Page 48 of Of Literature and Lattes
“Get her up.”
Dad. Alyssa frowned. He sounded upset. He should be, she thought. Mom cheated on him. She wiggled from someone’s cold hands. “I want to sleep.”
“Hold still.” Janet spoke again. “We’re taking you to the hospital.”
Alyssa fully woke to find her dad pushing her in a wheelchair and her mom walking next to her. White walls, blue industrial carpet. Massive double doors opened as they passed beneath a bright red sign indicating the emergency room.
“We’re going straight in. Chris is waiting for us.” Her mom surged ahead.
Chris? Ah... Alyssa remembered. The green eyes. The man from the store. The man from the pickup truck who took her to Jasper’s... Madeline’s boyfriend... One of her mom’s best friends...
Only he was no longer dressed in jeans and a button-down as he’d been that first and only time she’d met him. Now he wore a white doctor’s coat. He reached down and helped her from the wheelchair and onto a bed.
“Ulcers, huh?” He tapped on a tablet.
“I’ve had them for a couple years. They’ve gotten worse since Christmas. I lost my job, and the stress...” She didn’t want to say more and hoped her parents wouldn’t. To be in a hospital, yet be part of the pain and scandal XGC caused, was too much. She wondered what any doctor would say and feared it would be far worse than any interview she’d encountered. The vitriol and disdain would be justified. She sank deeper into the bed.
Chris only nodded, then directed his attention back to the tablet. “Let’s cover a little ground. Can you tell me where the pain is? Sharp? Stabbing? Throbbing? Can you tell me if it bursts, then recedes? Or does it ramp up? Is it cyclical? Can you tell me...”
Alyssa struggled to keep up with Chris’s litany of questions as he hooked her up to various monitors. At one point he waved away a nurse and situated the IV in the top of her hand himself.
Finally he rested a hand on her shoulder. “You did great. I’m going to refer you to the GI physician on duty. I expect she’ll order an endoscopy to get definitive answers.”
“Can they burst though?”
“To be honest...” He slid his hand down her arm and squeezed her hand. Her bones felt almost bruised against the slight pressure. “It doesn’t sound like we’re dealing with ulcers at all, so hold off on that thought. Let me get Dr. Laghari.”
He left the room, and Janet grabbed the hand he had held. She held it gently, as if it were infinitely precious to her. Alyssa felt no pain. She looked to their hands and could not tell where her mom’s began and her own ended.
“Are you hurting now?” Janet pointed to a series of smiley faces on the wall. Bold words declared them to be the Wong-Baker Pain Rating Scale.
“Seven,” Alyssa whispered.
“That’s bad.” Janet looked to Seth. “That’s really bad.”
“It’s better than eight through ten.” Alyssa’s hand pulled away as she curled into her side.
“You’re tough as nails.” Seth sighed. “A seven for you is everybody else’s ten.”
“I’m not. I just pretend to be,” Alyssa whispered.
“That’s it. I’ll go—”
“Don’t.” Seth captured Janet’s arm. “Chris’ll do his best for her, as fast as he can. You know that.”
Bad move, Dad. Alyssa thought. She always has to be right.
But Janet didn’t move, or argue. Instead she turned into her ex-husband’s arms. Seth pulled her close and wrapped her tight. “It’ll be okay, J.”
Alyssa closed her eyes and, at some level, felt peace.
Some time later Dr. Laghari entered, introduced herself, and launched into another series of questions—far longer and more personal than Chris’s. They picked at places within Alyssa she hadn’t wanted to face or had even purposely pushed away.
Yes, she did experience some joint pain... No, she hadn’t been trying to lose weight. She just couldn’t seem to gain... No, she wasn’t the best sleeper. She was awake two to three hours in the middle of every night... Feelings of anxiety? Panic? Restlessness? Yes. Yes. And yes. But her job had been incredibly stressful... Life had been incredibly stressful.
“It’s like pebbles cause gigantic waves within me rather than tiny ripples, but won’t that just go away as things calm down?”
Dr. Laghari didn’t nod in confirmation. Instead she tilted her tablet to Alyssa and handed her a stylus.
