Sickness
RRRRRing….Max rolled over groggily and reached for the phone on his bedside table. "Hulllooo?" he mumbled into the mouthpiece while peering blearily at the alarm clock beside it…."What the heck time is it?" He wondered to himself….."6:15 am….geeez…..those kids get up early…."
"Dad, could you please possibly watch Christine today? She has come down with a sore throat and the Jeffersonian daycare won't accept her when she's running a fever. I can come home this afternoon, but I have a set of Anasazi remains being delivered from the University of Nevada archeology team that I need to check in, and Booth and I have to interview a murder suspect at 11 am."
"Uh, sure, honey, lemme take a quick shower and I can be over there in 20 minutes." "Thanks, Dad."
Max struggled to sit up in bed and pressed the heel of his hand to his temple." Where did I get such a headache first thing in the morning?" he wondered. "Thank God for Advil…"
Christine's nursery was flooded with early autumn sunlight. He spent the morning reading to and playing with 19 month old Christine whose symptoms had been lessened by a dose of Children's Motrin. She wasn't as active as usual, but seemed to enjoy his stacking her colored blocks and the opportunity to topple them with her tiny fist. She scooted across the nursery floor when she spied her stuffed purple elephant caught between the crib rails, and turned to Max for help rescuing him.
"You want to play with Ellie, Little Miss? Your momma thinks purple elephants are ridiculous now, but when Tempe was 3, a little critter just like yours was her constant companion," Max remembered fondly.
He fed her some applesauce and oatmeal at noon, and she gleefully crumbled more animal crackers on her high chair tray than she fed herself. He rocked her and read Goodnight Moon 4 times before her eyes grew heavy and he laid her gently in her crib for a nap. Returning to the living room, he sat down on the couch, pulled his feet up, turned on his side, plumped the cushion, stuffed it under his head, and dozed off himself.
After Temperance returned home, Max went back to his apartment, took more Advil and slept away the afternoon. He still felt dizzy the next day, and his face hurt. "This is really weird" he thought. I've had sinus headaches before but this is kinda odd. I guess my allergies are acting up this fall." He went to the pharmacy and bought some Zyrtec, but it didn't help his headache much. "Max, old buddy, your age is catching up with you," he told himself in the mirror as he shaved the next morning. "Just gotta go with the march of time," he sighed.
He went to Booth and Brennan's home for dinner the following week, and Bones scrutinized her father 's face over their meal of Carly's Nutmeg Mac and Cheese. "Dad, your face looks puffy, and your eyes are really reddened. Are you sleeping a sufficient number of hours each night for your age?" She quizzed him. "I don't know, Tempe, I seem to have a headache thatI just can't shake. It seems a little different from sinus headaches I had before, and my face is sore. Sounds very strange to say this, but it hurts to brush my teeth. I guess my allergies are really bad this year."
"How long as this been going on, Dad?" "Oh I don't know, maybe a week or so."
"Well, the allergy season this year has been predicted to be particularly mild. Something else may be causing your unusual discomfort. It's not a good idea at your age to be taking chances with your health. I'm making an appointment with your doctor tomorrow, and I'm going with you." Brennan chided him.
"Honey, you don't need to do that," Max protested, but he knew his strong minded daughter meant business.
The next morning, Dr. McNulty took Max's blood pressure, and listened to his symptoms. "Having your face hurt isn't normal, Mr. Keenan. I'm going to run a few tests." After an hour or so, he returned to the exam room. Max it's a good thing your daughter is paying attention to your health. I suspect you have giant cell arteritis, and your blood pressure is elevated."
"What the heck is that, Doc?" Max wondered. "It's an inflammation of the arteries in your face, Dad." Brennan answered her father. "It's propitious that we were able to get you an appointment quickly. You might have had a stroke or lost your eyesight."
Dr. McNulty agreed, "Mr. Keenan, your daughter is right. We'll start you on some corticosteroids. It really is a good thing you caught this early, because it can definitely affect your vision if left untreated."
"Well, I guess I'm really lucky to have a genius daughter who knows the human body so well," Max replied to the doctor, smiling fondly at Brennan.
Back in the car, Brennan fussed at her father. "Dad, why didn't you tell me you were having strange headaches and facial pain?"
"Tempe when I was young, I resembled this actor whose movie girlfriend got cancer and spent all sorts of time in the hospital and ended up dying. It was a really sappy story line. Your mother and I went to see a rerun of that movie at a cut-rate theater, and the similarity of our faces really freaked Ruth out. It had been a pretty popular movie at one time, but your mom didn't like it at all. I had some headaches back then, and every time I'd mention it, she'd get all upset, so I just didn't talk about it much. As I recall, the girl's illness in the movie had started out with headaches. Your mom was afraid it was an omen that I wasn't gonna live long. She was afraid I'd die, and she'd be left to deal with that McVicar gang in Ohio by herself. So I just never mentioned it to her when I didn't feel good, and I guess it got to a habit when I was on the run with no one to talk to."
A few weeks later, his medication had taken effect and Max's symptoms were much improved. It no longer hurt to brush his teeth and he was feeling like himself again. He had dinner again with Booth and Christine at the diner while Bones was working at the lab.
"You seem to be getting back to normal, Max," Booth remarked over their cherry pie. "By the way, what was the name of the movie you told Bones about seeing with her mom?"
"Oh, it was called 'Love Story,' Booth. It had the sappiest line in it…..'Love means never having to say you're sorry.' I had to apologize to Ruth so many times for acting like an idiot. If I hadn't said 'I'm sorry' a lot, she'd have probably left me, I think," Max remembered wryly.
A/N: I re-watched the Bones episode where Booth calls Max an old rhino, making a play on Ryan O'Neal's name, and it made me think of the old Allie McGraw movie he starred in, so I couldn't resist tying it into this Sickness theme hiatus story.
