Unfortunately, next week, Kurt, Blaine and Maddie couldn't make it to the hospital to visit Skylar like they usually did. Maddie came down with the flu. The poor little girl was pale with a fever and was exhausted. She was completely lethargic and was just laying miserably on the couch. The TV was on, but Maddie didn't seem to care at all, even when Kurt put on Tangled which was her favorite movie. Both Kurt and Blaine were beginning to get worried.
"We should take her to the doctor, Blaine." Kurt said. "Flu's don't hold on like this. I think something else is wrong with her."
"Honey, I'm sure that it's just the flu, but if It'll make you feel better we can take her to the doctor." Blaine said. "I'll call and make an appointment." Blaine knew that Kurt was probably right. Blaine had had the flu before and it had never looked like what Maddie had. He really didn't want to believe it. This was how Skylar had looked when she was little before she was diagnosed. So, Blaine used the house phone and called Maddie's pediatrician. The office said that they could get her in for an appointment tomorrow.
"Please sweetie, you have to eat something." Kurt begged Maddie. He had a box of crackers by his side and he was trying to get Maddie to eat just one. Maddie shook her head. "What about some water? You're going to get dehydrated if you don't drink, honey." Kurt said as he tried to help Maddie drink some water.
"No" Maddie moaned weakly as she pushed the bottle away from her mouth. Kurt gave up and set the water bottle on a nearby coffee table. He sighed and walked over to Blaine.
"She won't eat or drink anything." Kurt told him. "Did you get her an appointment?"
"Yeah, for tomorrow morning." Blaine said. "Maybe I'll try a popsicle. She loves those and it's put something in her system." Blaine suggested. He grabbed a cherry popsicle and walked over to Maddie. "Here baby, I got you a popsicle."
"No, Daddy. I don't want it." Maddie whimpered.
"Baby, you have to eat something." Blaine said. Maddie just shook her head. Blaine sighed and lifted Maddie up so he could sit down and hold her like a baby. Even for her age, she was pretty tiny so he could still do that if he wanted rest of the night was hard. Maddie's fever got higher and reach 102 degrees. She refused to move from Blaine's arms so they both slept on the couch that night.
The next morning, Kurt took Maddie from Blaine's arms and changed her into warmer pajamas and put her shoes on her feet. He wrapped a blanket around her and then they went to the car. Usually, they walked everywhere or took the subway, but there was no way that was happening today. Blaine got in the driver's seat as Kurt gently placed Maddie into her car seat and buckled her up. Then he placed her blanket back over top of her. They drove to the doctor in absolute silence. Usually Maddie was chatty and filled their car with bubbly happiness, but she was barely in the car more than a minute before she was asleep. They drove to the doctor's office and when they got inside Blaine checked them in. Kurt carried Maddie into the sick patients' waiting room and sat down and waited until Blaine joined them.
"Madison Anderson-Hummel?" A nurse called. Kurt stood up with Maddie, whose head was nestled into his shoulder. The nurse cooed with sympathy at Maddie's sickly state. She led them down the hallway to a pink exam room. Kurt tried to set Maddie down on the exam table but she frantically hung onto him, so Kurt just sat down with her. The nurse took her temperature and it was 102.3 degrees.
"I'll tell Dr. Peterson that you're here and he'll be in in a minute." she replied.
"Are you warm enough baby?" Kurt asked Maddie. She shook her head and Kurt wrapped the blanket closer around Maddie's tiny frail body. They heard a knock on the door and Dr. Peterson walked in.
"Hi Maddie." He said in a friendly voice. She gave him a weak little wave. "I hear you're not feeling very well. Do you mind if I listen to you heart?" he asked. She shook her head and Kurt pulled back the blanket. Dr. Peterson put his stethoscope on Maddie's chest and asked her to take a deep breath. "My goodness, it sounds like you have a rock band playing in here." Dr. Peterson joked but Maddie didn't really react. She just gave him a little smile and fell back against Kurt. Dr. Peterson began feeling Maddie's glands around her neck and something in his face changed.
"Kurt, Blaine, what Maddie has definitely isn't the flu." Dr. Peterson told them. "I'm not sure exactly what's wrong so I'd like to send you guys over to NY Memorial to get some testing done." He turned and wrote down four things on a paper and put it into Maddie's chart. "I genuinely hope that everything turns out alright. Bye Maddie, I hope you feel better." Dr. Peterson said. Kurt got up and wrapped the blanket around Maddie. His face was stiff with panic as he looked over at Blaine. Kurt had been right all along. His instincts had told him that this wasn't the flu. Now, Blaine just had to pray that Maddie didn't have what he thought she did.
They walked through the bridge connecting NY Memorial to the office space where Maddie's pediatrician was. They waited in the waiting room for a doctor to come and get them. A young doctor came over to them. She had blonde hair and a friendly smile. "Is this Madison?" she asked.
"Yes it is." Blaine answered.
"Okay, we just got her chart and we need to do four tests; a blood test, bone marrow test, CT, and Spinal tap." The young doctor said. "Let's just get them done so we can get her feeling better." Kurt and BLaine nodded and followed her back to a room.
"We'll do the blood work first." the doctor said. Kurt unwrapped Maddie from the blanket and the young doctor gently took Maddie's right arm. Maddie whined and tried to pull her arm back.
"Shhh, sweetie. I swear this will be so quick. It'll be one little prick and it'll be over." the young doctor said. "You know, I have a little girl about your age. Her name is Rosie. When she's scared I always hold her hand. Would it make you feel better if while I did this I held your hand?" She asked. Maddie nodded. "I'm Katie by the way." she said as she took Maddie's hand. She stuck the needle into Maddie's arm and she flinch and her eyes started to get teary. "No, no sweetie, come on we're almost done." Katie said. "And there. All better." She said as she put a tangled band-aid on to Maddie's arm.
"Look, Mad, who's that?" Kurt asked.
"Rapunzel." She said quietly. For the first time in a week, she smiled.
"Next is the MRI." Katie said. "I'm sorry but your daddies can't go with you, but I promise I'll be there with you." She said. Katie reached down and took Maddie out of Kurt's arms. Surprisingly, Maddie didn't cry. She settled into Katie's side and let the young doctor take her away. Katie took her down to where a big white machine was waiting. "Now, this is the MRI machine. It's kind of like a big spaceship." Katie said as she laid Maddie down on table. Katie grabbed a vest and put it on herself.
"Will you stay with me?" Maddie asked.
"Of course honey.' Katie replied. She took a seat next to the machine and held Maddie's hand as the machine started. Maddie trembled as the machine turned on. "Shh, don't be scared. It's just taking pictures of you." Katie told her.
"I-I like taking pictures." Maddie said quietly. "I take them with my Aunt Skylar on her laptop."
"That's cool. What kind of pictures do you take?" Katie asked.
"Silly ones." Maddie replied and she heard a beep. "What was that?" she asked frantically.
"It means you're all done." Katie told her as she helped her off of the table. "Now we just have two more things to do and then you'll be all done." She and Katie walked out of the MRI room and went back to Kurt and Blaine.
"Okay, we have to do the spinal tap and bone marrow test." Katie told them. She pulled Blaine aside. "Both of these test involve a large needle that's going to hurt very badly. One goes in her hip and one in spine. You can pick." Katie said. Blaine honestly didn't know.
"The hip one, I guess." Blaine replied. She nodded and took the three of them down to a room. They laid Maddie down on the bed.
"Maddie, I need you to look at your daddys' and not look at me." Katie said. Maddie nodded. Katie took out the large needle and started to stick it into Maddie's hip bone.
"Ow! Ow!" Maddie screamed and cried.
"I know honey. I'm almost done." Katie said. She took the first needle out and then quickly put the second one into her spine, hoping the Maddie won't notice the switch in pain too much. She pulled the vial back and soon enough she had all of the things that she needed. "Okay, Maddie. You're all done. No more tests." Katie said as she rubbed her shoulder. Kurt bent down and picked Maddie up and held her. He rocked her back and forth as she cried. "I'm going to take all of her tests down to the lab and I will notify you as soon as I get the results back. You guys can stay in this room and watch some TV and let her rest." Kurt and Blaine nodded. Blaine sat down in a nearby chair while Kurt got into bed with Maddie and held her. It had been a long night and they all were so tired. When Kurt awoke, it was to Blaine shaking him.
"The doctor is back." he said. Kurt adjusted himself as he tried not to wake up Maddie.
"I got the results back and I'm afraid that their not-not good." Katie said. "I'm Dr. Katelyn Bell and I'll be Maddie's oncologist. I'm sorry but Maddie has acute lymphoblastic leukemia" Blaine looked to Kurt and their faces just fell. It was like there world was just falling apart.