Not All Battles Are Fought On The Battlefield.
Note from the author:
This story deals with a character having leukaemia and going through primitive treatments and side effects which at that time were not widely treated.
I do not personally have any experience with this either from treatment or watching a family member go through treatment so all details are from research and symptoms, while real, are portrayed in the fictional sense.
I do not intend to offend or upset readers in anyway, but felt that this story was worth writing down and publishing.
This story takes some liberties with history as most of the chemotherapy treatments we know about today were not developed until the 1960's. The story also mentions or refers to scenes within the original programme but does not follow the original timeline so even though scenes shown in seasons 10 and 11 are used it does not necessarily mean that the story is set towards the end of the war. Some facts are changed or omitted to fit better with the story (i.e. Margaret never had an affair with Frank and she never married Donald)
Here is some background on the first Leukaemia treatments for your reading pleasure.
The first treatments that were shown to have an effect on tumours (lymphoma) and leukaemia were developed in 1946 when two scientists Gilman and Philips, observed that the chemical weapon know as mustard gas, used in WW1, lowered the white blood cell count of those exposed to it.
They reasoned that if this chemical affected cells which divide rapidly, such as tumor cells, then it might be a useful treatment against cancer. Studies that involved injecting the compound into patients rather than having them breathing the gas showed that lymphomas did indeed shrink, however the treatment also affected other rapidly dividing cells such as hair follicles (leading to hair loss), the digestive tract (leading to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes malnutrition and weight loss) and the blood cells (leading to anemia and causing patients to bruise easily). Fatigue was another side affect but at the time it was not known whether this was due to the treatment or the cancer itself.
In 1947 a research doctor called Sidney Farber discovered another group of cancer fighting drugs called 'antifolates' – these impair the function of folic acids in the body and inhibit DNA cell division during the S phase (when DNA is replicated) affecting the growth and proliferation of cancerous cells.
Farber's work led to the development of Methotrexate in 1949 which was the first treatment used for Leukemia. During the 1950's and 60's more chemotherapy drugs were developed but it is the 1960's which are seen as the decade when therapeutic chemical medicine became widely used in the treatment of cancers and significantly increased the chances of survival.
The story also has Hawkeye and Margaret dating (before the episode comrades in arms) and not hiding their feelings as they are both single. Please be aware that the first scene is graphic but only describes feelings and foreplay, not the actual act of sex. You guys can imagine that on your own.
I do not own any of the characters.
Please review.
Captain Benjamin Franklin 'Hawkeye' Pierce wrapped his arms around the young woman in front of him and breathed in her scent; even in this hell hole that was the Korean conflict, with limited access to shampoo and soap, she smelt delicious.
He craned his neck and gingerly nibbled her ear, moving down and kissing her neck with slow gentle movements, enjoying the shudders that racked her firm body with every little touch.
It hadn't been love at first sight, from the moment he had seen her he had felt a familiar tug in his groin; she was beautiful; a lotus flower amongst the death and destruction that was war. He had lusted after her body.
Their first encounter had been in the operating room at the MASH unit known to HQ as the 4077th. He had tried to impress her, telling jokes and making suggestions as to what they could do outside of 'work.'
She had not been impressed and he had quickly learned that she was as military as they came, a stickler for the rules and a control freak and yet underneath she was a passionate woman, longing to be loved and cared for, wanting a home and family as every woman does. She had clear ideas about her future; she would marry into the army, someone with at least the rank of lieutenant colonel. After the war they would settle down somewhere and have a family, the children would be brought up in her mould as law abiding citizens and patriotic Americans. Her idea's had changed though.
He would never quite know what it was that he had said or done but there had been an instant where the two of them were just standing alone and something had clicked. Lust had turned into love in that moment as he realised that her mind was as beautiful as her body.
She had lowered her guard for just a moment, she had been vulnerable, scared and there was this man, holding her close in an embrace that was nothing more than comforting. This man that was the antihero to her heroic ideal, the man that wore Hawaiian shirts or a bathrobe and shorts where uniform was required and refused to either accept or give salutes as military rules required and yet this man was as passionate as her. Ok so he was loud and rude and thought a lot of himself. Surgeons did; it was the God complex; they had the ability to save lives so therefore they must be great and loved by all women.
But there was something deeper, his over confident manner was a facade to hide his true nature, he cared deeply about everything and everyone whether he knew them or not. When a soldier died on the operating table he took it far harder than the other surgeons, what she had thought initially was drunkenness she now realised was the only way he could cope with the surroundings, the only way he could cope with the fact that young men were dying for a cause that he didn't agree with. In that instant in his arms she had learned more about the real Hawkeye than most people learned in a lifetime. It was like she had read his mind and found buried treasure.
Both had taken it slow at first, scared that what they felt was a dream, that things would go back to how they had been before. Every snatched moment was spent tentatively exploring each other, touching, tasting, questioning but never quite going all the way, it was as if sleeping together would ruin what they had, and yet they longed for each other.
Finally it had happened, no big furore, no brass bands, nothing special. It had been a long day in the operating theatre, thirteen hours, both had been exhausted to a point that words could not be found to describe what they were feeling. Sitting together in Margaret's tent, gently entwined and absently playing with one another; there was complete silence.
It had started as a kiss, long and lingering, neither party wanting to be the first to break away, until the urge to breath had become unbearable; Hawkeye had reached underneath her shirt then, feeling her soft, warm flesh between his fingers, waiting for her to slap him away, instead he felt her gasp and he gripped her harder, kissed her pouting hot lips more urgently until she sank down next to him, pulling his body closer, clawing at his clothes.
It had been worth waiting for, lying together on the small cot afterwards, still panting, the silence had returned, neither wanted to spoil the moment. Both were experienced, had been with others but this had been something special and deep in their hearts both knew they would never love another like this.