One Summer Night by Emily Bold

Author:Emily Bold
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction

The Diagnosis

Lauren’s hands were ice cold. She could feel the breeze coming through the open doors and brushing her calves, and hoped that Doctor Eckhard wouldn’t keep them waiting much longer. They were sitting in his office, waiting to discuss her MRI results. Lauren felt almost the same sense of claustrophobic anxiety that she had during her examination inside the MRI tube. She wrestled down the panic inside of her, trying instead to focus on her breathing.

Tim was lost in thought, staring at the Newton’s cradle swinging back and forth on one end of the doctor’s desk, and he bobbed his foot to the rhythm of the metal spheres. This made Lauren feel even more restless, and she put her hand on his upper thigh. ‘Would you mind stopping that?’

‘Stopping what?’

‘This constant fidgeting. It’s driving me insane.’

A deep wrinkle had appeared above the bridge of her nose from all the nervous tension.

Before Tim could reply, Doctor Eckhard entered the room. He swung the door closed behind him, and shook their hands. Even if his handshake was as confidence inspiring as before, he was obviously in a somber mood.

‘Good morning. How are you feeling today?’ He turned to Lauren, giving her an inquiring look.

‘Fine, thanks. I . . . I’m just a little nervous.’

Eckhard nodded sympathetically and leaned back in his chair. He opened her patient record and leafed through the pages.

‘Understandable. But I’m going to need you to stay calm. I’m now going to explain the results of the scan to you . . . and what course of action we may want to consider.’

‘That doesn’t sound encouraging,’ Lauren quipped, but Eckhard’s face remained serious. He placed the palms of his hands together, and looked at her.

‘Mrs Parker, the MRI scan shows the presence of tissue that is different from your regular brain tissue.’

‘Tissue?’ Tim repeated, leaning forward.

‘Yes. A tissue growth. Neoplasia.’

‘What’s that?’

Lauren was as white as a sheet, and her lips were trembling. It was as if the world had stopped turning.

‘A tumor.’ Doctor Eckhard took a printout of Lauren’s scan from her patient record, and pushed it across the desk.

‘Cancer?’ Tim squeezed out, unable to believe his ears. Eckhard placed the tips of his fingers together.

‘Cancer is a colloquial term for a malign, that is, the bad kind of tumor. Which is something we cannot rule out at this stage. However, the growth could also be benign. Right now it’s our top priority to determine which kind it is.’

Lauren could hear him speak, but nothing he said made any sense to her. There was only this one detail, this one point swirling in her mind.

She had a tumor inside her head.

It was the only thing she could think about. Like a catchy song that echoed through her brain with such force that it drowned out the rest of the world. She could see the doctor’s lips moving, even smelled the peppermint gum on his breath as he spoke, but what he was saying sounded alien to her. As if he were talking in a foreign language she didn’t speak.

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