| 20. Don�t Worry 11:01 am "Miss Whitley?" Meghan beckoned to the nurse in the doorway. "Yes?" "Dr. Harless has asked for some of your information that we don't have." She said, walking into the room and handing her a clipboard with some papers on it. "Could you fill these out and hang them on the door when you're done?" "Sure. I'd be glad to." Lily left. "Wait? I thought your doctor was named Timmons," Kevin said from his seat next to her on her bed. "Well," she glanced at Rob, who nodded. "The one here is. Dr. Harless runs a clinic for ovarian cancer in Hollywood." She paused. "I have cancer, you guys." The room was silent for a minute. She could feel Rob and Chad's understanding eyes on her. "I am so sorry, Meg," Kev said. "I had no idea." "It's not your fault, Kev." She placed her hand on his soothingly. "This is nothing. The doctor said that after I have treatment I've got over five years to live. That's a good chance, better than most people with ovarian cancer." "I don't believe this," Seth murmured. "You're not supposed to have cancer." "No one's supposed to have cancer, it just happens." She smiled. "I'm going to a clinic in Hollywood tomorrow where I'll receive radiation and chemotherapy. But I'm having surgery next week to get the actual growths removed." Rob finally spoke. "Things are gonna be really different for us for a while, but y'all certainly won't lose your jobs, either. After Meg recovers from the surgery, we're shooting the video for 'Tonight' then we'll do some promoting between her treatments." He paused. "She's not about to drop out of sight just because of cancer. Right, Meg?" "Exactly." The enlightening statement didn't brighten up the guys' downcast faces. "Hey, I'll be okay, you guys. Don't worry bout me. Y'all know me. I don't put up with nothing from no one and I'm certainly not going to fall to cancer." "Yeah," Seth said a bit hopefully. "I have an idea!" Rob exclaimed. "You think you can get out of here, Meg?" "I can butter up some of the nurses to not tell anyone." "Good. I say we sneak out of here and find us something to do, eh?" Rob sounds strangely Canadian when he says "Eh?". "Thank God!" Meg exclaimed, signing the now completed form. "I'll meet y'all downstairs." As they all began to file out of the room, Paul stopped Meg. "I...I'm so sorry, Meg. Why didn't you tell me?" "I didn't want to worry you, Paul. You had the rest of the tour to worry about." He smiled. "Yeah." "Come on, let's go butter up the nurses, eh?" He laughed. "You're not Canadian!" "Yeah, well, Rob thinks he is." He laughed again and wrapped his arm around her waist as they began to walk toward the nurses' station. "I've missed you so much, my Meggie!" "You have no idea! Do you know how boring it is in a hospital room all the time?" "I can only imagine." "Good morning, Regina!" Meg greeted the heavyset black nurse working the desk. "Good morning, Meghan. Let me guess, you wanna get out of here for a while, huh?" "With all my heart. Have you ever stayed in one of these rooms for five days straight with no cable?" Regina sighed, but couldn't help smiling. "Your next medication is at..." she looked at a nearby chart, "3:30. Be back or else you and I are both in trouble." "God bless you, Regina." Meg hugged her across the counter and linked arms with Paul saying, "Let's go, Paulie." The two hurried down the hall into an empty elevator. "That was easy enough," Paul said, impressed. "Well, I'm friends with most of the nurses, so they're on my side. You see, it always helps to befriend the people who inject chemicals into your body." He smiled. "So what's up with you and Chad?" "Me and Chad...are no more. He couldn't handle it. Plus he was cheating on me." "Yeah." "You knew?" He nodded. "I didn't want to worry you by telling you." She smiled. "Thanks. I'm kind of glad that I'm not with him anymore though." "Why?" "I have enough to worry about. I don't need Chad to contribute." He laughed. "Same ol' Meg." "Ya gotta love me!" she chirped childishly. He paused. "No, I believe I don't..." "Oh, that was mean," she said half-offended. He grinned, "I'm-a joking with ya!" "You're weird." |