A Field of Onions – Part 3

                                              “Life is like a field of onions; one cries while peeling it.” ~ Proverb

“Molly, honey…please try to stop fidgeting, you are making me nervous.” Katharine admonished. The two were sitting in the small waiting room of their hometown doctor, Ted Conner.

Sighing, Molly picked up an old copy of People magazine and began flipping through the pages. It was all a blur. She could not focus on thinking about the lump on her neck. That foreboding feeling had not left her since discovering the lump on Saturday evening.

After what felt like hours, Bertha opened the door to the examining rooms, “Molly?” She had been Dr. Conner’s nurse for as long as Molly had been alive. Her welcoming smile always made it easier to step into the scary sanctum of medicine. Molly was terrified of needles, and she already knew there was probably one in her extremely near future.

As Katharine and Molly followed Bertha all the way to the end of the hall, the two women caught up on family news. Living in a small town, everyone knew everyone in Mason.

Once settled in Exam Room C, Bertha began to question the two about what was going on. She took Molly’s blood pressure and temperature – all normal. Next, she weighed Molly which was always an embarrassment. Finally, it was the two of them waiting for Dr. Conner.

Katharine would never admit it to Molly, but she was just as nervous. She reached over and took Molly’s hand.
“Sweetheart, whatever it is, we are going to be okay.” She could see the fear in Molly’s eyes.
Molly gave a half smile and squeezed her mom’s hand back.

There was a knock on the door and in walked Dr. Conner. He had graduated high school with Molly’s dad, John, so he knew the family well. He had a kind face and always seemed happy to see you.

“How are two of my favorite patients today?” he asked as he headed to the little desk in the corner.

Katharine immediately spoke up, “Well Ted, we are a little concerned about a small lump Molly found on her neck over the weekend. I thought you needed to check things out, just in case.”

Dr. Conner had been Tim’s doctor. He immediately understood the concern he saw in Katharine’s eyes. Turning toward Molly he said, “Well, young lady. Let’s take a look at this pesky lump. Show me where it is.”

Molly put her hand up to the left side of her collar bone. Dr Conner felt it and pushed it around a little. “Does it hurt?” he asked.

“No, sir.” Molly replied.

“Have you had a sore throat?”

“No, sir.”

“Fever? Cough? Anything unusual?” He began to feel behind Molly’s ears, on the back of her neck.

“No, sir. Maybe some allergy stuff.”

He checks her throat, ears, and then listens to her heart; he finally rolls back over to his desk.

“Well, ladies, it could be a swollen lymph node – you may have had a bit of sinus infection, something like that. I think what we need to do is take a round of antibiotics and have you back in about a week or so and see if it has gone down. I’d also like to draw blood and just check things out there. Sound, okay?” He smiled at Molly and tried to give his best ‘everything is going to be okay’ look for Katharine.

Molly outwardly cringed at the mention of a blood draw. She knew it! Tears begin to fill her eyes. Dr. Conner, thinking that she was concerned about the outcome, immediately patted her arm.

“Hey there, Molly girl…we will get to the bottom of this, I promise, okay?”

She could only nod her head. She did not want him to see her cry. Daring herself to buck up, she managed to pull herself together.

“Katharine, here is the prescription. On your way out, just tell the girls at the front we want to see Molly the week after next. If anything changes before then, just call. I will send Bertha in here to draw blood. We will have those results when you come back in.” Patting Katharine on the back, he turned and said to Molly, “Now, you take your meds, and I will see you soon, okay?”

“Thank you, Ted. I really appreciate this.” Katharine said. Molly could only nod and say, “Thanks, Dr. Conner.”

Once the door was closed Molly started crying. Katharine leaned over and hugged her. “Hey, what’s all this? You heard Dr. Conner, it’s just probably a sinus infection. This is good news, huh?”

Through her tears, Molly mumbled, “But I hate needles! Why does he have to draw blood?”

“He can tell so much more about what may be going on by reading your blood. It will only be a stick and over quickly. You can do this. What if I hold your hand?” Katharine’s heart went out to her daughter. As a parent, you’d rather take a bullet than see your child hurt. She had already been through hell with Tim only to lose him in the end. For a second, Katharine felt tears rising but she stuffed them down.

Bertha walked back in with a little tray. Molly saw the syringe and immediately started crying again.

“Not you too! Every time I walk into my son’s room he starts crying.” Bertha said with a smile on her face.

Molly was intrigued despite herself. Hiccupping she asked, “Why?”

“Cause he knows I’m going to make him clean his room and he’d rather have this blood drawn than clean up his mess!” Bertha laughed and was pleased to see Molly laugh.

“Okay, young lady. I know you hate needles. Child, I hate them too, but sometimes we need them to help us figure things out. I promise I will do my very best work of not sticking you too hard and it will be over in a flash.” Bertha snapped her fingers when she said this.

Molly closed her eyes as Bertha prepared her right arm while she held Katharine’s hands. Bertha was true to her word. Molly barely felt the small stick and the next thing she knew there was a cotton ball with tape on her arm.

“Thank goodness that is over.” Molly said as they walked to the car. For the first time in three days, she felt better.

After getting the prescription filled at the drugstore, Katharine treated them both to a burger and fries at Ms. Daisy’s. Yum! A burger this good was almost worth the trauma of a needle.

 *******

Dr. Conner walked into Exam Room C a week and a half later. He held Molly’s file in his hand. After shaking their hands, he sat down at the little desk and rolled over next to Molly.

“Let’s see about this lump.”

He felt the area and all around. Molly really didn’t know what to expect. The lump was still there.

Rolling back to the desk, he flipped open her chart. “Katharine, it looks like Molly is anemic. This isn’t something to be overly concerned about usually, but this lump concerns me. I was hoping to find it had shrunk in size or gone away. It has not. The good news is that it doesn’t feel larger either.” Sighing, he closed her chart.
Ignoring the look of panic in Katharine’s eyes, he focused on Molly. Poor thing. She was just a kid. He hated this part of being a doctor.

“Molly, I really think we need to take a look at this lump.” he stated.

“How do you do that? With a scan or something?” Molly asked, holding her breath.

“Well sometimes we use scans to look inside the body, but in this case, we need to remove the lump and then take a look. We will put you to sleep, remove it, and then Pathology will look things over and give me a report. This will help us understand if it is a benign mass or cyst or something we need to be worried about, okay?”

“You mean surgery? Like in the hospital?” Molly’s eyes filled with tears automatically and this time, she didn’t care who saw them!

“Yes, surgery, but if everything goes well, you’d only have to stay overnight. The good news is after you wake up and feel like it, you can order anything you want from the cafeteria. Believe it or not, the hospital has great pizza.”

Who wants pizza, Molly thought. She was going to have surgery. The only person she knew that had had surgery before was her brother, Tim and he died.

Dr. Conner addressed Molly once more. “Molly, why don’t you go dry your eyes in the restroom down the hall and wait for your mom in the waiting area. I want to discuss the details with her, okay?”

Nodding, Molly rose and walked to the door. Before she stepped out of the room, Dr. Conner called out, “Molly?”

“Yes, sir?”

“I promise we will make this as easy as possible.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

Dr. Conner turned toward Katharine. He would do about anything to remove that look of fear from this sweet woman’s face. She and John had been through so much with Tim, and then John passing. It was not fair that one family had to deal with this grief and heartache.

Deciding to be straight with her, he said, “Katharine, I know what you are thinking. Molly is around the same age as Tim when he was diagnosed. The chances of two children having the same cancer are exceedingly rare. I’ve not seen it in all my years of practice. However, with your family history, I want to make sure. You know that, right?”

Appreciating his directness, she nodded. “I know, Ted. I WANT you to be sure. I keep telling myself to be positive, especially for Molly, but I will not sit here and lie – I’m terrified.” Reaching for her purse, she grabbed a tissue and dabbed her eyes. It felt so good to finally say aloud what she had been thinking.

“I know – I totally understand. If I were in your shoes, I’d be afraid too. Just know I will do everything I can to find the underlying cause of things. It is best for all of us if we get this biopsy done as soon as possible. I will have Bertha call Millersville General and see if we can get surgery scheduled for next week. Is that too soon? At least Molly is on summer break, so you do not have to worry about her missing school.” He waited as Katharine collected herself.

Sitting up straight, she threw her head back and said, “Absolutely! The sooner we get this behind us the better. Whatever time you tell us, I’ll have her there.”

Smiling for the first time since entering the exam room, Ted stood up and motioned for Katharine to follow him out of the room.

As they approached the Receptionists’ desk, Ted said to Katharine, “Go home, try to calm yourself and as soon as Bertha has the date, we will call you.”

“Thanks so much, Ted. I appreciate it.” Katharine noticed Molly sitting and reading a magazine. Hearing her mom’s voice, she put the magazine back and stood.

Driving home, both were lost in their thoughts. Katharine was already making a mental list of everything Molly would need for an overnight hospital stay. Molly was simply overwhelmed. An overnight hospital stay, surgery…. more needles. Why was this happening to her?

She remembered all the sermons Preacher Smith had yelled from the pulpit about sin and damnation. Was she being punished? She racked her brain trying to think of a sin she had committed that was horrible enough for surgery as punishment. She really didn’t want to believe swapping Crisco for Jena’s moisturizer was bad enough to warrant surgery.

“Molly? Molly!” Her mom’s voice broke through her thoughts.

“Yes, Ma’am?”

“You were a million miles away. I was asking if you’d like to go to Millersville this Saturday and find yourself a new nightgown?”

“Why? I have a nightgown.” Molly replied.

“Well, yes, but it has holes in it, and you will want a new one for the hospital.” Katharine was big on appearance and holes in a nightie were not acceptable for surgery, apparently.

“Okay, sure. Whatever.” She loved her old nightie. A waste of time, but she could run by Spencer’s Gifts while they were at the mall and see if they had any new disco lights.

The thought of a new disco light made Molly smile for the first time all day.

******
Katharine broke the news to Molly over Taco Tuesday dinner that her surgery was scheduled for Friday morning at 8 a.m.

“But that is three days away! I’m not ready!” Molly threw her half-eaten taco on her plate.

“Honey, we’ve been through this. The faster we have this done, the faster we can put it behind us. Trust me, waiting is much harder. I will be there with you, and I promise I will not leave your side.”

“I’m not hungry anymore, I’m going to my room!”

Molly knew she was acting like a baby, but she could not help it. Why? Why, me? She had asked that question a thousand times since this stupid lump came up. Once in her room, she grabbed her princess phone to call Nina. It was pink, her favorite color, and had been a birthday gift.

“Hey Nins, it’s me. Guess what? I have my stupid surgery FRIDAY. Can you believe that? I will miss the new episode of Charlies Angels!” Talking to Nina always made her feel better. It wasn’t long before Katharine could hear Molly laughing.

While cleaning up, Katharine prayed to herself, as she often did. “Please Lord, please let it be benign. Please spare this child…please, Lord, Amen.”

                                                                                                      *****

“Molly? Molly, can you open your eyes for me?”

She felt as though she had been in the deepest sleep ever. No dreams, no sounds, just peaceful silent sleep. She could hear a demanding voice telling her to open her eyes. Weren’t they open? No, maybe not. She tried hard and saw a nurse standing over her. She wished the bed would stop moving.

“Molly? Open your eyes. My name is Brenda. You came through surgery great and are now in the recovery area. Can you tell me what day it is?”

“Uh….Friday?” Molly murmured.

“Yes, Ma’am, and thank the good Lord, too!” Brenda said as she moved around Molly’s bed in the recovery room. Slipping a blood pressure cuff around Molly’s arm, she started pumping air into the cuff.

All Molly wanted was for her to stop poking at her and let her sleep. She was floating off again when Brenda said, “Wake up, Molly. I need you to try to take some deep breaths and open your eyes more. It won’t be long until Mike will take you to your room. Mike is our orderly and he has the prettiest blue eyes. You will not want to miss out. Come on, Molly girl…wake up.”

Realizing that nurse Brenda was not going away, she tried her best to focus and look around the room. She immediately realized her neck ached, and she felt something on the side of her neck. She reached up and determined it was a large bandage.

Nurse Brenda was back. “Are you ready to take a ride with Mike? He is here to take you upstairs to your room.” Behind Brenda was standing a tall, handsome guy. If Molly were not still under the influence of drugs, she would be embarrassed for a cute guy to see her in a hospital gown.

Mike stepped around Brenda and started making sure her IV lines were free from traffic. “Hi Molly, as Ms. Brenda said, my name is Mike, and we are going to take a short ride up to the fourth floor. Your mom is already there waiting for you. Sound, okay?” He smiled at her as he began to maneuver the bed toward the double doors.
Brenda was right, Molly thought. He does have pretty blue eyes! Normally, she loved chatting with new people, but she was finding it hard to keep her eyes open. She wished they would turn down all the bright lights. They were everywhere!

Mike rolled her into the room and Katharine and Jena were waiting. Another orderly appeared and together the two lifted Molly from her operating room bed to the bed in the room.

“Hi, sweetheart, how you feeling?” Katharine brushed Molly’s hair off her face. “Are you in pain?”

“Not much, but my neck aches and I just want to sleep.” Molly uttered. All she wanted was to go back to that silent sleep. No such luck. Another nurse to check her blood pressure. Doesn’t she know I just had surgery; Molly wondered.

“Hi, Molly. My name is Lisa, and I will be your nurse overnight. Let’s check your pressure one more time, okay?” She quickly had the cuff on Molly’s arm pumping.

Jena, who had been quiet up to this point, piped in, “I think you ought to pump it as far as it will go until it explodes off her arm!”

Molly opened her eyes wide.

“Ah…got you to wake up!” Jena laughed.

“Molly, would you like to try drinking some Sprite or Coke? The doctor wants you up and walking before the night is over. Get those kidneys moving. Think you can manage a few sips of something?” Lisa asked.

Walking? Are they kidding? “Uh, I guess…”

“Which is it? You look like a Cola Cola gal, am I right?” Lisa added as she opened the door to leave.

“Yes, Ma’am. Thank you.” Molly responded.

“A coke it is! Coming right up!”

Katharine eased back over to Molly. So looked so young lying in that bed. Ted had not been by yet, so she had no clue what he thought. She was thankful Jena had been able to take time off from her job at the bank early to be with them.

Lisa was back with a cup of coke with tiny ice chips. Molly loved drinks with ice chips. She could crunch on ice for hours and drive Jena crazy. It’s just the little things that made life sweeter.

She managed to take a couple of sips, and that did make her feel better. She didn’t remember anything until Lisa and Jena woke her up after midnight taking her blood pressure.

“Hi, Molly. You’ve had a nice long snooze. Dr. Conner would like you to make a couple of loops around the hall. Think you can sit up and then maybe take a quick walk with your sister? She has volunteered to make the round with you.” Lisa commented as she wrote in her chart.

“I, I guess, stammered Molly. Can I use the restroom first?”

“Absolutely! This is outstanding. Take your time, and when you are ready, just hit the call button and I’ll be right in.” Lisa left them to visit her next patient.

“Where’s mom?” Molly asked, looking around the room.

“I made her go home. She was beat. So, you are stuck with me, Kiddo.” Jena replied. “Don’t worry, she’ll be back her early in the morning.”

“Okay. Do I really have to walk around the hallway? I do not want my butt showing through this scratchy gown.”

“What if we put on your new nightie? That way no chance of mooning that cute orderly Mike.” Jena answered as she opened the overnight case Katharine had packed. Pulling out the nightgown, she commented, “Ah, pink with unicorns. Why am I not surprised?”

“What’s wrong with unicorns? I like them. They are very whimsical.” Molly muttered as she swung her legs over the side of the hospital bed.

“Nothing if you’re six, but you are almost fifteen, but whatever.”

Rolling her eyes, Molly untied the hospital gown and reached for her nightie. She needed a little help slipping it over her head so as not to hinder her bandage. She automatically felt better in her own clothes.

She reached for the call button, but Jena stopped her. “We don’t need a nurse. Give me your arm, we can do this, right?”

Slowly Molly rose from the bed and leaned on Jena until she found her land feet. “I need to go potty.”

“Ready when you are.” Jena replied. She inched forward toward the bathroom door nearby. She eased into the room and sat down on the commode. “See? I was right, we can do this by ourselves. Just take your time. When you finish, give me a shout. I’ll be right outside the door.”

Jena being nice. Who knew? Once she finished, she cleaned herself and called out. “I’m done.” She eased to the sink to wash her hands and looked at herself in the mirror.

The bandage had felt large to the touch, but she could see in the mirror that it wasn’t as large as she’d first thought. Her hair was flat, and she tried her best to fluff it out a bit.

Jena stuck her head in the door. “You okay? Think you can make one pass through the nurses’ station?

“Yes, I think so.” Jena took her arm once again and they slowly walked into the hall. As they passed the nurses’ station, they noticed Mike working on paperwork. He smiled as the two sisters walked past.

“Glad to see you up and moving again, Molly.” He said as they moved further down the hall.

Molly felt a little smug that he remembered her name in front of Jena.

Once back in bed, Molly realized she was very sleepy. Other than blood pressure checks, she slept peacefully until Saturday morning.

******

Katharine put on her best smile when she entered Molly’s room at the hospital. She was sitting up in bed eating eggs and grits. Jena was scrolling through the channels on the TV and the two girls were laughing when she walked in.

“Well, look at the two of you! Actually laughing and being nice to one another.” Katharine winked at Molly when she said this.

“Hi, mom. Guess what? These hospital grits are terrible! Yours are way better.” Molly was finishing off the last bite of eggs.

“Well, that is because they do not know the secret to good grits.” Katharine kissed Jena on the cheek and set her purse down on the settee under the window.

“What secret?” Molly asked.

“Three things – cream, butter and stirring at least a hundred times after you take it off the heat.”

“Wow, okay…. I didn’t know.” Molly replied.

“Me neither” chimed in Jena.

“Mom, when do I get to go home today?” Molly asked headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

“We will have to wait and talk to Dr. Conner. He should be coming on the floor for his morning rounds soon.” Katharine avoided looking Molly in the eye. Jena patted her mom’s back.

Once Molly came out of the bathroom, Katharine pulled out a matching robe.

“Honey, I think you should slip this on before Dr. Conner comes in.”

“When did you get the robe?” Molly asked, pulling it on and sitting in the chair across from the bed.
“Yesterday, after I left, I thought you needed to have the matching robe, so I stopped by the mall.” Katharine replied.

“Wow, thanks mom!”

Dr. Ted Conner walked into Molly’s room an hour later. He deliberately let her be the last patient on the floor to visit. These were the challenging times of being a doctor. You never stopped wishing you had a magic wand, so these conversations never had to happen.

“Hey there, Molly. Look at you sitting up. Would never know you had surgery yesterday.” Molly smiled up at him. He moved over and sat on the side of her bed. Katharine and Jena stood at the end of the bed. All three were looking at her and she suddenly felt that feeling of doom.

“Dr. Conner, I can go home today, right?” Molly asked testing the waters.

“That’s what we are here to discuss, Molly. We have the results of your pathology back from the lump we removed yesterday. We also removed a few lymph nodes around the area too. The good news is that we were able to remove the entire lump.

At this point, he removes his glasses. Molly notices he has nice brown eyes like Nina.

“The not so good news is that the test shows that it is cancer.”