LIFE Interrupted

They will. Sounds like they will play Clemson if they win their game today.

That will be tough Ally.

No harder than if they gotta play Bama Dad.

Love you Ally. I need to check on Mom.

Love you too.

Kai brought him a thermometer. She had three. His father was busy helping his mother take care of an active toddler. Kai wanted to see how Sophie was doing anyway.

“Have you lost your mind?” Sophie croaked seeing her, pregnant, best friend standing in the bedroom door.

“I’m staying right here,” she held the thermometer out to Josh.

He climbed off the bed and went to Kai. “In case I’m carrying germs, I’ll just take that and step away.”

“I appreciate that.”

Kai stayed where she was while Josh went to the bed where Sophie was on her back, still shivering, still running a fever. The fever reducer had done nothing to break the temperature.

He stuck it in her ear after pushing the button. She scowled at him and rolled her eyes.

“What did you want me to do, Sophie?”

She pulled the blankets to her chin and ignored him.

When it beeped, he looked at the screen. “One hundred two.” He glanced at Kai. “I’m really worried. She hasn’t eaten anything since yesterday morning before chemo.”

“Sophie, you need to eat something. How about some soup?”

“No, you guys. Just let me be for a while. Please,” she begged.

“Josh, I would call her doctor,” Kai suggested.

“No,” Sophie grunted then covered her head. They could see the lump that was her shivering beneath the heavy blanket.

Josh texted Kai Sophie’s doctor’s number. She went to the other room to call her, so they didn’t upset her. A few minutes later, she returned to the doorway and motioned for him. He slid off the bed and went down the hall to the living room where Kai was on the phone with Doctor Roberts. She put her on speakerphone.

“Doctor Roberts, I have Josh now.”

“Hi Doctor Roberts.”

“Hi Josh. This happens because their immune system is weakened. Kai said Sophie isn’t eating.”

“Nothing in over twenty-four hours.”

“How much water has she had?”

“Since yesterday…about sixty ounces but she was throwing up in the night like usual. She’s calm again, just nauseated.”

“I’m probably going to extend her chemo out to every three weeks. She’s just not handling the treatments well. Some patients are like that.”

“Okay.” He didn’t know what that meant. Would Sophie still be all right?

“She’ll still be just fine, Josh. Try to get her to drink, water and Gatorade if nothing else. We don’t want her BP to drop like it did before because she was too dehydrated. If her temperature gets above one hundred three or you can’t get her to take in fluids, take her to the emergency room. We will need to start Sophie on fluids.”

“Okay.”