Decisions are Tough-Friends Make it Easier

Clarabelle and Shandy sat in the waiting room of the breast health center, Clarabelle missed Herbie, knowing he would have been there for her, but Shandy was a great comfort, just being there, nothing needed to be said, “I am grateful for you coming with me today,” Clarabelle said to Shandy before Shandy then reached her arm around Clarabelle’s shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze, causing Clarabelle to calm within and consider how fortunate she was to have met Shandy; After all, who knew this would happen like this, Clarabelle felt warm in her tummy as she thought about how Herbie must have sent this angel her way.

“Clair,” Shandy said, leaving Clarabelle with a knowing smile, as that is what Herbie called her, “would you want me to go back with you or are you more comfortable seeing the doctor alone,” Shandy asked, already suspecting that the answer would have her go with Clarabelle, and she was correct, to which Shandy smiled and offered some thoughts, “you know, I had to go back to my breast doctor too once and it turned out that I just had a negative blip in my mammogram, which they looked a little closer with an ultrasound, and it was all okay.”

Pretty soon, it was time for Clarabelle to go back to the examination room and Shandy followed, when they went in the room there was an ultrasound set up for her, for which it was explained that they needed to do an ultrasound to inspect the supposed lump or mass, and Clarabelle was instructed to sit at the table and they would examine her shortly; the technician came in and performed the ultrasound, followed by the doctor who looked at the report and did another look at the results, “Mrs. Jameson, it looks like you have a lump which we need to look at closer; this will require admission to the hospital where we will need to remove and test the lump; If it is benign, you will go home that same day after stitches, and if it is malignant, we would need to do a possible mastectomy.”

Clarabelle broke out into cold sweats and after wiping her brow with the tissues Shandy handed her, she looked at the doctor and said that she would have to think about it, after all, she was not getting any younger and did not know if she would need such a surgery only to turn around and die, and wouldn’t the insurance not cover it all, and so many other concerns, such as how she would manage all this and then she just sat and stared at her hands, turning her wedding band around and round on her finger and the doctor told her that the nurse would go over all the risk factors and how as much as he recommended the surgery, it was her choice what to do, and the doctor left, and the nurse took over, explaining how it would be either way, while Shandy focused on each thing the nurse said so she could help her new friend with her understanding, clearly noticing that Clarabelle had an overwhelmed look in her eyes, at times putting her hands over her mouth in disbelief.

“Can Clair and I have some time alone to talk things over,” Shandy asked the nurse, to which the nurse nodded and stepped out of the exam room; Shandy sat down so she could look Clarabelle in the eye and talked with her about the pros and cons of all that was just discussed with the doctor and nurse; taking Clarabelle’s hands in hers, she asked her what she needed, as this was her own decision.

“Shandy, it is so kind of you to come with me here today, and now I feel real bad that I have put you through so much with someone you only met today; if Herbie were here, and I think he is here, in spirit, I think he would tell me I need to do what I think is best for me, but to be honest, I don’t know what is best, so what I am going to do is get this over with, it may be something or it may not, but I may ask, well, hope for the best; After all, I have a new friend I would like to get to know,” to which Shandy grinned from ear to ear, and reached forward to give Clarabelle a big hug, assuring her she would be there no matter what, to which Clarabelle responded, “you are a good woman to go the distance with me, my friend.”

There you have it, this is this weeks installment to the continuing story of Clarabella and Shandy and perhaps a little of the late Herbie for the Six Sentence Story this week.

This weeks word provided by Denise is DISTANCE. Perhaps you would like to join us this week with your story using this prompt word. All you have to do is go HERE to link up.

Link to last week’s story to catch up.