“Have you seen Alyssa ’bout it?” The corners of his mouth twitch. “I mean, Dr. Cole?”
I shake my head and pull out my chair next to his. “Figured it wouldgo away on its own.” I lower my ass onto the chair, my body groaning at the effort.
“If it’s viral, sure. But not if it’s bacterial. Then you’ll need antibiotic drops.” He turns toward me and makes a come-here gesture with his finger. “Lemme have a look.”
A smug smile tugs on my lips. “Thought you weren’t supposed to diagnose and treat family.”
“I’m just gonna take a look. And then you’re gonna call Dr. Cole to have her diagnose and possibly treat it.” He gives me the big-brother look that warns me he won’t drop this until I do as he tells me.
I snort out a short laugh. “And if I don’t? Are you gonna hold me upside down by my feet like when we were kids?”
He raises his eyebrow, a rumble of a chuckle rolling from him. “If that’s what it takes.”
Mama laughs, amusement dancing in her eyes. “You two never change. You’re just lucky, Zara, Jerome isn’t home to gang up on you with Samuel.”
“Nah. You’d save me like you always did when I was a kid. Because I’m your favorite.” I flash Samuel another smug look, and he chuckles again, a little louder this time.
“I have no favorites,” Mom diplomatically points out.
“You’re just saying that so you don’t hurt my poor brother’s feelings.” I would wink at him, but that would involve taking off these sunglasses, and I’m not willing to risk the pain from the bright sunlight just yet.
“Nice attempt at deflecting,” Samuel says, unfolding from his chair. “But I would feel better if you’d just let me see your eye.” The humor has vacated his expression. I won’t get my way on this.
I lower the sunglasses and wince at the sunlight streaming through the kitchen window. Tears well in my left eye and stream down my face, which only seems to make the other eye well up too, not wanting to miss out on the fun.
Samuel lifts my chin and inspects the eye. “That’s not pink eye.” The declaration is followed by a series of questions. How have I been feeling lately? Then he questions me about my stress levels. And if any other part of me hurts?
He doesn’t tell me what he’s fishing for, but I can tell from his concerned frown whatever he suspects is going on isn’t good. He removes his phone from his jeans and taps away at the screen. “Hey, Michelle. It’s Samuel Thompson.” He chuckles at whatever the other person said, not having bothered with speakerphone. “I do remember that…”
His expression becomes serious once more. “Is there a chance you can slip my sister in to see you later today?” He lists the symptoms related to my eye, followed by my answers to his questions. “That’s what I’m thinking too. Let me check with her…”
He lowers the phone. “Has Dr. Cole done any blood work, X-rays, or anything else to figure out what’s causing the pain?”
“I haven’t seen her recently about it. But her locum, Dr. William Edwards, set up a referral for me to talk to a rheumatologist in Eugene. The results were inconclusive. Dr. Holmes said it might be early stages of rheumatoid arthritis, and he would revisit things in six months.”
Mama sends me a look that says,Why am I only hearing about this now?
I hope my answering glance is something along the lines of,Whoops. Sorry. Didn’t want to worry you.
Samuel relays the info to the person on the other end of the line. They talk for another moment or two and then end the call.
“Dr. Michelle Isaacs can see you at two thirty. She’s an ophthalmologist in Portland.” He turns to Mama. “Can you drive Zar? I’m on shift this afternoon.”
“I can. What’s going on?” She splits her worried gaze between us.
“It’s possible she has uveitis.”
Mama’s frown deepens, echoing my sentiments. “What is that?”
“It’s the inflammation of the eye that is usually linked to several other medical conditions. If it’s what I think it is, it can’t be ignored. It will need to be treated with corticosteroid eye drops and eye-dilating drops for about a week.” He ignores my groan. I hate anything that involves putting things in my eyes. “And because uveitis is a warning symptom for more serious issues in the body, Dr. Cole will want to investigate what else is going on with your chronic pain.”
“What else is going on?” I parrot, my mind spinning with everything he’s telling me. “So it might not be rheumatoid arthritis?”
“It could be. Both are immunological disorders. Uveitis is also a symptom of other conditions, like psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, as well as systemic lupus, herpes, syphilis, Crohn’s disease, tuberculosis.”
Lord Almighty, I’m sorry I asked. “Well, I definitely don’t have herpes or syphilis. And the rheumatologist said I don’t have the ankylosis one.”
“That narrows things down a little bit. Book an appointment with Dr. Cole. Let her know you possibly have uveitis and you’re seeing…never mind, lemme do it.” He taps on his phone again.
