Page 36 of Never Stop

“During and after the procedure, you may experience bleeding. There’s a chance the scope might tear the rectum or colon.”

I stared at him as he continued to tell me more risks. I knew there only was a slight chance any of it could happen. However, my ass clenched thinking about all of them.Relax…

“Any more questions?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“All right. We need for you to sign this release stating you’re consenting to the medical procedure and then we’ll wheel you in.”

I signed my name and then we were off.

They wheeled the bed into a small clinical room with various hospital equipment. A medium sized monitor hung to my left as I watched Dr. Tang type on the computer.

“All right, we’re almost ready. This monitor is so we can see where we’re going in and to also see if there are polyps. If there are, we’ll remove some and have them biopsied.”

As he spoke, I kept thinking that I wouldn’t remember any of it once I was sedated. I wouldn’t know if they found the polyps until Megan called me.

Nurse Rhonda stepped to my right. “I’m going to administer the sedative now.”

I swallowed and nodded. After she was done, I looked around the stark white room and waited—story of my life.

“Brooke, roll onto your right side,” Dr. Tang instructed.

This was it.

It was happening.

A scope was being shoved up my ass to see if I had the C word.

I did as instructed, and after not feeling anything for a minute or so, I heard Dr. Tang say, “Everything looks good.” I sucked in my breath and turned slightly toward the monitor, seeing myinsidesand yep, no polyps.

“I don’t have colon cancer,” I stated.

Dr. Tang smiled. “Nope, everything looks great.”

Nurse Rhonda reached out and ran her hand along my upper arm. I smiled, tears forming in my eyes. “I don’t have cancer,” I repeated, a weight lifting off my shoulders. Finally, something was going medically right.

But I totally remembered everything!

Now that everything was clear with my colon, it was time to start planning the wedding to the man of my dreams. I didn’t have the C word, and if my genetic testing came back that I did carry the gene, we’d deal with the outcome at that time.

As I waited for the call from Megan, I started living my life again. First, though, I decided to tell my best friend everything that was going on—wellalmosteverything. I was going to leave out the part about the kids until we knew for sure. Nicole was still sensitive in that department.

Me:Meet for coffee?

Nicole:It’s a date!

When Nicole walked into the coffee shop, we hugged like we hadn’t seen each other in years.

“I’ve missed you,” she gushed.

“I’ve missed you too.”

“Let me get my coffee, and I’ll be back.” She turned and left to stand in line to order.

It had been weeks since Nicole and I spent time together. The last time I saw her was when I went to Boston to talk some sense into her. It was definitely the longest we’d ever gone without going to dinner or at least grabbing a coffee. When we both lived in Boston, we went out almost every Friday and Saturday together while Jared played Call of Duty. Now we both had men who loved us and wanted to spend every free moment together.

She came back after receiving her coffee and sat in the chair opposite from me. “So, what’s new?”