Until Death Brings You

Chapter 2:

Alexandria sighed as she walked down the street towards the hospital where her father currently resided. The day had been long, starting with school and ending with work. She was tired, her body complaining from the long hours on her feet. She didn’t even want to start to think about the amount of homework and studying she still had to complete.

           Her long blonde hair was currently pulled back into a ponytail, green eyes itchy and heavy with lack of sleep and worry. Her worn sneakers hit the pavement with a dull thud each step she took, and she wrapped her green, over-sized jacket tighter around her body as the wind around her picked up. The jeans and light shirt she had on did little to keep her warm as she hastened her steps to get to the hospital quicker.

           Her thoughts roamed around in her head, thoughts of her father entering and causing her to falter a bit. Her dad was in the hospital due to cancer, and without putting up enough money, she wasn’t sure he would live very much longer. She was working, trying to save everything so that she could get the surgery and treatments paid for, but she was sure it was taking a toll. Every time she looked in the mirror, she was shocked to see her once tanned skin getting paler, and the bags under her eyes had some people asking if she had gotten into a fight.

           Shaking her head, she looked up to see that the hospital was right in front of her. She took a shaky breath, steadying herself and placing a gentle, if albeit fake, smile on her face. Alexandria entered the sliding glass doors, making her way over to the front desk to sign in.

           A kind woman looked over at her, “Are you coming in to see someone Hun?”

           Alexandria nodded, “Yes ma’am. I’m here to see my father, Robert Amberson. He’s in room 1312. I’m Alexandria Amberson.”

           The woman typed a bit on the computer, then pushed a clipboard over to Alexandria. “Hun, please sign in. I’m sure you know how to get to the room by now, but if not, take one of the elevators over there,” at this the woman pointed to her left, where 4 different elevators sat, “up to the 13th floor, and go to the nurse’s station on the floor. It should be to your right from the elevators. They’ll help you there.”

           “Thank you, I appreciate it. Have a goodnight.” Alexandria quickly signed in, then headed for the elevators. There were so many questions she had for the nurses, and hopefully they would have the answers. She hadn’t been able to reach her dad all day, and when she had called the nurses station, they had said they were too busy to answer any questions now.

           Hugging her arms to herself, she swayed on the balls of her feet nervous energy causing her to fidget. The floor lights seemed to take forever as the elevator moved from floor to floor, but it was late enough that the elevator wasn’t stopping at every floor to let people on, and she was the only one in the elevator.

           After what felt like eternity, the elevator dinged, and the doors opened on floor 13. She quickly darted out of the elevator and headed straight for the nurse’s station. Coming up to it, a nurse looked up from where she sat in front of a computer. “Alex, hey honey how are you doing?” The nurse’s name tag read Alana.

           Alana was one of the nurse’s that Alex had come to know on a personal level. She helped to take care of her dad a lot. She was pretty, red hair pulled into a perfect bun. Her blue eyes were large, and they softened when they took in how Alex looked. Where Alex was short, and looked half-starved, Alana was tall, and athletic. Her skin was pale, to Alex’s now pasty complexion, and smooth, as if she had nothing to worry about.

           Alex shrugged; hands buried deep in her coat’s pockets. “I’m doing okay Alana, how are you doing? How is my dad? I’ve been trying to call all day, but he hasn’t been answering, and all the other nurse’s I’ve spoken to today have said they are too busy to give me any answers. Is everything okay?”

           Alana gave her a soft smile. “I just got on about 15 minutes ago, but the report I was given says that your dad has been sleeping most of the day. Apparently, he isn’t feeling too good. It looks like he started developing a cough, so he might be coming down with a respiratory infection. Let me check with the doctor if you can look in on him for a bit.” She turned on her heel, heading down one of the halls to track down a doctor.

           Alex worried her bottom lip. A respiratory infection was the last thing her dad needed. He was already on chemo, and radiation, she didn’t think her dad even had an immune system left to fight anything more.

           The nurse came back a few minutes later, the smile leaving her face when she approached Alex. “Dr. Sumon said you can come back for about 10 minutes, but you’ll need to wear a mask, and please wash your hands before you touch him. Dr. Sumon asked once you are done if you would please wait so he can talk to you.” Alana handed her a surgical mask, and Alex quickly put the mask on, turning to head towards her dad’s room.

           “Thank you, Alana, I’ll come back up here when I’m done.”

           Alexandria made her way down the hallway, walking quickly to her dad’s room. When she came to the door, she looked through the window. A man, thin and sickly looking, had his eyes closed. He had no hair now, having lost it months ago when he started the chemo, and his skin sagged against his bones.

           She gathered up her courage and walked into the room, trying to stay as quiet as possible to let her dad sleep. She moved to the sink to wash her hands, and she heard coughing coming from her dad behind her.

           Finishing up, she turned to her dad, making her way over to his bed. The coughing fit continued for a few seconds before it settled down, and the man cracked his eyes open. He smiled as he caught sight of his daughter. He struggled to sit up, but Alex shook her head, “It’s okay dad, just rest.”

           “Oh baby, it’s so good to see you. How are you doing?” As he spoke, his body was wracked with wheezing coughs, and his frail form shook with the force of the cough.

           Alexandria reached out and took her dad’s hand. “Dad, it doesn’t matter how I’m doing, I want to know how you are feeling. I’m saving up the money right now, hopefully I should have it soon, that way you can get the surgery, and you should be on the mend.” Tears threatened to escape as she watched her dad start to cough again.

           Robert reached his other hand out and patted Alex’s hand. “Baby, I’m fine. I know you’re doing everything in your power, but you need to worry about yourself. You need to be focusing on school, getting into a good college. You’re too young to worry about me, and you shouldn’t need to. I’m sorry baby. I’m so sorry – “, Robert was interrupted once again by the coughing, and his monitor started to beep as his oxygen began to drop due to the lack of air.

           Alana came in, followed by Dr. Sumon, and soon Alex was rushed from the room as they tried to settle her father down.

           Minutes felt like hours as the monitor stopped beeping and Alana was able to get her father settled down. Dr. Sumon spoke for a bit, but Alex was unable to hear what was being said, and Alana looked sullen as the doctor and her father continued to speak softly.

           Finally, Dr. Sumon exited the room, heading towards Alex. His face looked grim, and his eyes held pity. Alex shook her head when Dr. Sumon approached her, not sure what she wanted to hear from him.

           “Ms. Amberson, I’m sorry we have to meet like this. I’m your father’s doctor for tonight. Has Dr. Menheny had time to contact and speak with you? If not, I have no problems starting from the beginning.”

           “I… I’ve been trying to call all day, but Alana told me that it has been busy.”

           Dr. Sumon nodded, “Yes, it has been a bit busy today from what the day shift told me before they left. Ms. Amberson, as I’m sure you have just seen, your father isn’t doing too well. He doesn’t have an immune system to fight whatever infection he seems to have picked up. If, by some miracle, he can make it past this-”, he hesitated to continue, taking in Alex.

           “Please doctor, let me know what is going on.”

           “Well, your father had a scan to see where the tumor was at, and if it has continued to grow, or if the treatment has been helping. I’m sorry to say, but the tumor has grown big enough that we are unable to operate. At this time, you might want to think about taking him home once he is well enough and start to prepare for his death.” Dr. Sumon watched as Alexandria started to cry. The tears welled up almost instantly, but before she allowed them to fall, she quickly scrubbed at her eyes, and they hardened with anger.

           “So, what you’re telling me, is that you all are giving up? Have you told my dad yet? I don’t think so. This isn’t what he wants. He wants to fight. He needs to fight. He can’t leave me alone… There must be more that you can do. I was told I had a couple months to get the money together. Is this what this is about? Money?! I’m trying. Just giving me another month.” Alex knew she was rambling, knew that she was angry at the wrong person, but she couldn’t think to quit now. She wouldn’t give up on her father.

           “I’m so sorry Ms. Amberson. I promise you; this is nothing to do with money and everything to do with the fact that your father’s cancer has advance past the stage of remission. Please, if we can get him better, then you should really think about taking him home and making the rest of his life as comfortable as possible. Please, think about it.” Dr. Sumon reached a handout, and placed it gently on Alexandria’s shoulder, squeezing it a little before turning to leave.

           Alex felt the tears gathering again, and this time she allowed them to fall as she thought about everything, cursing God and the universe for what was happening to her dad.