A Little Help Along The Way

clair de lune du soleil (70)

Translation: moonlight from the sun

The office was cold, that was the first thing she noticed as Dr. Hames opened the door for her.

Gerard followed in behind her, his feet dragging along the floor as the office door was closed shut.

It had been about two or three hours after Taylor had taken all her hair off and it still felt strange to her, there was a lingering sense of guilt she couldn't shake either. Gerard could probably talk her out of it, the sense of guilt was probably something he'd want to know as well, but she just couldn't bring herself to let all those emotions surface.

Gerard sat down in the seat opposite Dr Hames and Taylor sat next to him on the right. Today was her scheduled check up and it was the first time Gersrd would be sitting in instead of Sophia.

"Congratulations Taylor" Dr Hames said to her with a feint smile. Her white coat contrasted brightly against her black office chair. "Takes a lot of courage for a chemo patient to shave their head"

Taylor didn't say anything back. To her, it was nothing to be congratulated on. She just smiled and nodded. Taylor often found herself not being able to say anything in these meetings, the state of her health hung in the balance everytime she walked in that door.

Doctor Hames cleared her throat.
"Sophia not able to make it today?" She asked, glancing at Gerard.

He shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "No, im actually- well it's a little complicated-"

"Hes my dad" Taylor interrupted, staring straight ahead at the stuffed animals on the shelf behind Hames, trying to spare Gerard some awkwardness.

Doctor Hames looked taken aback. "Oh, I didn't know-"

"Its complicated" Gerard reiterated

Hames formed her lips into a line "I see, well it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Francis" she said, extending her hand.

"Mr way" Gerard corrected, reaching over the desk and shaking her hand.

She looked between the two. Not sure what to make of the stoney expression Taylor had on her face. She decided to move on to the more pressing matter at hand

"I have some good news and bad news" she announced, a feeling of dread welling up inside her. She's been doing this job for almost fifteen years and it never got easier.

Taylor looked over at Gerard, who looked towards her, concern strewn all over his face.

"What's the good news" he asked carefully

Hames sprayed hand sanitizer on her hands before logging into her computer and clicking on a few files. A black and grey imagine popped up on the screen.
She twisted the monitor head around so he could see.

"I don't understand what I'm looking at" he said, squinting at the blurry image.

Taylor stood up from her chair and walked around the back of Gerard's chair, placing her hands on the back of it.

"Is that a MRI scan?" She asked.

Doctor Hames nodded. "Its the one we took when you first got here"

"See that dark splodge right there?" She continued, pointing to Taylor's throat in the scan.

They both looked at where she was pointing.

"Thats the tumor, it's only latched onto the surrounding tissue and it's not causing the damage to your body's cells"

"So I don't actually have a 74% chance of dying?" Taylor asked, her voice hopeful, a swelling sense of relief building in her chest.