Ok I based this off a book I don't own the rights of, "Saving Jessica." By Lurlene McDaniel. I don't own Lizzie McGuire either
"Hi Ms. Gordon, is Gordo there?"
"Yes, he is, may I asked who's calling?"
"It's me Lizzie."
"Oh my Lizzie dear I didn't even realize it was you. Do you have a cold dear?"
"Sort of, is Gordo around?"
"Yes, one moment." Ms. Gordon covered the received and called up the stairs, "David the telephone is for you!"
"Thanks Mom I'll get it up here." 17-year-old Gordo called back. "This is Gordo."
Gordo heard a sniff and then, "Gordo could you come over here please?"
"Lizzie what's wrong?" Gordo asked quickly realized immediately that there was something was wrong with his girlfriend.
"Um, could you just come over?" Lizzie asked again, it was obvious that she was trying to keep her voice even.
"Sure, I will be right over."
"OK just come in my parents know that you are coming." Lizzie said quietly before hanging up, not even bothering to say goodbye.
"Mom, I've got to go over to Lizzies. I will be back soon."
"Hey wait a minute. Don't you have SAT's you need to be studying for?"
"Yeah I do. But something's wrong with Lizzie."
Ms. Gordon shook her head as she watched her son go out through the garage car keys in hand.
Gordo opened Lizzie's house door and heard Jo McGuire call out to him, "Gordo Lizzie's upstairs in her room you can go on up."
"Lizzie?" Gordo asked tapping on Lizzie's door softly.
"Come in Gordo." Lizzie's voice came weakly from the other side of the door.
As soon as Gordo walked in he saw Lizzie wipe tears off of her cheeks. Gordo rushed to Lizzie's side and took her into his arms. "Lizzie what's wrong?" Gordo watched Lizzie lick her lips nervously and wring her hands. "Lizzie?"
"I have to go to the hospital." Lizzie finally managed to blurt.
"What? What do you mean you have to go to the hospital?" Gordo asked taking Lizzie's hand.
"My family doctor says that he wants to run some tests. He says I'm not just sick, something is wrong with me."
Gordo pulled Lizzie to him, "What do they think is wrong with you?"
"They don't know. They just know that something is more wrong with me than anemia. And they say the only way they can figure it out is if they put me in the hospital to check for sure." Lizzie looked at Gordo with tearful blue eyes, "What if something is really wrong with me Gordo?"
"Nothing's wrong with you. But if there is I am going to be there for you." Gordo sated fiercely.
Lizzie leaned against Gordo's chest, "Promise?"
"I promise. What hospital are they taking you to?"
"The one in Georgiatown." Lizzie sighed.
"Georgiatown? Why that far away?" Gordo asked.
Lizzie shrugged, "I'm not sure, but I think my doctor has an idea as to what they think is wrong with me, but he isn't telling anyone. So I guess that is why they are sending me to Georgiatown."
"It's going to be OK." Gordo whispered in Lizzie's hair holding her tightly to him.
Jo knocked on the door lightly and stuck her head in the door, "I'm sorry to interrupt but we should be taking Lizzie to the hospital now. Gordo you are welcome to come with us."
"Thanks." Gordo said taking Lizzie's hand.
Lizzie shook her head, "Gordo you have SAT's you need to study for SAT's."
"I can do that later."
"It's just going to be a lot of testing." Jo did add.
"Begging your pardon Mrs. McGuire but I'm going."
"But Gordo…" Lizzie started.
Gordo silenced her with a kiss, "I'm going."
"Gordo, Miranda you're actually in school today." Laurie Webb commented one morning a week later.
Miranda lay a head down on the picnic table where she, Laurie Webb, Laurie's boyfriend Mark McRoy, Grace Vitaro, Gordo and usually Lizzie met in the morning. "Lizzie made up come." Miranda mumbled.
"She didn't want us to miss anymore school." Gordo added groggily rubbing his eyes.
"And you listened to her?" Grace piped up.
"We should all be there for her." Laurie said crossing her arms.
"Normally we wouldn't have. But last night was a bad night she had a really headache and we didn't want to upset set her so we told her we would go to school but we are going back to the hospital immediately after." Miranda said lifting her head up off the table.
"You know she doesn't want everybody at the hospital Laurie. It's taken a lot to get her to let Miranda and I to be there. She doesn't feel well most of the time. I'm going to get a coke anybody want anything?"
Everybody either shook their heads or waved Gordo off, "Is Gordo OK?" Mark asked, "He never drinks coke in the morning."
"Lizzie gets her test results back today. Everyone's really nervous about it, and you know how edgy Gordo gets when Lizzie is upset about anything."
Everyone nodded, they all knew how he got.
"Where's Miranda?" Lizzie asked when Gordo walked into her room after school that day.
"She decided to stay home." Gordo watched relief spread across Lizzie's face, and that was why he had suggested Miranda stay home. Miranda hadn't been happy, but she had finally relented. She had known Lizzie long enough to know that even though Miranda was her best friend she still had a sense of modesty when it came to not feeling well, she didn't like a lot of people around. "When's the doctor going to be here?"
"Any minute." Sam McGuire said from his seat next to the other side of Lizzie's bed.
"Mom went out to find him." Matt said from his seat. Gordo looked at the pale teenage boy. Gordo felt sorry for Matt, it had only been 2 years ago when he had been in the hospital with leukemia, he had spent nearly 4 months straight in the hospital, finally falling into remission.
Jo came in soon after followed by Lizzie's normal family doctor, Dr. Michaels, and the doctor that had been assigned to her case at the hospital, Dr. Morgan, and a new doctor, a slight female, with graying red hair.
Gordo took Lizzie's hand, and she squeezed it tightly. "Lizzie this is Dr. Grace." Dr. Morgan introduced.
Lizzie nodded at the doctor but didn't say anything, and Dr. Michaels started talking, "Lizzie do you remember last year when you had strepthroat?"
Lizzie nodded, "Yeah I was really sick. But what has that got to do with anything?"
"Well when you came in you had had it for awhile and it was pretty advanced."
"Yes." Lizzie nodded.
"Pardon me. But what does this have anything to do with anything?" Sam asked exasperated.
"Let me get to the point." Dr. Morgan cut in.
"Please do." Sam mumbled.
"Lizzie advanced strep can cause some many problems, in this case it took a toll on your kidney."
"What are you going to do about it?" Jo asked.
"Can you give her medicine to take care of it?" Sam asked.
"Does she have to stay in the hospital?" Poor Matt looked terrified for his sister.
"Is she going to be OK?" Gordo asked, Lizzie didn't say anything but continued to cling to Gordo, as if he was her only link to what was going on.
"Lizzie we brought Dr. Grace in because she can explain in greater length what is wrong." With Dr. Morgan's words the 2 male doctors left the room.
"Lizzie your kidney is in failure. Endstage renal disease."
"What does that mean?" Lizzie whispered.
Gordo closed his eyes, this was the one time in his life when he wished he wasn't so damn smart, and didn't know so much. He had done a research paper on different diseases, kidney failure was one of the,
"It means you are in total kidney failure."
"So can you give me some medicine or something to stop it?" Lizzie asked, she could feel how tense Gordo was and she couldn't tear her eyes away from Dr. Grace's neutral face to look at Gordo's.
Dr. Grace shook her head.
"I can't live without an organ." Lizzie cried, "Am I going to die."
"Not in this day and age, and not if I can prevent it. There are several things we can do now to keep you alive. We are going to start you on dialysis immediately."
"Dialysis."
Gordo turned to Lizzie, "It cleans all of the waste out of you body. Taking over the job of your kidneys."
"You will have dialysis 3 times a week."
"3 times a week?" Lizzie recoiled as if she had been struck.
"It will keep you alive." Dr. Grace responded.
"For how long?" Jo asked.
"Her whole life."
"My whole life?" Lizzie gasped, "Isn't there another way?"
"There is always kidney transplant. But they conditions have to be just right."
"So with dialysis, all I have to do is come in and be hooked up to a machine 2 times a week?" Lizzie asked.
"It's not that simple I'm afraid. Dialysis will cleanse the wastes and toxins from your body but you will be taking medication to help with the anemia also."
Lizzie looked towards Gordo tearfully, Gordo kissed Lizzie gently on the forehead, and whispered so no one else in the room could hear "We are going to get through this together."
Lizzie took a deep breath and asked the question she was dreading, "So what's next?"
Lizzie had to force herself to listen to Dr. Grace talk to her about the surgery they would be doing to put an external shunt in her arm for dialysis. And then how they were going to have to poke a needle in her arm every time she went in for dialysis.
Lizzie sat in bed, her face growing paler and paler as Dr. Grace explained more and more, "I know this is hard for you Lizzie, I know you are a young girl who has her whole life in front of her. I'm going to let you get some rest, then I am going to send over some pamphlets and a dietitian a little later tonight. He will go over what you can and can't eat, and how much you can eat. And I will schedule you for surgery in the morning."
Jo and Sam shook Dr. Grace's hand, and Gordo stood protectively at Lizzie's side. And Gordo was the only one who heard Lizzie whisper "Why is this happening to me?"
More than anything at those words Gordo wanted to pull Lizzie into his arms and shelter her from the world. But he could do that as well as he could answer her simple question.
"David where have you been young man?" Ms. Gordon asked as Gordo walked into the living room later that night. "I thought that you said you would be home by dinner tonight?"
Gordo slammed his car keys on the desk table causing his mother to jump, "Lizzie saw her doctor today."
"Well what's wrong with her then?" Ms. Gordon asked.
"She is in kidney failure." Gordo stated.
"David I'm sorry." Ms. Gordon said quietly, but suddenly her tone changed, "You can't ignore your studies though. Your almost have high school finished, you can't blow these last few weeks."
"Mom!" Gordo exclaimed throwing up his hands. "I just told you Lizzie is in kidney failure and you tell me that I have to concentrate on my studies."
"I'm sorry David, I truly am about Lizzie, she is a wonderful girl. But just because she is sick doesn't mean you have to change anything in your life."
"I tell you my girlfriend is terminally ill and you tell me I shouldn't change my whole life? I promised her I would take her to dialysis 3 times a week." Gordo said ignoring his mother's comments, "Her mom just started a new job and she really loves it. It's her first time working since Lizzie was born. I don't want her to have to quit her job."
Ms. Gordon shook her head, "Your father called."
Gordo sighed, "What did he want?"
"He wanted to talk to you. You wants you to call him."
"Where is he this time? Peru?" Gordo asked, angry with his father, it was a nice change in emotions at the moment.
"He is in Switzerland he said he has something important to tell you."
"Last time he said that he told me he was getting married, what else can he tell me?"
"Gordo your father does love you." Ms. Gordo said quietly.
"I don't care. I'm not calling him, I have enough to worry about."
"Hi Ms. Gordon, is Gordo there?"
"Yes, he is, may I asked who's calling?"
"It's me Lizzie."
"Oh my Lizzie dear I didn't even realize it was you. Do you have a cold dear?"
"Sort of, is Gordo around?"
"Yes, one moment." Ms. Gordon covered the received and called up the stairs, "David the telephone is for you!"
"Thanks Mom I'll get it up here." 17-year-old Gordo called back. "This is Gordo."
Gordo heard a sniff and then, "Gordo could you come over here please?"
"Lizzie what's wrong?" Gordo asked quickly realized immediately that there was something was wrong with his girlfriend.
"Um, could you just come over?" Lizzie asked again, it was obvious that she was trying to keep her voice even.
"Sure, I will be right over."
"OK just come in my parents know that you are coming." Lizzie said quietly before hanging up, not even bothering to say goodbye.
"Mom, I've got to go over to Lizzies. I will be back soon."
"Hey wait a minute. Don't you have SAT's you need to be studying for?"
"Yeah I do. But something's wrong with Lizzie."
Ms. Gordon shook her head as she watched her son go out through the garage car keys in hand.
Gordo opened Lizzie's house door and heard Jo McGuire call out to him, "Gordo Lizzie's upstairs in her room you can go on up."
"Lizzie?" Gordo asked tapping on Lizzie's door softly.
"Come in Gordo." Lizzie's voice came weakly from the other side of the door.
As soon as Gordo walked in he saw Lizzie wipe tears off of her cheeks. Gordo rushed to Lizzie's side and took her into his arms. "Lizzie what's wrong?" Gordo watched Lizzie lick her lips nervously and wring her hands. "Lizzie?"
"I have to go to the hospital." Lizzie finally managed to blurt.
"What? What do you mean you have to go to the hospital?" Gordo asked taking Lizzie's hand.
"My family doctor says that he wants to run some tests. He says I'm not just sick, something is wrong with me."
Gordo pulled Lizzie to him, "What do they think is wrong with you?"
"They don't know. They just know that something is more wrong with me than anemia. And they say the only way they can figure it out is if they put me in the hospital to check for sure." Lizzie looked at Gordo with tearful blue eyes, "What if something is really wrong with me Gordo?"
"Nothing's wrong with you. But if there is I am going to be there for you." Gordo sated fiercely.
Lizzie leaned against Gordo's chest, "Promise?"
"I promise. What hospital are they taking you to?"
"The one in Georgiatown." Lizzie sighed.
"Georgiatown? Why that far away?" Gordo asked.
Lizzie shrugged, "I'm not sure, but I think my doctor has an idea as to what they think is wrong with me, but he isn't telling anyone. So I guess that is why they are sending me to Georgiatown."
"It's going to be OK." Gordo whispered in Lizzie's hair holding her tightly to him.
Jo knocked on the door lightly and stuck her head in the door, "I'm sorry to interrupt but we should be taking Lizzie to the hospital now. Gordo you are welcome to come with us."
"Thanks." Gordo said taking Lizzie's hand.
Lizzie shook her head, "Gordo you have SAT's you need to study for SAT's."
"I can do that later."
"It's just going to be a lot of testing." Jo did add.
"Begging your pardon Mrs. McGuire but I'm going."
"But Gordo…" Lizzie started.
Gordo silenced her with a kiss, "I'm going."
"Gordo, Miranda you're actually in school today." Laurie Webb commented one morning a week later.
Miranda lay a head down on the picnic table where she, Laurie Webb, Laurie's boyfriend Mark McRoy, Grace Vitaro, Gordo and usually Lizzie met in the morning. "Lizzie made up come." Miranda mumbled.
"She didn't want us to miss anymore school." Gordo added groggily rubbing his eyes.
"And you listened to her?" Grace piped up.
"We should all be there for her." Laurie said crossing her arms.
"Normally we wouldn't have. But last night was a bad night she had a really headache and we didn't want to upset set her so we told her we would go to school but we are going back to the hospital immediately after." Miranda said lifting her head up off the table.
"You know she doesn't want everybody at the hospital Laurie. It's taken a lot to get her to let Miranda and I to be there. She doesn't feel well most of the time. I'm going to get a coke anybody want anything?"
Everybody either shook their heads or waved Gordo off, "Is Gordo OK?" Mark asked, "He never drinks coke in the morning."
"Lizzie gets her test results back today. Everyone's really nervous about it, and you know how edgy Gordo gets when Lizzie is upset about anything."
Everyone nodded, they all knew how he got.
"Where's Miranda?" Lizzie asked when Gordo walked into her room after school that day.
"She decided to stay home." Gordo watched relief spread across Lizzie's face, and that was why he had suggested Miranda stay home. Miranda hadn't been happy, but she had finally relented. She had known Lizzie long enough to know that even though Miranda was her best friend she still had a sense of modesty when it came to not feeling well, she didn't like a lot of people around. "When's the doctor going to be here?"
"Any minute." Sam McGuire said from his seat next to the other side of Lizzie's bed.
"Mom went out to find him." Matt said from his seat. Gordo looked at the pale teenage boy. Gordo felt sorry for Matt, it had only been 2 years ago when he had been in the hospital with leukemia, he had spent nearly 4 months straight in the hospital, finally falling into remission.
Jo came in soon after followed by Lizzie's normal family doctor, Dr. Michaels, and the doctor that had been assigned to her case at the hospital, Dr. Morgan, and a new doctor, a slight female, with graying red hair.
Gordo took Lizzie's hand, and she squeezed it tightly. "Lizzie this is Dr. Grace." Dr. Morgan introduced.
Lizzie nodded at the doctor but didn't say anything, and Dr. Michaels started talking, "Lizzie do you remember last year when you had strepthroat?"
Lizzie nodded, "Yeah I was really sick. But what has that got to do with anything?"
"Well when you came in you had had it for awhile and it was pretty advanced."
"Yes." Lizzie nodded.
"Pardon me. But what does this have anything to do with anything?" Sam asked exasperated.
"Let me get to the point." Dr. Morgan cut in.
"Please do." Sam mumbled.
"Lizzie advanced strep can cause some many problems, in this case it took a toll on your kidney."
"What are you going to do about it?" Jo asked.
"Can you give her medicine to take care of it?" Sam asked.
"Does she have to stay in the hospital?" Poor Matt looked terrified for his sister.
"Is she going to be OK?" Gordo asked, Lizzie didn't say anything but continued to cling to Gordo, as if he was her only link to what was going on.
"Lizzie we brought Dr. Grace in because she can explain in greater length what is wrong." With Dr. Morgan's words the 2 male doctors left the room.
"Lizzie your kidney is in failure. Endstage renal disease."
"What does that mean?" Lizzie whispered.
Gordo closed his eyes, this was the one time in his life when he wished he wasn't so damn smart, and didn't know so much. He had done a research paper on different diseases, kidney failure was one of the,
"It means you are in total kidney failure."
"So can you give me some medicine or something to stop it?" Lizzie asked, she could feel how tense Gordo was and she couldn't tear her eyes away from Dr. Grace's neutral face to look at Gordo's.
Dr. Grace shook her head.
"I can't live without an organ." Lizzie cried, "Am I going to die."
"Not in this day and age, and not if I can prevent it. There are several things we can do now to keep you alive. We are going to start you on dialysis immediately."
"Dialysis."
Gordo turned to Lizzie, "It cleans all of the waste out of you body. Taking over the job of your kidneys."
"You will have dialysis 3 times a week."
"3 times a week?" Lizzie recoiled as if she had been struck.
"It will keep you alive." Dr. Grace responded.
"For how long?" Jo asked.
"Her whole life."
"My whole life?" Lizzie gasped, "Isn't there another way?"
"There is always kidney transplant. But they conditions have to be just right."
"So with dialysis, all I have to do is come in and be hooked up to a machine 2 times a week?" Lizzie asked.
"It's not that simple I'm afraid. Dialysis will cleanse the wastes and toxins from your body but you will be taking medication to help with the anemia also."
Lizzie looked towards Gordo tearfully, Gordo kissed Lizzie gently on the forehead, and whispered so no one else in the room could hear "We are going to get through this together."
Lizzie took a deep breath and asked the question she was dreading, "So what's next?"
Lizzie had to force herself to listen to Dr. Grace talk to her about the surgery they would be doing to put an external shunt in her arm for dialysis. And then how they were going to have to poke a needle in her arm every time she went in for dialysis.
Lizzie sat in bed, her face growing paler and paler as Dr. Grace explained more and more, "I know this is hard for you Lizzie, I know you are a young girl who has her whole life in front of her. I'm going to let you get some rest, then I am going to send over some pamphlets and a dietitian a little later tonight. He will go over what you can and can't eat, and how much you can eat. And I will schedule you for surgery in the morning."
Jo and Sam shook Dr. Grace's hand, and Gordo stood protectively at Lizzie's side. And Gordo was the only one who heard Lizzie whisper "Why is this happening to me?"
More than anything at those words Gordo wanted to pull Lizzie into his arms and shelter her from the world. But he could do that as well as he could answer her simple question.
"David where have you been young man?" Ms. Gordon asked as Gordo walked into the living room later that night. "I thought that you said you would be home by dinner tonight?"
Gordo slammed his car keys on the desk table causing his mother to jump, "Lizzie saw her doctor today."
"Well what's wrong with her then?" Ms. Gordon asked.
"She is in kidney failure." Gordo stated.
"David I'm sorry." Ms. Gordon said quietly, but suddenly her tone changed, "You can't ignore your studies though. Your almost have high school finished, you can't blow these last few weeks."
"Mom!" Gordo exclaimed throwing up his hands. "I just told you Lizzie is in kidney failure and you tell me that I have to concentrate on my studies."
"I'm sorry David, I truly am about Lizzie, she is a wonderful girl. But just because she is sick doesn't mean you have to change anything in your life."
"I tell you my girlfriend is terminally ill and you tell me I shouldn't change my whole life? I promised her I would take her to dialysis 3 times a week." Gordo said ignoring his mother's comments, "Her mom just started a new job and she really loves it. It's her first time working since Lizzie was born. I don't want her to have to quit her job."
Ms. Gordon shook her head, "Your father called."
Gordo sighed, "What did he want?"
"He wanted to talk to you. You wants you to call him."
"Where is he this time? Peru?" Gordo asked, angry with his father, it was a nice change in emotions at the moment.
"He is in Switzerland he said he has something important to tell you."
"Last time he said that he told me he was getting married, what else can he tell me?"
"Gordo your father does love you." Ms. Gordo said quietly.
"I don't care. I'm not calling him, I have enough to worry about."