 |
 |
 |
| Blake had spent the night that night, and the next morning, they were both awakened to a phone call.
�Hello?� Regan answered happily, not even noticing that it was seven o�clock in the morning. All she noticed when she did wake up was that she was not the only person filling her bed. �Hello, may I speak to Regan?� asked a voice. Regan frowned, not recognizing who it was. �This is she. May I ask who�s calling?� �This is Dr. Wresting from Central Hospital. We�ve gotten some results from your test, but I�d like it better if you stopped by my office and saw me today. There are some complicated things I need to discuss with you.� She frowned. �Is something wrong?� �I�ll discuss it with you. Do you think you could come in around two or so?� She looked around at her surroundings unbelievably. �Uh, yeah. Would it be alright if I brought someone with me?� she asked, looking straight at Blake, who was trying to get back to sleep. �Of course you can. I�ll see you at two?� �Yeah,� she said, and in a daze, she hung up the phone. She tried to lay down next to Blake and fall asleep again, but she found that she couldn�t. Her health became more of a pressing concern to her. After a few hours of concerned thought, she drifted off into a fitful sleep. Blake woke her up around noon, and kissed her lovingly all over as she lay and think about what had plagued her that morning. He asked her what was wrong and she told him. �Will you come and hold my hand?� she said, half-joking, half-serious. �Of course I will. I�ll always be there for you,� he told her, and he lay back down to hold her. She smiled at him, and snuggled into the warmth of his touch, but she couldn�t help feeling like she was in some kind of bottomless pit that was only about to get worse. They arrived at the doctor�s office at almost two on the dot, and he escorted them in quickly, sat them down, and pulled out Regan�s file. �Well Regan, you told me you�ve been experiencing chronic fatigue, heat exhaustion, and have been developing a rash you�ve been treating. We tried our hardest to figure out what it all was, and I think we�ve pinpointed it. We started by ruling out chronic fatigue syndrome, but we found that one of the symptoms you don�t have is a recurring sore throat, which is a huge part of CFS. You don�t appear to have any visible joint pain at the moment. So we ruled that one out. We ruled out mononucleosis as well because as far as we can tell, you have no traces of the Epstein-Barr virus at the moment. After ruling out all of the autoimmune disorders we could think of for your type of symptoms, we happened to come across your family medical history.� She gulped. �I don�t see how this has anything�� �We noticed that your uncle developed Lou Gehrig�s disease� and you know this disease is hereditary. And his wife apparently died of something else, something that no one quite knew about� well we checked into it and apparently, the disease she had was hereditary as well, and it was passed onto you. Was this your mother or your father�s sister?� �My mom�s,� she spoke quietly. She couldn�t believe what she was hearing. The only other thing she could of to ask was what exactly she had. �W-What is it?� �It�s an unknown disease that affects mostly women and it�s called lupus.� Regan frowned. �Lupus? I�ve never even heard of it.� �Most women haven�t,� he said, sighing. �The target of the disease is mostly in young women. There�s really no single agent that has been identified as the cause of the disease. It�s genetic however, and it�s been passed to you from your aunt.� She looked up at Blake and saw he wasn�t looking at her. How could he? �Does this mean� I�m going to�� �No, not necessarily. There is no one cure for the disease, but all we can do is monitor it closely and see how you do. It can become debilitating, but for right now you seem not to have the worse end of it.� She felt a lump form in her throat as she tried to ask the next question. �How do I prevent it from becoming any worse?� �Well, I�m going to prescribe you some immunosuppressive drugs that can decrease some of the inflammation in your lymph nodes, and keep taking those antidepressants for your fatigue. They seem to be working. Also, I�d like you to cut down on red meat and dairy products, it may help in decreasing some of your physical pain. You should probably avoid sun exposure, get a lot of rest, and not stress yourself out too much. If you do all that, and you start feeling better, give me a call.� Regan got up on a shaky pair of legs, Blake clutching her tightly, and they walked out of the doctor�s office. Regan felt almost as if she had been given a death sentence. �Blake I�m scared,� she commented, and he took her in his arms immediately to heal her. �Oh sweetie don�t be scared. You�re fine, you�re just fine. He said you have to rest a little while and it�ll be nothing, I promise,� he soothed her. �Do you really promise?� she asked him hopefully. She wasn�t sure how he was going to be able to keep a promise like he did, but just hearing him say the words were enough to comfort her and rest her mind for the time being. He looked down at her soft, tearstained face, put his hands on her cheeks, and gently kissed her lips. He had no idea how to keep a promise like that, and promise her that everything was going to be okay. He didn�t know, he wasn�t God. But he smiled at her softly anyway, and whispered, �I promise.� It was just enough to calm her down for the rest of the day, and they walked out hand in hand. He took her home, and put her to rest. She was starting to get very tired of all the traveling around. She took one of her pills, lay down, held onto Blake�s hand, and slept. He smiled at her and thought for a long time about how beautiful she was. How angelic her face appeared. Her long, light blonde hair flowing out onto the pillow her head rested on. He watched her chest slowly move up and down in a rhythm as she slept, he went to his blue sketchbook, opened up to an unused page, and began to draw. |