A Promise for Keeping (standard:romance, 10294 words)
Author: Mick@Nite	Added: Apr 27 2003	Views/Reads: 3955/2341	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Is love enough to keep a promise alive?

Why I still call her, I do not know.  For some time, I did so only to
listen to the customary “no longer in service” message but now, the 
number has been reassigned to an unfortunate someone who has to endure 
my periodic calls: “Is Alison there?” “No, Sorry. You must have the 
wrong number.”  Letters return to sender, e-mails never receive reply.  
I stand in front of her house, accepting that she is no longer there 
but taking some comfort in knowing she once was.  People who knew her 
tell me to let go, but I cannot.  There is a promise involved.  One I 
intend on keeping. 

Alison Lumm, ordinary as her name may sound, was to me, at least,
anything but.  She was the tiny girl with the sad eyes and brilliant 
smile.  The first woman I ever dared to love, the first to ever truly 
love me in return.  How foolish was I, thinking this love was strong 
enough to keep us from parting, how unwise. 

I met Alison for the first time when she was admitted as a patient to
the small community hospital - located in the Connecticut suburbs - 
where I am employed as a registered nurse.  The sixth floor, or 6 North 
as it is recognized, specializes in oncology - the treatment of cancer 
- and is where I have worked since graduating from nursing school so 
many years ago.  I did not choose oncology nursing; it chose me.  
Unlike most of my fellow classmates, I had no specific specialty in 
mind when embarking upon my nursing career, leaving my fate instead in 
the hands of a hospital recruiter who would use me to fill a vacancy 
where few other new grads were willing to work. 

I love caring for cancer patients.  When I first came to the unit, many
of the seasoned oncology nurses looked to me with eyebrows raised in 
speculation of a male nurse delivering the compassionate care and 
tenderness that all cancer patients require.  However, my gentle 
mannerisms - combined with a quick wit and sense of humor - soon won 
them over. 

I have met and cared for so many unique and remarkable people working on
6 North and have seen every angle of humanity possible, both the good, 
as well as the bad.  But I have never made a promise to a patient that 
I was unable to keep.  That is, until Alison Lumm. 

Initially, she had gone to her family doctor complaining of a nagging
pain in her joints for which he simply prescribed high dose ibuprofen, 
however, after six weeks with little relief, he drew a blood sample 
which revealed something troubling, something he had not considered.  
The following day, Alison met with a hematologist who performed a bone 
marrow biopsy, confirming what the vial of her blood had insinuated: 
Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. 

While all of my patients are special to me, I have always harbored a
certain affection for the leukemics.  All cancers are dreadful 
ailments.  Cancer is a hideous monster, slowly consuming its victims 
from the inside out, using their body's own natural life processes 
against themselves, discriminating not against grandmothers, uncles, 
husbands, best friends, children - cancer simply does not care. But, to 
me it seems, the leukemic has it the worst. 

Unlike its solid tumor cousins that can be more easily targeted during
treatment, leukemia is a covert malignancy that conceals itself inside 
its victim's bones, deep within the marrow, thoughtlessly producing 
millions upon millions of useless immature white blood cells, choking 
off the production of healthy blood cells.  This intra-bodily turmoil 
leaves the leukemic feeling fatigued with aching joints, lethargic and 
prone to deadly infections and/or bleeding disorders.  Left untreated, 
the patient will eventually succumb to anemia, infection, hemorrhage or 
possibly, organ failure. 

Such was Alison's condition as I watched her step foot onto 6 North for
the first time to begin treatment, one that can sometimes be as lethal 
as the disease itself. 

The management of leukemia necessitates high doses of chemotherapy,
corrosive chemicals which seek out and obliterate the patient's 
diseased bone marrow.  Nothing short of poison, these powerful drugs do 
not discern between healthy bone marrow and its malignant houseguest, 
annihilating both good and bad cells alike.  Ironically, this leaves 
the leukemic feeling sicker than they were prior to treatment, with few 


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