The Law of Second Chances

32

Even though Charlie was back in town and he needed the time to prepare for Henry’s hearing, Jack decided to make the trip to Miami for Pat’s Monday morning chemotherapy treatment. Pat had not slept the night before and she was having severe pain again, which was unusual; her pain generally subsided when she started chemotherapy. Jack wanted to talk to Dr. Wright about it in person.

“This is not a good sign, Mr. Tobin,” Dr. Wright told him when he described Pat’s pain. “It means that the tumors are withstanding the chemotherapy and are growing again. We won’t know for certain until we do the scans, which are scheduled for next week. I’m going to prescribe ten milligrams of Oxycontin for her to take once a day, and I’m going to give you a prescription for Percocet, which you can give her anytime she has pain. I’ll be calling your local doctor to coordinate all this.”

“We don’t have a local doctor.”

“I have records from a local doctor who was treating your wife.”

“That would have been Dr. Hawthorne. We stopped going to him because he failed to realize that Pat had a serious problem, even though she was complaining of pain for nine months.”

Dr. Wright didn’t respond. Jack didn’t blame her. He was a lawyer, after all, and his words could easily be taken as a prelude to a lawsuit. “I’ll make a few calls today and find someone local for your wife. I think we’ll also set up her chemotherapy locally after next week. She doesn’t need to be making this trip. I’ll call you later this afternoon with your new doctor’s name.”

On the way home, Pat was almost giddy as she talked and laughed up a storm. The drugs did that to her. For Jack, considering what he had heard from the doctor that day, it seemed almost surreal.

Jack maintained a separate office in Bass Creek away from home, even though he no longer had any clerical help. He still liked the ritual of going to the office. It was quiet, and he could shut everything else out and do his work. He had four days left to prepare for Henry’s hearing.

On Tuesday night when he returned home, Pat was still in bed. He had come to expect this for the first couple of days after chemo, but when she was still in bed on Thursday, he began to worry.

“She’s not eating either,” Charlie told him. “I can barely get those protein drinks in her. She’s losing more weight.” By this time, all her hair had fallen out. Things were happening very fast, and Jack wasn’t sure what to do. Dr. Wright had given him the name of another local doctor, but they were scheduled to be in Miami on Monday and to see Dr. Wright then anyway.

“I think we’ll just do the best we can until Monday,” he told Charlie. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re right. She seems to be comfortable, and we probably wouldn’t be able to get an appointment with the local doctor before Monday.”

He called Judge Fletcher’s office and told her secretary the problem.

“I can’t start until Tuesday with my wife in her present condition. The judge has set aside the week for this hearing, but I don’t think it will last for more than three days anyway.”

“I’m sure the judge won’t have a problem with the delay, Mr. Tobin. So, unless you hear different from me in the next fifteen minutes, you can notify your witnesses that we’ll start on Tuesday.”

Next, Jack called Henry to let him know about Pat’s condition and the reason for the delay. Up to now, he had not told Henry about Pat’s cancer.

“Jack, I know you’ve had your reasons for not telling me about your wife’s condition. I even think I know what those reasons are. From now on, though, keep me abreast of everything. Pat told you to stick with me; now I’m telling you that her medical condition has priority over my hearing. I don’t care if you have to delay the hearing for a year, Jack-make sure Pat gets well.”

It was a long weekend. Pat did not get out of bed once, even though Charlie and Jack constantly encouraged her to do so. She wasn’t eating either. It was a chore just to get her to take a few sips of her protein drink through a straw.

“We’ve got to change something,” Jack told Charlie outside Pat’s room. “This particular chemotherapy treatment doesn’t seem to be working.”

Charlie agreed. “We’ll take it up with the doctor on Monday,” she said.

On Monday morning, Pat had a CT scan and an ultrasound. In the afternoon, Dr. Wright examined her. Jack took her to both appointments in a wheelchair because she was too weak to walk.

“I’m okay, Jack. I’m just tired,” she told him. It was the same thing she’d been saying to him and Charlie all week.

“I’m going to put her in the hospital for a few days,” the doctor told Jack and Charlie after the examination. “She needs some IV fluids to get her stabilized and a blood transfusion. Her red blood count is low.”

A blood transfusion. The words hit Jack like a sledgehammer.

“It’s not unusual, Mr. Tobin,” the doctor explained. “Patients on chemotherapy often have to have blood transfusions. What’s troublesome is that she is not eating, she’s losing weight-and she’s in pain. The scans will tell us what we need to know, and we can set a game plan from there. Okay?”

Unable to say anything, Jack just nodded. “You can go in and visit her if you want. I’m having an ambulance take her to the hospital.”

Jack was about to follow the doctor into Pat’s room when Charlie grabbed his arm and held it.

“You can’t go in there looking like that, Jack,” she told him. “Pat will know the doctor gave you bad news. Get yourself together. And remember, it’s our job to keep her spirits up.”