I'm so sorry I haven't updated in forever. :( But, my exams are done and I have a month of no school and very little work.
To give credit where it's due—most of my research on bone marrow transplants came from youtube videos of Adrian Sudbury. He was a reporter and made video blogs of his experiences fighting cancer, which are very interesting and I suggest checking them out. Unfortunately, he didn't survive.
And no, that doesn't indicate Soda's fate one way or another.
Anyway, here's chapter 20…
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I sat in the waiting room with Ponyboy, both of us impatiently watching the clock. Our appointment was for 8:15 but now it was 8:45. It amazed me that the hospital could be running behind this early in the morning. I'd gotten used to being ushered in and out quickly with Soda's appointments. The staff knew how sick he was and they always made sure he didn't have to wait for his treatment. Today it was just me and Pony so there wasn't any concern about keeping a schedule. At least, there wasn't for the hospital. I was hoping to get to work as soon as possible so I could get some extra hours in. Pony had been working a lot in the past few weeks and I wanted to argue against it, but the extra money he was bringing in was the only thing keeping more Final Notices from arriving in our mailbox. Soda had asked a few times about how we were doing for money and Pony and I had both flat out lied to him.
As I watched the minutes tick past I tried to remember that the hospital had squeezed us in at the last minute. I'd called the hospital early and been lucky enough to find Dr. Sheldon there already (I was really starting to wonder if the guy ever left). I'd told him about Soda's decision and he'd managed to get me and Pony in for a blood test right away. Pony had grumbled when I'd woken him up at 7:30, but he'd jumped out of bed once I'd told him why. We both knew that the sooner we got going with Soda's treatment, the better. I'd talked to Two-Bit last night and he'd agreed to get tested. He'd also promised to track down Steve, who I knew would agree, too. If Pony and I weren't a match for Soda, hopefully one of them would be.
Ponyboy's voice broke through my thoughts. "What if none of us are a match?"
I looked away from the clock and found Pony staring at me worriedly. "One of us will be," I assured him. The truth was, I didn't think any of us would be. We'd barely had an ounce of luck so far and as much as I wanted that to change now, I had my doubts. I wasn't gonna share that with my little brother, though.
"But what if we're not?" Pony asked again, not satisfied with my answer. "There's only four of us." His eyes were desperately searching mine for consolation.
"We will be, Pone," I stated as firmly as I could. "Dr. Sheldon said siblings had a good chance of matching and there's two of us, so that gives us even better odds. And if none of us are a match, then we'll go back to chemo." I was torn about Soda's decision. I know Ponyboy's the one who always gets bad feelings, but somehow I was dreading this new procedure. I had a sinking feeling that it wasn't a good idea. I tried to push the thoughts away, passing them off as worries about Dr. Sheldon's cautions that the whole thing was experimental. Besides, I didn't want to see Soda go through any more chemo. He was already so weak.
"Darrel and Ponyboy Curtis?" I looked up to find a young nurse with a clipboard standing in the waiting room. She couldn't have been any older than twenty-five.
"That's us," I said as Pony and I stood up.
We followed her down the hall to a small room with a couple chairs in it. "I'm so sorry about the delay," she said, sounding frazzled. "The phone's been ringing off the hook all morning."
"That's okay," I said, even though it wasn't. She seemed nervous enough without some strange guy yelling at her. "Why all the phone calls?" I asked out of mild curiosity. Thursday at eight in the morning seemed like a strange time for the hospital to get bombarded with needy people.
She gave me a surprised look as if I should know the answer already. "They're calling about your brother."
I glanced at Ponyboy who looked just as confused as I felt. The phone was ringing off the hook cause of us? "I'm sorry, did you say they're calling about Sodapop?" I figured I'd heard her wrong.
"Yeah, there's a bunch of people who want to come in and get tested. He must be a real popular guy." She smiled at us and started to get her equipment ready. She seemed completely oblivious to our confusion.
"Umm, how many people called?" I asked cautiously. Last time I checked it was just the four of us.
"I think it's up to fifteen or so right now," she answered absentmindedly. I gaped at her, not believing my ears. I checked Pony to see if I'd heard right and sure enough, he was staring in utter disbelief, too.
"Fifteen?" he croaked. We kept staring at each other, both thinking the same thing. How the hell did so many people even know about the blood testing, much less think to make an appointment? It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since we'd heard about the treatment and it was less than twelve hours since Soda had made up his mind.
The nurse finally noticed our stunned expressions and started to look worried. "I'm sorry," she faltered. "Did I say something wrong?"
I finally broke out of my stupor and shook my head. "No. We, um, we just didn't know…" I trailed off, still feeling a little dazed. "Are you sure they were all for us?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I'm sure. It's kinda a hard name to mix up," she added, blushing a little. She had a point there. "Um, are you ready for me to start?" she asked uncertainly. Pony and I both nodded silently. She started explaining how she would just take a quick blood sample and we'd have the results within a week, but I was too busy trying to figure out how everyone knew about Soda. It was now common knowledge in our neighborhood that he was sick, but how had the news about the transplant spread so fast?
I was still mulling this over a half hour later when I pulled up to our house to drop Ponyboy off. However it'd happened, I decided to join Pony in telling Soda the good news. We all knew that with more people being tested our chances of finding a match went way up. It turned out that Soda already knew.
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"Two-Bit?"
I looked up from my magazine to find Soda staring back at me from his bed. "I thought you were asleep."
He shook his head a little. "Two-Bit, what if none of you are matches?"
"Hey, don't think like that," I protested. "One of us will match up."
"You don't know that," he said softly.
"Sure I do." He raised an eyebrow at me and I laughed. "Trust me, Sodapop. Have I ever been wrong before?" He opened his mouth to retort and I cut him off. "Don't answer that," I said quickly, earning a small chuckle from him. "Seriously though, Sodapop. We'll find you a donor. If it ain't one of us, it'll be someone else."
"Yeah, and just who would that someone else be?" He asked skeptically.
"Hey, I'm a very influential guy 'round these parts." I leaned back and put my hands behind my head.
"Really? You're influential? With who, blondes?"
"Hey!" I cried in mock hurt. "You just remember who to thank when you're gettin' that transplant, buddy." He gave a small snort and rolled his eyes. "Hey, I've got my ways", I said mischievously. I realized my mistake as soon as the words were out of my mouth.
"What's up, Two-Bit?" he asked, frowning slightly in suspicion. "Do you know somethin' I don't?"
"Can't a man have any secrets? Now, do you need anything? Water, breakfast?" I was hoping to distract him, but it didn't work.
"Yeah." Soda leaned up on his elbow and glared at me. "I want you to tell me what you're hiding."
I sighed, knowing I wasn't going to be able to keep avoiding the question. "I was gonna wait till Darry and Ponyboy got back to tell you…" I trailed off to see if he wanted to wait.
"No, tell me now," he insisted.
"Well, Darry told me the news last night and I was going out anyway, so I talked to a few people."
"Talked to them about what?" Soda pressed, sounding anxious now.
"About getting tested for you. I told them it's just a blood test and a lot of people agreed to give it a shot."
Soda was looking real excited now and he leaned forward a bit. "How many?"
I started counting off on my fingers. "Well, there was Tim, and he said Curly and Ang would do it, too. Then I ran into a couple guys from the DX. There's Kathy and my mom. And I saw Steve having a smoke just before Bucks closed and he said he'd get Evie to do it, too."
"Shit, Two-Bit! That's eight more people right there! How'd you do that all in one night?" Soda was staring at me like I'd just bought him a pony.
"I told ya, I'm an influential guy," I said casually.
Soda collapsed back onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. "With that many people someone's bound to work, right?" he asked, a huge smile on his face.
"I hope so or I'm gonna have to start going over to Soc territory."
Soda laughed and grinned at me. "Thanks, Two-Bit. I guess I'll have to give ya some credit after all."
Just then we heard the front door open and we both looked up as Darry and Ponyboy came in the room a minute later. "Good, you're up, Soda." Darry had a seat on the edge of the bed and Pony plopped down on the other side. "Listen, we've got some good news," Darry said, grinning.
"Fifteen people already made appointments to get blood samples," Pony beamed.
"I know. Two-Bit told me." Soda was still grinning about the news.
"Two-Bit?" Darry looked at me, confused.
"Yeah, he talked to a bunch of people last night," Soda explained. I smiled proudly, glad to have been able to help. I just hoped it would pay off.
"So you're the reason the news spread so fast?" Darry asked.
"I figured it couldn't hurt," I shrugged.
Darry just chuckled and shook his head. "No, it can't hurt." He paused for a few seconds, then took Soda's hand. "I've gotta get to work, little buddy. I'll see you later tonight." Soda nodded and Darry got up to leave. He stopped at the door and turned to me. "Thanks, Two-Bit," he said, then he was gone.
"You seriously got all those people to get tested?" Ponyboy asked. He was staring at me in disbelief.
"Yup, sure did. No one can resist my charm."
Pony snorted and I grabbed a dirty shirt from the floor and whipped it at him. "Hey!" he complained, throwing the shirt back at me. I caught it before it hit my face and tossed it back to its spot on the floor.
"Well, you shouldn't mock someone with so much power," I told him. Pony grabbed a balled up pair of socks and aimed, but I was out the door before he had a chance to hit me.
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As happy as I was about Two-Bit's hard work, it didn't relieve the stress I was feeling for very long. I got home from work on Thursday night to find Pony and Soda talking about the testing again. I knew more people meant a higher chance of finding a match, but it still wasn't a guarantee. Plus, I couldn't shake the bad feeling I had about the whole thing. When Monday came around, I found myself half wishing Soda was starting his next round of chemo. I felt like we were losing time by just sitting around instead of fighting. On the other hand, I knew Soda's body couldn't take much more. Steve had been trying to show his support, but I could tell he felt the same as I did. He was quiet whenever the subject of the transplant came up, but he never said a word against it. It was Soda's decision, not ours.
The days crept by as we continued to play the waiting game. Everyone's blood samples had been sent away to get tested. If any of them matched Soda's, they'd be put through a higher level of tests, then we'd find out the news. It was Wednesday afternoon when the call finally came. It had started pouring around noon, so I was home for the rest of the day. Soda had been getting restless so Pony and I had brought him out to the living room to watch TV. It didn't really help with the cabin fever, but it was better than nothing.
When the phone rang, we all looked at it warily, wondering if it would be the hospital. I was closest and, bracing myself, I picked it up. "Hello?"
"Darrel, it's Dr. Sheldon." Pony and Soda were watching me intently and I nodded to show them it was the call we'd been waiting for. Soda had been lying down, but he pulled himself up to a sitting position so he could see me better.
"Hello, Dr. Sheldon," I said politely while trying to calm my nerves.
"I have the results of the blood tests," he began, confirming what we'd already guessed.
"And?" I prompted.
"It's good news. We have a match."
I breathed out a sigh of relief and nodded to Pony and Soda. They both broke into huge grins and Soda threw his arms around Pony's neck. "Who is it?" I asked. Whoever it was had better not back out of this. I had my reservations about the whole thing, but realistically I knew it was Soda's best chance.
"It's you, Darrel." For a second I was stunned, not quite able to come up with a response. "I'd like to get the next phase underway as soon as possible. If Soda can come into the hospital this afternoon we'll do some preparation work and then we'll hopefully be able to start radiation tomorrow."
"Umm, yeah. What time should we be there?" I asked, managing to shake myself out of my surprise. Somehow I'd never really thought I'd be the one to match up.
"If you're able to come in a half hour there's a free appointment time."
Wow, that was fast. "Okay, we'll be there," I answered, hanging up.
Soda still had an arm around Ponyboy and he turned to me as I sat down on his other side. "Well, who is it?" he asked anxiously.
I took a deep breath, still trying to process the conversation I'd just had. "It's me," I said softly. Soda's eyes grew wide, then suddenly his arms were around me. I hugged him back, pulling him close. I glanced at Pony, who was still grinning from ear to ear, and reached out an arm to him. He scooted closer and joined in the hug, Soda securely between us. After a minute, I reluctantly pulled away, remembering the appointment time. "Dr. Sheldon wants us to head over to the hospital right away for a few tests, then we'll start the treatment tomorrow," I told them. Even news of another impending hospital stay didn't seem to dampen Soda's spirits.
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I lay in bed Thursday morning, listening to the rain hit the roof. The bad weather meant another day of missed work, but right then I was thinking more about Sodapop. He'd been a bit nervous when he'd found out how big the machine they'd be using was, but he was still determined. Dr. Sheldon had reassured us that it was just like getting a twenty minute long X-ray, and this seemed to help Soda a lot. The part that was making me nervous was knowing that Soda was going into the hospital today, and he'd either come home in a few weeks, cured, or he wouldn't come home ever again. Somehow, I felt like it all rested on me and whether or not my bone marrow would be good enough for him.
My alarm clock started beeping and after shutting it off, I slowly got out of bed so I could wake up my brothers. I stood in their doorway for a minute, watching them sleep and wondering if I'd ever get to see this sight again. Every other time Soda had gone into the hospital we'd known he was coming home again, but we didn't have that guarantee this time. Before I could make myself move, Soda turned over and opened his eyes. "You're awake," I stated softly. Soda nodded, but didn't say anything. Instead he just watched me as I came over and sat on the edge of the bed. "You nervous?" He nodded again and I saw his gaze move around the room, taking everything in. "Soda, you're going to come home again," I said, gently moving his face towards me so I could meet his eyes. "I promise we'll get you through the rest of this." I didn't even believe myself, but I couldn't tell him how scared I was.
"You can't promise that, Darry," he whispered.
"Hey, you know how stubborn me and Pony both are. We'll get you back here." I tried to smile as I said this, but I'm not sure it turned out quite right. Soda smiled a little anyway, and I left him to wake Pony up while I got breakfast started.
We were all pretty quiet for the rest of the morning. When we got to the hospital we were shown to Soda's room and had just finished settling in when a nurse came to take him to his first treatment. Pony and I waited nervously for him to come back and we were relieved when he was wheeled back into the room looking none the worse for wear. "How'd it go, Soda?" Ponyboy asked.
I helped Soda onto his bed and he shrugged. "Fine. It was boring, actually. I just have to lie there and make sure I don't move."
Pony raised an eyebrow at this. "You, not move for twenty minutes?"
Soda glared at him and lightly smacked his arm. "Hey, I am capable of sitting still when I need to."
I fought to suppress a grin. I agreed with Ponyboy, but I felt a bit guilty going against Soda. I ended up just shaking my head at my brothers and enjoyed watching them banter back and forth until Soda drifted off to sleep. I was relieved the first step of this process was off to a good start and was hoping it was a sign of things to come.
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Please leave a review!
Yes, I realize that it normally takes a lot longer to get appointments organized. However, I figure that there was probably less backlog for cancer treatment in the 60s and also, since Soda is so sick they'd probably try to get him in as soon as possible.