Here it is, Unlucky 13 – Chemo.
Thanks for the wonderful reviews.
Cyber Cookies to dancinluva20 and xoxstargazerxox for correctly guessing the identity of Gabriella's favourite nurse hehe!
Onward!
Charli xox
Chapter 13
Gabriella awoke the next morning still clinging to the scrapbook, and with a feeling of dread firmly settled in the pit of her stomach. She was a mathematically and scientifically minded girl – she loved numbers and the satisfaction she felt solving a problem that had a definite answer. She did not like this situation where she felt a constant fear of the unknown. Having to wake each morning not knowing what the day was going to bring...she was finding it hard.
However, she was determined to fight to the best of her ability, and fight was what she was prepared to do that day – no matter how scared she was.
Maria made her some toast and pleaded with her to eat at least some of it – she needed strength. Gabriella wasn't hungry, but ate half a piece to please her mother. When she had finished eating, she buried her nose in a book whilst her mother took a shower.
At 8.17am, one of the morning shift nurses – Savannah – came to take her temperature and record her obs. She had her height and weight recorded, before being bundled into a wheelchair and whisked off to audiology.
The hearing test did not take long, and before Gabriella knew it she was across in the clinic being wired up for her EKG, to record her heart function. When the last of the sticky little wires had been removed, Gabriella was taken back to her room for an early lunch – ham and cheese sandwiches, of which she ate approximately three bites – and a quick rest.
At 12.25pm she found herself in pathology for a GFR test which she was told measured kidney function. Renal failure was yet another wonderful possible long term side effect of chemotherapy that needed to be monitored. The GFR test involved a simple blood draw through Gabriella's central line, and then a two minute series of x-rays. In precisely one hour she would have a second blood draw, and a third another hour after that.
By the time half past two in the afternoon rolled around, and the third and final GFR blood draw was complete, Gabriella was exhausted. She allowed herself to sink back into the starch white pillows of the hospital bed, and closed her eyes.
The next thing she knew, it was half past four, and she was awoken by a kiss from Troy.
"Sorry gorgeous girl, I didn't mean to wake you," he whispered apologetically as he straightened up.
"It's fine," Gabriella replied groggily, propping herself up against the pillows. "What time is it anyway?" she asked, squinting at the clock on the wall.
"Just after half four. Your Mom is down in the foyer grabbing a coffee, by the way – I ran into her on the way in."
"Uh huh," Gabriella mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "Urgh – I'm so tired."
"It's been a long day for you – how'd everything go this morning?" asked Troy.
Gabriella shrugged. "Ok, I guess. I was thanking God for this thing, though," she replied, gesturing to her central line. "Saved me at least 5 or 6 needle pokes."
Troy smiled and kissed her on the forehead. She was always able to find the positives in any situation and he loved that about her. Gabriella yawned and snuggled her head into Troy's shoulder.
"Chemo's starting at 5," she told him.
"Ok," he replied, resting his chin on top of her head. "How are you feeling about it?"
Gabriella lifted her head so she could look into his eyes. "Honestly? I think I'm more frightened than I have ever been in my entire life," she admitted. "I don't like not having control, I don't like not knowing what's ahead for me...I don't like the thought of losing my independence and having to rely on everyone around me. I'm scared of feeling sick all the time, I'm scared...I'm scared of losing my hair... I'm scared for everything my Mom must be going through, and what you must be going through..." Gabriella's voice cracked and she cried into Troy's shirt. He rubbed her back and rocked her to and fro, just letting her cry. Suddenly, she pulled back and looked up at him, her tear-filled eyes riddled with anguish. "I feel like such a burden...you shouldn't have to deal with this, Troy. I'd understand...I'd understand if you didn't want to be with me anymore."
Maria Montez almost dropped her cup of coffee as she froze outside her daughter's hospital room, her heart breaking. It killed her to see Gabriella suffering like this, and it hurt more to know that the suffering was only just beginning. With baited breath she awaited reassurance from Troy that she was sure would come. She was right.
"Gabriella Montez, I don't ever want to hear you talk like that again, right?" Troy told her firmly.
"I just don't want you to feel...obliged, Troy. Or tied down. I'll understand..."
"Brie, where is this coming from? You are the furthest thing from a burden and I definitely do not feel obliged to stay with you..." Gabriella averted her gaze. "I'm here because I love you."
Troy slid his fingers under her chin and gently lifted her head until her gaze met his once again.
"I. Love. You," he repeated. "Got it?"
Gabriella nodded tearfully. "I'm sorry, Troy. I know that you do, I just...I don't know what's wrong with me today, I'm all over the place."
Troy shook his head and held her tight against his chest. "Don't apologise. You're coping better than I would. Just remember you can always talk to me about anything – whatever you are thinking, feeling...I'm here, ok? You're not doing this alone..."
Gabriella nodded and softly kissed the spot on his t-shirt where her head lay.
Maria composed herself and plastered on a smile before re-entering the room.
"Hey, Sleeping Beauty is awake," she said brightly and Gabriella smiled from her spot in Troy's arms.
"How was school today, Troy?"
"Ah, you know – it was...school..." he joked. "Actually that reminds me," he said, gently moving Gabriella off him and climbing off the bed, picking up his bag. "I have some stuff for you, Gabriella."
He pulled a large envelope out of his bag that was so full it couldn't seal.
"What's this?" she asked.
"Fan mail," he replied simply, handing her the envelope which was stuffed full of cards, letters and other bits and pieces from her well-wishing peers and teachers at East High.
"Wow, someone's popular!" a friendly voice laughed from the doorway.
"Hi Kirsten," Gabriella greeted her nurse. "Is it time...?"
Kirsten nodded. "Megan is on her way up from Chemo Pharmacy now."
No sooner had the words left her mouth, Megan – another nurse – entered the room wheeling a trolley with an abundance of medical tools, Gabriella's file, anti-nausea drugs, a filled syringe and two bags of fluid which were encased in thick silver plastic with purple stickers on them that read 'Caution: CYTOTOXIC'. Gabriella watched silently as the two nurses double checked the dosage was correct for Gabriella's height, weight and blood counts, made sure that the details on the chemo bags matched those on her hospital identity bracelet, and hung the bags of chemo and anti-nausea medication from her IV pole amongst the two bags of Sodium Chloride hydration fluid that already hung there. As they took her temperature and her blood pressure, and flushed her central line with Heparin, Gabriella sat up in the bed, her mother stroking her hair and dropping the occasional kiss there.
"Ok Gabriella," Kirsten started. "We're going to connect the chemo to your lines now. Once the chemo is flowing, the first bag will only run for around an hour, the other will last around six. The third chemo drug we will inject directly into your line. Once the treatment starts, you may notice a slightly funny taste in your mouth – you may even be able to smell it in the room. Try to drink as much water as possible, and if you start to feel nauseous or dizzy, make sure you or your mom buzz us, ok?" Gabriella nodded. "There is a kidney dish on the bedside table if you do feel like you need to be sick. Now, Maria – if she is sick, or if you are helping her to the bathroom or anything like that while she is on chemo, you will need to be really careful not to get any of her bodily fluids on you – vomit, urine – nothing. That goes for anyone else who will be around her," she looked meaningfully at Troy, who nodded. "The chemo will be present in her vomit, blood, urine and faeces and to someone who is not undergoing treatment, contact with that can be extremely toxic," she concluded.
"Alright well, let's get this show on the road!" Gabriella said as confidently as she could.
Kirsten nodded. "Ok, first I'm going to inject the dose of Vincristine straight into your line," she explained as she unclamped the red lumen of Gabriella's central line and screwed the end of the syringe into the cap, pushing the plunger down slowly. Gabriella watched carefully as the small amount of clear chemo rushed through the line and into her body. Kirsten discarded the empty syringe, and screwed a double sided cap onto the red lumen. "That's the Vincristine done. Now, I have put a cap on the end of your red line that has two ports on it – the first chemo will clip into one and the other chemo into the second. Your white lumen has your fluids going through it, so the double cap means we don't have to disturb that."
With a practised ease, Kirsten snapped the lines into the connecting lines hanging from the bags of chemo, and unclamped them.
Slowly but surely the life saving poison began to flow down the lines and into Gabriella's frail body.
HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM
The time seemed to crawl by as the chemo bags slowly drained. Gabriella was doing really well at first – she and Troy watched Little Miss Sunshine on DVD, pausing the movie half way through when Gabi's drip started to beep - signalling the end of the first chemo bag – and finishing it off once the nurse had removed the now empty pouch.
But now that they were a little over half an hour into Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, she suddenly didn't feel so good.
"Troy...Troy, let me up..." she said anxiously as she unwrapped herself from his arms and sat up.
"Gab...? What's wrong?" he asked, concerned. "Do you feel sick?"
"Mom," Gabriella moaned, pressing the buzzer next to her pillow. "Mom, quick..." she trailed off, gagging a little. "Mom..."
Maria sprang to her feet, grabbing the kidney basin from the cabinet and holding it under her daughter's chin. Troy quickly scraped her hair back from her face as she leaned forward and vomited into the dish. Her stomach heaving, Gabriella continued to vomit as her body tried its best to expel the toxins it was being flooded with.
Troy held Gabriella's hair back with one hand, reaching into her toiletries bag with the other, fishing for a hair elastic. He found one and pulled it out triumphantly, clumsily looping Gabriella's curls through it. When he was semi-confident that his attempt at a ponytail would hold, Troy let go of her hair and rubbed her back soothingly as she continued to throw up. Tears mingled with sweat on Gabriella's face, the impact on her body exhausting her.
After several minutes, Gabriella lay back against her pillows, tears drying on her face. Troy gently wiped her forehead with a cool, damp cloth as her mother donned a pair of purpose-made double strength latex gloves to rinse out the kidney dish.
Kirsten came into the room to respond to the buzz. She took Gabriella's temperature and adjusted the dosage of the anti-nausea medication. Troy continued to sponge her forehead, gently stroking her hair as he did so. The steady, soothing movement calmed Gabriella as she allowed her tired eyes to flutter closed, one hand resting on her still-queasy stomach.
"MmmTroy?" she mumbled softly, wincing a little.
"Yes Brie?"
"You're my favourite nur...oh gosh," Gabriella grabbed the freshly washed basin, heaving again and again. The acidic waste burned her throat as it came up over and over, tears pricking her eyes once more as her oesophagus stung. "Make it stop," she cried, leaning over the basin. "It hurts, Mom, please make it stop!"
Maria could do little except try to comfort her daughter as she swung sporadically between bouts of vomiting and periods of utter exhaustion, where she could barely lift her head off the pillows.
The cycle had begun.
Ya, I reckon Gabi might need another hug. Or several hugs. And Troy can have a boyfriend of the year medal coz he is just a sweetheart lol. Hope you liked it! Next up, a little chapter I like to call "Hair today, gone tomorrow"... Dumdumduuuum... Please review!! Let me know what you thought!
Charli xox
