A Second Chance (COMPLETED)

Chapter 45

Week three of the radiation treatment had begun and Caroline was starting to experience some of the side effects. The fatigue had been the biggest issue so far, causing her to take a nap midafternoon almost daily. Today was difficult due to experiencing nausea within an hour of treatment, in addition to the migraine that began overnight.

Tim was at school taking an exam that Caroline refused to let him miss. She had planned to drive herself, but gladly accepted the offer from Dena to take her instead. On the return home is when she began to experience the nausea, though she hid it from Dena by taking several sips of water. Caroline convinced her to just drop her off home, that she was feeling fine and Tim would be home within the hour. Sensing she wasn't feeling well and wanted to be alone, Dena reluctantly agreed.

As soon as Caroline entered the apartment she ran for the bathroom,  vomiting what little contents she had in her stomach. Afterwards she lay on the cool floor for a bit until she felt well enough to walk across the hall to their bedroom.

****

Tim practically ran to his truck as soon as he completed the exam, wanting to be home for Caroline when she returned. He knew how tired the treatments made her and thought that perhaps they could spend time at the botanical gardens where she could rest, enjoy the gardens and have a lite picnic lunch.

****
Tim dropped his bag in the chair, tossing his keys on the side table. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before heading to their room to change. As he approached the doorway he heard a faint whimper ... Caroline was curled up on her side on the bed. He quietly walked over, kneeling down in front of her and gently stroked her hair. He knew she had a migraine, he heard her get up in the middle of the night to get her medication.

"Bad one, huh" he whispered. She nodded before jumping out of bed, running into the bathroom to vomit again. He quickly followed her and sat with her, holding her hair back as she once again hovered her head over the toilet. He grabbed a washcloth from the towel bar and soaked it with cold water from the bath tub faucet. After ringing it out, he placed it on Caroline's forhead as she leaned back against his chest.

"I'm sorry.." she said softly .."I've ruined another day".

"Shhh, darlin..you haven't ruined anything" he replied leaning his head against hers.

"I hate this. I hate the headaches, the treatments, the nausea...I want it all to go away" she stated with a bit of anger in her voice.

"I know..I know..just one more week. When did the nausea start?" he asked, thinking it was possibly from the migraine.

"About an hour after the radiation, on the way home" she replied.

"My mother left you here like this,  alone?" he questioned.

"She didn't know, Tim. I didn't tell her. I hid it as best I could by sipping water. I felt bad enough she came all the way out here to take me back and forth. I didn't want her to waste anymore of her day babysitting me"

"Darlin, there's no need to hide anything from her. She loves you too." he stated.

"I think I want to go lay down" she told him, attempting to stand. He quickly stood with her as she made her way back across the hall to their bed. He helped her onto it and drew the drapes from the canopy to darken the enclosure.

"I'll get your nausea medication from the cabinet..you haven't taken it yet have you" he asked while pulling the sheet over her.

"No, I actually forgot I had it" she answered.

"What about your pain pill, did you take that?" he added.

She hesitated for a moment "No, not since the middle of the night" .

"Ok, that was about 8 hours ago, you can definitely have another one now" he said as he turned to leave the room. He returned with both medications and a small cup of water. "Here baby, you can take both.  Only a small sip of water though so you can keep them down" he instructed handing both to her. She took them as he stated, and handed the cup back to him. He had brought in the cold cloth and placed it on her forehead as she laid back, noticing a slight shiver from her as he did. He pulled up the lighter blanket as well as the sheet to keep her warm.