Alexa and Katie: Fight or Flight

Ch.5: The Wake Up Call

Alexa's POV

"Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?" my mom said gently as I woke up.

After many more tears and questions last night, I finally got a chance to rest, and judging by the blinding light behind the blinds, my mom made sure I wasn't disturbed.

"Like I have cancer" I replied bluntly.

"Oh honey" she teared up.

"Can we get you anything? The nurses should be here soon" my dad offered from the other side of the bed.

"I'm okay. Is everyone else alright? Home resting?" I asked.

"Yeah. Jennifer took Lucas home with them for the night, we just thought it'd be best. And Spencer's mom came to get him" Mom explained.

"Mm. That's good, we all need our rest after yesterday"

"Yeah. I'm sure they'll all be back soon. But I don't want them tiring you out"

"I know Mom. I'm just glad I have so many people to get me through this again"

*knock knock*

"Hey Alexa. I wish it was under better circumstances, but I'm glad to see you again," Nurse Chad said politely as he entered, "I'm just gonna check a few things and then I'll send the doctor back in."

"Thank you" my parents said together, watching everything very carefully.

Luckily it didn't take too long for him to finish up and for Dr. Breitweiser to come around.

"Hi Dr. Breitweiser. What's the news?" Dad greeted the doctor worriedly.

"Hello Mr and Mrs. Mendoza, Alexa. I'm so sorry to say, but I think it'd be best for Katie to bring by some of your things and make you comfortable. It'll be a while before we can send you home. Your cancer is definitely back and seems to be pretty vicious this time around. We're hoping it responds well to this chemo mix now that you've already been through it before, but you know the drill, it would still be about four weeks until you'd be considered for discharge. If not, we'll have to look into other options, but the hope is we caught it early enough to have a lot of options left open" Dr. Breitweiser calmly explained.

"And what do you mean by other options?" Mom asked.

"Well, I don't want to get too into it before we absolutely need to, but we can try other combinations of the chemo drugs, other clinical trials, bone marrow transplants, and a whole list of things depending on what Alexa needs. It's just hard to say now" the doctor replied.

"Okay. Thank you again Doctor" Mom said before Dr. Breitweiser left the room.

"So, is there anything specific you want from home. I think it might be easier if I head home for a bit and make sure everything gets sanitized right and I can bring Lucas back" my mom sat up and shuffled through her purse to find her phone and open the notes app.

"Umm. Well maybe some sweats and my own comforter might be more comfortable" I thought, mentally scanning through my room as best as I could to list a few other things.

"Okay, I'll get this stuff and if I see anything else I think you might want. And we can always go grab anything else you think of over time. Dad will stay here with you though, I don't want you alone." my mom said in that matter of fact voice of hers. It always amazed me how strong she could be, always ready to jump into a plan and get everything in order for me.