That Elusive Cure 52

Once again I was at the church before the sun had properly come up. I didn’t bother with the hatch this time. Instead I slipped off my shoes and climbed in. I’d forgotten how comforting the foam was as it expanded to hold me. I raised my left hand and placed my palm on the panel in the lid.

The pod sealed me inside and the machine said, “Scan initiating.”

I felt hollow. It should be Sally in here. Not me.

“Diagnosing.”

This used to excite me. Like unwrapping a Christmas present, one that you were pretty sure of, but wouldn’t know for certain what it was until the paper came off.

“Two tumours found in the liver of 19mm and 10mm.”

At least they hadn’t grown since the last scan.

“Session four of the five recommended. One remaining to fix cancer sites. One to reverse the stoma.”

I sighed. How many sessions would Sal need? How many to make her whole again?

“Begin session?” the machine asked.

“Yes,” I said.

Vibrations moved along my body. Now I had a clue as to how the machine worked, I imagined the air in the pod being pumped with nanoparticles. Saw them entering my body with each breath. Maybe they settled on the skin and wormed their way into my capillaries? The area around my liver went warm as the vibrations concentrated on that area. Sally’s liver was failing. She was the one that needed this. Not me.

The machine stopped. “Session complete. Final session in three days’ time.”

The lid opened and I lay there for a long time staring at the ceiling.

Somehow I had to get Sally here now I knew it worked again. The fact that my body was now clear of cancer, a prospect I had thought would never again apply to me, didn’t make me jump around shrieking with joy. I didn’t crumple and cry with relief. I didn’t really experience any emotions, just an emptiness that made me sad.

I got to the hospital early and found Sally asleep. The third bed was filled now. A young woman lay there, and if I had to guess, she’d been the victim of a horrific road accident.

But Sally was my concern. Her skin had gone from merely jaundiced to an awful deep yellow colour. Her breath crackled, and she struggled with each one. A clip on her finger was monitoring her pulse and oxygen levels. Even with the mask on, the percentage of oxygen in her system wasn’t going above eighty-five percent, her pulse staying above one hundred.

Time was running out.

A nurse came in, and I called her over. “Would it be possible for me to put Sally in a wheelchair and take her outside for some fresh air?”

“Sorry, but your sister is far too poorly for that.” She turned around and attended to the new arrival.

I’d seen so many movies where patients were freed from hospitals. It seemed so easy. Put some day clothes on them, help the patient limp out. Put them in a wheelchair and simply push them out. Get a friend to help and force their way out.

“Hey Sally.” I stroked her arm, trying to wake her up.

She groaned and her eyes flickered open.

“I can make you better. You just need to trust me. Can you stand?”

Sally gave me a weak sarcastic look and without saying a word squeezed my hand. Her grip was so weak I almost missed it.

“Okay. Then I’m going to get a wheelchair. Be right back.”

I went to the corridor and spied a chair. Checking that the nurses were otherwise occupied, I took it back to the room.

Over the last couple of days Sally had acquired more tubes. She now had a catheter and as I lifted the bed covers, I realised she was wearing an adult nappy. A faint smell of poo met my nose. She had a nutrients drip and a saline drip. There was a morphine pump that I assumed the nurses were administering, because I didn’t think Sally had the strength for the button. All these wires and tubes. How was I going to get her in the chair?

As I tried to help her sit up I realised they’d hooked her up to a heart monitor. More wires emerged from under her hospital nighty and fed to pads stuck to various places on her chest.

“Come on. I’m going to need you to help. Do you want to live?”

Sally’s mouthed the word, “Yes,” from under her oxygen mask.

I unhooked the bag of urine and found a place to hang it on the wheelchair. I got the drips swapped over. Hoping some kind of alarm wouldn’t blare out, I unplugged the heart monitor. I waited for a loud sound, but none came. It kept doing its thing. Must have a battery pack, I decided and unsure how I was going to push the wheelchair and the heart monitor at the same time started to help Sally into the chair.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The nurse came in, put the tray of meds she was carrying on a counter and came at me. “Sally is very sick, you’re going to kill her if you try and move her.”

“But you don’t understand, I need to get her out of here.” I tried to wrestle her off Sally.

The nurse reached over and pressed a red button. Another nurse came running into the room.

“Call security. Now!”

“No, you don’t understand, I can make her better.” I grabbed at Sally. If I could get her in the chair, I could wheel her out, before security came.

“Are you insane? She needs to be in a hospital.” The nurse put herself in between me and Sally. Her strength surprised me. I couldn’t get past her no matter what I tried.

Two men came in, their arrival far quicker than I had thought possible. They flanked me, each grabbing an arm and dragging me away from Sally.

“No, you can’t do this! You’ll kill her. I need to get her out of here. I’ve got a machine, I can mend her!” I screamed at the nurses as the security men dragged me away.

They took me to a small room where I had to give my details and was told if I stepped foot inside the hospital again I would be arrested. My picture was taken and I had to sign away my rights to use that hospital. With the paperwork finished, the security men escorted me out the main doors and watched as I made my way to my car.

“Bastards!” I shouted and kicked a curb. They were still keeping an eye on me. I flicked them a two finger salute, but the pair of them merely raised their eyebrows.

I sat in the car and decided I’d leave when I was good and ready. My phone rang and I checked the id to see Wendy was on the line. Shit. The hospital must have phoned her. I could ignore her call. Turn off my phone and not go home. But if I could convince Wendy, take her to the machine, show her what it was capable of, then maybe she’d help me get Sally there.

“Hello?”

“What the hell do you think you were up to? Do you realise you could have killed her?” Wendy screamed though the phone, I had to hold the handset away from my head.

“Wendy, I have a plan. Let me come and get you. I’ve got to show you something. I’ve got a machine. I can fix Sally. Make her better, like none of this happened. You have to trust me.”

“A machine? You’ve got a machine?” She let out a sharp laugh.

“Yes, I do. I’ll come and get you and show you.”

“Oh yes, sounds perfectly normal. Let me get my coat.”

Thank God. If I could get Wendy on board, together we stood a chance of getting Sally there. “What a relief-”

“You think I’m serious? Kathy, you almost killed Sally today. All her vitals are worse. She was just beginning to beat this thing, and you’ve made everything worse.”

“But Wendy, I’ve got a machine, I can fix her.”

“A machine.” She laughed again. “You’re as crazy as my sister.”

“I’m not, this is real. Let me take you there.”

“Understand me. I’m not going anywhere with you. You’re not going to go anywhere near my sister. In fact stay away from all of us.”

“No, Wendy…”

She’d ended the call.

“Shit.” I hit the steering wheel. This was not the way this was supposed to go.