into her legs. Eddie felt her knee shake and the floor rushed up at her as her legs faltered. Eddie collapsed onto a heap on the floor putting her hands out to break her fall sending her tea and muffin flying and shattering the mug. The hot liquid splashed back on her hand, stinging the delicate skin. Eddie hissed in pain. Startled, she tried getting up but her legs wouldn't cooperate, a throbbing pain radiated down her side, causing her to curl around herself until she could catch her breath.
"Jamie!" she cried. She hated to startle him and wake him but she had no choice if she wanted to get off the floor. She tried with every ounce of strength she had, but that was minimal these days. "Jamie, I need help!"
Jamie heard Eddie calling for him. At first he thought it was a dream, that she was having a nightmare, but he found her side of the bed empty. It only took Jamie a moment to pull on his brace and hurry downstairs towards the sound of his wife's cries.
When Jamie appeared in the living room, he rushed to Eddie side, his eyebrows turned down in worry. Jamie balanced without his cane, leaning it against the couch, and bent down, his strong arms lifted Eddie taking care to be gentle as he set her in a Frank's chair.
"Eddie are you okay? What happened?" Jamie quickly examined her for injuries.
Eddie leaned back against the back of the chair, "My legs got weak, gave out on me. I'm okay."
"Eddie, you have a burn on your hand. Can you stand?"
Eddie tried in vain to stand, her side hurt and she fell against Jamie, her legs still like jelly. "Okay, let's go. We're going to the hospital. I'm calling Erin for Dad and I'm getting you checked."
Eddie held onto Jamie, he left his cane in favor of keeping both arms wrapped around Eddie. Jamie didn't care he was still in his pajamas, his strong, sturdy wife that cared for him through his entire recovery could barely stand. He had to find out why and he had to find out now.
Neither Eddie nor Jamie planned for Joey to arrive this early, but he wanted to talk to his father about a case that was giving him fits. When he saw his mother being half dragged and half carried to the car, he parked and began to run. "Dad, what's happened? Mom? Mom, are you okay?"
"Mom's fallen, Joe," Jamie replied. "She spilled some hot water on her hand, it needs checking out."
"I'm fine," Eddie insisted. "I just feel a little weak is all."
"Mom, feeling weak is not okay," Joey replied checking his mother for fever.
"Lately, it is," Eddie replied. "Jamie, stop this fussing now!"
"We're getting you looked at," Jamie insisted. "Joe, help Mom into the car then sit with grandpa until I can call Aunt Erin to come."
"Jamie, this is ridiculous, real sick people need the hospital, I just need to eat a little so the medication…"
"Dad," Joe broke in. "Just take a breath and listen to Mom. Are you on some kind of new pill?" Joey asked brushing some of his mother's tousy hair from her face as he took her weight from Jamie and held her up with his own arms.
"Yes, Dr. McLean changed it and there's new side effects," Eddie replied. "I'm fine, really. I was walking with my tea and half a muffin, then I felt a pain in my back, my legs went out, I literally fell and couldn't get up. Then Dad…"
Joey nodded, "Okay, let's do this. I'm going to take Mom back inside and get her resting with some food. Dad, take a deep breath, call her doctor's service and ask if this is normal. Meanwhile, I'll call Molly and have her check your hand. If you don't feel better after or start feeling worse, we'll go. Come on, everyone settle down."
Eddie heart swelled with pride even as her face flushed with embarrassment. Their son had truly grown up over the last eighteen months, his clear thinking had soothed Jamie's panic, Eddie could feel the rigidity go out of his body and hear his breathing relax. Locked in Joey's arms, Eddie allowed herself to be reinstalled on the big recliner. Joey fixed two pillows for her back and put a blanket over her legs. "Rest, Mom, I'm going to call Molly and fix you a plate."
Jamie was a few steps behind, moving slower without his cane. "I'll clean this us…" He kept his eyes on the ground. He knew he panicked and upset Eddie further, but the sight of her on the floor unable to stand under her own power and the significant change he felt in her weight already shook him.
"Jamie, sit down a minute and catch your breath," Eddie suggested. "You need to relax, you do."
Jamie sat on the sofa and took a few deep breaths. Seeing Eddie on the floor like that had shook him to the core. Joey returned from the kitchen with the other half of the muffin and some jam. "Here you go, Mom. Eat this and drink this milk. I read the name of the medication to Molly and she says you must eat while you are taking this medication. She also wants you to soak your hand in this cool water for fifteen minutes."
Eddie took the glass of milk and the muffin only nibbling at it while soaking her hand as Joey directed. "Molly will be here in a little bit to check our hand, you eat up now okay?"
While Eddie was eating, and Jamie watching every bite she took, Frank appeared. "What no coffee this morning?"
"I'll get it Dad," Jamie said getting up.
"I'm joking. I'm old, not blind. I started coffee, would you like more tea, Eddie? I can see that you had a little accident." Frank offered a calming smile. "Jamie, why don't you help by cleaning up the mess?"
Frank disappeared then reappeared ten minutes later with two mugs of tea, "My special blend," he told Eddie and handed her the mug. "This will help with that ache in your bones, trust me."
Eddie had to laugh at Frank's inflection but blushed in embarrassment at all the fuss. She was the mother, it was her job to take care of her family, not sit in a recliner and watch. It brought back too many bad memories.
Eddie sipped the tea and it did taste nice. Molly arrived about a half hour after Joey called, "Let me take look at this hand…" She took Eddie's left hand and examined it. "Can you open and close without the skin stinging?"
"It pulls a little, but it's fine. The tea was cooling," Eddie said as Molly produced a tube of salve and began to rub it onto the skin. "I think you will be fine. Jamie, I want you to make sure you massage her hand and lower arm a lot. Trauma to the skin can cause episodes of lymphedema and possibly cellulitis, so increase all the lymphedema treatments that you do."
"Thank you for coming Molly," Jamie said smiling rubbing Eddie's shoulder. "This new medication has just been awful for her."
"Tamoxifen and drugs like it are easier day to day, but over the long term they can cause a lot of organ damage. Usually the doctor will put a patient on these newer drugs if they see signs of that in routine testing, but a lot of times the damage isn't significant and the disruption to daily life from these newer pills are too much to handle." Molly smiled.
"Whoa, Molly are you saying they changed Mom's pills because the other ones made her sick?" Joey asked. "Mom?"
"The other ones might have made her sick, but other times it's precaution. It takes a while to get used to these meds. Try to rest more and do some range of motion exercise, those will help with the joint pain. Increase your intake of iron rich foods that will help with the weakness in your arms and legs."
Eddie smiled, "Thank you Molly, if they told us that at the pharmacy…"
Molly scoffed, "They won't do that, the pharmacy wants you to come back for painkillers. When you feel a little more strength we can go over the exercises, they might help you too, Jamie. I see you are still pulling a little bit on that left arm, a little spasticity left over from the stroke, we can fix…"
Molly settled herself in with Eddie, taking care of her burn. Jamie insisted on helping Eddie get ready for the day, not trusting anyone else with it. Joey sat down with Frank and Molly and ate a late breakfast. "Molly, I have to know, is my mother sick? Is there something terribly wrong?"
Molly sighed, "The medication change is curious, and perhaps they were referred to someone for another opinion and are waiting to speak to ye since ye get yerself so upset." When Molly spoke softly, her brogue intensified.
Frank bit his tongue. It was up to Jamie and Eddie to speak to Joey about the specialist, though he disagreed. Molly took Frank's silence as a negative response to Joey's question
"Ye see, now ye relax until she gets used to the medications and starts to feel better."
Joey sighed, "I guess we just wait until…"
Molly offered Joey a strong hug, "It's going to be okay. I will help ye and them all I can, all right? Now, Grandpa Frank, I see you are due for a treatment and a walk, let's all do that the three of us."
Molly went to get the machine from the living room, and Frank smiled at Joey. "You let that girl get away…to the moon…" He mocked a punch with his fist.
"I don't plan to let her go, Grandpa. Perhaps you can help me on this case too…"
"Be glad to, Joe," Frank replied. "But hold that thought, I have mist to suck…"
Joey laughed, what started out as a nerve wracking morning turned into a pretty nice day. A half hour later, Joey was walking between his admired grandpa and his newest love sharing details of a difficult case, receiving support from all sides. If this is how his father felt in his mother's presence, perhaps it wasn't so important Molly was a nurse and not a cop, for she listened and advised as well as Eddie would have. Joey stopped and slid his arm around Molly's shoulders, he would be content to spend many more Saturday mornings just like this.
A/N: Thank to my readers and reviewers for your loyalty. Thanks to Lawslave, Werks, and Yanks20, each have helped me with this story in their own special ways.
Tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday Pillow Talk will update – this week's episode is Absolute Power.
On Monday, my newest story, That's What Love is For will be posted. It will update on Monday and Thursday.
