Childhood Disease
Chapter Four: Shunt
Beep Beep Beep Beep
The beeping of the heart monitor was loud in the operating theater as Dr. Connors slowly pulled out the stopper type device on the end of the newly installed shunt that was sticking out of Johnny's completely shaved head.
After the plug was out, clear liquid came spurting out the end of the shunt, directly in to a small pan that was perched on one of the tray's near Johnny's head.
"No wonder he had ear aches." The head nurse said, once she saw the amount of fluid that was building up in the pan.
"Another twenty four hours and he would have had no chance. Let's hope this lad is strong." Dr. Connors replied without looking up.
It took a grand total of forty minutes for the fluid to be drained, but after it was done the shunt was secured and Johnny's head bandaged before he was sent back to his room to rest and recuperate.
Meanwhile, Roy was filled in and was waiting for Johnny, staying with his partner for the rest of the night and in to the morning.
While he had been waiting, he had been reading up on brain tumors, teratoma's in particular.
One case he had read about was an eight year old boy named Craig Archer* who had a teratoma for close to a year. During his battle with the cancer, he was also trying to break the world record for the most get-well cards,** and he had ended up doing so, but apparently the child had collapsed and nearly died during the presentation of his plaque from the Guinness Book of World Records.
While he waited for Johnny to wake up, Roy softly told him all about it, having no idea that Johnny could actually hear him speaking.
After several hours, Johnny finally opened his eyes and looked at his partner.
"Nice story, where'd you hear about it?"
Roy looked down at Johnny and smiled to see him now awake.
"In a book that I picked up at the local library." He replied.
"Wow...Roy in a library...now that's scary." Johnny whispered.
Thirty minutes later, Dr. Connor's entered the room and sat down in a chair on the other side of Johnny's bed, opposite from Roy.
"How are you feeling today, John?" Dr. Connors asked.
"About the same. Tired, slight headache...and it feels like I still have water in my ears." Johnny replied.
"Hmm..." Dr. Connors said as he reached in to his pocket and pulled out a pen light.
He turned it on and shined it in both of Johnny's eyes, checking the pupil reaction before he had Johnny follow the light with his eyes.
Satisfied with what he saw, he turned the light off and put it back in his pocket before he held up his index finger where Johnny could see it.
"Now, I'd like you to grab hold of my finger please." Dr. Connors requested, watching as Johnny hesitantly raised a hand, seemingly trying to guess where the doctor's hand was.
Making a guess he reached out and closed his hand around empty air, a good two feet from Dr. Connors finger.
"That's alright," Dr. Connors said, taking Johnny's hand and placing it around his finger, "Now, squeeze as hard as you can...really hard."
Dr. Connors waited and watched as he felt the slight squeezing on his index finger, and noted the muscles clenching on Johnny's face as he tried to really squeeze the doctor's index finger.
On the other side of the bed, Roy noticed the doctor's unhappy look but to his credit he didn't say anything as Dr. Connors patted Johnny's fist.
"Good." The doctor said with a smile as Johnny removed his fist and lowered his hand back down to the bed.
With a small nod of his head, Dr. Connors seemed to want Roy to follow him, so after a quick promise to be right back, Roy rose and followed Dr. Connors out of the room.
"I'm afraid that we are going to have to postpone the operation." Dr. Connors informed after the door closed behind them.
Roy was shocked and mortified at the news. He glanced at the closed door for a moment before looking back at the doctor.
"What about the tumor? I thought it was still growing!"
Dr. Connors nodded his head in confirmation at that, "Yes it is, but this is a long operation and at this point John couldn't survive."
"But...but...there must be something you can do...some medicine you can give him!" Roy insisted, sounding more like a concerned mother or friend than a paramedic.
"We are doing everything we can, Roy. Everything medically possible is being done for John. Now the rest has to come from John; determination, inspiration...whatever you want to call it. That has to come from him." Dr. Connors replied.
Roy knew that the doctor was correct, so he lowered his head before giving a slight nod.
"Thank you doctor." he muttered.
Dr. Connors nodded himself before turning and leaving Roy to his thoughts.
After Roy had left, Johnny had fallen asleep and begun to dream. In his dream he could see himself in another place and time, having to deal with his first brain tumor.
//\\FLASHBACK//\\
Eight year old John Gage lay in a small, child sized bed at the small children's hospital on the reservation.
His mother had arrived a moment ago, and she along with a nurse came over to his bed.
Reaching out a hand, Marian cupped her son's small face, being careful not to disturb the bandages that held the shunt in place.
"How are you feeling today, darling?" She asked.
"A little better, mom." Johnny lied, giving his mother a small smile.
Marian smiled back, knowing that her son was lying, but she wasn't going to chastise him for it.
Reaching down she picked up a box that she had brought with her, and inside the box were bunches and bunches of get-well cards from John's friends and teachers.
"What say we hang these up?" Marian asked.
John's face lighted up at the suggestion, so he nodded and replied, "Yeah!"
Marian gave a huge smile, and with the help of the nurse, cut some string, hung the cards on the string and then attached the string to the wall.
On the bed to the left of John, a little girl was watching the proceedings, and after she saw the sunlight reflecting off of John's cards, she said, "I want my cards on the wall."
Several girls who were sitting on the bed next to the little girl's, all looked at her and then the cards on the wall before chiming in, "Me too, me too!"
Marian looked at her son with a smile then looked at the nurse and said, "Let's do it!"
After that the both of them helped the girls to hang their cards up on the wall, which took roughly thirty minutes.
After she completed her task, Marian returned to her son's side, seeing him looking at all his cards.
"I have eighty three cards." John said.
"And each one is a prayer for you to get well." Marian replied, taking a seat next to her son.
John just laid back in his bed and continued looking at the cards. His vision was still bad because he was still seeing things in ripples, but seeing the sun shining on his cards made the ripples seem not so bad.
//\\END FLASHBACK//\\
In the hospital room, a small smile crept on to John's face as he slept on, seeming not to have a care in the world.
Roy opened the hospital door and watched Johnny sleep for a moment or two before he closed the door and went to get something to eat.
*The boy's real name is Craig Shergold (at least according to the movie, "The Miracle of the Cards.")
** It is true, Craig Shergold did break the Guinness Book of World Records for the most get-well cards.