Through The Ups & Downs
Couple; Harrison X Briana
Rating; Mature
Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD or any songs I might use! In addition, from this point in the story and in future chapters, I do not own the character Ella (Eira) Solveig. She belongs to a good friend, ShadowSpirit020.
31) The Search Begins
Spencer and Viviana stood there with wide eyes and shock taking over as they attempted to process the news that their youngest child had cancer. How did anyone even begin to process such information!? Nathaniel was merely thirteen years old, having just turned so in February and now he had cancer? It had to be a mistake; the doctors HAD to be wrong. Spencer and Viviana struggled to remain standing as Natalie and Emmett assisted them in sitting down in the chairs right behind them. Spencer was first to calm himself down enough to speak with Natalie and Emmett.
"I-I don't understand this. A-Are you certain?" Spencer asked.
"One hundred percent, Mr. Haddock. I had the lab run the tests three times to ensure we were correct. If you would like, we can move this to my office and I can tell you more about the type of cancer and the plan to treat your son," Emmett offered. Spencer forced himself to stand, and then help his wife up. Natalie helped Viviana stay balanced while the four of them moved to Emmett's office on the third floor. Spencer and Viviana took a seat in the provided chairs as Emmett sat down on his side of the desk and put the folder down.
"How much can you tell us about the cancer? What will be his treatment? How long will he have to be here for?" Viviana whimpered while holding Spencer's hand tightly as Natalie brought over the box of tissues for her.
"Nathaniel has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; it is the most common type childhood cancer," Emmett started.
"And what is that, doctor?" Spencer asked.
"Wait, where is…our son right now? We haven't been told anything since he was transported here," Viviana remarked. "I want everything, from the beginning, please?" she asked.
"Upon arriving from Berkville Pediatric Care with Dr. Groves, Nathaniel was taken to the Pediatric Ward and that is where the samples were collected and then taken to the lab for testing. After we confirmed it was cancer, we moved him to the Pediatric Oncology Ward. From there we ran CT and MRI scans, as well a bone marrow biopsy and lumbar puncture, which is a spinal tap. We used all this to determine the type of cancer Nathaniel has," Emmett enlightened gently as he understood what a sensitive and upsetting matter this was to all parents who discovered their child had cancer.
"Is that where Nate is now?" Spencer inquired.
"Yes. Nathaniel is resting in the Pediatric Oncology Ward on this floor in isolation," Natalie informed.
"Why is he in isolation?" Viviana wondered nervously.
"It's part of the cancer, ma'am. I will explain everything and answer any questions you may have," Emmett said to them.
"Alright, tell us, please, doctor?" Viviana insisted.
"This is a cancer of the bone marrow where there is an overgrowth of immature, abnormal white blood cells that cause the bone marrow to fail and can infiltrate tissues. Your son has signs of anemia along with his tiredness and very low blood counts. There are signs of bleeding due to lack of platelets, the part of the blood that causes clotting and susceptibility to infection. Though. his white cell count in fact is extremely high, the cells are all cancerous and incapable of fighting infection, which is why he is in isolation," Emmett explained as Viviana buried her head against Spencer's chest, whimpering for Nate.
"Nathaniel's enlarged lymph glands, liver and spleen are also due to infiltration by the cancerous blood cells," Natalie added in softly as Vivian wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
"What are our treatment options, Doctor Eretson?" Spencer asked.
"Our goal is to put the cancer into remission. We need to give him supportive care with transfusions of red cells and platelets, fluids and drugs, a central IV line and prophylactic antibiotics to prevent life threatening infections due his weakened immune system." Natalie stated softly while offering a comforting hand on Viviana's shoulder, rubbing it a little.
"He is going to need to start chemotherapy urgently and I can't lie to you, Mr. and Mrs. Haddock; this is going to be brutal. Nathaniel is going to require multiple rounds of chemo to get him into remission and then consolidate that. In addition, he will need direct chemotherapy and radiotherapy to his central nervous system since CNS is common. Once in remission, he will need maintenance chemotherapy for two years. Most common sites of relapse are blood, CNS and testis," Emmett continued the explanation.
Spencer held Viviana close to him as she cried. "How brutal, Dr. Eretson?" Spencer asked while trying to stay strong for his wife.
"There are a range of side effects that can occur in chemo, Mr. Haddock. Some of the more common ones are hair loss, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, appetite changes or loss of it, diarrhea, constipation, easily bruising and bleeding, infection, mouth, tongue, and throat sores-possible pain with swallowing. There is also nerve and muscle problems-tingling, numbness or pain. There could be weight, urine, and bladder changes," Emmett began to tell them.
"Trouble focusing and mood changes. He is likely to become infertile so we will arrange for the fertility specialists to see him this afternoon to discuss tissue banking for the future," Natalie tried to reassure the worried parents.
"Oh, Gods. Nathaniel is only thirteen, Spencer. How is he taking all this?" Viviana cried into her husband's chest.
"We've already told Nathaniel about his diagnosis, he demanded to know what was making him so sick," Emmett informed lightly. "All Nate has asked for is his brother to be here," he added.
"When can we see him? I want to see my son," Viviana demanded.
"I can take you to see Nate, but there are some rules. Only one visitor at a time with that person wearing masks, gloves, aprons, possibly surgical gowns and of course, no one who is ill may enter the room," Emmett stated.
"And will the chemo cure him, doctor?" Spencer asked.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Haddock, we don't know what the next step is until we see how Nate responds to the treatments. Hopefully, it will be a positive response and we'll have that cancer in remission soon. It will not be an easy road we travel, but I promise that we will do all we can for Nathaniel," Emmett informed. Spencer nodded as they all stood and were led to Nate's room; number 352, which was right by the nurse and doctor station.
[Nathaniel's Hospital Room; # 352-Pediatric Oncology Ward]
"You go first, Viv," Spencer told her. Vivian nodded as she put on everything she was instructed to before sanitizing her hands and walking into the room, seeing Nate sitting in the bed and all hooked up to the monitors and IV lines. It hurt her but she had to be strong for her son, so he would not give up and keep fighting through all this. Vivian made her way to his bedside and sat down in the one available chair; Nate kept his eyes out the window, but knew she was there.
"Nate?" Vivian asked.
"Hi, Mom," Nate replied. "I-I take you know what's wrong with me?" he added.
Vivian forced a nod and stroked Nate's autumn colored hair, little lighter than Harrison's but still the same green eyes as his father and brother. "Your father and I both do. Don't worry, it's all going to be okay. You just focus on getting better," Vivian said confidently.
"Does…Harrison know?" Nate inquired.
"Your father is calling him right now and I'm sure he'll be here as soon as he can," Viviana told him. Nate nodded as closed his eyes. "You just rest now, I'll send Dad in and keep trying to call your brother," she added before kissing Nate's forehead through the mask, then leaving the room. "Any luck contacting Harrison?"
"No. Same as usual. Cell phone goes to voicemail and he his Skype is set to away," Spencer replied. "How's our son?"
"He looks miserable and exhausted, I told him to rest and that I'd send you in. I'll keep trying Harrison," Vivian told Spencer as she got off all the things she was wearing and Spencer changed into a set of his own, then going into the room to see his son. As expected, Spencer fought hard not to cry at the sight of his youngest son lying in the hospital bed, weak and pale. Spencer sat down in the chair and just stared at Nate. Outside the room with Viviana, she had tried to call Harrison multiple times but there was no answer from him on his mobile or Skype. The worst part about all this was Viviana and Spencer knew that Nate needed all the support he could get and the one person Nate wanted to be there was currently unreachable and a eighteen-hour or longer plane ride away. All they could do was hope that Harrison got the voicemails and came rushing home when he learned his little brother was in the hospital.
[June 20, 2016-Archian City General Hospital; 3rd Floor]
It had been a full month since the diagnosis of cancer was given to young Nathaniel Haddock, treatment began right away to put the cancer in remission. Unfortunately, Nate suffered severe vomiting, hair loss, diarrhea, and utter exhaustion. The fertility specialist had come later that first day to talk about the options for the inevitable infertility that Nate would end up having. The decision was to do a Testicular Biopsy, then freeze the testicle in liquid nitrogen; the doctors would be able to produce sperm from it later on when Nate went to have kids, but that was a long way off since he was only thirteen years old. All of Harrison's friends and army buds knew about what was going on too, everyone was offering their undying support for Nate to pull through. Today, Nate's labs should be in to tell them how the remission process was going so everyone had come out by 3:00 pm to hear the news. The only one not present was Harrison because no one was able to get a hold of him so far.
Finally, at 3:35 pm, Doctor Emmett approached them with a file in hand. "I sincerely apologize for the long wait. I had an emergency surgery for one of the other patients on this floor," he stated gently.
"Its alright, are Nate's labs in?" Spencer asked quickly.
"They are, I have them right here," Emmett nodded once.
"Well, doctor, has Nate's cancer been put into remission, will he be okay now?" Viviana asked with her hands clasped together pleadingly for good news. Emmett sighed and shook his head. Viviana's heart dropped into her stomach as Spencer forced himself to sit down.
"I'm afraid the results of Nate's latest labs are not as good as we had hoped Mr. and Mrs. Haddock. Nathaniel is not really responding to the chemo as he should and his recent scans show he has new nodes in his mediastinum. We can switch to alternate therapies, but we discussed that Nate had several high-risk features at presentation. And I think that the combination of those with his suboptimal response to first line chemo means we need to consider ablative therapy and bone marrow transplantation," Emmett informed them. Spencer's face was covered by his hands, the father had not been taking all this well while Viviana was doing her best to stay strong.
"What does that mean?" Addilyn inquired softly.
"It means that Nate is getting worse and his current chemotherapy isn't working. We need to move to bone marrow transplantation. Therefore, we have to give him extremely toxic chemo and radiotherapy to wipe out his bone marrow. Nathaniel will need a suitable donor to restore his immune system, otherwise he will die of an infection sooner or later," Emmett stated softly.
"How soon can you do the transplant!?" Viviana exclaimed.
"I'm afraid it's not that easy, Mrs. Haddock. We have to find Nate a match first. We will need to check your tissue type urgently. It might be easier to get him a donor if it comes from a family member or friend who is a match, otherwise, we're stuck with a waiting list and Nathaniel might not make it that long," Emmett explained.
"Do it then. Test me, his father, I can call his grandparents too," Viviana instructed.
"Us too, we're all willing to give it a shot," Olivia informed as the others nodded in agreement.
"We'll get started right away," Emmett said firmly with a nod and so the search began to find a match to be Nate's bone marrow transplant donor.