Blinding Trust (Mitchell Family, #7)(63)

“Not good!”

He patted my arm. “My friend here is going to make you more comfortable. When you wake up, I’ll be all done.” He looked at my vitals on the monitor for a second. “Today we’re going to remove the mass in your left breast. As far as the double mastectomy goes, I think we’ll wait until next month. If you want to have reconstructive implants, we can do them at the same time.”

“So I won’t be without breasts?”

He chuckled. “Not unless you want to be. Listen, if you want to read a good story, a movie star just had this same surgery done a few months ago. Until she came forward, nobody even knew it had happened. I just want you to be sure about what you want once we do this. Our main priority is removing the malignant cells today.”

“I’m ready.” Getting new breasts would take some of the worry off of me. I didn’t want to feel different. I certainly didn’t want my children looking at me like my body was falling apart. Being treated for cancer was going to be hard enough. I was going to get sick and possibly lose my hair. If there was anything that could help, I wanted to take it.

“You’re most likely going to have drains put in. It will help the access fluid leave your body to prevent infection. In the next couple days your nurse will keep checking and making sure they are doing their job. If it goes as I plan, we may be able to remove the drain before you leave the hospital. If you’re ready, I’d like to get started.”

“Let’s do this!” I put on a fake smile and watched the anesthesiologist come over and stick a needle into my IV. Before I could count to five, I was out.

I woke up in a recovery room. Colt was sitting across from me, reading a magazine. When he saw that I was awake, he came rushing over to the bed. “Hey. Are you in any pain?”

My mouth was dry, so I shook my head.

He brushed the hair away from my face. I was still hooked up to an IV for pain and even though I couldn’t feel pain, I was still irritated by the tubes. “The doctor said that everything went as planned. He said you’ll be able to go home in two days.”

I smiled, thinking about being home. I couldn’t wait to see the kids. They knew I had to have surgery, but they didn’t know what for.

He grabbed my hand and kissed it, like he always did. “Your mom went home, but she said she’d be back later tonight. Ty and Miranda called several times. They said they love you. Oh and I just want to warn you, my mom called the florist. Be prepared for flowers to be delivered.”

Colt continued to talk, but I was still so drugged that I lost track of what he was talking about. I could feel my eyes closing and I couldn’t seem to fight it.

I woke up a while later and saw the nurse checking my vitals. “How are you feelin’?”

“I’m thirsty,” I whispered.

“I will get you some ice water.”

When I didn’t see Colt, I started to get upset. “He’s outside in the hallway. He got a call and didn’t want to wake you.” She finished what she was doing. “I’ll be right back with that water.”

As she walked out, Colt walked in. He stayed with me for the next two days. In fact, the only time he left was to shower and eat. By the first evening, I was sitting up and feeling like myself again. The pain medication was through a button, and even though it was there for me to use, I tried to go without it as much as I could.

The girls were too young to visit, but Noah was old enough. I was so excited to see him walking in the room the next morning. My father had brought him after I’d talk to him on the phone. I could tell that he was a little scared to see me lying in the hospital bed. I reached out my hand and he walked right up to it. “Hi, sweetie.”

He put a vase full of flowers on the table beside me. “Hi, Mom. Does it hurt?”

“Not really bad. It’s just really tight right now. The flowers are beautiful.”

He couldn’t see where I was wrapped up since I was wearing a gown and I had a blanket over me. “ We got them on the way here. Christian and Addy were crying because they couldn’t come in. Grandma had to take them to get ice cream.”

I played with his hand. “Are you being helpful?”

“Yeah. When are you comin’ home? I don’t want to stay at their house anymore. Can’t we take care of you?”

I felt so appreciated. “I’m coming home tomorrow and Dad’s going to need your help. I’m going to be sore for a while.”

“Mom, why did they have to operate on you?” The concern in his eyes broke my heart. He just stood there waiting for me to reply.

“I had a little growth inside of my body and the doctors cut it out, so it wouldn’t make me sick.”

“Are you goin’ to be alright?” He was worried about me.

I squeezed his hand. “I am, now that you came to visit.”

He finally smiled. “I cleaned my room. Dad said we need to pitch in more. Christian cleaned hers too. We’re making a chore list to do.”

Colt winked at me. I was impressed that he was already on top of things. “Thank you for doing that. I’m sure your grandparents are going to help Dad out. Plus, you know Lucy. She won’t let you go hungry.”

“Yeah.” Noah looked around the hospital room. I knew he was uncomfortable.

I handed him the remote control. “Want to watch something with me?”