"Okay Angela if you could lay Michael down with his head towards the door, that would be really helpful," Dr. Freedman said, "Now I'm going to put him under a general anesthesia. It's going to put him to sleep, and he won't wake up until it's over. He won't feel any pain, or even remember any of this."
Angela did as Dr. Freedman asked. She looked at her sick baby and thought about the two potentially blind little girls who would be joining their family in three short months. She didn't even have names for them, let alone even thought about a nursery. How could she handle it all? Either her or Jack would have to quit their jobs, and they would have to downgrade their home, and they would probably never see a sandy beach vacation again.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Dr. Freedman, "Okay so here's what going to happen; I'm going to do the aspiration and bone marrow biopsy now, while he's lying on his stomach. Then, I'll flip him onto his side and do a spinal tap. He's gonna be out cold the whole time, won't remember a thing…" She kept talking, but Angela stopped listening. All she could hear were her own thoughts whirling through her head; what if he dies? What if he doesn't die, but is sick for the rest of his life? What if on top of this, the girls are blind? What if we go into debt trying to pay all of the medical bills? What if we aren't unstoppable? What if we can't do it all?