Lucinda and Noah arrived at the hospital a few minutes after ten in the morning and were ushered into Joe's office where Joe and Bob were waiting for them.
"Noah, what we will be doing today is a biopsy of your hip bone. We will inject a needle into your bone and take out some bone marrow, so we can test the cells. We will give you a local anesthetic but the biggest pain you will feel is the injection into the bone itself. That pain will be virtually gone when the needle is pulled out. You should only need Tylenol or something for pain after it's all done. Any questions?"
Noah shook his head no. All he wanted to do was get this test over with and then go home. He didn't want to run into Luke or worse Reid.
"Come with me then and we will get this over with quickly." Joe got up and started walking out the door, Noah followed. He went into the room across the hall and told Noah to take off his jeans and shirt but leave his underwear on. Noah did what he was told.
Joe noticed that Noah was in his underwear. "Go ahead and lay down on the bed."
Noah followed the doctor's orders. The nurse in the room threw a blanket over Noah's left side covering his waist. Bob and Lucinda then were waved into the room.
"I will pull this side of your underwear down and enter your hip, right here." Joe poked his finger into Noah's right hip.
Noah lifted up as Joe pulled his underwear down a little. He cleaned up the area with antiseptic and then injected Noah with a local anesthetic where his finger was.
"These are just to make sure you don't move when I insert the needle." He threw two straps across the bed, one across Noah's legs and the other across his abs and tied them to the bed.
"Are we ready now?"
"Yes." Noah just wanted to get it over with.
Lucinda walked up to Noah's bed. Right as Joe was ready to insert the needle, she said "You've been working out, haven't you Noah?" trying to distract him.
"Yes." Noah said slowly as he looked at her.
Bob, Noah and the nurse looked at Lucinda with a surprised gaze as Joe inserted the needle. He pushed the needle into Noah's bone causing Noah to stiffen. The needle going into the bone was heard through the room.
"Keep looking at me...I wish I had a man with muscles like yours. When I was younger, I had the pick of the lot. Now I have the lot with nothing to pick." Lucinda laughed.
"You're really freaking me out, Lucinda." Noah said with a wave in his voice.
Joe got his sample and then pulled the needle back out before Noah had a chance to notice.
"Well, it got you through the biopsy." laughed Lucinda.
Noah looked at Joe who was holding up a syringe with a thick liquid in it.
"I guess you did," laughed Noah. Joe moved away from Noah, as a nurse came over to clean the spot where the needle went in and put a band aid on it.
"Noah, you will have some discomfort from the anesthesia when you walk and your leg will feel as though it is asleep." said the nurse.
"I'm going to take this to the lab. We should know the results in an hour. If you want to just go down to the cafeteria for an early lunch, they are having sliced turkey with gravy and mashed potatoes today." suggested Joe.
"That sounds good. My stomach is a bit off today." said Noah. He noticed that Joe and Bob looked at each other quickly and then Joe left the room.
The nurse wheeled in a chair for Noah as he got up and got dressed. He had a little problem walking and trying to get on his pants but the nurse helped him out a bit.
Lucinda took a quick notice of Noah's more than ample basket in his boxer briefs before he put his pants on. "Lucky boy," she thought to herself.
-P-
Lucinda and Noah went down and had lunch in the cafeteria. Noah was more nervous about seeing Luke or Reid more than he was about his test results. Soon the hour was over and they headed back up stairs. When they got back to Joe's office, Joe and Bob were already deep in their conversation. Noah knew it wasn't good news from their expressions. Lucinda wheeled him into the room and got him facing Bob and Joe and then took a seat herself.
"I'm sorry but it's definitely leukemia," Joe broke the news gently.
Noah sat in shock, hoping that he heard Joe wrong. Unfortunately, he didn't. He felt Lucinda's hand on his arm. He looked over at her with tears in his eyes and saw tears in her eyes too.
Trying to shove down his emotions, Noah tried to sound calm. "What do we need to do now?"
"We need to do spinal tap to see if there are any leukemia cells in your spinal fluid. We will stick a small needle into your spine and retrieve some spinal fluid. Finding no leukemia cells in your fluid simplifies your treatment."
"What if you find it in my spinal fluid?"
"Well, then we will need to go about treating you in a different manner. Let's test the fluid first before we get into all that."
"Let's do it then."
Joe wheeled Noah into the same examination room he had been in earlier. He told Noah to take off his shirt and get on the bed. Lucinda and Bob stayed in Joe's office, talking about treatment options that Noah would need.
"Bring your knees up to your chest and hug them with your arms. We shouldn't need to give you anything for the pain but you will feel a needle being inserted into your spine." said Joe. "Okay, don't move until I tell you." Noah shivered as he felt the cold antiseptic pad being wiped around the injection area.
"Okay." Joe stuck the needle into Noah's lower spine area, retrieved the spinal fluid and walked out the door to get it tested.
Noah laid there in bed thinking about how drastically his life had changed in a year. He was very happy when he and Luke moved in together but everything changed when he went blind. He did what he always did in a time of crisis, he receded into himself to work things out but only this time things couldn't be worked out. He was blind for life unless he could get someone to fix it but Luke kept pushing him and the harder Luke pushed, the more he receded into himself. The more Luke tried to help, the angrier Noah got.
-P-
About an hour later, Joe walked back into Noah's room smiling with Lucinda and Bob. Noah was immediately relieved.
"There are no cancer cells in your spinal fluid. That is excellent." said Joe happily. "We would like for you to come in tomorrow morning at six o'clock and we would like to insert a tube, called a catheter, in your chest, that we will use that to introduce the chemotherapy into your bloodstream. It should only take about ten minutes or so and then we want to start chemotherapy as early 11:00 a.m."
"That fast?" Noah asked with surprise.
"Yes, with cancer, the time is of the essence. The quicker we start, hopefully, the quicker we can get you into remission."
"Sounds good, Joe," replied Lucinda. "I'll make sure Noah gets here."
"What happens if chemotherapy doesn't work?" Noah was frightened and wanted to know all of the available treatment options.
"If chemotherapy doesn't work, then we will either try radiation and a bone marrow transplant. Let's not get ahead of ourselves and take the chemotherapy treatment one step and a time."
"Okay. I will see you tomorrow morning."
Lucinda took Noah home and told him that she would pick him up in the morning. Noah told her that Ali was working the morning shift that started at 6:00 a.m. and he would catch a ride with her.