Fic: Forget Me Not 1/1 - Cancer awareness day
Forget Me Not 1/1
Fandom: Supernatural (spoilers Season One: Faith)
Character: Layla
Warning: illness
Words: ~600
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I don't own SPN or any characters... ever.
Summary: Her prognosis had been one year. Sixteen months later, Layla decides that it’s time to celebrate.
Layla looked into the mirror and considered her own reflexion. She smiled dimly at the fact that it was three days from Halloween and she knew she didn’t need a costume this year. No hat would do the trick just fine. They had shaved the right side of her head and there was a four inch cut arching across the side of her skull held together by black stitches on red skin. The hair started to grow again already, only a stubbly dusting on her pale skin, hardly visible with it’s soft blond. The other half of her head was a short, messy, uncut assembly of light hair.
Her mother had brought her a bright colored scarf to wear across her head but it still lay neatly folded in her bag at the foot end of her hospital bed. She didn’t need it. If she could defy a death-sentence, she could walk around without hiding as well.
Sixteen months ago she was told that she’d be dead within a year. She was resigned, her mother desperate. They had tried it all, even miracles. When she had finally given up on her miracle, it had happened. Wasn’t that strange? It wasn’t a priest who brought her hope, but a doctor.
The tricky thing with the tumor slowly growing in her head was that it wasn’t bad by the oncologists definition. They said it was benign. But it still grew compressing her brain and it was already so big they could not remove it safely. Inoperable they had said, simply because if they took it out, half her head would leave with it.
When her mother was near a breakdown, Layla had decided to see one last doctor. One very last life line. He was supposed to be good and radical at the same time. He had told her that they could try but it might kill her earlier than her tumor if they failed. She had understood, she had seen no choice.
The neoadjuvant therapy had been hard. Radiation and chemotherapy over months had taken their toll and it was only the third recipe of chemo that finally caught onto the tumor. They had been close to giving up. The tumor mass could be reduced by fifty percent, which was good but brain radiation left her not just tired and nauseated like the chemotherapy but it also messed with her memory and she still couldn’t concentrate the way she had before it all started. In the end they had cut it out. They couldn’t do in ‘in sano’… R0 resection in the brain is not possible, they said. But the doctors said that benign tumors grow really slow, which was why she hadn’t noticed that half her left hemisphere was being squeezed away by cancer until it was too late - nearly too late anyway. Now she had to have check ups regularly and if recidives would occur, they’d cut them out before they got too big. She’d make them.
The surgery had taken hours and only twelve days later they would release her. She didn’t need any more chemo now since her tumor didn’t spread like malignities did. Any of the less radical doctors hadn’t even considered chemo for her kind of tumor. It had been hell.
Layla looked into the mirror and smiled. She would go out for Halloween this year, her costume was custom made. She knew some kids who’d be thrilled by such a realistic mask, the hematoma around the side of her face just adding to the flair. She grabbed her bag from the end of the bed and hugged her mother when she threw her an irritated look at not wearing the scarf. Her mother might think the memory loss were the reason and Layla let her. She forgot a lot lately due to brain radiation and surgery but strangely enough she didn’t forget the memory loss itself.
One year they had said. That was one and a half years ago. She’d tell this story to her grandkids, she knew she would.
If only she could remember who else she wanted to tell it to…
End
A/N: I'm a little sad because this is not really what I wanted tow write. Some of my friends know that I work with cancer patients and this theme is all around me. I'm not sure if I did it justice here but I wanted to do something hopeful and I couldn't make myself write anything closer to home because these stories would only make you cry.
This is dedicated to all our friends, family members and loved ones affected by cancer and those loving people with such a serious illness. You never know how strong you can be until you have no other choice. I love you all! *hugs* B
Fandom: Supernatural (spoilers Season One: Faith)
Character: Layla
Warning: illness
Words: ~600
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I don't own SPN or any characters... ever.
Summary: Her prognosis had been one year. Sixteen months later, Layla decides that it’s time to celebrate.
Layla looked into the mirror and considered her own reflexion. She smiled dimly at the fact that it was three days from Halloween and she knew she didn’t need a costume this year. No hat would do the trick just fine. They had shaved the right side of her head and there was a four inch cut arching across the side of her skull held together by black stitches on red skin. The hair started to grow again already, only a stubbly dusting on her pale skin, hardly visible with it’s soft blond. The other half of her head was a short, messy, uncut assembly of light hair.
Her mother had brought her a bright colored scarf to wear across her head but it still lay neatly folded in her bag at the foot end of her hospital bed. She didn’t need it. If she could defy a death-sentence, she could walk around without hiding as well.
Sixteen months ago she was told that she’d be dead within a year. She was resigned, her mother desperate. They had tried it all, even miracles. When she had finally given up on her miracle, it had happened. Wasn’t that strange? It wasn’t a priest who brought her hope, but a doctor.
The tricky thing with the tumor slowly growing in her head was that it wasn’t bad by the oncologists definition. They said it was benign. But it still grew compressing her brain and it was already so big they could not remove it safely. Inoperable they had said, simply because if they took it out, half her head would leave with it.
When her mother was near a breakdown, Layla had decided to see one last doctor. One very last life line. He was supposed to be good and radical at the same time. He had told her that they could try but it might kill her earlier than her tumor if they failed. She had understood, she had seen no choice.
The neoadjuvant therapy had been hard. Radiation and chemotherapy over months had taken their toll and it was only the third recipe of chemo that finally caught onto the tumor. They had been close to giving up. The tumor mass could be reduced by fifty percent, which was good but brain radiation left her not just tired and nauseated like the chemotherapy but it also messed with her memory and she still couldn’t concentrate the way she had before it all started. In the end they had cut it out. They couldn’t do in ‘in sano’… R0 resection in the brain is not possible, they said. But the doctors said that benign tumors grow really slow, which was why she hadn’t noticed that half her left hemisphere was being squeezed away by cancer until it was too late - nearly too late anyway. Now she had to have check ups regularly and if recidives would occur, they’d cut them out before they got too big. She’d make them.
The surgery had taken hours and only twelve days later they would release her. She didn’t need any more chemo now since her tumor didn’t spread like malignities did. Any of the less radical doctors hadn’t even considered chemo for her kind of tumor. It had been hell.
Layla looked into the mirror and smiled. She would go out for Halloween this year, her costume was custom made. She knew some kids who’d be thrilled by such a realistic mask, the hematoma around the side of her face just adding to the flair. She grabbed her bag from the end of the bed and hugged her mother when she threw her an irritated look at not wearing the scarf. Her mother might think the memory loss were the reason and Layla let her. She forgot a lot lately due to brain radiation and surgery but strangely enough she didn’t forget the memory loss itself.
One year they had said. That was one and a half years ago. She’d tell this story to her grandkids, she knew she would.
If only she could remember who else she wanted to tell it to…
End
A/N: I'm a little sad because this is not really what I wanted tow write. Some of my friends know that I work with cancer patients and this theme is all around me. I'm not sure if I did it justice here but I wanted to do something hopeful and I couldn't make myself write anything closer to home because these stories would only make you cry.
This is dedicated to all our friends, family members and loved ones affected by cancer and those loving people with such a serious illness. You never know how strong you can be until you have no other choice. I love you all! *hugs* B