Page 44 of Resurrection Walk

There was a clipboard in a pocket attached to the pole. Ferras pulled it out and checked the notations made by the NMT. He spoke while reading.

“So, side effects?” he asked.

“Uh, the usual,” Bosch said. “Mild nausea. Feels like I’m going to throw up but I never do. Haven’t tried to stand since I got here, but I’m sure that will be an adventure.”

“Vertigo — yes, a fairly common side effect. It shouldn’t last long but we’ll want you to stay until we’re sure you’re okay to go. How’s the tinnitus?”

“Still there when I think about it or when it gets mentioned.”

“Sorry, Harry, but I have to ask.”

“If it’s all right with you, I want to go as soon as I get detached. I’m not driving, and Maddie will get me home.”

Ferras looked to Maddie for confirmation.

“I’ll get him home,” she said.

“All right, then,” Ferras said.

Ferras wrote something on the clipboard and returned it to its pocket. He turned to go.

“Nice to meet you, Maddie,” he said. “Take care of him.”

“I will,” Maddie said. “But before you go… I’m sure you have learned over the past weeks that my dad is not A-plus on communication skills. Can you tell me in layman’s terms what you’re doing to him and what this clinical trial is all about? He hasn’t really told me anything —”

“I didn’t want you to worry,” Bosch interjected.

“Happy to,” Ferras said. “As you probably know, your father’s cancer is in his bone marrow. What we’re doing here in the trial is taking a medium that has proved to be beneficial in the treatment of other cancers and trying it on his specific cancer.”

“Medium?” Maddie asked. “What does that mean?”

“It’s the isotope,” Ferras said. “Technically, it’s called lutetium one-seventy-seven. It’s been used successfully in recent years to treat prostate and other cancers. So our study and clinical trial seeks to determine if Lu one-seventy-seven therapy can achieve the same positive results with Harry’s cancer. We’ll know the results soon.”

“And how do you measure results?” Maddie asked.

“Well, in four to six weeks, we’ll bring Harry back to do a biopsy,” Ferras said. “He will definitely need a ride home from that, and the results will tell us where we stand.”

“What kind of biopsy?” Maddie asked.

“We’ll go into the bone and draw marrow to get the truest measure,” Ferras said. “But it’s invasive, and I have to say there will be discomfort. We need to go into one of the bigger bones for this, so we’ll go into the hip.”

“Can we stop talking about this?” Bosch said. “It’s not what I want to think about right now.”

“Sorry, Harry,” Ferras said again.

“One last question,” Maddie said. “After you do the biopsy, how long until you know the result?”

“Uh, not too long,” Ferras said. “Depending on what we see, we might do a second biopsy three months later.”

Maddie turned and looked pointedly at Bosch.

“You need to include me,” she said. “I want to know.”

Bosch held up his hands in surrender.

“I promise,” he said.

“I’ve heard that before,” she said.

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