“Let’s move past that. The good news I have is I do think your vision is going to come back sooner rather than later.”
“Sure. Now all I need is for my tumor to come back as benign.”
I knew that Easy was beyond frustrated, but I really did think he was going to be back to normal. “I’m not supposed to say this, Easy, because I shouldn’t make guarantees and promises, but you are going to get better. Your vision is going to come back. And if you do have cancer, you’re young, and in good shape. You’re a good candidate for treatment and recovery.”
“Don’t worry, Doc, I won’t sue you when that doesn’t happen.”
I rolled my eyes and was thankful Easy couldn’t see me. “I’m gonna lean over you, okay? I want to take a look into your eyes.”
“Have at it. Not like I could stop you,” he grumbled.
I pulled out my flashlight and shined it into his eyes. “See anything?”
“Got a little brighter, but I can’t see anything.”
“Did the light change before when Dr. Gus looked at your eyes yesterday?” I asked.
“No.”
I turned off the light and looked down at him. “That’s good, Easy. It’s good that you have a change.”
He frowned. “I’m still fucking blind, doc.”
“You have to be optimistic, Easy. You can’t sit here being all doom and gloom and think good things are going to happen.”
“I thought you were a doctor of science.”
I shoved my flashlight in my pocket and stepped back. “I am, but there is something to be said for being positive. We’re all telling you that your vision is going to come back, Easy, and you need to start believing that, too.”
“I’ll start shooting rainbows out of my ass tomorrow, Doc. Maybe you can prescribe a pill to help that along. I get my vision back, but I could have cancer. I don’t really see anything to be positive about.”
“Stop. I don’t mean you need to be jumping and bopping around, but little positivity will do you good.” I laid my hand on his arm. “I am going to prescribe that. Be more positive.”
“Gonna put that in my chart?” he chuckled.
“I will if I need to.”
He sighed heavily. “This is fucking hard, Birdie. I was just walking down the fucking hallway a few days ago, thinking everything was good, and then, I’m flat out on the floor.”
“At least you were in the hospital when it happened. Just think if that would have happened when you were on your bike.”
Easy shook his head. “I for sure wouldn’t be here if I had passed out as I was driving down the road.”
“There is your positive to focus on. Be thankful to be alive and know that everything else will work out.”
“But what if my vision doesn’t come back, Birdie? What if I have cancer? What the fuck am I supposed to do then? Might as well be dead because I won’t be able to drive my bike or be part of the club. The club is my life, and if I don’t have that, then I don’t want anything.”
I held up my hand and waved it around. “You can’t see me, but I’m waving my hand in the air trying to wind you back because you are going off the rails right now.” It had only been two days since Easy’s surgery. There was no reason to be going off the deep end into thinking he would be blind forever and he had cancer.
“That’s probably entertaining to watch.”
I dropped my hand and sighed. “You’re going to see again, and your test results are going to come back clear.”
“And what if I’m not?”
I looked around the room. “Well, if you are blind for the rest of your life, I know you have an amazing family and club who will stand behind you no matter what. If you have cancer, you start treatment, and kick it square in the balls. Your club is hell of a lot more than most of the people who walk through the doors of the hospital have. I’ve seen a lot of things in my time as a doctor that if you would have told me ten years ago, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
“You barely know the club or me,” he mumbled.
