Believe in Me

Chapter 58

Demi's POV:

*The next morning*

Anna was sleeping peacefully on the hospital bed, finally. It had been a long night. The numbness wore off so Anna was in pain. It was also kind of worrying me because she had a nightmare too when she hadn't been having those as often anymore and she was really making progress when I came to her recovery and stuff. I really didn't want any of this interfering with how far she'd come.

It was currently 10:30am, and we had a meeting set up to discuss results and our plan at 11. To say I was nervous was an understatement. I mean, we were about to find out if Anna had cancer again. I was almost positive she did based on where everything was pointing, but it still scared me to have it confirmed.

I stayed lost in my thoughts about what it would be like if Anna had cancer again, until I figured I should wake Anna up before the meeting. I got off my chair and walked over to her bed, gently shaking her.

"Wake up, baby." I whispered.

She groaned and rolled over, slowly opening her eyes.

"How are you feeling this morning?" I asked, brushing her short hair behind her ear.

"Sore" she mumbled in her morning voice.

I chuckled a little at how raspy it sounded.

"Yeah, that's to be expected. You got your back drilled into yesterday." I tried to say in a lighthearted way.

Anna chuckled a little too, but there was still a tension in the room.

Anna's main doctor came in a few minutes later with a wheelchair, telling us to follow him to a conference room. I helped Anna into it and wheeled her out the door, following the doctor.

A few minutes later, we were all sitting around a big oval table. I was sitting next to Anna, who looked nervous and distant. Across from us was her main doctor and a team of doctors that I didn't really recognize.

"Okay, we have all the results back and I have some things I'd like to go over with you guys. There will be time for you to get all your questions answered so please just hold off until I finish explaining and we can discuss concerns." Anna's main doctor said.

I glanced over at Anna. She looked really tense and uncomfortable so I pushed my chair back and motioned for her to climb on my lap. She hesitated, but allowed me to pull her into me. She was still only wearing her hospital gown so I made sure it covered her up as she sat on me. She nestled her head into my neck as I gently stroked her back, waiting for the doctor to continue.

"After an extensive review of the scans and tests, we have found that Anna has a small tumor in the the parietal lobe. It is probably a result of the tumor she had before reappearing after chemo was stopped. Also, as far as the blood tests go, Anna does have Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, but we believe we caught it early and that it is isolated from the tumor, meaning that we are confident that through intense chemo we will be able to regulate the white blood cells before it turns into anything more serious. Now, do you have any questions for me before we talk treatment options?" the doctor asked.

"So, so she has two types of cancer?" I stammered.

I could tell Anna had started crying because I felt warm tears on my neck. I hugged her tightly into me, holding back my own tears.

"Yes. It's actually more common than you think. Once there are cancer cells in the body it is extremely easy for them to spread, however, like I said, we believe the two cases are isolated which will make treatment easier. We can tackle each individual area as it's own thing instead of having to target it as a whole." the doctor explained.