Chapter Five
Collins pushed the door open to Mark's hospital room and grinned, Roger lay on the couch, sprawled out, sound asleep. Mark looked as though he'd just woken up, looking around to see if Roger was the only person here.
"Hey kid," greeted Collins as he moved over towards his friend.
Mark smirked, "Not a kid," he muttered as he moved to find a comfortable position. Every where seemed to hurt, looking up at Collins with desperate eyes for help, "Could…could you get a nurse?"
"Sure thing, I'll be right back."
Collins slipped back into the quiet hospital, towards the nurse's desk, "Are you Mark Cohen's nurse by chance?"
The brunette nurse shook her head, "No, but Sherry is, would you like me to page her?"
"Yeah, Mark just woke up and he's in some pain."
"All right, she'll be right in."
"Thanks ma'am." Collins slipped back into the room and looked at Mark who had moved so he was on his side, curled up facing the door. "She's on her way."
"Good—any idea when I get to leave?" he grumbled. Collins could see this was one of Mark's grumpy days.
"How does this afternoon sound," suggested Dr. Beckett as he walked in.
Roger's green eyes opened at the man's voice and he offered the good doctor a week smile. "Really?"
"Aye," the Doctor said, "The medication has evened out and regulated so you shouldn't have too many problems with it, the rest can be done out patient; including the bone marrow transplant. Your vitals are up and back to normal. I want to give you and Roger a run down of how to care for you over the course of the next several months, but I'd say after lunch you can go home, take a nice hot shower and go back to living the most normal life possible."
"I could use a shower," grinned Mark.
The doctor pulled out a couple pills, "This is for the pain. I'll give you a couple prescriptions that can hold you until your first check up with me in two weeks."
"Thanks," he whispered as he popped the two pills into his mouth and accepted the cup of water Collins was handing him.
"So, why don't I give you boys a run through of what you need to be aware of before your friends arrived. Since you two are going to help him through this.
Nodding, Collins took a seat beside Roger on the couch, and all three men settled their eyes on the Doctor who had become a friend to them over the course of the past eleven days.
"First off you need to develop a sleeping pattern, the first few days will be hard; you may find yourself sleeping at odd hours a day. Try to get eight hours of sleep at night, if you feel the need to take naps, that's fine, but you need to try and keep it as constant as life was before the diagnosis. No more Captain Crunch," the Doctor grinned cheekily at the men. "You need a decent diet, try to put on some weight, it'll be better for you in the end. If you start feeling sick nausea due to the chemotherapy, make sure you get plenty of water. If you aren't able to keep any liquids down over the course of four hours, get into the ER. Your anemic at this point Mark, so you need to be careful, as I said earlier, what was once would have caused a small bruise could cause internal bleeding and serious injuries. So be careful—no rough housing, you have to be gentle with him now. Your immune system is seriously hindered. This means you need to avoid people with colds. As you two have explained you both have AIDS, well Mark's immune system is in the same situation as yours, which means he needs to take care of himself just like you do yourselves."
"Okay, now what about the bone marrow transplants how is that going to work?" Roger spoke up, looking to see how Mark was taking all of this in.
"We take healthy bone stem cells from one of your siblings, if it matches, we then transplant it into, doing this we'll be trying to replace your red blood cells and platelets."
Collins spoke this time, "What are the chances of all of this working?"
"As I already said AML is one of the hardest types of leukemia to beat, normally adults don't respond to the therapy as well as children do. However, that's not saying it won't. In a matter of days we've already seen the decrease in white cell reproduction. That's always a good sign that maybe things will work out for the best. You need to stay positive and take care of yourself. We've got you on the strongest medication for AML."
"What are my chances?"
"Even if everything works, you probably won't survive past three years. Like I said only twenty percent make it past five years. Most aren't adults. Only about fifteen percent of the adults live past three years, and most of them—no offense—were in far better condition when they were diagnosed with this. You're a borderline anorexic, your body isn't nearly as strong as it could or should be."
"So even if the cancer does go away, how long do I have?"
Dr. Beckett sighed, "A year and half, maybe two, at the best."
"And if this doesn't work?" Collins questioned.
"Six months to a year. But that doesn't mean you should give up."
"No, we'll fight this for as many days as we're both alive. But lets face it—out of our group of seven, the chances of most of us still being alive in five years is slim," whispered Roger looking at the floor.
o0o
Maureen and Joanne arrived forty five minutes later, with Mimi; wielding McDonalds bags for everyone, "We thought you could use some real food Pookie," Maureen explained pressing a kiss to Mark's cheek as she pulled out some orange juice, and other various breakfast items.
"I can't possibly eat all of this," Mark stated looking down at the pancakes.
"Don't worry Marky, I'm sure we can help you," Roger offered as he took a bite out of Mark's pancakes. "Here try and eat some of this, it'll be a little better on your stomach," Roger said offering him one of the egg Mcmuffins.
"What happened to good ol' fashioned oatmeal," mumbled Mark as he took a bite out of the sandwich.
The five friends laughed as Mark looked down at the food, realizing how hungry he was when he took another bite, "That's our boy," Collins chimed.
"So, when do we get to bust ya outta here?" Maureen inquired.
"After lunch, the Doctor says I'm doing better."
"You're certainly looking a little better than you were when we brought you in here," laughed Joanne.
"Anything is an improvement over the bloody mess you were," Roger added.
The atmosphere was lighter than it had been in days as the six companions ate breakfast, laughed, talked quietly and enjoyed the moment they were given. Roger was right in the middle of explaining some of the things they'd have to help Mark with back home when a knock came on the door.
Mark's eyes flew to the door, then back to his roommate. Taking a deep breath, the musician slowly made his way across the room, and opened the door.
"Marky!" a blur of blonde hair flew past everyone to the side of the bed. Collins almost cried out gentle, but instantly the girl stopped by Mark's bedside and took in the sight of her big brother.
"Hey sweetie," Mark whispered as he reached out and gently ran his hand over her soft cheek. He glanced around the room, scooting over slightly, a grimacing gracing his handsome face, he patted the bed beside him, "Gentle," he murmured as she climbed onto the bed next to him and curled into his arms.
"Mark," came the all too civil tone of his father's voice. Mark's eyes shot up to meet his father's cold green ones.
"Dad," he croaked.
"Oh sweetheart," Mark's mother rushed over to his side and pressed a kiss to his bruised temple, "How do you feel?"
"I'm fine mom," he lied as he pushed himself up further, trying to hide the grimace as pain ripped through his body. He glanced up at Roger, who was glaring at the back of his dad's head.
"You don't look fine," grunted Mr. Cohen.
"Yeah, well I'm dying dad, what do you expect," The words shot out of Mark's mouth, leaving everyone in the room silence. The Bohemian's eyes were darting around the room to one another, while Carley's eyes had grown wet, Cindy had turned her face from Mark, Emily was gently running a hand through her son's hair, and Mr. Cohen just looked angry.
"You're not dying sweetheart."
"Then what is happening mom!" Mark shook his head, "Don't you get it, I've spent the past ten days in this hospital like a caged up animal. Suddenly I'm being released and forced to live a normal life again. It won't ever be normal again, because now I'm not the survivor anymore, I'm just another causality of fate!"