Chapter 2: "Smelled of childhood remnants of a dusty weeping willow"
Marissa and Ryan sat in the waiting room for what seemed like forever, until they were approached by a woman, a young doctor.
"Hello." She said shaking both of their hands.
Not long ago Seth came and picked up Piper, … Looking at the woman gave Marissa flashbacks of Penny, the woman who had evaluated her right after Piper and Madison were born.
"I just have a few questions to ask you."
Right then Sandy and Kirsten rushed in.
"Where is Maddy? Is she okay?" Sandy said being the concerned grandfather.
"She's in the back." Ryan said arms wrapped around Marissa.
The doctor began to speak again.
"Have you noticed any changes in your daughter lately?" She asked
"She's been kind of tired lately…" Ryan said "And she hasn't been eating very much."
"She has also had a fever off and on but the pediatrician gave us medicine for it."
The woman nodded and then wrote something down on her note pad.
"Has she ever had any exposure to drugs?"
"Of course not!" Marissa said defensively.
The woman nodded again
"I understand that she has a twin sister. Were there any complications with the birth or the pregnancy?" The doctor asked looking at Marissa.
All of the eyes shifted to her.
"I um… I had an eating disorder, and had a lot of emotional-" She tried to find the word, "stress…" she finished
The doctor nodded.
"Do you think that this could have contributed to this?" Marissa asked feeling a twinge of guilt.
"Honestly Mrs. Atwood as of now I could not tell you. We still have to run more tests. How long as she had these symptoms?"
Ryan looked at his hands.
"I guess off and on for a month now. We have been taking her to her doctor and she has toldus not to worry." Ryan explained. "We just have been keeping a very close eye on her."
"And her twin, has she appeared to be in good health?" The doctor asked
"Very good." Ryan said.
The doctor nodded again and then began to speak.
"I think am going to order tests to be run to find out of this could possibly be leukemia." The doctor said looking at Ryan and Marissa sympathetically
"WHAT!" Marissa yelled. "My daughter will be fine, she does not have leukemia!" She said convinced that someone was playing a cruel joke on her.
Ryan wrapped his arms around Marissa.
"What do you have to do?"
"In order to diagnose it we have to conduct a blood count and a bone marrow biopsy. We will have to remove a small piece of marrow either from her hip or breastbone." The doctor explained
"What are the chances that it is Leukemia?" Kirsten.
"It more likely is than isn't, but it is important for theses tests to be run now because the sooner it is diagnosed the easier it is to control.."
"So you can control it?" Sandy asked
"Yes we do have methods of controlling it. If it is leukemia than it will most likely Acute Lymphoid Leukemia , ALL, which is the most common form for young children. 70-75% of childhood cancer is ALL. It is caused by your bone marrow making too many white blood cells. Luckily the treatment response is great with the treatments that we have available. 85-90% of children with it are cured."
"Did you hear that Marissa. 85-90% are cured." Ryan whispered in her ear.
"I want to see my baby." Marissa said.
"I don't think-" The doctor began.
"PLEASE!" Marissa begged. "I want to see her before you run the tests."
"Alright." The doctor said. "The two of you can follow me." She gestured towards Ryan and Marissa leaving Sandy and Kirsten in the waiting room.
She shows them to the childrens ICU where Madison's room was. The walls were white with yellow and pink hot air balloons all over. Madison was lying on the bed staring up at the ceiling.
"Mommy!" She said reaching out to Marisssa
"Hey sweetie." Marissa said rushing up to the side of her daughters bed to give her a hug.
"Can I go home?" The five year old asked
"Um, soon honey, but now right now." Marissa said.
"Where's Piper?"
"With Uncle Seth and Aunt Summer." Ryan said.
"Why do I gotta stay and she doesn't?" Madison asked
"Just so the doctors can make sure that you are okay." Ryan said walking over to his daughter to hold her hand. "They have to give you some tests to make sure that you are alright. Okay?"
Madison nodded.
"Are they gonna hurt?" She asked
"Maybe a little." Marissa said. "You're going to have to be a big girl. I know you're brave." Marissa told her
"Are you going to be with me?"
"Mommy and I will be right outside with Nana and Pop-Pop." Ryan said
"Alright." Madison said. "I can do it." She said.
Marissa, Ryan, Sandy and Kirsten waited in the hospital for almost 9 hours before they were given any results. The doctor came back out with a somber look on her face.
"As we suspected, the results show that Madison does in fact have Acute Lymphoid Leukemia."
Ryan looked as pale as a ghost. Marissa fell sobbing into Sandy's arms. What were they going to do?
They visited with Madison for a couple of hours and then had to go home. They all rode together to Marissa and Ryans apartment because neither were in the condition to drive. Summer and Seth had Piper for the night. Dylan was there helping them watch her.
Marissa dashed up the stairs and into the bedroom.
"Do you think she is going to be okay?" Kirsten asked
"Probably not." Ryan said. "There's a bottle of vodka in there."
"I'll go." Kirsten said following Marissa, and Sandy followed Ryan downstairs and out to his car where he found Ryan pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting up.
"Come on Ryan. You got to pull yourself together. I know it's hard but you gotta for the girls!" He said
"I know." He said taking a drag
By the time that Kirsten has actually forced herself into Marissa and Ryans room Marissa had polished half a small bottle of vodka.
"Marissa!" Kirsten said grabbing the bottle from her "Come on. This isn't right. You know that this is not the way to fix your problems!"
"What else am I supposed to do? Kirsten I am only twenty-two! I don't know what to do with a sick child! I can't take anymore of this. My baby deserves to be happy!" Marissa said sobbing.
"Having a drunk mother will not make her happy!" Kirsten said. "We are all in this together Marissa, all of us, together. You will do your children no good locked up in some treatment facility, this time longer than before. It is time to grow up, be an adult." Kirsten said.
Marissa pulled out the bottle and took another swig.
"I am." She said looking Kirsten dead in the eye.
DUN DUN DUN... Hum... interesting, I know... but I don't know what you think so I was thinking that some REVIEWS would be great!