Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 71289 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71289 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
“I had the nurse pull your blood work from the accident two months ago, and the blood work from yesterday, as well as the last set of blood work we ran on you about a month prior to finding out that you were pregnant,” he started.
I nodded.
He continued after making sure I comprehended where he was.
“Your hormone levels are back to normal,” he said.
“If that’s the case, why in the hell is she still having seizures since that was the previous doctor’s only guess as to why she was having the seizures during her pregnancy?” Apple asked.
There was no beating around the bush for Apple. The man was like a bull in a china shop when it came to getting information that he wanted or needed.
“I’m getting there,” he said, holding up a finger. “I’ve got some good news and some not so good news,” he proceeded.
“Okay,” I cleared my throat. “What’s the bad news?”
He smiled.
“The medication you’ve been taking since you had your daughter hasn’t been correct. In fact, it’s not even a little bit correct. The pharmacy misread the doctor’s handwriting and has been giving you something that’s supposed to control anxiety, not your seizures, which is why you’ve had poor success with this medication regimen.”
My mouth dropped open.
Surely I hadn’t heard him correctly, right?
But he wasn’t laughing.
Not even a little bit.
And the man at my side sure wasn’t laughing.
“You’re telling me she hasn’t been getting the correct medications all this time?” Apple asked in outrage.
The doctor held his hand up.
“Yes and no,” he said.
Apple narrowed his eyes. “Explain.”
Dr. Pierce held up his hand. “First, I want to know what your diet was like when you were pregnant.”
I blinked, turning to survey him more completely.
“Normal, I guess. I ate fruit and or oatmeal in the morning. Normally, a sandwich and chips for lunch, and whatever we had for dinner. Pizza. Meat loaf. I didn’t cut out any foods or anything. Why?” I asked.
“What kind of fruit?” Dr. Pierce asked.
I shrugged.
“Sometimes oranges. Grapefruit mostly. That seemed to be the one thing I craved throughout the pregnancy,” I murmured. “Grapes were a third favorite.”
Something in his body changed, and I knew something in the explanation I’d just given him had been the cause of that change.
“Grapefruit is contraindicated to take with the seizure meds you were on,” he explained. “Didn’t your previous doctor explain that?”
“I know,” I nodded. “That’s what the nurse kept telling me every time she gave me some pamphlets and sample drugs when I visited their office.”
He winced.
“Contraindicated is not a good thing. Contraindicated means you should not be taking, using or eating them with the meds that you were on,” he explained gently.
My belly dropped out from under me as I stared at him in shock.
“So you’re telling me I did this all to myself?” I gasped in shock.
He shook his head.
“No,” he held up his hand. “That’s not what I said. What I’m trying to explain is that the grapefruit juice interacts with the medication impairing the way they respond in your body. They don’t necessarily render them completely ineffective, though. Pairing the ineffectiveness of the meds with the hormone levels and adding in the changes in you during your pregnancy, it only exacerbated the issues you already had.”
I shook my head.
“What about the meds after she had the baby?” Apple broke in. “You said she was getting the wrong meds. And I know for a fact that she stopped eating grapefruit nearly the instant she had Emily.”
“Her system showed a high dose of an anti-anxiety medication. Normally, the two alone would both treat the disorder, but when combined they counteracted each other, changing the levels of the medicine her body would need to treat the seizures in the first place,” he said. “Essentially, she wasn’t getting enough medication, and the more seizures she had, the more she exacerbated the problem, causing even more seizures to happen.”
We sat there, silent, as we processed that information.
“So what now?” I finally asked when I couldn’t come up with anything else to say.
“Now, we wean you off the medicines completely. I want to see how you do without any medicine at all,” he answered.
I nodded.
“Then what?” I asked.
“Then we’ll see.”
Chapter 20
And I was like ‘whatever bitches’ and the bitches whatevered.
-E-card
Kitt
“Do you mind packing me a lunch?” Apple asked me. “I’m running late as fuck this morning.”
He ripped off the shirt that Emily had just projectile vomited on and started hurrying for the bedroom all the while Ridley looked on with laughing eyes.
“You’re such a shithead,” I told my brother.
My brother shrugged unrepentantly. “I’m just glad it wasn’t me.”
I grunted and walked to the counter, easily making him two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
The next thing to go onto the counter was a large thermos of milk. I wasn’t sure if he packed that or not, but I knew when he was at home, he had milk with his sandwiches.