Reunion by Karen Kingsbury Page B

bring.
    But never had she prayed that the results might be wrong. HIV had been a life sentence, her body a prison from which she could never escape. But now.., now the test results were the key to that prison, and the sense of freedom made her forget for a moment that Dr. Dillon was even in the room.
    God… did you heal me or was it negative all along? And if it was negative all along, how awful that she’d wasted a year of her life worried that she had the beginnings of a deadly disease.
    ‘ The thought blew across the canvas of her mind, and she blinked her eyes open.
    She could hardly be angry. It didn’t mat ter, really, how God had done this. He was giving her a second
    chance at life and there was only one thing she wanted to do. Sprint from the doctor’s office and find Landon.
    Instead she looked at the doctor. He was still grinning, his eyes damp. “How…
    how does something like that happen?” she asked.
    “A false positive?” The doctor leaned forward and sifted through a pile of papers on his desk. “I figured you’d ask that. I pulled together some information on false positives so you’d understand better.”
    “You mean you’ve heard of it happening before?”
    47
    kingsbury smalley
    “Oh yes.” His smile faded. “The Centers for Disease Control keeps statistics on this sort of thing. Out of every ten thousand people tested for HIV, ten will show up positive. Eight of those will be false positives, and only two in ten thousand will actually have HIV.”
    The statistics hit Ashley like a brick. “What?”
    “Yes.” Dr. Dillon frowned. “It’s discouraging. Roughly 83 per-
    “How come the public doesn’t know that?” Ashley could hear the frustration in her voice. Calm, she told herself. You re one of the 83 percent, remember,? She exhaled and folded her hands on
    her lap. had no Idea.
    “It’s tough. HIV is a very real risk; people around the world are still contracting it every day, still dying of AIDS every day.
    Lots of people are working to find a cure for it. Dr Dillon .
    tapped the paper in front of him “If the statistics about false positives get out, the Centers for Disease Control could lose momentum for funding. So they downplay the truth. That’s just my opinion.”
    Ashley couldn’t draw a breath. Eighty-three percent of positive HIV tests were false positives? She forced herself to concentrate. “Can’t they come up with a better test?”
    “The standard test is less expensive and takes less time. The truth is that countless conditions in a person’s body can throw the test off, cause it to show positive when in fact it’s negative. That’s why both your first tests came back positive.” He continued, “You might’ve had a different virus at the time, a level of one type of protein or mineral, or any number of conditions that could’ve caused the false positive.”
    “So everyone who gets a false positive has to be retested—is it?” “Exactly.
    That way the more detailed test can be performed away, and a false positive can be ruled out.” The doctor showed her the paper with the information. “Didn’t the other lab technician tell you to see your doctor right away?”
    48
    A fresh wave of guilt smacked Ashley in the face. “Yes.” The single word felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. Of course they told her that: Get a retest, see your doctor, figure out a plan. She’d known for months now what she was supposed to do. Both her father and Brooke were doctors, after all, and both of them had demanded she get in to see a specialist.
    But she hadn’t wanted to do it, hadn’t wanted to look a doctor in the face and hear him chart out what little remained of her life. Getting treatment, going in for monthly blood tests, expen sive medication, all of it was more than she could think about. So she’d put off making the appointment.
    The full weight of her procrastination hit her. If she’d done as she was supposed to, she and Landon would’ve been