You guys are so great – I love all your kind reviews! YOU ALL ROCK!!! Steph (POPSICLEx3LOVE) – your wait is over, it's aaall revealed in this chapter! And welcome aboard Tuttiflutey630!!
So let's see how many of you can be strong and read the chapter word for word from beginning to end and not skip ahead to find out what's going on! I dare you all not to skip!! Hehe
I hope you all like this chapter and don't hate me too much –grin-
Charli xox
Chapter 5
Troy kept a protective arm wrapped around Gabriella as they made their way out to the car. She had insisted that she wasn't going anywhere unless Troy came too. She was scared to death and Troy knew it – as soon as they had seen the look on Maria's face, both had felt their hearts drop into their stomachs.
They didn't know what was going on – why they needed to go to the hospital, what would happen when they got there... nothing.
All Dr McKenzie had said was that there were a few 'question marks' or 'possible abnormalities' on Gabriella's blood results, and that they needed to run some more tests.
Gabriella buried her head in Troy's shoulder as they buckled their seatbelts and Ms. Montez pulled out of the driveway.
"It's going to be ok, baby girl – they are just being thorough. In a couple of hours we'll be cuddled up back at your house watching DVD's and eating popcorn, right?" Troy stated firmly, punctuating his sentence with a reassuring kiss on her forehead.
Gabriella didn't answer. The rest of the car ride passed in silence as the deepest fears of all three passengers remained unshared.
HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM
Gabriella let out a small, shaky breath as they pulled into the car park at University of New Mexico Hospital and Troy rubbed her arm comfortingly.
"Gabi – Dr McKenzie is meeting us in Emergency. Troy, do you need to call your parents and let them know where you are?" Maria asked.
Troy looked at Gabriella and then at Maria. "I probably should," he agreed, giving Gabriella's hand a squeeze. "You go ahead, I'll be right behind you, ok?"
Gabriella gave him a small nod and gripped her mother's hand in her own as they headed towards the automatic doors of the Emergency Department. Troy watched them disappear behind the glass, before pulling out his cell phone and dialling home.
The phone rang once...twice...three times...
"Hello?"
"Mom! Hi, it's me," Troy said quickly.
"Troy? Honey, where are you? What's wrong?" Lucille Bolton asked, sensing her son's concern.
"I'm at the hospital," Troy replied. "Mom, something's wrong with Gabriella...something's wrong with my Gabi and I'm so, so scared..." he trailed off.
HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM
Troy found Gabriella and Maria in a small waiting room off a side wing of the Emergency Department.
"Mom sends her love and said to ring her when we know more," he said as he took a seat next to them. "What's happening?"
Maria shook her head. "We don't know anything new – Dr McKenzie is talking to one of the specialists and they are going to call us in soon."
"Ok," Troy nodded, running his thumb over the back of Gabriella's hand. "Brie..." he searched her eyes for a sign of what was running through her mind.
"Stay with me Troy," she whispered. "Don't leave me."
Troy squeezed her hand. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Gabriella?" Dr McKenzie emerged from the consultant's office and made his way over to the waiting threesome, who stood up and followed him as he ushered them into the room.
"Take a seat everyone. This is Dr Zamitt, a colleague of mine – he's a specialist here at the hospital."
Dr Zamitt was a middle aged man of average height, with friendly eyes and a kind face. He shook all their hands, and when they were seated, he cleared his throat, shuffled his notes and spoke.
"Gabriella, I understand you haven't been feeling too good lately?" he began.
Gabriella shook her head. "No, I have had the flu and have been a little run down," she explained.
Dr Zamitt nodded. "Can you tell me in your own words what exactly has been wrong?"
Gabriella looked over at her mother who gave her an encouraging nod.
"I've just been really tired and achy, with a fever. I've had a cough and stuffy nose, and I have been waking up sometimes during the night all sweaty. Oh, and I have a rash that has been coming up on and off."
The two doctors exchanged a look that did not go un-noticed by Troy, whose stomach immediately tied itself in knots.
"Dr McKenzie ran some tests earlier today, and the results show that you are extremely anaemic – which means your red blood counts are quite critically low. However your white blood cell count is a little higher than it should be. This could be indicative of an infection, but we will need to run some further tests to find out why all these numbers are so out of whack."
Gabriella nodded bravely, taking her mother's hand in one of her hands, and Troy's hand in her other. "Ok, let's do this..."
HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM
A couple of hours later, Gabriella was drifting in and out of an uncomfortable sleep on a starch-white hospital bed. She felt like she had undergone every test that had ever been known to mankind, and she was exhausted. CAT scans, x-rays, ultrasounds and fine needle biopsies on the swollen lymph glands in her neck...Gabriella had had them all. Troy sat on a hard plastic hospital chair next to her, holding her hand in both of his, while Maria talked quietly to the doctor outside the door.
"I've put an urgent rush on Gabriella's results – we should have them back within the hour...well, the preliminary results at least" he explained. "Those will give us a pretty good idea of what we're dealing with."
"Do you have any idea at all what that might be?" Maria asked, her forehead creased with worry.
"It could be any one of a number of things," he replied. "I don't want you to worry prematurely."
"I want you to be straight with me," Maria said firmly. "Could it be something serious – could it be cancer?"
Dr Zamitt sighed. "It is unlikely, but yes that is one possibility. However I stress that that would be the worst case scenario – there are many more much less serious conditions that it could be the cause of Gabriella's symptoms."
Maria nodded. "I just want to be prepared..."
HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM
"Turtle?"
"Troy, there are no turtles in this room..." Gabriella said groggily, the corners of her lips curling.
"Trolley?"
Gabriella shook her head.
"Tinkerbell?"
"Tro-oy!"
"Elephant?"
"Troy! That doesn't even start with a 'T'!" Gabriella laughed, wincing slightly as a dull ache rippled through her neck.
"Aaah, but it got a smile out of you," Troy informed her, smiling fondly as he brushed her hair out of her eyes.
Maria forced a smile to her own face as she listened to the banter between Troy and her daughter, clearing her throat as she walked back into the room.
"What's going on in here?" she asked as brightly as possible.
"Troy is breaking the rules of 'Eye-Spy'," Gabriella replied, her voice a little raspy. "Mom, what did Dr Zamitt say? Can I go home yet?"
"Not just yet, honey. They are going to come and see us with the results soon."
"Can we go after that? I'm a little hungry. Can we get take out on the way home? Pizza maybe?" Gabriella was rambling and she knew it.
Maria stroked her daughter's cheek with her thumb. "We'll see, baby. We'll see."
Troy broke the awkward silence that followed. "Sooo...turkey?"
Gabriella burst out laughing. "You're a dork. And no, that's not it – there are no turkeys in here, you're hopeless! Just give up, try...hmmmmm," she looked around the room. "Something beginning with 'F'."
"Flying turkey?" Troy grinned.
"Ok, now you're just being ridiculous!"
"Alright you two – there are sick people here who actually need to rest," Maria scolded jokingly and Gabriella giggled.
All three looked up at a knock on the door.
"Dr Zamitt..." Gabriella's heart felt like it was beating in her throat as she took in the expression on the specialists face. She could hear it pounding in her ears as she struggled for breath, feeling as though someone was sucking all the air out of her body.
Dr Zamitt crossed the room and patted a space at the end of the bed. "Can I sit down?" he asked kindly.
Gabriella just nodded her expression blank as the doctor took a seat at her feet. Troy moved to sit beside her on the bed, holding her hand and Maria took Troy's place in the chair. Three pairs of eyes were on Dr Zamitt as he spoke.
"Gabriella, we have your tests back and I...we...I'm afraid the results aren't what we were hoping for..." he trailed off.
Gabriella swallowed nervously as Troy wrapped his arm around her shoulders tightly and her mother gripped her hand, shaking slightly.
'Why? What did they say? WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?!' Gabriella's voice cried out inside her head, but all that emerged from her mouth was a strangled murmur.
Dr Zamitt looked sympathetically at Gabriella, Maria and Troy as he tried to find the right words. In all his years as a doctor, and with all the bad news he had to deliver, this never got any easier.
"What is it?" Maria managed to croak, her mouth suddenly feeling very dry.
"I'm so sorry to have to tell you this, Gabriella...but you have Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma."
"Ca..cancer?" she heard her mother choke out as she stared at the doctor, a look of horror etched across her pale face.
"I'm so, so sorry..."
Soooo, there you have it. Please review and let me know what you thought, I love hearing from you all!
Charli xox
