Hope for All- chapter 7
It was a normal Wednesday morning, Tony by the stove cooking breakfast, the kids bickering at the kitchen table and Angela trying to catch herself up on a potential new client while sipping her coffee and juice. Mona walked in through the back door just as Tony started serving breakfast.
"Good morning family! How are we all this fine morning?" said Mona. "You're in a chipper mood today Mona. Have a hot date last night?" joked Tony.
"Don't you know it… but that's not the reason for my good mood. With Angela leaving early today for her appointment, I get some peace and quiet for a few hours to get caught up on my… work, yes that's it, my work" said Mona.
"Mother! We have a lot of deadlines coming up. I need you there and actually working, no extended lunch breaks for a pedicure" said Angela as she glared at Mona.
"Alright, alright. You really are no fun, you know" said Mona as she grabbed a muffin from the counter.
"Take your breakfast on the road Mother. We need to get in early this morning since I'm leaving early. Tony, you are meeting me at the clinic at 2pm today right?" asked Angela.
"Yes Angela, for the millionth time today. 2pm on the dot. You go in for your test, I go in for… mine" said Tony as he trailed off at the last part.
"Seeing if the old swimmers still have what it takes huh?" laughed Mona.
"Mona! Mother!" Tony and Angela yelled simultaneously.
"Eewww gross! I think I'm gonna lose my breakfast!" said Sam as she put her hand to her mouth and ran out of the kitchen.
"Mother really… try not to be so like you, so often!" said Angela. "Let's go Mother" she said as she hugged Jonathan before walking out the door, followed not so closely by Mona.
"Good luck Tony!" Mona quipped before closing the door, narrowly missing an oven mitt being thrown in her direction.
"Okay Jonathan! Grab your stuff and head to school. I'm going to go see how Samantha is doing. Your mom and I will be home before dinner but you guys might be home before us from school. Have a snack and work on your homework okay?" said Tony.
"Sure thing Tony! What did Grandma mean by your swimmers Tony?" said Jonathan innocently.
"Go to school Jonathan!" Tony yelled as he walked into the living room.
A few minutes before their scheduled appointments, Tony and Angela met up outside of the building. "Did you find parking close by Tony?" asked Angela.
"Surprisingly yes, I'm just around the corner. If you're not feeling up to it after the test, I can pull the car up closer" said Tony, with a concerned look on his face.
"I'll be fine Tony, but thanks. Let's go in shall we?" said Angela.
After both being checked in, Tony was given his small mountain of initial paperwork to complete. "Geeze… they really want to know everything don't they?" Tony laughed nervously.
"Pretty much" laughed Angela. "I want to thank you again Tony for doing this. Not many people would put themselves through all this, let alone for one's boss" she said.
"Eh oh, oh eh! It's nothing Angela, especially when you consider your part in all this. And not for nothing, but I think we've moved way past the employee/employer relationship, haven't we?" questioned Tony.
"You're right, we have… we haven't been just that for a long time now" she said as she grabbed Tony's hand. Tony leaned over so he was only a few inches from her face and looked longingly into her deep brown eyes. He paused only a few moments before leaning in for a kiss. It wasn't nearly as long or as passionate as their previous kisses, but it helped each fully express how they were feeling about each other.
"Tony Micelli?" the nurse called from the opened waiting room door. "Wish me ummm… luck?" Tony said with an apprehensive look on his face.
"Good luck but you don't need it. I'll meet you back out here when we are both done" said Angela as she watched him walk through the door.
A few minutes later, another nurse came in and called Angela back. She walked through the doors and into a small changing room. A hospital gown and socks were placed on the bench. "You need to undress from the waist down. The opening of the gown goes in the back and the socks are one size fits all. Your belongings can go in one of the cubbies over there. The room will be locked during the test" said the nurse, like she has said it hundreds of times previously.
Angela quickly undressed and slipped into the gown. "You'd think by now they would have come up with something a little more fashionable and easier to close in the back! If I were designing these, they'd be both nicer to look at and would cover what it needed to!" she thought to herself.
After a few minutes, the nurse came back to the room and escorted Angela to the testing room. In front of her was a large machine and a table with protective paper lining it. Angela let out a breath she didn't know she was holding as she stepped further into the room. Her nerves were already high, but seeing the size of the machine, the medical equipment and the overpowering smell of disinfectant, put them into overdrive. She took a few deep breaths and waited for the doctor.
"Good afternoon Ms. Bower. My name is Gary and I will be the radiologist for your HSG. I know they explained the procedures to you initially, but I want to review it with you briefly before we start. The HSG is a procedure that determines if your fallopian tubes are open or blocked, if there are any abnormalities in the uterus such as fibroids, polyps or scar tissue. I will insert a balloon-tipped catheter into your uterus and slowly inject an iodine based dye. The dye outlines any abnormalities in the uterus or fallopian tubes. Once the dye is inserted, I will be taking the X-rays with this machine. Once I have what I need, the procedure will be over. There will be some discomfort during the procedure and you may experience some pain afterwards for a few hours or so. Feel free to take Tylenol as needed. Any questions?" he asked.
"Umm.. no, no questions right now, thank you" answered Angela very quietly.
"Okay then, let's get started. Please lay down on the table and put your feet in the stirrups" said Gary.
The moment the procedure began, Angela felt the "discomfort" they were talking about. "Discomfort? Discomfort? In what world is this discomfort? This is pain! Some man without a uterus I'm sure used that word! Okay Angela, just breath in and out. It will be over soon" she thought unconvincingly to herself.
"Okay Ms. Bower, the catheter is in place. Injecting the dye now and then we will move the X-ray machine over to finish out the testing" he said.
Angela knew the moment the dye was injected because the intense pressure and sharp pain that followed. She let out a quick breath and grimaced in pain. She tried to focus on anything else but the procedure but it wasn't working. Finally, she pictured Tony next to her, holding her hand and caressing the side of her face. She could hear his voice and calming words of encouragement, which caused her to relax her tensed up body as much as possible.
"Nurse, please help me move the X-ray machine over" said Gary. They moved the X-ray machine over the lower half of Angela's body to begin the X-rays. As they were moving the machine over, all of a sudden it dropped within a few inches of Angela.
"Whoa easy there. We don't want to squash the patient now do we!" said Gary.
"What?! said Angela frantically. "It's alright. This thing happens from time to time. Nurse, please help me get this back up so we don't keep Ms. Bower here any longer than she has to be" he said.
Angela never considered herself claustrophobic before, but the thought of the machine being inches away from her, coming way too close for comfort, suddenly made her want to jump off the table and run like hell out of the room. She finally had to close her eyes and go back to her daydreaming of Tony.
Within a few minutes, the X-rays were taken and the procedure was over. Angela's anxiety finally lessened as the testing was over, but was soon replaced with a full, but ever increasing cramp-like pain. She was helped off the table and escorted back to the changing room. She was given instructions to take Tylenol as needed for the "discomfort" and call back if the pain persists for more than 24 hours and/or a fever is present. Angela changed back into her clothes as quickly as possible, grabbed her things and made her way to the lobby, secretly hoping Tony was already waiting for her because she needed some fresh air fast. Thankfully, he was sitting in the lobby reading one of his textbooks.
Tony looked up when he saw her walking towards him. He instinctively knew something was as wrong and stood up to meet her before she made it the full distance to him. As soon as they were close enough, Angela fell into his embrace. Tony stood there holding her, gently rubbing her back, at a momentary loss of words.
Regaining some of her composure, Angela spoke first. "I need some fresh air Tony. Let's go to the car. I'm still a bit sore so I'll need to walk slow."
"Of course Angela. I'll pull the car up like I said. Did… did everything go okay?" Tony asked with a very concerned tone in his voice.
"I'll tell you in the car Tony. I just need to get out of here" she said as she leaned against Tony's side, both walking slowly together towards the door. As soon as Angela was outside, she relaxed immensely. She felt like she could breathe again. Despite the pain, she didn't want to leave Tony's side and walked to the car. Tony opened the passenger side door of the jeep and helped Angela into the car before heading around to the driver's side.
"So how did everything go for you?" ask Angela.
"It was fine Angela. No issues for me. I'm more concerned about you. At least you've got some color back. You came out white as a ghost" said Tony.
"I'm fine" said Angela. However, when she tried to adjust to a more comfortable position, she grimaced.
"Yeah I'm sure you're fine. What happened Angela? Did the test go okay?" Tony asked with a slight panic in his voice.
"It went fine. It was painful though. I'm never using the word discomfort again though- it was definitely more than discomfort at some points. Then right before they were going to take the X-rays, the machine came within inches of crushing me. I'm not claustrophobic but now I know what it feels like- I couldn't wait to get out of there and get some fresh air. Other than that, I'm just achy" she said as she was still trying to get comfortable in her seat.
"Angela! That machine could have crushed you! How could they be so careless? I should go back in there and give that doctor a piece of my mind!" yelled Tony as he gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were turning white.
"Tony, it's okay! I'm fine, nothing happened and the rest of the test went well, I think. I just want to go home and curl up in bed. Let's go home okay?" Angela said quietly as she put her hand on Tony's arm in attempts to calm his anger.
As soon as Angela touched his arm, Tony felt the tension being released from his body. "Okay Angela. You're right- you are okay and that's all that matters" he said as he turned towards her, taking hold of her hand and placing a soft kiss on the top of her hand.
"Let's go home" they said together as Tony put the car in gear and headed home.
Angela managed to get comfortable on the ride home and fell asleep for the last half of the ride home. Tony kept sneaking quick glances over at her, alternating between making sure she was doing okay and driving safely. Once they pulled into the driveway, Tony gently began waking Angela up.
"Angela, Angela… we're home" said Tony in a gentle sounding voice.
"Oh Tony I'm sorry I fell asleep. You should have woken me up earlier" she said. "No way! I'm just glad you felt comfortable enough to sleep. Once we get inside, you should go lay down some more. I'll draw you a bubble bath if you feel up to it" he said.
"That sounds wonderful Tony. I'm still quite achy so I think I will take some Tylenol and lay back down for a bit first" she said. Tony leaned over and put a light kiss on her forehead before exiting the car and going to help her out of her side. Tony gingerly helped her walk up the front path and opened the front door. Jonathan and Samantha were sitting in the living room watching television, eating an afternoon snack.
"Hey Dad, hey Angela. How did your test go today?" asked Samantha. "It went well, I'm just a little sore. I'm going to lay down for a bit but I'll be down for dinner okay? How were your days at school?" she asked both kids.
"It was good Mom! I got an A on my history test! Steve and I got partnered up to dissect a frog next week in science class!" said Jonathan. "Eeww gross dweeb! School was okay. Bonnie and I are going to hang out this weekend at the mall" said Samantha.
"Okay enough talking everyone. I'm going to help Angela upstairs. I take it from the snacks being eaten and the television on that you two finished all your homework? If not, books better be opened by the time I get back down here!" said Tony as he began helping Angela up the stairs.
Once at Angela's door, Tony opened it up and helped Angela into the room. "Let me go get you the Tylenol and a glass of water, that way you can get changed and lie down" he said.
"Thank you Tony" she said as she went into her bathroom to change. A few minutes later, she came out, Tony waiting with the water and pills. She took them and made her way to her bed. Tony pulled down the covers and helped her into bed, pulling the covers back up for her.
"There you go Angela. Now rest up and I'll run you a bath in a little bit before dinner" said Tony.
"Tony? Can you stay with me for a little while?" asked Angela, as she held out her hand towards his own.
"Of course Angela" he said as he moved to lay down on the other side of the bed, on top of the covers. Angela found his hand and intertwined it with her own.
"You know, during the test I was so nervous. I tried everything I could to calm my nerves. Nothing was working. You know the only thing that worked?" she said as she turned her body ever so slightly to face Tony. "You. I pictured you holding my hand, caressing my face, telling me everything was going to be alright. It was the only thing that worked" she said as tears formed in her eyes.
With tears forming in his own eyes, Tony took his hand and gently wiped away her tears. He moved some stray pieces of her hair that had fallen across her forehead and caressed the side of her face. He moved himself down on the bed ever so slowly, careful as to not make too much movement. He leaned in and came within a few inches of her face. He gazed lovingly into her eyes for what felt like an eternity to Angela.
Angela could no longer take the wait anymore. She closed her eyes and leaned into him, her lips finding his like they have done this for a lifetime. Tony leaned in as well and soon their kisses became more intense, more passionate. Their mouths opened ever so slightly to allow their tongues entry to what they so desperately desired.
While Angela's pain was momentarily forgotten during their impromptu make out session, eventually it came back, causing her to pull back and grimace in pain. Tony noticed the pained expression on her face and sat back up. He pulled the covers back up over Angela and kissed her forehead once again. He ran his fingers ever so gently through her hair as she closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep. Making sure she was fully asleep, Tony quietly and carefully got off the bed and headed for the door.
He hesitated for a moment in the doorway, watching her sleep peacefully, before heading back downstairs.