This post was written in response to Writing 101: Dark Clouds on the (Virtual) Horizon.
Trigger Warning: This deals with several issues including eating, illness and allusion to death. If you are triggered by any of these please do yourself a favour and don’t read this post.
“Don’t worry. I only ate, like, half a granola bar.” The slight girl shrugged her shoulders. “It’ll be fine.”
An older lady, hair pulled back in a strict bun, shook her head. “You weren’t suppose to eat anything.”
“The whole bar only had 80 calories. I only ate half so that’s not much.” The girl looked into her bag, moving a few items until she pulled out what was left of a granola bar. “See. That’s like, I don’t know. But it’s not enough to worry about.”
“You were told not to eat anything.”
“Please mother. My weight’s probably less than it was last week. I don’t think it matters if I ate half a granola bar.”
“It could still make you sick. This is a new medication and you don’t know how you’ll react.”
“That’s why I’ve got the other pills. They’re suppose to keep me from throwing up.”
“Emily?” A young man in bright blue scrubs walked over to the pair. “I’m Jeff. I’m one of the nurses here in the day center. Is this your first time here?”
Emily clutched her mother’s hand but nodded at Jeff.
“Let me show the two of you to the day room.”
Jeff lead them down the sterile corridor to a large room where hospital beds and medical chairs lined the walls. A few people sat, their arms attached to bags of clear liquid.
“I’ll let you sit down here in seat 3. Do you have a pick or will we be going through IV?”
Emily shrugged off her jacket revealing a tube sticking out of her right upper arm. “I have a pick.”
“And have you taken your Ondansetron?”
Emily nodded.
“Then this should be simple. Just relax while I get your chemo.”
***
Just a brief note to explain some of this scene. The conversation was overheard one day while I was waiting for my SO’s Vidaza (chemo) to finish. The Ondansetron was the drug prescribed to my SO to keep him from throwing up after the treatment. In fact, I used his empty bottle of Ondansetron to get the spelling. 🙂 And yes, my SO had a pick in his right upper arm to help him get his chemo and blood transfusions.
