Chapter 12: Not Cancer

The doctor with the gray braid closed the door and sat on a stool so that her eyes were level with mine.

I took that as a bad sign.

Jasper sat beside me in a plastic chair with my coat across his knees.

"Ms. Larkin, I'm going to say the main thing first," she said. "It is not cancer."

I heard the words, and nothing happened.

"I'm sorry?"

"The tissue shows autoimmune pancreatitis. It's an inflammation. The mass on your scan is swollen tissue, not a tumor."

My mouth was dry.

"That can't be right. The resident said..."

"On a scan alone, this condition looks very much like pancreatic cancer," she said.

"It fools experienced people. That's why I wanted the biopsy before anyone said a number."

"She said nine months."

"She was working from a picture, and it was a reasonable guess. I'm sorry you carried it."

She spoke gently, but she did not look away.

"It responds to steroids," the doctor said. "You'll start tomorrow."

"In a few weeks the mass should shrink, and we'll scan you every six months to be safe."

"For how long?"

"For the rest of a normal life."

Beside me, Jasper made a sound I had never heard a person make.

I turned my head.

He had his hand pressed over his mouth, and his eyes were running over, and his shoulders were shaking.

"I'm okay," he said through his fingers. "Give me a second. I'm okay."

The doctor stood quietly and handed him the tissue box.

I kept looking at the floor tiles.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Billionaire Completes My Bucket List from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.