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As I said…BIG UPDATE!
Live While You Can Chapter 2
"I have the results from the blood test. It's unfortunately more than an iron deficiency and anemia. We diagnosed him with acute lymphoblastic leukemia." The entire family's eyes widened in surprise and shock. Goku's shocked gaze shifted from the fidgeting old doctor to his sick 11-year-old son.
Gohan's breaths were coming out in smothered gasps. Goku stood up slowly and walked over to his shaking son and wrapped his muscular arms around him.
"Gohan. It's okay. We'll beat this. We will. Trust me. Now take a deep breath before you start hyperventilating." Goku's heart felt like tearing in two. Never before had he felt like this. He couldn't describe it. Hopelessness? Fear? Guilt? Despair?
His heroic son had cancer. The little boy who had saved him and so many others, so many times was sick. Not just a little cold or anything little. He was terminally ill. Gohan finally nodded and took some deep shuddering breaths. No wonder Gohan had been so tired lately.
The doctor cleared his throat several times uncomfortably before continuing to explain his diagnosis. "Luckily, we caught this early in the first stage; this is also commonly known as the Development stage."
Goku nodded slightly, motioning for the doctor to continue. "There are three stages, Development, Danger, Critical. Once the cancer has reached the lymph nodes, that is when we change to the Danger stage. After it has reached internal organs, we degrade to Danger and then we really can't help."
Goku, Gohan, and Chi-Chi nodded; Gohan's a little slower than normal. "Now you need to admit him to the hospital today. We need to run more tests and monitor him." The doctor shifted his glasses and consulted his clipboard. "On Tuesday and Thursday, he will be given chemotherapy to help fight the cancer. Since today is Saturday, he will stay here until Thursday. After his chemotherapy on Thursday, he will be discharged. Then on the next Tuesday, he will need to be checked in 3 hours before his treatment, which we'll be at 10 o'clock. After 12 weeks of treatment, we will check his progress or retreat. And we will go from there.
During chemo, he will lose…let see he's 110 pounds? He'll lose 50 pounds during chemo. He will also lose all of his hair. He will be extremely weak also. He probably won't be able to eat anything for the day after chemo. He will also be throwing up. Any questions?"
He looked around the room. Nobody responded. Goku still had Gohan in his thick arms; Chi-Chi was sobbing quietly to herself, while rocking Goten.
"No? Mrs. Son, could you come with me to fill out the paperwork to admit your son?" Chi-Chi nodded, "Can we see after he's settled in?" The doctor nodded. Chi-Chi stood up and followed the doctor out of the room.
After they had left the room, Goku finally spook. "Gohan. Look at me." Gohan kept his head buried in his father's chest. "Gohan, please." Goku's tone carried slightly a commanding tone with it, but still held his gentleness. Gohan slowly raised his head up to meet his father's gaze. "Son, we'll get through this. This is just a small detour. Okay?"
Gohan stared at his father for a few unwavering moments. Then he numbly nodded. "I know you don't want to stay here for 7 days, but it's for the best. I'll get Piccolo to come, okay?" "Okay." Gohan's soft voice was a little hoarse.
Two nurses came in a few seconds later. "Mr. Son, we need you to leave for a few minutes while we ready his room. Goku nodded solemnly, "I'll be right back Gohan." Goku left the room.
One of the nurses handed Gohan a light gray hospital gown. This one was covered in the back. Gohan took off his gi and slipped on the ugly piece of clothing. The nurses raised his bed up a little to be somewhat reclined.
They started Gohan on an I.V. to help start fighting his cancer. They placed an oxygen tank next to the bed and pulled out a small tube. They handed it to Gohan. The thin tube was clear, had two little pieces sticking out together to go into his nose, and hooked behind his ears and came back to the tank. They put him on oxygen so they could make sure he was breathing fine.
"Okay, honey, you're all set." Gohan nodded. They left. Gohan looked around. He hated this. He wanted to get out. He was stuck in this bed. The door opened; his family walked in. Goku looked a little startled about the I.V. and the oxygen but relaxed.
"Gohan. I need to take Chi-Chi and Goten home. Then I'll get Piccolo. Okay?" Goku asked his son. "That's fine." Gohan really didn't have the strength to talk or move. Goku nodded and placed an arm around his wife. They disappeared.
After dropping off his wife and infant, Goku teleported to Capsule Corp. Vegeta greeted him gruffly. "Kakarot, what do you want?" Vegeta looked around, noticing Gohan was not there. "And where's your oldest spawn?" Bulma came around the corner, "Goku! Hi! What are you doing here?"
"I have to tell you something… Gohan is sick." "So? He'll be better tomorrow." Vegeta snorted. "No. He's really sick. He has cancer." A look of shock passed over the Brief's faces. "Cancer?" Bulma whispered.
"Yes. He'll be okay though. We caught it early. He's in the hospital right now and will be until Thursday. He's going to have chemo on Tuesday and Thursday. I was wondering if you would come by today? He's kind of upset."
Goku let out his breath and looked at his friends. Even Vegeta was speechless. He had come to…care for Gohan, even if he was a hybrid. "Sure. We'll come by later this afternoon. Um…Goku…do you want me…to call everybody else for you?" Bulma asked hesitantly.
"I'll come too, Kakarot." It doesn't take a genius to guess who said that. Goku nodded at both of them, "Thanks. It's going to be a wild one for a while." Goku smiled slightly before locking onto Piccolo's ki and disappearing.
Piccolo was deep in mediation when Goku appeared in front of him. Piccolo opened his eyes to stare at Goku. "Goku, what do you want?" Looking around, he noticed Gohan was not there. "Where's Gohan?" Goku took in a sharp breath, "The hospital."
"What? Why?" "He has cancer. Leukemia. Thankfully, we caught it early. So he'll be okay. Gohan was wondering if you could come with me to visit him? He has to be in the hospital until Thursday."
Piccolo took a deep breath trying to comprehend what Goku just said. "…Yeah. Take me to him. I'll stay with him." Goku nodded, "That would mean a lot to him." Goku placed one hand on Piccolo, before locking onto Gohan's ki, noticing it was a little low.
Back at the hospital, Gohan was laying in the bed, staring at the ceiling. He didn't want to think about anything; he thought he would he cry if he did. He was waiting for Goku to come back. Hopefully Piccolo would come.
Okay, so this is not what I expected. Just Cancer, right? Damn it, who am I fooling? I was really shocked when the doctor said I have cancer. But I'll get through it. I hope. Dad will help me. He has too.Just then, Piccolo and Goku showed up next to his bed. "We're back." Piccolo glanced down at his pupil, giving him a small smile. "Hey kid." "Hi Piccolo." Piccolo was quick to notice, Gohan was a little pale and his response was a bit winded. "Feeling okay?" Gohan gave a small laugh. "What do you think?"
Gohan raised himself up a little before turning back to his father and friend. "Hey, Gohan, you should have seen Vegeta's face. I think the only time I've seen him have that much shock was when you first ascended." Gohan gave a little, weak laugh. "That bad, huh? I'll be sure to tease him."
An uneasy silence settled in the room. Goku looked around, trying to find something to say. "Um…Gohan…um…Bulma and the others said they would be by tomorrow." Gohan nodded, "That's fine."
Before their conversation could continue, a nurse came in and told them to leave him alone so he could rest. Gohan scowled at the tall, blond nurse, but gave in when his father and Piccolo gave him a reassuring look.
Gohan lay back in his bed, before drifting off to sleep a few minutes later. Down in the lobby, Piccolo and Goku sat in the hard, plastic chairs. Goku held his head in his hands, while Piccolo watched him carefully.
"Something wrong, Goku?" Piccolo asked the Saiyan. "Of course. I feel so hopeless. Even though Gohan is going to all right, I feel like this is my fault. I mean, I feel like I haven't been there for him." "What? Goku that doesn't make sense!"
"Piccolo, he started fighting when he was 5. And he fought Cell when he was 11. Boys his age shouldn't be doing that. Their father should be there, watching them grow up. I wasn't. Maybe I-."
Piccolo was quick to cut him off. "Goku, he came to me once. I asked how he was doing since you weren't home yet from the fight with Frieza. He said fine. I noticed something was wrong, so I pried it out of him." Goku looked up.
"He said it was about you. At first I thought he was mad at you, but he wasn't. He wanted to be the way you are. So carefree and happy. That's not all. He thought he got in the way during a battle, unlike you." "But he doesn't." "Don't worry, he's trying harder to train if you haven't notice." "Yeah." Goku lay back in the chair. "I think he's taking this better than I am."
The next few days passed by fairly quickly, without incident. Well, if you don't call throwing the hospital food out the window because they want you to eat it. Goku just brought Gohan pizza. He was quite happy. Now it's Tuesday.
The nurses wheeled Gohan down a long corridor. He was not hooked up to any machine or oxygen. They had finally taken them off. Piccolo and Goku followed close behind. This was his first treatment.
Gohan was little nervous, but Piccolo and Goku didn't bother telling him not to be. They were both nervous, themselves. "Sirs, you have to stay here. You can watch through the window." One of nurses held Goku and Piccolo back.
Goku hesitated, but then nodded slowly, "Okay." They watched as the nurses placed Gohan on another bed. It retracted into a large tube machine. For an hour, they stood there watching Gohan receive his chemo.
Afterwards, they placed him back on his bed and wheeled him back into this room. "You'll have to help him when he throws up. Here's the bin." They gave Goku a little plastic container. Goku nodded.
Gohan was sound asleep in the bed, not moving in inch. His breaths came slowly, his chest rising and falling in a deep rhythmic beat. Only about 10 minutes into his peaceful rest, Gohan sat up and grabbed the bin from Goku. He bent over it and puked his guts out. Then he fell back down onto the feather soft pillow.
Piccolo watched his student sadly, 'This is going to be a long day.'
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Well, how was that?! Did you like? I am trying to add more detail but it's going to take a while. Oh yeah, reviews…
LWUC Gohan-Reviews? You got two.
C2@R Gohan-Now you feel what I feel. I got 3 reviews. But one was a flamer.
IR Gohan-Don't make her cry, you'll never get her to shut up.
C2@R Gohan-To Camaro or whatever her name is, I don't care. But me and Dad!? You're insane. And if I cuss, that's my problem, so shut up.
DBZ Chick1-Um…can we do this story's reviews? Please?
LWUC Gohan-Okay, first we have…demonpenguin. I'll read your story later today. And yes, I hope I'll update Innocent Revenge soon.
IR Gohan-More torture, yeah.
C2@R Gohan-Shut up. Nobody was asking you.
^IR Gohan glares at C2@R Gohan^
^Start bickering^
LWUC Gohan-Just ignore them, we also have Cute_kittty2. Thanks, tell your sister to review.
That's all for now!