Tuesday 28th August 2029
It was their first day back at work after their mini-getaway and Sam had just come out of the ensuite with a towel wrapped around her after having a shower, where she found Tom getting dressed in the bedroom.
"Morning." Tom smiled.
"Morning." Sam replied briefly.
"You okay? You seem a bit... Uncharacteristically quiet."
"I um... I'm gonna book myself for a mammogram; I found a lump on my breast." Sam admitted.
"Can I have a look?" Tom asked concernedly and Sam nodded so he walked over before she pulled her towel down slightly on one side.
"I just noticed it when I was washing." Sam stated as Tom brushed his thumb over her soft skin where he found a hard lump on her left breast just above her areola. It wasn't rock solid, but it was certainly harder than the rest of her skin and there was a definite area that stuck up above the rest.
"Does it hurt when I touch it?" Tom asked curiously and Sam shook her head. "Have you had any achy feelings?"
"Nothing that I haven't associated with PMS." Sam replied as she pulled her towel back up.
"And have you had any discharge or bleeding from your nipple?"
"No."
"I'm sure it's nothing." Tom said reassuringly.
"And if it's not?"
"Then we'll just have to see how it goes." Tom replied.
"I've just rung up and there's a slot free at 10am to get a mammogram." Sam informed her husband quietly as they met at the nurses station.
"Oh right, I'll go and ask Zoe if I can-"
"No, it's fine. I want to go by myself, you don't need to come."
"Sam you need-"
"Tom, honestly. It'll just be a scan and then a physical examination and I won't get any results back just yet. I'll be fine."
"Okay. But let me know how you get on yeah?"
"I will." Sam nodded.
"Zoe, can I have a word?" Sam asked as she poked her head around the office door where unluckily, Connie was also working.
"Yeah side, come in." Zoe nodded so Sam stepped in and closed the door behind her.
"I was wondering if I could switch my break from 11 o'clock to 10 o'clock." Sam began.
"Why?" Zoe questioned.
"I've got an emergency mammogram booked." Sam admitted and that made Connie raise her head from looking at her paperwork, to look at the doctor in front of her. "I found a lump this morning so I'm gonna get it checked out." Sam added.
"Oh, right. Well yeah of course. Take your break earlier." Zoe nodded. "I hope it's nothing to worry about."
"So do I." Sam muttered as she left the room.
"How was it?" Tom asked as his wife entered cubicles after taking a break
"Painful." Sam grimaced.
"Really?" Tom asked worriedly.
"It's not a symptom you idiot. Mammograms are always painful, they compress your breast and then you have to stay still for half an hour." Sam complained.
"Oh right. So when are you going to get your results?"
"I've got another appointment at 4:30pm. Can you come with me please?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, of course I will." Tom smiled. "Listen whatever the results show-"
"Please don't give me some crawly pep talk a it we're in this together, it'll be alright blah blah blah."
"Actually, I was going to say if you need another examination I'll give it to you." Tom winked.
"Only you could joke about in a situation like this." Sam moaned.
"Mrs Kent, I have your results and I'm happy to tell you it's almost certainly good news." The doctor smiled as Sam and Tom sat before him in the office holding each other's hand for support.
"What do you mean 'almost certainly'?" Sam asked worriedl
"Well, from what we can see, it's not cancerous, it's not a cyst and it's not a benign tumour. All it is, is a lump of flesh. Sometimes breasts can get more firm and harder days before your period so that could be a contributing factor. All I can say now, is to go home, and if the lump isn't gone within a month then come back. But I'm sure it'll fade away in the next fortnight." He explained.
"And if it doesn't go in a month?" Sam asked.
"Then we'll send you for further tests. But try not to worry Mrs Kent, I see hundreds of these sorts of cases every year and nothing ever comes out of them."
"Come on, you've got the all clear. Let's just go home." Tom said as he gave her hand a little squeeze and after thanking the doctor, they left the room and went out into the corridor. "That was scary wasn't it?" Tom said softly as he gave his wife a hug.
"Pft. Me? Scared? You're having a laugh aren't you?" Sam joked unconvincingly and Tom smiled as he put his arms around her shoulders and walked her down to the car park.
Friday 31st August 2029, 7pm
"What's all of this about?" Fourteen year old Daniel asked worriedly as he and a ten year old Ella had been called for a 'grown up' talk with their parents about something that they were to be sensible about. He and Ella were sitting at the breakfast bar, whilst Sam and Tom stood on her other side of it, leaning against the counter.
"Right, well you might have done something about this on biology Daniel but Ella, you won't know much about it. We need to talks to both of you about hereditary conditions." Tom explained.
"The thing is, you both know about Ella's Van Willebrand disease, but what you don't know, is that you got it from me and dad." Sam stated. "There's a gene for the disease, but the gene needs to come from both of the parents for the child to have the disease, so Ella you got it from me and dad, unintentionally of course, but that's how it happened. But because of that, that means that Ella, if you ever have children, that means that they'll either have the condition just like you do, or they'll be a carrier. Which means that they can pass it on to their children."
"Am I a carrier?" Daniel asked concernedly as they watched Ella take the information in.
"No. We did genetic testing when you two were younger and Daniel, you haven't got the gene at all." Tom stated.
"So I can't have a healthy baby?" Ella asked.
"Well, you can have a baby that won't have the disease, but it will carry it in it's genes which means that the baby wouldn't present symptoms, but it could pass the disease on to their child if their partner carried the gene too." Sam stated. "Look, we're only telling you this because we don't want to keep it as a big secret, but we wanted you to both be old enough to understand what we're saying. And Ella it doesn't mean that you can't have children because you know that the condition can be managed. And granted, it's slightly more complicated for girls, but if you had a son, he would live an almost normal life."
"Do you understand what we're trying to say sweetheart?" Tom asked.
"Yeah." Ella slowly nodded.
"Can I go back to my room now?" Daniel asked.
"Yes you can." Tom nodded so Daniel disappeared from the kitchen and headed upstairs.
"Do you have any questions?" Sam asked.
"Could I even have a baby with my condition?" Ella asked. "I know about myself mum, I have less than 10% of the clotting factor in my blood that I should have."
"Ella, you know what medicine is like these days. Sure, there is a slightly higher risk of complications and it would be difficult to give you clotting factor when you're pregnant, plus the birth would be messy, but there's no reason that you couldn't have a baby."
"I'm going for a bath." Ella muttered before she slid off of her stool and also left the room, leaving Sam to frown.
"She had to be told Sam." Tom said reassuringly. "She just needs time for it to set in, give it a day or two and she'll have forgotten all about it."
"Mm." Sam forced a reply.
"You okay?"
"Hm? Oh yeah, I've just got a bit of a stomach ache."
"You're on, aren't you?" He asked and Sam gave a bit of a nod. "Go and get into bed, I'll bring your hot water bottle up." He said as he flicked the kettle on.
"I um, I just thought you should know that... I think I'm in the early stages of menopause." Sam admitted.
"Yeah? Why's that?" Tom asked softly.
"My periods are irregular, they're like every 6-7 weeks the first time I was late I thought I was pregnant but... I don't know."
"Maybe you should go and see your GP just to make sure it's not something else making you late." Tom suggested. "Or you could do a blood test and work just to check." He added.
"D'ya know what? I think I will do that on Monday." Sam nodded.
"Go on, go and get into bed. I'll be up in a minute." Tom smiled and soon, they were both cuddled up in bed with Sam's hot water bottle on her abdomen to relieve her cramps before they soon slipped off into a deep slumber.
Coming up: Sam suffers as she goes through peri-menopause whilst Tom does everything he can do to help her.
Thanks for reading, please review :)