Page 10 of Undefeated Love
The nurse stepped to the front to the waiting area and called, “Mrs. Malone.”
Katlin glanced around the large room primarily filled with dependent wives. She waited for a woman to stand and follow her through the brown door. No one stood. Maybe the woman had gone to the bathroom.
“Mrs. Malone,” she called again a little louder, craning her neck, looking for the woman. The nurse checked her sheet then called a third time, “Katlin Malone.”
Katlin recognized her first name. Oh, shit. They were calling her. She’d gone by Katlin Callahan for nearly five years. She hadn’t used her military ID card in that long. After joining Homeland Security, they’d been ordered to only use their Homeland card, which said she was Katlin Callahan.
She stood and strode to the nurse. Once they’d stepped inside the hallway, she immediately apologized. “I’m so sorry that I didn’t recognize my name. After my husband died five years ago, I now go by Katlin Callahan.”
“You’re still his dependent and you’re active duty, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Lieutenant Commander Malone, please follow me.”
Katlin looked around the exam room and grinned. “These all look the same, don’t they. No matter which coastline or military facility, I swear they are all gray and showing their age.” She swept her gaze over the minimalistic room. Gray walls, scarred gray cabinets filled with standard supplies, bare gray walls in need of repainting, and the patient table with a clean sheet of paper that didn’t quite cover the table.
“I wouldn’t know,” the young nurse claimed. “San Diego is my first duty station.”
Katlin took a good look at the girl and wondered how long ago she’d graduated from high school. The women she worked with every day were pushing thirty.
Katlin suddenly felt old as she sat on the exam table.
After the standard weight, blood pressure, temperature, and pulse/ox, the nurse called up Katlin’s file on the in-room computer. She gave a perfunctory smile then asked, “Why are we seeing you today?”
“I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” She folded her hands in her lap and stared at them for a second, feeling guilty that she was getting a second opinion. Her neurologist, Dr. Tobias, was supposed to be one of the leading authorities on traumatic brain injuries.
“Is there any chance that you’re pregnant?” the nurse asked.
“Absolutely none.” Once again that truth speared through her heart.
“Are your periods regular?”
“No. I spend a great deal of time outside the United States. We control our periods with hormones. Uterine bleeding in the middle of a mission could be disastrous.”
The woman looked up and stared at Katlin for a long minute. “Your file says you are TDY to Homeland Security.”
Katlin nodded. “I am.” She grinned. “You don’t have anywhere near a high enough security clearance for me to tell you what I do for Homeland so don’t ask. I can tell you, though, that I don’t sit behind the desk.”
The nurse paged through a few screens of files then let out a long breath. “I think I’ll just let the doctor ask you health questions.” She rose and left the room.
Katlin stared at the blank walls and wondered what kind of art she would use to decorate these rooms. Perhaps colorful sunsets with gorgeous pinks and yellows as the sun dropped below the horizon of the ocean. Or a sunrise behind snow-peaked mountains. Colorful, that was for damn sure.
After five minutes, she hopped down and got her phone out of her purse. She considered texting her team, but they might be napping after a long day on the beach since it was pushing four-thirty in the afternoon in Miami.
Instead, she played one of the many word games that her doctors had recommended.
It was at least fifteen minutes before a Navy captain, in uniform, entered the examination room.
Katlin immediately came to attention even though she was in civilian clothes.
“Have a seat, Lieutenant Commander Malone.” He sat down on the round multi-wheeled chair and scooted it to the desk with the computer. “Your file has so many flags on it that you got kicked all the way upstairs to me. I’m Captain Rockford, chief of surgery.” He held out his hand and briefly shook hers.
He paged through several screens before turning to face her. “Your file is thicker than the Oxford dictionary. Rather than weed through everything that has happened to you, all over the world, I’m going start fresh.” He clicked the mouse several times. “I want a full blood panel on you. I see you had plenty of blood tests in the past six months, but they were all looking for specific things. I want to look at everything. Hop up on the table.”
For the next several minutes he poked and prodded her everywhere then returned to her lower abdomen. “After the blood tests, I’ll take an in-depth look at this area. I feel a mass. The blood test will give us our first indication as to what this could be. Certain elevated levels will tell us if your body is trying to fight off something.”
Katlin understood the word he didn’t use. Cancer. That was one possibility she hadn’t considered. A whole new fear ran through her. Given her history with reproductive problems, was it possible that her uterus was now infected or affected? Had purposely controlling her periods for over a decade caused this situation? Did it go back to the ovarian problems she’d had when she’d first joined the military?
