Page 49 of Obliterate

She weakly smiles and stands. We never talked about whether I would be going in with her. More than anything, I want to. I want to be that support, so I grab her hand. “Should I come with you?”

She hesitates for a moment, biting her bottom lip. “You don’t have to.”

“No, but I want to.”

She doesn’t say anything else and simply nods her head once. I stand the quickest I ever have and wrap my arm around her as we walk inside the office. I lead her to one of the chairs facing the doctor’s desk, and she sits. The seat beside her is a good yard away, so I grab and drag it over so it is right beside her.

She finally cracks a smile. “Obsessive,” she whispers.

I wiggle my brows at her as the doctor steps inside the room, closing the door behind him. I sit back, getting comfortable in the chair, but reach out, taking her hand in mine. The doctor looks at our entwined hands but doesn’t react. “How are you feeling after the biopsy, Ingrid?”

She exhales, then shrugs. “Physically… okay, a little tender.”

The doctor smiles, grabbing his folder and sitting taller in his chair. “It’s good that you have support with you, Ingrid. I have your biopsy results. It’s good news and bad news, I’m afraid.”

We both tense up as he continues, “The good news is you have atypical ductal hyperplasia. A condition which occurs in the lining of the milk ducts of the breasts… basically, the number of cells lining the ducts or lobules of the breasts has increased, andthatis what is causing the lump. The good part of this is that your ADH isnotcancerous.”

A bright smile lights my face as I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding. I turn to Ingrid, tears well in her eyes as she smiles back at me.

The doctor continues, “But, the bad news…” my head snaps back to face the doctor, my breath instantly catching again, “… is that the abnormal cells in ADH have a high risk of becoming cancerous in the future. You’ll need surgery to remove the abnormal cells, including a margin around the cells to ensure we get everything so it doesn’t come back.”

I glance at Ingrid, and she bobs her head like she’s trying to take all this in, but not all that successfully. “Surgery?”

The doctor subtly nods. “Unfortunately, yes. There are options with this, Ingrid. If you want to be extra cautious, we can remove the entire breast or even do a double mastectomy, though in this case, I don’t think we need to be that extreme, but again, that’syourdecision.”

Ingrid clears her throat. “If we remove the abnormal cells and margins, what are the odds of it returning, and will I need further treatment?”

“Further treatment more than likely not. I can’t give you a guarantee until we get the pathology back and check those margins, but I am happy with the diagnosis of ADH and the fact that we should be able to remove it with a lumpectomy. You will have a scar, though.”

She lets out a long breath like her body is relaxing. “A scar I can handle, and if you don’t think I need to have the full breast removed, then I don’t want to do that.”

I sit back, my stomach tightening in apprehension. “Doc, shouldn’t she get the breast removed to be extra cautious?”

Ingrid narrows her eyes on me like she’s shocked that I am even suggesting that right now, but I want her to make the best decision for her future health.

The doctor exhales. “Removing the breasts is a big step. Is it the safest option? Possibly. But there are still no guarantees. It lowers the recurrence rate by ninety percent, but there’s always that small chance it will return, no matter what option you choose. That’s why we thoroughly monitor you with aftercare for years to check for abnormalities to make sure there are no changes to cells in both breasts. And if there are, we will act immediately.”

“But surely it’s better to be safer and remove the breast than to do a lumpectomy?” I reiterate, and Ingrid turns, grabbing my hand.

“South, I already feel like this is monumental. Please… just let me make this decision the way I need to.”

Rubbing the back of my neck in frustration, I stand from the chair and start pacing. The idea of losing Ingrid to this scares the hell out of me.

“I’m going to give you both some time. I’ll be back shortly,” the doctor states as he stands and walks for the exit.

The sound of the door closing behind him grates on my last nerve.

I try to control my breathing as I pace the terrible carpet.

Ingrid stands and walks to me. “Romeo, I need you to calm down.”

She reaches out, grabs my arms, and forces me to look at her. “I don’t understand why you would put yourself at risk like this?” I snap louder than I intended.

She reaches out, grabs my hand, and places it on her breast.

I furrow my brows. “What are you—”

“Don’t tell me that touching me like this doesn’t affect you,” she states.

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