A Glass Of Champagne

PART 2 | Chapter Twenty One

FIVE MONTHS LATER

OMNISCIENT POV

The air in the oncology clinic was sterile and cold, causing Solana to rub her palms together to create heat. The sound of beeping machines and mourning voices filled the large room.

Solana sat stiffly in a chair as she looked around at the other patients in the room. An elderly man beside her looked tired and frail, while others had looks of determination on their faces. Everyone in the room had one thing in common: they were all fighting cancer.

It's been almost a year of Solana being in maintenance therapy and she was exhausted. The nausea that she always felt when leaving the clinic was too much for her, on top of the constant fatigue. She couldn't go into work for days because she couldn't bring herself to get out of bed.

As her eyes continued to roam around the room, she couldn't help but wonder how the other patients in the room were feeling. Were they just as scared as she was?

Today Solana attended her appointment alone, Lupe had to work, same as Bishop. Her family was across the country and in Haiti and she doesn't have a boyfriend to hold her hand and give her reassuring kisses. It was just her and her small bundle of joy in her belly, facing this battle together.

The door to the room opened and in walked Dr. V, holding a clipboard in his hand. He greeted Solana, "Good Morning Solana, how are you today?"

Solana smiled at her doctor, "Could be better. Pushing through."

Dr. V nodded, "That you are." His eyes lowered to her small round belly, "And how is the little angel?"

Solana smiled as she looked down at her growing five month belly, she gave it a small rub. "The angel is doing well."

"That's good to here." Dr. V grabbed a chair from an empty table and dragged it in front of Solana. 

Sitting across from her, he took a deep breath before beginning, "Solana, we need to go over the pressing side effects of your therapy," he said, looking at her intently.

Solana furrowed her eyebrows, "I already know the side effects Doctor V. We've been doing this treatment for almost a year now. Sure the fatigue and nausea gets a little too much sometimes but I knew the risks when I agreed to the therapy."

"Yes Solana, but it's different now. When you started the therapy you weren't pregnant, and now you are. It's not just your body that suffers from the side effects, your baby could suffer too but on a more extreme level." He said.

Solana looked at him, her eyes wide with concern at the mention of her baby in harms way. "Okay, what do I need to know?" She asked, with a shaky voice.

"We've seen that lower doses used in maintenance therapy are generally safe for pregnant women, but there is still a risk to your baby. Risks as in your baby being born with a defect." He explained.

Solana listened to each word he said, carefully. Her heart rate was increasing by the second. She knows that the maintenance therapy is necessary to keep her cancer from returning, but she couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to her baby because she was trying to save herself.

Solana took a large gulp before asking the painful question, "Could I....lose my baby?"

Dr. V sighed, "The therapy can cause numerous complications and I—"

"Please just give me a straight answer Mark." She pleaded, referring to his first name.

Dr. V sighed again, "Yes, that could be a possibility. The only reason we're having this discussion now is because you've entered your second trimester. The third trimester is when things get tend to get risky for the baby."