Gilbert Grissom was in a panic, and had been for the last three hours. It was nearing 1:00 when he arrived at Children's Memorial Hospital on the other side of town. He'd been sent there after arriving at the University of Las Vegas Hospital, where Gabby had originally been taken, but found out soon after that Gabby wasn't there. That she'd been sent by ambulance to another hospital "more equipped to deal with her particular medical ailment." Gil had shaken it off, just knowing that it couldn't be true...that Catherine, and even Sara had to be wrong. So he drove across town to where Gabby now was, going right up to the front desk. "My daughter's here...Gabrielle Grissom."
The receptionist was a young woman in her early twenties, and was slow about finding the information, but when she located it, she told him the room number. "Someone will show you where to go..." she said, but before she was finished, Gil was already off to find the nearest elevator.
"412...412..." he repeated to himself as he demanded the elevator to go faster. When the doors slid open to the fourth floor, his worse fears became realized.
PEDIATRIC ONCOLOGY
Gil shook his head, thinking it already an odd place. The cartoon characters that were painted on the walls of the corridor seemed unfitting for a horrible place such as this. Gathering his wits again, he quickly found the room. When he went in, he first saw Sara sitting in a chair, right beside of Gabby's bed. Sara was holding Gabby's hand, but Gabby was unconscious. An IV was hooked to the back of her hand, and it's tubing led to an IV stand where a bag of white fluid was hung along with a bag of red fluid. He instantly knew what those bags were for. Saline for dehydration and blood for low blood counts. He shook his head, trying to dislodge the horrible feeling he was having, and went over to Sara and gently touched the back of her shoulder.
Sara's eyes flew open, but when she saw it was Gil, her eyes softened and her body relaxed as she gave him a small smile. "Hi," she whispered.
"Hi," Gil whispered, smiling back. He went to the table across the room, getting another chair and bringing it over to sit beside Sara. When he was settled, he took Sara's free hand into his, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. He eyed Gabby's still form lying in the hospital bed, one of the bed rails raised, and sighed. He turned his attention back to Sara. "Have they got a clear answer, yet?"
Sara turned her head for a moment, no doubt collecting her emotions, before turning back to Gil. It was then that he saw tears collecting in her eyes. "Her blood counts and platelets were low, so they...they have a good idea." She sniffled, turned away, and then continued. "They did a bone marrow aspiration test, just to be sure. The results should be back any minute now."
Gil could hear the cracking in Sara's voice. Sara, who had once said she didn't have a maternal bone in her body. But everyone who knew her knew that she loved Gabby more than life itself, so he knew this was tearing her up inside. It was tearing him up inside, too. Gabby was his baby girl, the only girl he knew of who loved collecting bugs and learning about the different species of insects. And now...now she was sick.
Gil lifted his hand to Sara's chin, turning it towards him. He saw now that she was crying, and his heart was breaking. But he had to stay strong...for Sara and, for most of all, Gabby.
"We'll get through this, I know we will," Gil assured her. "Gabby's a fighter...you, of all people, know this, Sara. She wouldn't let anything stand in her way."
Sara tried to believe him, but found it hard to. Just then, a white-coated doctor entered. He looked to be in his mid-forties, but seemed older as his dark hair showed speckles of gray in it. He introduced himself as Dr. Maloy, and sat down with the Grissom's.
"As you may be aware, we did have to sedate Gabrielle after the bone marrow aspiration," Dr. Maloy said. "She was in a lot of pain. We're giving her a blood transfusion to bring up her blood counts, so that will make her begin to feel a little bit better."
Gil heard apprehension in the doctor's voice, and just knew that he was holding back on them.
"However," Dr. Maloy finally said. "When we examined the results of the bone marrow aspiration, we did find blasts...leukemic cells...in her bone marrow."
Gil felt Sara's grip tighten as they both awaited for what they knew the doctor was about to say.
"I'm sorry," Dr. Maloy replied. "But Gabrielle has acute lymphocytic leukemia, and if we don't begin treatment soon, she only has a twenty-percent chance of surviving."
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Thanks everyone for reviewing. I'm going to try and update this story as much as I can. I lost all of my other stories, anyways, so this is the only one I have going, right now.
Also Mel1592, I have some sites, but lost them when I ran a recovery on my computer, so I'd appreciate it if you could send me some of the site's that you use. I know quite a bit about leukemia and other cancers, but I always research it so I don't forget anything or mess any information up.
Thanks again, and I hope to have a new chapter up ASAP!
Missy