Given some of the actions/interactions/ Camden family dynamics during Lucy's senior year of high school I'm not so sure that Eric and Annie would have been much more involved than they have been. Additionally Lucy is actively avoiding them because of the past and because of some of her shame surrounding her eating disorder. Bear with me because (I hope at least) a lot of questions will soon be answered and this will make a lot more sense. Thank you for reading, constructive criticism is always welcome.
The first few minutes of the game were tense and scoreless as was usually the case when two of the best teams in the state battled each other. Finally 8 minutes into the first half Danielle broke free and drove the ball all the way down the field to score. "Yay Danielle!" Matt heard Kati cheer.
Cynthia snuggled back into her husbands embrace watching Danielle play soccer but at the same time thinking about their atypical yet wonderful marriage. She smiled remembering how she had initially almost refused to date her husband since he was Christian. But Matthew Stewart had been handsome and charming. Her older sister Kat tried to remind her that Christianity and even Catholicism was much more than the hypocritical Catholic church they had been raised in. Reluctantly Cynthia had allowed Matt to love her and in time she agreed to accompany him to church. She remembered one of the hymns that day had told how "They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love" and how in time in Matt's congregation she had grown to feel and see that love all around her.
She married Matt when she was 18 and they had their first child a little more than a year later. It was a challenge as she was finishing up her bachelors degree in nutrition and planning on going to medical school and Matt was a law student. Her parents were appalled that she had married outside "the faith" and that she was determined to have an education let alone a career. But somehow they survived. She wasn't the type of mother her mother had envisioned although in retrospect Cynthia realized that kind of mother wasn't the kind anyone should strive for. In reality their marriage and family thrived because they made it work. When Adam and Kristin were young Matt had been pro-counsel for DSS and able to do much of his work from home.
She looked over at her daughter and son in law and remembered to the night many years ago that Matt had met her at the door when she came home from the hospital. Cynthia turned to kiss him but in an instant she sensed something was wrong. "What's wrong honey?" she asked perceptively.
"Kristin has another stomach ache."
"Ooh poor kid, did you manage to get her to go to sleep?"
"Cyn I need your help. Kristin needs you."
"Of course she's a little girl and she hurts and she needs to know that her parents love her and that they won't leave her. If you'll get a start on dinner I'll go up and sit with her, she shouldn't wake up alone."
"No, it's more than that. I know our daughter and right now she's in agony, probably the worst pain of her life. Dr. Mitchell says it's nothing to worry about but he can't be right. Something is wrong here. I know you shouldn't treat our kids, but please try this once. Let her show you where it hurts; maybe you'll think of something. We owe her that, Kristin needs someone to be on her side to be her advocate."
I'll try" was all she said as she started up the stairs in the front hall. Kristin was still asleep when she tiptoed in and crept across the carpeted floor. She sat down in the rocking chair and regarded her sleeping child. Kristin was beautiful with finely carved delicate features, long thick dark lashes, and a heart shaped mouth. Cynthia took her daughter's hand into her own, her eyes misting as she thought of children from work who had slipped away way too fast. Her mind was already working overtime imagining the worst when Kristin stirred in her sleep.
"Shhh, it's o.k. Kristin mommy's here" she crooned. Kristin's eyes fluttered, blinked, and finally opened.
"How does your stomach feel?"
"I think it's a little better" Kristin chose her words carefully she didn't want to make her mom feel badly.
"Can you show me where it hurts?"
"Sure." Kristin slowly pulled the coverlet back and lifted her shirt to show her. But the pain seemed a lot lower than Cynthia had thought, below her waist.
"May I look at your stomach?"
"That's what Dr. Mitchell always says and then he pushes on it and it hurts more."
"You're right that's not a very good choice of words, and I may make it hurt more too but I'll be as gentle as possible. May I try?"
Kristin looked up at her mom, her eyes were full of pain and fear, "Do you think I'm pretending it hurts?"
"No of course not. I can tell you're hurting a lot and I wish I could take all the pain away."
"But I heard daddy and Dr. Mitchell talking. Dr. Mitchell said there wasn't anything wrong and that it couldn't be as bad as I thought."
"Oh sweetheart I'm sorry. Dr. Mitchell shouldn't have said that, only you know what it feels like."
"You can touch my stomach mom, I trust you."
Cynthia had examined thousands of abdomens but this was very different. As she lightly palpated the upper quadrants she watched her daughter's face and palpated more deeply. She moved down into the hypogastric or suprapubic area. She noted the involuntary guarding and that the area seemed boggy, she palpated more deeply and then withdrew her hand slowly, testing for rebound wouldn't really give her any new information.
"Do you know why it hurts?"
"I'm not sure, I'd like to make you another doctor's appointment."
"I don't want to go back to Dr. Mitchell."
"You don't have to, first I want you to see one of the doctors I work with at the hospital and then we'll find you a new pediatrician."
"O.k."
"I'll rub your back maybe that will help you feel better."
Kristin had fallen asleep by the time Matt came up to tell them that dinner was ready and that Adam was eating at Jimmy's house. In the kitchen Matt and Cynthia talked. "I'll give Laura a call in the morning and see if she can fit Kristin in either tomorrow or Friday."
"Not the Laura I know?" Matt assumed aloud
"You should know her, she's been to quite a few of our barbecues."
"But I thought she did obstetrics?"
"She does, she also does gynecology and if I have to take my almost nine year old to a gynecologist I certainly want to take her to someone I trust."
"Did I miss something?"
"No but I'm afraid Dr. Mitchell may have. It's not her stomach, I think it's something internal and it's in the pelvic area."
"What does that mean?" Matt asked with concern.
"Honestly I don't know."
"Can it wait, I mean it's been several months already."
"I know. I should have paid more attention, sometimes I try too hard to be Adam and Kristin's mom not their doctor because in the end I think that's more important. But if I'd just been a normal mom I would have pushed more, I wouldn't have let Dr. Mitchell dismiss her complaints as trivial. But since we've waited this long I don't think a couple days are going to matter. She'll probably need to have a pelvic and bimanual exam and that's going to be a new and scary experience and it will probably hurt."
"Don't beat yourself up about this, that won't help Kristin now. You're going to get her through this and that's what's important. She's lucky to have a mom like you."
The next day after finishing her two morning bronchoscopies Cynthia returned to her office. She had left a message for Laura in the morning and had hoped she would call her back when she got into the office. "A Dr. Hawkins called, she said she was returning your call.", her secretary Daryl informed her.
"Thanks, I'll give her a call now if my 11:30 arrives can you have Stacy set them up in exam room 2?"
In her office Cynthia closed the door and picked up the phone. It took her a few moments to get through but eventually Laura's voice boomed through.
"Hi Cynthia, it's great to hear from you. I never did get a chance to thank you for your help with Mrs. Lemmons."
"I heard that she's home doing well." Cynthia said referring to a critically ill obstetrical patient of Laura's she had emergently intubated moments after she delivered a healthy 8 pound son. Her own health had hung in limbo for several weeks but she had finally been extubated and transferred out of the ICU." Actually I'm calling for another reason, I was wondering if you had openings this week, I, well Kristin has been having a lot of lower quadrant pain and our pediatrician says its nothing but it's something she's in pain..." her voice trailed off.
"And you think it's pelvic?"
"Yes, maybe ovarian. I don't know, she's still so young. She won't even be nine until November."
"Is there any fluid there?"
"Not noticeably, there's a lot of involuntary guarding and the area feels really boggy."
"Can she localize the pain?"
"It's worse on the left but she can't localize it completely."
"I had a cancellation at 11:00 tomorrow, can you come then? If not I'll see what else I can find."
Cynthia opened her appointment book. "I have a liver biopsy at 8:30, that should be fine. I had planned tomorrow afternoon for catching up on paper work anyway. Thank you for fitting her in."
"It's not a problem. Does she know what to expect? I can start with a CT / ultrasound but I'll probably need do an internal exam and..."
"I know she may need a laparoscopy or something. I'll explain the internal pelvic exam and we'll go from there. Maybe the surgery won't be necessary and if it is it will take a few days to schedule."
"Ok, Cynthia I know this is impossible but try not to worry too much. It could be slightly early puberty or something like that."
By 2:30 Cynthia had concluded that Laura was right, it was impossible. She headed back over to her other office in the hospital to do some more paper work and make rounds. At 4:00 she called the switchboard to let them know she was leaving for the evening.
In the parking garage, Cynthia saw Mary Lyons and exchanged hurried greetings. Mary was the DSS Social Worker assigned to Pembroke Hospital and she and Matt had been sort of colleagues. In January her husband had been sworn in as one the 34th District State Family Court judges so they no longer worked together.
Cynthia got in her car and drove out the west hospital entrance. She drove down Main Street past the Firehouse and Police Station and the small Embury Park. She turned left onto Federal Ave. and drove past the Pembroke Town Square which housed the Post Office, the County and Town Office Buildings, the DSS, the Court House, the Pembroke Community Center, The Pember Museum & Auditorium, and several posh restaurants. She drove up Federal Ave. past the square, past the Executive Park Office Complexes, where her other office was located, past the intersection of Tower Road which led to the Water Treatment Facility, the Department of Public Works, the Darien Construction Company and the Palmira County Jail. Once she passed Memorial Cemetery, Federal Ave. began to run more westward again and turned into Co. Rte. 372 and passed through the Covered Bridge into the town of Deering. Deering was relatively rural with mostly farms but a few housing developments that were sprouting up. Harrison a little further west down Rte. 372 was basically farm after farm; there was a small Elementary and High school, bordering on land owned by the Palmira County Rural Cemeteries Association. Cynthia turned onto Prescott Bridge Road and drove over the historic Prescott Bridge past the Harrison Community Church to her in-laws farm to pick up her daughter.
Since they had moved to Palmira County when Cynthia had finished her residency and multiple fellowships summers ago her mother in law Theresa had been watching the kids during the summers when all were out of school. The kids loved "helping" on the farm and had both raised and shown calves at the Palmira County Fair.
Cynthia parked in the driveway in front of the tidy white farmhouse and darted up the walk and front porch steps. Theresa met her at the door, "Hi Cynthia, I hope you're not here to pick up the kids? Matt picked up Kristin for her soccer game two hours ago."
'Of course, Kristin's soccer team usually had traveling games on Thursday evenings or Saturday mornings' Cynthia thought unsure whether to laugh or cry.
"Is everything alright? Matt told me about Kristin and I wasn't sure she should go to her soccer game either but she seemed better and she's with her daddy he'll take care of her."
"No, it's fine I'd just forgotten she had a game today I wanted to get a chance to prepare her for her doctor's appointment tomorrow. Did Matt take Adam to Jimmy's on his way?"
"Yes, why don't you stay for awhile I just made some lemonade. We can sit out on the porch and talk."
Cynthia had always liked Matt's mom. She had never second guessed the way they were raising their family but she'd always been only a phone call away. She had once even told Cynthia she thought it was great the way she was giving Matt the opportunity to really be a dad, that it had taken her years to figure out how to let Kurt do it and by then it had almost been too late. "I'd like that."
They talked about everything and nothing at the same time and when Cynthia got back in the car to drive home she felt much calmer. She drove back into town eventually made a right onto Main Street, and drove north a little further so she could turn left onto LILAC DR near LILAC PARK She pulled into the driveway at 1872 Lilac and parked in the garage at the bottom of the driveway and walked up the driveway to their old style colonial. As she passed the side patio she saw Kristin in the pool with two of her friends Robin and Darla. She stopped and walked across the lawn to the patio. "Hi mom, we won our game. I scored three times!" Kristin greeted her.
"Congratulations, I guess all those afternoons at the park with your father are starting to pay off. Is your dad inside?"
"Yes, he said Rob and Dar could stay for dinner and we'd make pancakes on the grill out here. I think he's getting the batter ready."
"Ok"
Cynthia crossed the patio and went into the kitchen through the French glass doors. Matt was whisking pancake batter in a large bowl at the island counter his back to Cynthia. "Hi honey."
"Hi", Matt turned to kiss his wife.
"I hear we're doing pancakes for dinner."
"Kristin asked and I couldn't exactly say no. Did you get a chance to talk to Laura?"
"Yeah she can see Kristin at 11:00 tomorrow."
"Drats I've got a hearing then, hold on a second." Matt said reaching for the kitchen extension to try to reach his clerk.
"Matt wait, its ok, I'll take her. I'd planned on doing paperwork tomorrow afternoon anyway."
"But..."
"Listen I know you usually take the kids to their doctor's appointments and I appreciate that so much, but I think this is something a little girl needs her mother for. I've had pelvic exams before, I know what it's like and I know how much worse it is if you're not prepared. After the girls leave tonight I'll talk to Kristin. Maybe you can arrange to be home by three or something and you can take her to do something fun."
"You think your appointment will last that long."
"No, I hope not but I thought I'd take her to a late lunch afterwards."
Two weeks later a biopsy taken during a laparoscopy confirmed the diagnosis of endometriosis. Cynthia had shuddered when she thought about the pain her daughter might have to live with for years or possibly forever. But somehow they had survived. Matt had really been the one who had comforted her through the pain. He'd gotten up with her at night and sat with her when it hurt too much to sleep. Cynthia credited all that to him; she had told him so many times. And as Danielle began to struggle with many of the same issues she prayed that he could still be strong enough.
By the time Derek arrived the first half was almost over and the score had risen to 2-0 and Danielle had scored both goals. "What did I miss?" Derek asked sitting down next to his father.
"Danielle scored twice!" Kati explained happily.
"Cool" Derek said reaching into the cooler and retrieving several sandwiches and some grapes.
Laurel looked over at Derek's paper plate. She had spent most of the game sleeping with her head in Kristin's lap and had refused the offers of sandwiches, juice, rice krispy treats or fruit. Knowing that she would be receiving supplemental enteral nutrition through a gastrojejunostomy tube at night her foster parents hadn't pushed the issue.
"I want grapes!" Laurel finally said looking up at Kristin.
Matt heard her request and reached into the nearby cooler for a bunch of grapes and handed them to his wife who passed them to Kristin and Laurel. Laurel munched thoughtfully for a few grapes and then handed the cluster back to Kristin, put her head back down and went back to sleep.
The game ended 4-1 with Danielle scoring one more goal in the last half. As her teammates celebrated around her Danielle saw her family in the stands and went to them. Her father hugged her gently and the rest of the family joined in.
That night turned into the perfect opportunity for Cynthia, Matt, and Derek to discuss Lucy moving in. Kristin and Paul were double dating with Jenny and Chris. Kati and Laurel were in bed and Danielle was hosting a celebratory pool party for her victorious soccer teammates. Her parents had provided the indoor pool and made pizza and then trusted them. Or perhaps trusted Coach Russer who was down there as well.
Together Matt and Cynthia knocked on Derek's door. He opened the door and turned down the stereo and moved some stuff around so his parents could sit on his bed. "We wanted to talk to you about Lucy staying with us if this is a good time." Matt began
"It's probably as good as any. I'm sorry about before."
"I am too. Perhaps what I said came out more harshly than I intended but I wanted to wait to discuss this until I could give it the attention it deserves. You made me very proud of you this afternoon."
"How? Certainly not with my map reading ability."
"No, with your ability to be rational. It meant a lot to your sister that you were at her soccer game." Matt explained.
"I realize that now. Danielle's probably gotten much more than her fair share of the aftershocks of my rotten moods I decided things wouldn't change until I made them change."
"That's a good point Derek." Cynthia agreed.
"Your mom and I have discussed Lucy coming to stay with us some but we wanted to have an idea of what your expectations were."
"I don't know. I think she just needs someone to help her while she gets her strength back."
"Have you talked to Lucy about this?" Cynthia asked.
"She would be grateful if she could stay here," Derek said realizing that he was exaggerating a little. He had more gotten the impression that Lucy was so desperate to get out of the hospital that she would even stay with them.
"Has she discussed any of this with her parents?" Matt asked.
"I don't think so. She doesn't seem to talk to them much and they are all the way in California. I'm not sure why that is but maybe they don't know about her eating disorder."
"Does Lucy have an eating disorder?" Matt wondered
"According to mom she has behaviors that are worrisome for it"
"Well if Lucy was going to stay here obviously she'd be responsible for following our house rules and I think it would be reasonable to require her to see a physician and therapist regularly." Matt suggested.
"I agree" Cynthia said.
"But otherwise it's ok?" Derek wondered.
"Well I think we can try it and see. If things don't work out we may need to develop alternative arrangements." Matt said.
"Thanks!" Derek exclaimed.