Go Towards the Light

Chapter Three: Fatal Disease

The next morning found Don lying in a hospital bed while one doctor poked and prodded him for the fourth time that day. Two other doctors...or were they nurses? Don wasn't for sure, but they were looming behind the doctor.

After slightly pushing on his chest, Dr. Gladstone took out his penlight, turned it on before gently touching Don's jaw.

Slowly Don opened his mouth and allowed the doctor to shine his light down Don's throat for a few moments.

Seemingly satisfied with what he saw, the doctor flicked off the penlight and stuck it back in his pocket before turning to Alan and Margaret.

"Mr. Eppes, Mrs. Eppes, the parasite is more than likely the cause for the cramping in the stomach. He has also a swollen gland right here on the right side of his neck, and a white coating on the back of his throat. Now the last battery of tests we preformed were inconclusive so I have ordered a brain scan, a bone marrow test and a spinal tap." Dr. Gladstone said.

Both Alan and Margaret were silent for several moments, both knowing the amount of pain those tests would bring on their son.

Don was just a little boy...how could they put him through that? Then again, how could they not?

He was a sick little boy and if those tests were the first step on the road to making him well, then how could they not give the okay?

"How long would the tests take?" Margaret finally asked.

"About four more days." Dr. Gladstone replied matter of factly.

Alan's mouth dropped open in disbelief at the doctor's estimate.

"Four more days?!" He asked.

Hearing a sigh from his wife, Alan turned to face her, having a feeling as to what she was fixing to say.

"Don and I will be fine here. You are going to have to get back to work and you are going to have to take care of the boys. It's going to be fine." Margaret said, still sounding a little unsure of herself.

Reaching over, both Alan and Margaret kissed each other goodbye, with each muttering 'I love you' in each others ear.

Smiling at his wife, Alan took one good long look at her and Don before finally leaving the hospital.

After he was gone, the next four days seemed like an eternity for both Don and Margaret.

The tests were painful and long, and the waiting for the results seemed almost unbearable, but finally Friday rolled around.

At the appropriate time Margaret left Don's side and went to the waiting room outside Dr. Gladstone's office. Behind her was a window looking down on to the big hospital parking lot.

Every few seconds she would glance down, hoping to see Alan's truck, but so far nothing.

She knew he was on his way but it was a two hour drive from their house to the hospital, and Alan would have been coming straight from work, which was even farther away!

"Margaret?"

Turning, Margaret saw Dr. Gladstone's personal assistant, Angie standing there, hands clasped in front of her.

"Dr. Gladstone is ready to see you now." Angie said.

Nodding her head, Margaret took one last look at the parking lot before following Angie in to what looked like a mini library instead of Dr. Gladstone's office.

Inside the room was Dr. Gladstone and four other doctors, all pouring over pieces of paper.

Hearing the door open, all of the doctors looked up. After seeing Margaret, they all looked at her with pity, knowing what was to come for her son.

"Is uh...Alan coming?" Dr. Gladstone asked as he gestured to one of the two chairs on the other side of the table.

"Yes but uh...we do live a long way from here. He is on his way though, however we can begin and I can fill him in when he gets here." Margaret said.

Crossing over to the chair that the doctor had indicated, she slowly sank down in to it, wondering why the doctor was taking so long to tell her what they had found.

"Alright, um..." Dr. Gladstone began. He picked up Don's folder before walking over to the other side of the table, closer to Margaret. When he was within arms reach, he stopped and pulled up a vacant chair before sitting down in it.

"We uh...have some of the test results back, however we are still checking out several other aspects of Don's condition. So far we do know that Don does have a parasite, which is not uncommon in cases like his. Um...the swollen gland on the right side of his neck is responding well to treatment, even though we aren't quite sure of the cause. He uh...has a uh...pretty serious case of a yeast infection called thrush which is the white stuff in his throat. It can be dangerous if left untreated because it spreads until it effectively stops Don's breathing, but we all feel that we pretty much have that under control." Dr. Gladstone said.

From the emotion she heard in the doctor's voice, she could tell that something about Don's case had him really concerned and upset. Was it the thrush? Surely this wasn't his first serious case of it? Or was it his swollen neck? Dr. Gladstone had said it was responding well to treatment!

"Margaret...do you want to wait for Alan to get here?"

Margaret turned to face Angie who was still sitting beside her.

Searching Angie's face, Margaret realized that there was something else that Dr. Gladstone hadn't said about Don's condition.

With tear filled eyes, Margaret slowly shook her head before looking back at the doctor.

"What? What aren't you telling me doctor?" Margaret asked.

With a sigh, Dr. Gladstone looked in to Margret's eyes, finally ready to drop the biggest bombshell in his entire medical career.

"Margaret...have you ever heard of...the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome?"

Margret's eyes got as big as saucers as her mind tried to work through what Dr. Gladstone had just said.

"You...you mean AIDS? My little boy has AIDS?!" She asked.

Not knowing how to handle that latest blow, Margaret stood up and left the office, her emotions now seemingly torn in two.

Returning to the window overlooking the parking lot she stood there for ten more minutes with the knowledge that some day...some day soon her child would die.

It couldn't be true...not Don...not her son! There must be some mistake on the test...but the doctor had seemed so sure. What if it was true?

Out of the corner of her eye she saw an old, beat up Ford pickup pull in to the parking lot and stop in a parking space.

Recognizing it as Alan's truck, Margaret turned away from the window and went to the elevator, taking it to the bottom floor before heading out in to the hall.

She walked with calm steps until she saw Alan coming towards her with a look of slight worry on his face.

Now more than ever Margaret yearned to be in her husbands arms, so with tears now streaming down her face she began to run, never stopping until she was in Alan's warm embrace.

Alan didn't have time to ask what had happened as Margaret buried her tear stained cheeks in his T-shirt.

"Oh...oh Alan...!" Margaret said in gasping, muffled breaths as she tried to breathe, even though she knew that she was crying so hard that talking was almost impossible.

"What? What happened Margaret? What did the doctor say?" Alan asked, making Margaret look up at him.

With tears still streaming down her face, Margaret shook her head.

"I..I..ca..." She stuttered before breaking down in sobs again, just not believing that her son was going to die.

Knowing that he wouldn't get anything out of Margaret until she calmed down, Alan led her over to a bench before sitting down next to her, letting Margaret cry her eyes out, while wondering what terrible news she had learned.