Chapter Sixty-One
"So when are you coming back down this way?" Sarah adjusted the phone on her shoulder as she continued to spread peanut butter on a piece of bread.
"And you can't make it before then?" She was trying to make lunches, but it was becoming quite a task seeing as they had apparently run out of a few things.
Could you pair PB and J's with cheeseballs?
"But Ashlee's still coming tomorrow right?" She knew there were cookies in the cabinet but put with the sandwich it'd probably be too much sugar.
"Yeah, I'm hoping we get it all done before the kids get out of school. If not I'll probably just ask Michelle to pick them up and watch them until Pete gets out of work." An apple was found and just as soon as she cut off the bruised part it would be making its way into lunch pales. "No he doesn't hate her! He just doesn't like the kids spending long periods of time with people other than family."
As luck would have it there was only one juice box.
"That's not true and you wouldn't know anyway because you never take them anywhere." Skip it.
Becca was getting cookies added to her sack of sugar. "He has too! The day after Christmas he was gone with both of them for a couple hours.
Pete was actually starting to worry he wouldn't come back." As for Brian; five dollars would hopefully make lunch some teachers' problem.
"I don't know. None of them would tell me where they went. But I know the kids are more than excited for the next time." She shook her head with a smirk as she searched the drawers for Ziploc bags. "Well that would be why they like him more. You never hear them shouting Uncle Aaron after all." It was ridiculously fun to tease him. "Ooh… I'm gonna tell him you said that! Just wait and see who's scared then." Her smile didn't even fade at the stomping coming from above her head.
"No… no he's not… no I didn't hear anything from the hospital. I planned on going over there just as soon as I dropped them off but it's going to have to wait until after I go to the store." Even expecting the question it still annoyed her. "Because I can't feed the kids celery and cheeseballs for dinner Aaron! But after I get done with that I'll be over there to see him. Hopefully I'll get some good news." For a long minute she simply listened, chewing on some of those cheeseballs which were slightly stale. "That'd be nice. At least with him sitting there I knew more of what was going on. These nurses don't know how his day goes past the times they feel like checking in on him." Powdered cheese product was not something you wanted covering your tongue before eight in the morning she was coming to realize. "Yeah… But only if he decides to bring his butt back this way. Work or not we could really use him over here… yeah… I know. But he's still the only one of us that can manage to spend the whole day that way… I've seen them over there a few times too but I'm sure they're busy."
His words were starting to get rapid fire and she was trying to keep up with them. "Now I never said I don't like them…no I never… I like Nate just fine… yes I do… yes I do!" With a sigh she admitted, "So maybe we got off to a rocky start. That doesn't mean I suddenly hate the guy though… Shut up!" She rolled her eyes at the proportion he was trying to blow things to. "I just wish he'd get done with whatever business deal he's got going so Eliot won't be alone too much. It's been almost a week now and the sooner he gets back the better I'll feel." She couldn't help but laugh as Aaron asked if hell had frozen over. "Apparently since that's the only way you can fathom Nate making me feel better. But no, I'm telling you we don't have problems like that right now. We're just worried about Eliot getting better which is fine by me." A glance at the clock told her it was time to get upstairs and make sure midgets were together. "Hey Aaron, I gotta get going but call me after you get out of work. I'll let you know what's up then." Even as she spoke she started making her way to the stairs. "Alright, I will… I love ya, Bye"
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"I doubt that even ten cups of this crap they call coffee would help me out right now." Nate groaned as he sat with his Styrofoam cup.
His back felt beyond broken and his neck had at least half a dozen kinks in it. "Remind me not to do that again or else I'm going to need a chiropractor before we even get out of this place."
"I could recommend you one." The suggestion came from Dr. Sean Torlyn of all people.
"What are you doing here?" Immediately Nate was on edge.
"Now Nate before yo-"
"No, I took you off of his case so what are you doing here?" He hadn't helped Eliot so he hadn't any business being there.
"Your sister gave me permission." He just knew that this wasn't going to be a good morning.
'Well I'm back now and legally my word holds higher regard than hers so I'd suggest you leave." He knew he had forgotten to tell Sarah something.
"Will you just hear me out for a second?" It seemed like Spencer was the only person that could reason with this stubborn man.
"And why should I?" Nate stood; he was all for tossing the guy out physically if he didn't start moving soon.
"Because I want to talk to you about his treatment and abou-"
"What treatment?" Immediately his mind was screaming at him to find out what they were doing to Eliot without his permission.
"Am I going to be allowed to speak freely?" Finally some leverage.
"Come out with it already!" Suddenly his heart was thrumming and he couldn't seem to remember quite how blinking worked.
"Alright, I'll be flat out honest with you." Angry yes, but he was almost positive Nate wouldn't be vindictive.
"When you came out and told me he was in a coma I didn't leave it alone."
"What did you do?" There was more accusation than anything in Nate's voice.
If he had been the cause of whatever Eliot was receiving treatment for he'd be in for a living hell.
"I spent every free minute I had looking for a diagnosis." A little bit of attitude came out to match Nate's accusation.
"And?" If the pause was for effect it sure wasn't welcome.
"And a few tubes of blood, some serological tests, a couple of false starts, an x-ray, and over fifty some hours later I found one." Torlyn glared firmly at Nate.
If he wasn't going to be allowed to speak on his terms than he wasn't going to share.
"Alright," Nate relented as his gaze fell to Eliot. "I'll listen to you." He couldn't ignore the voice telling him that this could be it; the end could finally be approaching. "Just tell me what's wrong with him?"
"Has your sister told you anything?" Suddenly he was wondering why she hadn't.
"I had to leave town for a few days; she wouldn't have been able to reach me." Which he was regretting immensely. He had obviously missed quite a deal.
"Well three days ago she consented to starting Chelation therapy." Sean moved a stool toward the end of the bed where he decided to sit; hoping Nate'd do the same. "I explained all of the ins and outs and we both agreed it was the best move."
"For?" Nate tried for wonder as he held back annoyance. Why could doctors never get straight to the point?
"Do you remember that shrapnel you came to tell me they removed?" Nate answered his question with a nod as finally he reclaimed his seat.
"Well it was lodged by the gallbladder not too far away from the pancreas and in doing their job they were slowly poisoning him."
"Poisoning?" Nate more stated than questioned as his mind drifted back to health class in hopes of remembering what their jobs indeed were.
"That shrapnel began disintegrating right there in the middle of the digestive system where the main goal is essentially absorption. You could almost say it was unintentionally soaking up this tainted material for use." It sure explained the consistency; the treatments they had tried wouldn't have been a bit of help with foreign material still in his gut.
"So you're saying his stomach was being continually filled with contaminated digestive juices?" He couldn't seem to think properly, too busy himself with trying to absorb such information.
"Small intestine actually and judging by the proximity of the shrapnel to the gallbladder it was probably the bile itself that was most contaminated. But yes, every time a meal made its way to the intestine to be further broken down that spoiled fluid would come and chase it right back up. By now I'd say just about every inch of his digestive tract probably has a faint coat of lead on it." He had faith that the case would soon be changing though.
"Lead?" And just like that Nate was once more behind in what had been revealed.
"I can even confirm it this time." Torlyn assured, knowing how Nate felt about proof. "They've yet to find the car that hit him but there's no doubt in my mind that when they do it'll be covered in lead based paint."
"He has lead poisoning?" He had heard Torlyn say it, had repeated it for clarification, yet it wasn't sinking in.
"Yes, and that's why I wanted to talk to you about treatment. The Chelation therapy will get him on the right track but that's only if we eliminate his exposure altogether." It was a conversation he had saved just for Nate; feeling like he would somehow get more accurate answers from him than from his sister.
"You think he's been exposed to lead other than what was covering that shrapnel?" Nate stopped midway in grabbing his cup as his attention was turned back to the doctor.
"The density that was starting to show on this last x-ray would have taken years to form, not months. It's just this slight little line on the bone that wasn't there back in April when we took that first scan." And what a lifetime ago that seemed.
"Well I don't know where he could be getting exposed at." And he honestly didn't.
He was everywhere that Eliot was and if Eliot was getting sick from these places shouldn't he be too?
"Does he live in an older building?" Home would be a good place to start since it was where most people spent the majority of their time.
"He's got a condo; the whole building couldn't have gone up more than a decade ago." If they were talking years past Boston and L.A would have to be reference.
"How about work? Has he done any welding or plumbing?" Torlyn turned slightly on his stool to take a look at his patient.
"Nothing long term or professional, just leaky pipes and clogged drains." Nate answered to the best of his ability.
"What about soldering? Does he do any mechanics or any kind of radiator repairs?" He had seen the callouses on those hands; no way did Spencer spend his days sitting behind a desk.
"No" Though that was a total guesstimation.
"Then how about the fire range?" Hunting was big around these parts.
"He hates guns." Finally something he could answer with certainty.
"Well, does he spend any time in the mines?"
"No, he…" Nate began to deny until West Virginia came to mind. "Actually he did do a little bit of work in a coal mine."
"How long was he employed?" It wasn't an unheard of diagnosis for miners, especially lifelong ones.
"It was a favor for a friend." Guilt had once again come to visit. He'd put Eliot in that mine. "He couldn't have been there for more than a week or so."
"That could be part of it but," Torlyn shook his head in disbelief. This seemed like too much for a week in a coal mine. "Has he ever worked in a gas station?"
"Not that I'm aware of." And suddenly he felt very unaware. The only job he knew of that Eliot had actually had was in the bakery and he doubted if that would take them anywhere near the right direction.
"You said he likes to odd ball jobs but what's his specialty? Everyone prefers something. What about demolition or construction?" Nate simply shook his head no which beyond frustrated him. "Come on Nate! Maybe it's not work, maybe it's a hobby. How does he spend most of his time? What does he do? Give me something. Is there anything at all that he's done consistently?" He was hoping his suggestions would help Nate fill in the blanks. "Does he go swimming, motor racing, fishing, hiking… Does he own any four wheelers? Is there a place he visits religiously? Just anything at all Nate." Still it didn't seem like he had anything to offer. "What does he do!"
"He remodels" Nate barely voiced as it dawned on him.
"He what?" He had been so far away from expecting an answer that he hadn't heard it.
"He remodels older houses." Nate repeated as his gaze fell to Eliot. Had something that was intended to find peace really brought him so much pain?
"He does renovations?" Now they were getting somewhere.
"Yeah, he guts the places, strips them down to the paint and pipes." His coffee was beyond cold but it didn't matter because he had gotten a whole other kind of wakeup call.
"And how long has he been doing that?" His fingers were crossed for anything over ten months.
"I couldn't tell you exactly but it's been at least five years now." It was hard to imagine one, let alone five years worth of poison building in Eliot's body.
"I think there's your answer. Though most of us have at least a little lead in the blood there is essentially no function for it in the body." They weren't lying when they said it was the silent ones you had to watch out for. "If he's been absorbing it in small amounts for years now he already had more lead inside of him than his body would know what to do with. The shrapnel coming along was like an invader; it was covered in the stuff, and before you know it war had broken out." And though the odds were against him, Spencer had been holding his own surprisingly well.
"Would it have gotten this bad if he hadn't gotten hit by that car?" He couldn't help but wonder how differently things would have turned out had he never come to Oklahoma. If he hadn't been in that hotel waiting for Eliot, if he hadn't convinced him to stay.
"It certainly would have taken longer for the lead to reach such toxic levels but the story would most likely be the same. The only difference would've been his age and ability to fight. At 35 he's doing a lot better than he would at fifty, he's still got youth and strength on his side." He knew first-hand how much blame the families of these patients dealt with and he hoped his words could help squash some of it.
"So what do we do to help him?" Nate stood in anticipation.
He couldn't believe that they were so close to reaching an end goal.
"With your approval I'd like to get him transferred to a treatment center." Sean also stood knowing the emotions on this would be mixed.
"You want to send him away?" The room was still spinning for how fast he whirled around.
"Nate the only goal for him here at the hospital is waking up. His brain hasn't shown any signs of damage and his vitals have been solid so they're going to be more than eager to send him home just as soon as they can. In a treatment facility he'll have support, they'll help him through therapy, and he won't feel isolated because there will be others around who are having similar experiences." As a courtesy to Spencer he kept his voice even; hearing was the most persistent of the senses.
"And what if I say I won't put him in one?" He couldn't fathom it. To him it wasn't but a step away from having Eliot committed.
"Then he'll be released to you when the time comes but I hope you don't make this choice lightly. Keep in mind that we're trying to help not hurt him, it's not a punishment." He could tell Nate was on high alert with him once more.
"He'll think it is." Part of him didn't want to be away from Eliot and the other part didn't want Eliot to think he was trying to lock him up and throw away the key.
"It may be hard but sometimes you just have to put their well-being above their wants. Right now you get to choose which direction his recovery will start in. You can get him help he might otherwise refuse." These were two of the most stubborn men he had ever met and he'd hate to see Spencer's healing process be hindered by their mule headedness.
"I'll have to think about it." It was the only honest answer he could give that would get Torlyn to stop hounding him.
"That's all I'm asking." A glance at his watch said he needed to be going. "I'll be here for a few more hours if anything comes up."
"Hey Torlyn"
He had barely turned for the door when Nate's voice had him turning back. "Yes?"
"Thank you"
Those words stunned him to absolute silence.
There was nothing other than sincerity in Nate's eyes though and it had him slowly nodding in return.
Without another glance he left the room thinking that it just might turn out to be a good morning after all.
E/N: Look, Look, Look…. I'm fixing him! Sort of. I'm getting pretty good at the medical ramblings if I'm allowed to say so myself. It's actually kind of fun researching all of it, well until you find that one little fact that throws your entire idea out the window and makes you start over which of course never happened to me. Nope, not at all. So this chapter was kind of a bridge… they're not as much fun as the others but they're necessary if you want to get from point A to B which means…. Yup, it means just that :) Next chapter's gonna be awesome!