Moonwalk: Chapter 12
| May 20, 2020She’s talking in her “reasonable” voice, the kind she uses on kids she works with. Ugh
“A patient portal?” I blink sleepily. “What’s that?”
Ma looks relaxed, it’s Shushan Purim and we have the day off.
“The doctor’s office told me about it. It’s a way to check up test results ourselves.”
I am wide awake now, although I didn’t sleep much last night. “Why bother? There’s nothing wrong, every stupid blood test comes back fine, all the doctors say so, and meanwhile I’m not functioning and this crazy diet doesn’t work –”
Ma sighs. “Listen, Libby, we’re doing our best, that’s what I’m telling you. Ta’s friend – you know, Dr. Hartstein – had a look at your portal with Ta.”
It’s hard to focus when the room is spinning and my limbs are too heavy to move.
“What did they find?” I croaked.
“So like the hospital said yesterday, the tests for Lyme disease and the other diseases were negative.” She paused. “But we did find that the ANA was positive, that’s, uh, autoimmune something-or-other.”
I blink. “What does that mean? Is it an illness?”
Ma shrugs. “I don’t think so, but it might be a clue. Dr. Hartstein recommended that we set up another appointment, with a different doctor. It’s in a few weeks.”
My body goes slack against the bed. “A few weeks?! A few weeks of this crazy pain and being tired all the time and having no idea what it’s all about?”
She looks away.
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