"Lucas?"
I woke up at the tiny sound of Dawn calling me. I bolted upwards and momentarily stopped, feeling woozy from the sudden head rush.
"Yeah?" I asked, my voice low from sleeping. "Is there something wrong, Dawn?"
I turned the lights on, seeing her eyes wide open. She winced lightly at the sudden beam of light, so I was glad enough that she could still see. I scanned down her body, her blush getting deeper by the minute, and was glad to find that nothing - at least visibly - was wrong.
"My ears…" Dawn winced, covering her ears.
"Your ears? What's wrong?"
"They're ringing… I've had this feeling before, but it wasn't this bad…" Dawn was wincing as she spoke.
"Was your hearing normal before this began?" I was beginning to put the pieces together, but it was definitely not working well.
"Yeah. Dr Johnson told me everything was fine."
"My uncle's not on late shift today… I'll have to contact Dr Jones. He's one of the people on late shift today, and since he's an otologist, he'll know what to do about this."
At my comment, Dawn was about to enter panic mode. I don't think adding my guess would help her in any way, so I kept my mouth shut. I softly rubbed her head and pointed to my phone, telling her I'll go out to call the doctor.
"Can you just stay here and call her?" Dawn was near the point of crying and practically begging me, so of course I couldn't say no.
I had found the doctors my uncle had contacted for Dawn in the Excel file. It did take some time and patience to find which part each doctor was in charge of, but after fighting through the way through the list, I was able to find out which department each doctor was in charge of.
I scrolled down my contacts and called Dr Jones. She responded after just the first ring. "Hey, Lucas. Why are you calling?"
"You're on late shift today, right?"
"Yup. Is there something wrong with Dawn?"
"Yes. She's suddenly experiencing consistent tinnitus. She's pressing her temples and covering her ears, so I think it's a pretty bad situation."
"Okay, I'll come with Cathrine. She came in for Jenny because she left early because of her daughter. I'll have to see her first, but I may call your uncle to come."
"How long would you take?'
"Under five minutes." Hearing the swishing sounds of her gown, I guessed she was walking to find Catherine as we were speaking. "Just make sure to calm her down. Don't give her any pain meds yet: just make sure she doesn't have an anxiety attack."
At that comment, I looked down at Dawn's face, on the verge of tears and a sudden, intense panic attack. "Yeah, no problem."
I hung up, placed my phone on my bed and hugged Dawn tight, stroking her back. She started crying, her cries muffled by my clothes. I sat down on her bed, keeping a tight hug and stroking in a steady rhythm.
When Dr Jones and Catherine burst into the room, Dawn was calmer and I was able to loosen my arms. Dr Jones simply asked Dawn about how her ears felt and if any other parts of her body hurt. Thankfully, her pain was only the much-annoying tinnitus.
"I'll have to take you through a few more tests to make sure, but I think the tinnitus you're experiencing has gotten worse by the chemo drugs. In this case, I have to say cisplatin is the culprit."
Dr Jones actually looked quite sorry, after Catherine cheeked her vitals to report that there was nothing wrong with her. "I'm a bit sorry about this. If I'd stated a bit strongly when Jacob told me he'll be using irinotecan with cisplatin, this may not have happened."
Dawn smiled and said, "Even if Dr Johnson changed the combination, this could have happened with carboplatin. The percentage is lower, yes, but it's not zero. You don't need to feel so sorry."
"You're being too sweet. I advise you to tell people how you're feeling to prevent them from taking advantage of this fact in a bad direction."
At this comment, I had to chuckle and shake my head, remembering my mother repeating the same words to me when she had bought fake flowers for my middle school graduation. That time, I only laughed because it was funny and quite astonishing.
Dr Jones raised an eyebrow at me, but didn't make any comments. "I'll contact your doctor and since it's way too early, I'll come back with him and Catherine at 7 AM sharp. If we do this now, I'm sure all three of us will fall asleep standing in the middle of the afternoon and shock everyone."
I checked the clock then, Dawn's panic and my worries — or was it my panic and Dawn's worries? — making me completely forget the time, and was shocked that it was only three in the morning.
"But, of course, if Dawn is uncomfortable, I can do the check-ups now so I can give you some pain meds."
The three of us stared at Dawn for an answer, making her blush in the process. Dawn just shook her head and said, "It kind of got a little bit better when I was able to loosen my muscles. I think I'll be able to wait four hours."
Dr Jones smiled — in relief, no doubt — and said, "Then we'll be leaving. Lucas, just make sure Dawn doesn't activate panic mode and stay by her side."
"No problem." I said, smiling and giving a small nod to her.