by Pepper Pace
***
Betty parked her car and tried not to get lost through the maze of instructions on how to get to Emergency. She was frantic when she finally reached the front desk.
“I’m trying to find my daughter. She’s been admitted; her name is Robin Mathena.”
The Receptionist nodded her head. “Yes, Robin Mathena.” She spoke without even looking at the computer or a list. “I’ll take you right to her. It’s been Grand Central Station for Miss Mathena.”
“What happened to her? I just got a call that she’s here and I have no idea why? Was she in an accident-?”
The nurse was walking rapidly through the hospital. “She was brought in due to bloody vomit and the fear of internal bleeding.”
“Bloody vomiting?” Robin’s mother was practically wracking her brain as to why and how. They finally got to a room and the nurse pushed the door opened. There was a crowd of white people in there. Betty rushed forward, disregarding them when she saw Robin propped up on pillows looking sick but not near death. “Honey?” Robin held out her hand to her.
“Mama.” She said hoarsely. Betty took her hands and then kissed her while she sat on the side of the bed.
“What happened?” Robin touched her throat and opened her mouth to talk and then a tall thin woman stopped forward and Betty glanced at her, distractedly.
“Hi. I’m Joyce, I’m the one that called you. Robin can’t talk right now; she just had an upper GI Endoscopy.” Betty’s eyes flitted from the woman’s to the other people in the room; two boys in wheelchairs a big girl with short spiked auburn hair and then another young girl, petite and with some problem controlling her head movement.
One boy with crazy red hair and who was evidently mentally retarded was staring at her but it was the blonde boy that had her attention. He was handsome; was he paralyzed completely? How had he and Robin met? She had just never pictured her daughter with a white boy and she could not picture them together. She turned back to Joyce Hamilton; picking on the words upper GI Endoscopy.
“Endiscope?” She turned back to Robin, squeezing her hand. “Baby, you have an ulcer?” Robin nodded quickly. “But why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was…I was g-going to.” Robin touched her throat again, voice raspy. “…Sunday.”
Betty sighed in annoyance. “Robin…”
Joyce continued talking and Betty turned to her again. “So back to the Endiscopy; the doctor was able to stop her bleeding.” She was explaining that they had cauterized the wound to stop the bleeding when Betty began shaking her head.
“I need to talk to the doctor.” She interrupted. She picked up the call button and buzzed for the nurse. “I need to see the doctor please.” She spoke into the intercom, having dismissed Joyce Hamilton completely.
Joyce rolled her eyes as if to say, ‘excuse me.’ And then she turned and sat back down in her chair allowing Robin’s mother to have her information provided by the doctor. Robin leaned back against the pillow tiredly and Jason wheeled up to her and took her hand.
“Are you okay?” Robin nodded. She was sleepy and having the scope being fed down her throat had not been pleasant. She was put to sleep and told that it wouldn’t hurt but it definitely did once she woke up.
Betty finished talking to the nurse who indicated that the doctor would be in shortly. She turned back around to see her daughter holding hands with the retarded boy. That must be her client. He was probably very distraught seeing her like this. Why was he here anyway? And who were these other people? The big girl with the spiked hair sulked from the corner where she was sitting cross legged on the floor. The smaller girl; the one that appeared to have neurological problems stood awkwardly watching everyone, and then there was her daughter’s boyfriend. She could barely get used to that; the blond boy that watched the big sulky girl more then he watched her daughter.
The red headed boy glanced at her and acted like he wanted to say something but Betty didn’t have time to meet her daughter’s clients, she sat down on the side of the bed, opposite of the wheelchaired boy and watched her daughter as she seemed to doze. Then Robin’s eyes popped open, just like they used to when she was a baby trying so hard to fight sleep, her grey-green eyes latched onto hers and then darted to the boy’s.
“Mama.” She said. “This is Jason Hamilton. This is the person I’ve been telling you about. I was going to tell you Sunday that Jason’s my boyfriend.”
Betty’s eyes moved quickly to the crazy looking, red-haired boy. She stood up and turned to the blonde boy that was sitting across the room, and then again back to the head flopping, muscle jerking, wild haired boy that was still holding her daughter’s hand.
Betty couldn’t say anything. Boyfriend. THIS was her boyfriend?!
Jason and Betty stared at each other, her mouth had dropped open and she closed it rapidly.
“Hello Mrs. Mathena. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He said in a stilted, slurred manner.
Oh my god…After a long while she remembered to speak. “Well…hello.” Her voice sounded short even to her own ears, which is something she rarely noticed. This time she couldn’t help it. She stared at Robin who was watching her almost fearfully. Oh yeah…she should be. When she got this girl alone there was going to be hell to pay! Not telling her about this bleeding ulcer was bad enough! But dating this…this…She had no words to describe her disgust.
A white coated man came into the room holding a clipboard. He scanned the room full of people in surprise before coming to the bed. He offered his hand to Mrs. Mathena.
“I’m Dr. Sarma. Are you the mother?”
She was happy to have something else to focus on other than the room full of misfits. “Yes I am. My daughter was bleeding internally?”
“Ahh. Indeed she was.” He gave Robin an almost loving look, perhaps because he was the specialist that had treated her just a few days before. “Your daughter has a very big hole in her stomach but it hasn’t bled through. Good news is that the test came back negative for the H. Pylori virus which is a bacteria that can cause an ulcer. It’s contagious and she doesn’t have it.” Robin had already heard this but she watched her mother’s expression closely, knowing that what the doctor was going to tell her next would be very upsetting to her.
“What we do now is try to determine the cause of Robin’s ulcer. The ulcer is not the disorder. The ulcer is the effect of a disorder. It could be Crohns disease, it could be cancer or any number of other things. We’ve taken a biopsy and will have the results back in a few days.”
Betty sat down heavily on the bed. “Cancer…” She said weakly. No, not again…
Robin sat up and leaned forward. “It’s okay, Mama. I’m going to be alright.” She hugged her mother close. After what they had gone through with Daddy’s illness, she knew that hearing about any chance of cancer would be tough on her. She just wanted to explain that this was not abnormal to her and that everyone was blowing it all out of proportion. She had an ulcer, she puked, there was blood in it. End of story. The irritable bowel is something she’d been dealing with forever. And she had an ulcer because she had a hard time dealing with her father’s death. Period. That was it. It wasn’t cancer!
“So, how soon will we get the results back?” Betty asked, eyes watery.
“We hope to get the results back in two days.” Dr. Sarma consulted his clipboard, flipping some pages. “Robin. I need to give you a blood transfusion and then you can leave.”
“No.” Her mother said adamantly. “No blood transfusion. That’s how people catch diseases!”
Dr. Sarma gave her a long look before he shrugged his thin shoulders. “It’s fine. Without the blood transfusion, Robin, I want you to stay over night and no driving for four weeks.”
“What?!” Robin said quickly. She didn’t want to stay here and there was no way that she would be stranded without her car for a month.
“You lost a lot of blood, young lady. If you lose much more it could be…deadly. I don’t want you dr
iving because if you should get into an accident, you reserve blood just isn’t there.”
Robin was shaking her head. “I want the transfusion.”
“Robin.” Mrs. Mathena said in disapproval. “Don’t be crazy. You need to stay off your feet. You’ll come back to the house and…” Her eyes swept over Jason. “…give your job a break for a while.”
Robin was breathing fast. “Mom, I’m not at death’s door. I vomited and there was blood in it. Because I have an ulcer, right Dr. Sarma! I’m not going to drop dead am I?”
“No. Not unless it bleeds through. And that’s not going to happen because we’re treating it.” He gave Robin’s hand a brief pat. “But if the ulcer did come completely through the stomach wall, you could bleed to death in a very short time. Three hours. So, yes Robin, this is very serious. Rudolph Valentino, Rudyard Kipling and J.R.R. Tolkein are some noteworthy people that have died of a bleeding ulcer.”
“Charlie Parker died of an ulcer, too!” Robin’s mother cried out. “Don’t tell me that it’s not potentially deadly.” Robin scratched her head but didn’t speak.
Dr. Sarma looked at Robin. “So are we going to admit you?” Robin nodded reluctantly. Dr. Sarma was looking at his files. “So, I see that you have been prescribed birth control pills. Is this your primary form of birth control or do you have a back up, because the antibiotics will compromise the pill.”
Robin’s eyes bugged and she stared at the Doctor in disbelief for bringing something like that up in front of her mother! Betty didn’t speak but her pale face flamed. Robin began to sweat and she stuttered her response to the doctor.
“No-we…just condoms.”
“What?!” Robin’s mother leaped to her feet. “You actually are having sex with this boy? Oh Robin!” She exclaimed and turned away from the bed. She had to shut her eyes to keep the picture of that disgusting boy drooling over her daughter and pawing at her with his clawed hands. How could she let herself be touched by him?! How could this be happening? Was she trying to punish her; another form of defiance? Maybe something actually was wrong with Robin’s head…
Joyce Hamilton was watching her with narrowed eyes. Her foot was shaking anxiously and she appeared to be at her limit. Thus far she hadn’t said a word, but her eyes told another story.
Dr. Sarma looked back and forth from Robin and her mother in surprise. He seemed to blush behind the brown skin of his face. “Um…why don’t we have you all leave the room while I speak to the patient in private?”
Joyce Hamilton licked her lips and nodded. Her eyes narrowed and she walked out of the room. Amberly followed and then Peter and then Belinda slowly unfolded her form from the floor, seeming reluctant to leave.
Jason reached out and gripped Robin’s hands. There seemed a million things that he wanted to say but he didn’t speak. His brows gathered in concern and then he wheeled away. Dr. Sarma looked at Betty and waited patiently.
“Well for god’s sake! You don’t expect me to leave with the rest of those people, do you? This is my daughter!”
The doctor gave her a firm look. “Yes please.” Betty shook her head in disbelief. “I won’t be long.” He added.
Betty took a long time to leave; as if the doctor didn’t have a list of patients to see. She bent slowly down to kiss Robin’s cheek. She then smoothed her short hair and finally she left the room.
“I’m so sorry.” Dr. Sarma said. “I had no idea that saying the words ‘birth control’ would create such a strong reaction; especially since you are an adult. Most mothers and daughters that I meet have an open opinion about the use of birth control.”
“It’s okay, Dr. Sarma.” Robin’s face was constricted. “It’s not your fault, I never…well she didn’t know that I was sexually active.”
“Robin.” The doctor sighed. “You know, it’s a myth that stress creates ulcers. But it certainly doesn’t help them. We stopped the bleeding and they can heal, but if you continually experience stress that will just produce more enzymes that flood your system and aggravate the condition.
“Now, my suggestion to you is to put an end to what creates stress in your life.” He gave her a meaningful look. She nodded, aware that the Doctor was not necessarily talking about ‘things’ but possibly ‘people’.
“Now, with that said, shall we start the blood transfusion?”
She nodded and smiled. “Yes.”
Chapter 15
In the hall, Joyce Hamilton sat in one of the plastic chairs located in the small waiting area at the end of the hall. She was in bad need of a cigarette but had no intentions of leaving her son in the presence of the woman that had looked at him as if he was the dirt beneath her feet. She should be all in that bitch’s ass, but not in front of Robin. She wouldn’t do a thing to bring that poor girl any more stress. She could plainly see that her mother had beaten all of the fight out of her. But if she tried that shit with her son, there would be hell to pay, for real!
This is always how it turned out. There was always someone to fight; principals at the school that didn’t want her son, doctor’s that disregarded him, Aids that hurt him…Now this bitch that looked at him as if he was nothing.
Robin’s mother finally came out of the room and found a seat away from the rest of them. Joyce stood up and walked over to her. Jason looked at his mother warily.
“Hello.” She said. Betty Matheny looked up distractedly.
“Hello.”
“I guess this is a heluva way to meet, huh?”
Betty grimaced. “It is.” She looked away before forcing her eyes back to the taller woman who was standing over her. “Thank you for calling me.” She sighed and had such a sad look on her face that Joyce’s anger began to melt. She sat down next to her.
“My son is a good kid.”
She grimaced. “I’m sure he is. Perhaps for…” Her eyes rested on the tiny girl with the same muscle condition that he obviously had.
“What do you mean?” Mrs. Hamilton asked sharply.
“I mean; my daughter shouldn’t be dating your son. Now…if you can’t get that then I’m sorry. He’s probably a great guy, but not for my daughter.”
Everyone watched them and Jason felt weak with fear. He was praying that his mother wouldn’t beat up his girlfriend’s mother.
“Mom,” he said. She looked at him. “Please.” Mrs. Hamilton had an angry look on her face but she stood.
“I’m going to go now,” she announced. Then she walked away. She turned and looked at Robin’s mother. “It’s your daughter that should be proud that my son chose her.” Mrs. Mathena scowled as the woman left the room.
Jason followed after his mother. “Mom.” Joyce stopped with a tired sigh. Jason continued to wheel towards her until he was right in front of her. “Thank you. Thank you Mom, you were great with her.” Her face softened. This was the first time that she’d had a chance to be alone with him.
“Jason, I am so sorry, son. I apologized to Robin. I jumped to the wrong conclusion and…maybe I’m what made her sick.”
He was shaking his head. “It’s not your fault. It’s my fault. We argued yesterday and…I knew she wasn’t taking her medicine and I stressed her-”
“You’re going to have to take special care with her, you know that right? You saw what type of mother she has.”
“Yes, I know. I will. And I know that you didn’t mean any harm…I want your key, though.” He held out his hand.
She gave him a steady look. “What if something happens to you, Jason?”