A/N Anything or Anyone familiar belongs to someone else.
Everyone knows the story of a lovely lady, Carol, and a man named Brady who between them have three blonde girls and three brunet boys. And how they became a blended family with a loveable housekeeper, Alice. With such a big family, came problems that were ultimately fixed with a talk with their parents and a moral of the day. This is the story of the problem that couldn't simply be fixed with a good bit of parental guidance.
The morning dawned bright and early and the Brady household boomed with the sounds of kids bustling to get ready for school, and of Mr. Brady preparing for a long day at work. The usual dash for brownbag lunches had just occurred.
"Look, Mrs. Brady, one of the kids forgot their lunch!" Alice noticed the lone bag sitting on the countertop. Carol walked over to stand near the beloved housekeeper. She closed her eyes and thought aloud.
"Let's see, I saw Greg dash out with his, and Jan with hers."
"Cindy and Marcia got theirs-Cindy tried to trade her peanut butter and jelly sandwich with Marcia's ham and cheese." Alice recounted.
"Cindy loves peanut butter and jelly!" Carol protested, confused as to the youngest child's actions.
"I know, Marcia reminded her!" Alice retorted with a shake of her head.
"Peter grabbed his, he was telling me he was staying after school for a magician club meeting.
"That leaves-"
"Bobby!" Both exclaimed.
"Come to think of it, I never saw him at breakfast, no wonder we have all this toast and jam here. Though, we've had more leftovers lately than I have ever seen in this household before, the human vacuum hasn't been sucking up as much food lately!" Alice shook her head.
"I'm going upstairs to see what's keeping him, at this rate, he'll be late for school!" Carol mused.
The mother of six took to the stairs and arrived at the boys' shared room within a minute. "Bobby, you'll be late for school-" she called as she entered the doorway to find Bobby sitting on his bottom bunk.
"Oh, hi Mom." Bobby greeted wearily. He remained seated and watched as his mother pulled up the desk chair towards his bed. He shivered a bit and straightened his blanket to lay upon his lap.
"Bobby, are you sick?" Carol reached over and felt his forehead. "A slight fever-" her eyes zeroed in onto his arm where a large black and purplish splotch lay-" Bobby, where on earth did you get that bruise?"
"I feel tired and a bit achy. I got the bruise two weeks ago, remember? Peter and I ran into each other with our bikes and I fell off of mine." Bobby reminded his mother, it had been quite the ordeal a couple weeks prior. All the kids had been divided into which boy had caused the mishap.
"I remember, but I thought it would have healed by now-that bruise still looks brand new!" Carol was confused. "You're not hiding an injury from school are you?" Bobby had been the target of bullies several times in the past on the account of his short stature.
"Nope, this is the same old bruise, it just hasn't changed color yet!" Bobby tried to chirp in his normal demeanor.
"Did Greg and Peter know you were still in here?" Carol knew the kids usually had no problem ratting each other out.
"No, I was last in line for the bathroom, they must've thought they just missed me." Bobby defended his older siblings. He felt too lousy to read much into his brothers' actions.
"Well, I'm calling the doctor to come and look at you." Carol decided. "I'll be back in a moment. Would you like a chocolate milkshake?" She recalled his fondness for the treat.
"No thanks."
"Well, I'm surprised at that. In any case, I'm bringing some eggs up, you have to eat something" Carol kissed his forehead.
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Once back in the kitchen, Carol turned to the beloved maid. "Bobby's sick, I'm calling the doctor to make a house call. I know we didn't have eggs for breakfast this morning, but I figured I would fix some for him."
"Oh dear, you know what that means with one sick kid-"
"Six sick kids!" both chimed into together. Carol retrieved the eggs from the refrigerator.
"Mrs. Brady, I'll do that, you call the doctor!" Alice chided, she placed a leftover slice of toast onto a plate and then gathered the frying pan.
"Thank you Alice, I hope the doctor can come soon. Bobby doesn't seem to be feeling too poorly, but he's definitely not himself. Did you know he STILL has that bruise from a few weeks ago?!" She exclaimed.
"You mean from when Peter and Bobby decided to play Titanic with Bobby as the iceberg?" Alice joked.
"That's the time, except I think in this case the ship won!"
Carol turned her attention to the phone and finished dialing the doctor's office.
Alice busied herself with preparing Bobby's breakfast while Carol completed her call. A few minutes later both women were done with their tasks. Alice had set the youngest boy's meal onto a tray which Carol carefully carried to the boys' bedroom.
"Bobby, I brought you your-Bobby?" The young boy was not in the bedroom. Carol set the breakfast tray onto the child's bed and peeked into the open door of the shared Jack-and-Jill bathroom.
Bobby was leaning over the counter while holding a tissue against his nose. His shirt was stained crimson droplets splattered the sink's bowl . He miserably looked over at his mother. "Mom, my nose is gushing blood again!" He stumbled as dizziness overcame him.
Carol gently wrapped her arms around her son and helped him sit down on the bathroom floor. She knelt and supported him. The wizened mother helped the child use a washcloth she had gathered from near the sink to stop the bleeding. A few minutes later, a thought occurred to her, "Bobby, what do you mean, 'Again'? Has this happened before?"
"I had a nosebleed yesterday and also two days ago. Not this bad." the youngest Brady boy rasped.
"Well, the doctor will be here soon, your nose looks like it stopped bleeding, let's get you back to bed. Alice made you a nice breakfast while we wait." Carol tried to sound cheerful as she helped the youngster up and supported the too light child back into the boys' room. She settled him into his bed while she busied herself in getting a new pajama top out for the boy. To avoid getting the soiled shirt's contents everywhere, she helped him remove and replace it. Carol situated the tray of food that the maid had lovingly prepared in front of the boy.
"Mom, I'm not really hungry," Bobby protested as he half-heartedly ran his fork through the eggs.
"Oh Bobby, please try to eat!" Carol pleaded, the short journey from the bathroom to his bottom bunkbed had shown her that her youngest son had lost a good deal of weight.
"I'll try." Bobby sighed and forked a tiny bite of scrambled eggs. Meanwhile the doorbell rang. A few minutes later, Alice led the familiar doctor into the boys' shared bedroom.
"I know you know where the room is, doctor, but I always like to be neighborly . . .maidly?" Alice mused. The doctor indulantly smiled at the friendly lady
and nodded his thanks.
"Hello Bobby, what seems to be the problem young man?" He had already been briefed on the child but wanted to make sure he interacted with his patient.
The two chatted while the doctor completed a basic vitals check only pausing when the man placed a thermometer into the boy's mouth. "101 Fahrenheit" he announced a minute later. He noted the slight fever and moved on from the vitals check to a more indepth study of Bobby's symptoms.
A short time later, the doctor completed the rest of the exam and turned to the two women in the room and addressed Carol, "Well, it could be a flu bug, but I'm concerned about some of my findings. I'm going to admit him into Sherwood General for more tests. I recommend you have your husband meet you there."
"The HOSPITAL?!" Carol exclaimed, she hugged Bobby close to her to mask her fear.
"Yes, there are tests that need to be done that I can't complete here." He neutrally affirmed.
"Mrs. Brady, I'll call Mr. Brady and wait here for the other kids to come home, you just focus on Bobby." Alice cut in, trying to feel useful.
"Thank you Alice. Come on Bobby, let's get you to the car."
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"Is Bobby all right?" Mike rushed over to Carol who was pacing in a faux cheerful waiting room. "I don't know, I was able to stay with him through certain tests, blood draws and such, but they said they had to do some tests without me. Oh, Mike, they said they had to take a needle and remove some bone marrow from his back! They called it a- um-a" Carol stuttered.
"Bobby had to have a bone marrow aspiration?"Mike was incredulous. He had heard of the very painful test before.
"Is having. That's one of the tests I wasn't allowed to stay for. Oh, Mike, Bobby tried to be brave for me when they told him about it, but he looked so scared! "Carol fearfully hugged her husband.
"Hopefully, the doctors will come out and tell us something soon." Mike consoled his wife, trying to be brave for her sake.
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"Ok, Bobby. I know that this test looks scary but I need you to curl up onto the table, like this-" A doctor, whom he had been introduced to a few minutes ago instructed, helping the boy into the correct position for the test. "It's important that you not move while we remove the sample. You'll feel two pinches, the first is just something to numb the area, the second is for the aspiration itself. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir. Does that big needle really have to go in me?" He gulped.
"I'm afraid so Son, but it won't take long. Take a deep breath for me." Bobby complied with the request.
He tried to prepare himself but when the bite of the needle hit his back he had to bite his lip to keep from screaming out. "You're doing a fine job Bobby. That was the anesthetic. I'll give that a moment to kick in." The doctor informed his patient.
"Doctor, not that I'm scared or anything," Bobby fibbed, "but why can't my Mom be in here with me?"
"Well, Bobby, it's protocol." the specialist wasn't about to tell the child that most parents found this particular test to be very scary and that it was best for all involved if they disallowed parents from it if at all possible. He had seen many parents accidently show their child that they were worried and pass that worry to their child. While a bone marrow aspiration was becoming a relatively routine test, one wrong move could result in paralysis. "The medicine has had time to work its magic now." With little more warning, he inserted the second needle into Bobby's hip area.
"That feels . . .weird. It doesn't exactly hurt but it's like someone pressing as hard as they can on me." The nine year-old opined.
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Back in the waiting room, Mike and Carol Brady were anxious for news about their son. It seemed like years had crept by yet in reality barely an hour had passed since Carol had last seen the boy. The swinging doors opened as the doctor stepped into the waiting room. "Mrs. Brady." He noticed Mike, "and Mr. Brady. My colleagues are done with the tests and Bobby is resting in his room. I'll take you straight to him. Be warned, he's groggy as they had to give him some pain medicine after the procedure."
"Doctor, the results?" Mike spoke up, holding Carol's hand as they followed the older man.
"The tests results won't be ready for a few hours yet, but it won't be too long." He tried to sooth the parents.
"Oh, Doctor, a minute's too long!" Carol exclaimed with no malice.
"I understand." He knew Carol and Mike were simply concerned for their son. He stopped in front of a door. "He's in here."
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"MOOOOOM! DAAAAAAAAD! ALICEEEEEEEEEE!" the sudden yelling and pounding of feet suddenly exploded into the Brady home. Five of the Brady children had returned home from school.
"Guys! Where's the fire?!" Alice made her presence known.
"Alice! Have you seen Mom and Dad? Bobby didn't come home from school!" Jan spoke up. The other children nodded their agreement.
"He was supposed to meet me after school, but he didn't show up!" Cindy worried.
"That's because he didn't GO to school." Alice pointed out. She gestured towards the table where freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and milk awaited the kids. "You kids were so busy getting ready for school, no one noticed!" She tried to smile but she was so worried. Earlier, she had channeled that fear into the baking of the cookies but now it was rearing its ugly head.
"Is Bobby ok?" Greg asked as he snatched a cookie.
"Did he play hooky from school?" Peter guessed-it would be something HE would try after all.
"No, he didn't play hooky, he's sick." Alice informed the five kids before more questions could be asked. She noticed Cindy placing an extra cookie onto a napkin.
"I'm going to take this to Bobby." The youngest supplied, she began to get up to walk to the staircase.
"Honey," Alice walked over to the pigtail clad girl and gently herded her back to the table. "Kids, Bobby and your parents aren't here. The doctor visited and said . . .well, he said Bobby had to have some tests done at Sherwood General Hospital.
"WHAT?"
" Is he ok?"
"What kind of tests?"
"Is he scared?"
"Can we visit him?"
All the kids talked over one another. Alice whistled to quiet the troops and waited a moment. "The doctor said he couldn't do all the tests here so Bobby was admitted to the hospital, he'll be ok, I don't know what type of tests, and Bobby is a very brave kid! Your parents want to wait for the test results before any more people come to visit your brother." Alice tried to answer all the kids.
"Can we make him get well cards?" Cindy asked. Not that she would ever say it, but Bobby was her best friend.
"Of course!" Alice agreed. Cindy ran upstairs to get the materials.
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Mike and Carol crept into their child's hospital room. He was laying flat on his back and he turned flitted his eyes towards the door at the slight disruption. "Mom? Dad?"
"Oh honey, how do you feel?" Carol carefully caressed his hair. They had bee informed that their son would not be able to move from a flat position for a few minutes to ward off an intense headache otherwise.
"I feel ok." Mike came into his view, "Hi Dad."
"Hi son, your doctor said the results wouldn't take a lot of time. I brought this book for you to read." He showed him the title.
"Oh! Cool! I always wanted to read Swiss Family Robinson, would you read it to me, since it's kind of hard to read like this?"
Mike and Carol took turns reading the famous book, and slowly time marched on. A knock on the door sounded like the approach of an executioner as it startled the trio.
Their regular doctor along with an unfamiliar one stood in the threshold of the door. "Bobby, Mike and Carol. I brought Dr. Wilson in on a consult. He will be handling Bobby's case from now on."
"I have a case? A case of what?" Bobby interjected.
Both doctors came closer to the bed and glanced at the three Bradys before Dr. Wilson spoke.
"Bobby, your test results came back. You have leukemia."