"Will Daddy be here soon?" asked Chrissy.
Chrissy's eagerness to see her dad made Meredith smile. Chrissy had been feeling so badly for the past two days that all she wanted to do was sleep. She had terrible mouth sores, so it hurt for her to speak. But she knew her father was coming tonight, so she was willing to speak.
"Let me check the flight. Let's use the Ipad," she said, showing Chrissy how she was getting the information. "He's flying Delta, so we'll check on his flight on the Delta website. He texted me that he got flight 419. It was due in at 7:26 p.m. Let's see if it's on time." Meredith checked the flight. "Okay, it's running 10 minutes early. But the plane might not be able to land until the scheduled time. So let's say he gets in on time. He will probably have to wait for his luggage. Grandma is picking him up, so she'll bring him straight to the hospital. So, if we're lucky, he'll be here before 9 p.m." Meredith made sure to give a cushion. She didn't want Chrissy to be disappointed if he was late. "Why don't you take a nap, and I'll wake you when he comes."
"Will you promise to wake me? I want Daddy to read me a story."
"I'll wake you, I promise. I know you want to see Daddy, and he wants to see you."
"Okay," said Chrissy, and she closed her eyes. Within a couple of minutes, she was sleeping.
As Meredith watched her daughter sleep, her mind kept turning in two very different directions. First, she started worrying over the meeting tomorrow with Dr. Barkley and whether Chrissy would be in remission. Either Chrissy would be going home to prepare for a bone marrow transplant or they would be desperately searching for a trial as a last ditch effort to put her in remission. Meredith was terrified of the bone marrow transplant, and she was also terrified that Chrissy would not be in remission. Either way, there was a significant chance that Chrissy could die. Meredith could not bear to think about such an outcome.
Then, she would turn her mind to Derek and think about his kiss before he left. It has been a short but passionate kiss, and she had enjoyed it. She wondered whether more kissing was a good idea. Right now, they wanted to humor Chrissy, and Chrissy wanted to see them kissing. But how long could they continue humoring Chrissy? Was it fair to let her think her parents loved each other? Or was Meredith fooling herself and she still in love with Derek? Derek had made clear that he was interested in her. Could she forgive him for choosing Addison? And did any of this matter when they had the meeting tomorrow with Dr. Barkley? So Meredith would return to thinking of the meeting until she could bring herself to think about Derek, which was, after all, a better topic to ponder than Chrissy's health.
She had returned to thinking about the kiss when Derek entered the room. "She's sleeping?" he asked, frowning.
"I promised I'd wake her when you arrived. She was looking forward to seeing you."
Derek sat down in a chair next to Chrissy, across from Meredith. "I'm sorry that I wasn't able to get an earlier flight. I just had a bunch of things to do before leaving for three months."
"No problem."
"How has Chrissy been?"
"The past couple of days have been rough, but she kept asking about you coming tonight. She adores you."
"I adore her. I guess we might as well wake her now."
"Why don't you kiss our sleeping beauty?"
Derek nodded, and he brought his lips to Chrissy's forehead. She opened her eyes, and exclaimed, "Daddy, Daddy, you're here."
"Yes, sleeping beauty, and I'm going to stay in Seattle for a long time. I'm going to be able to see you every day. And I brought you a new book and a purple plastic purse, like I promised." He gave Chrissy the book and purse.
Chrissy smiled. "Can you read me the story?"
"Yes. It's a new Lily story, Lily's Big Day," he said, and he started reading her the new book. Meredith smiled as she watched him read the story to their daughter.
The next day the usual group, Meredith, Derek, Cristina, and Bailey, had gathered in the conference room, and Izzie had provided the usual basket of muffins although no one had taken a muffin. All were subdued. Cristina had begun a conversation about her latest heart surgery, but she became discouraged when she realized that no one, not even Bailey, was paying attention to her. Instead, they were all lost in their own thoughts.
As soon as she heard a knock on the door, Meredith grabbed Derek's hand. She immediately noticed that Dr. Barkley had a smile on his face, and she relaxed.
The doctor came in and immediate reported to the group, "I have good news today. Chrissy is in remission!"
"Wow," exclaimed Derek. "That's fabulous." He hugged Meredith. Then Cristina hugged her. Derek noticed that tears were running down her cheeks. "I assume these are tears of joy."
"Definitely. I am thrilled. Thank you so much, Dr. Barkley."
"I also want to thank you for all your work in getting us to this point," said Derek.
"When can she go home?" asked Meredith.
"Tomorrow afternoon. She's been in bed for more than two months, so I'd like the physical therapist and occupational therapist to evaluate her and see if she'll need any therapy at home. I know that Meredith has already had the house thoroughly cleaned, but I recommend doing another round of housecleaning before she comes home."
"That won't be a problem," said Derek. "My mom will go over to the house and start cleaning within an hour. Is there anything else we need to do?"
"Make sure you have a good hospital scale. I want you to weigh Chrissy every day. Her height, 36.5 inches, is normal for her age, and I'd like to see her weigh somewhere near 30 pounds before the bone marrow transplant. She's much too thin now."
"My mom is a great cook, and she's looking forward to cooking for Chrissy."
"Her appetite should be better soon. But her diet should be heavy on protein. I know Izzie's a great cook, but I recommend one dessert a day, no more, and maybe a couple of cookies for snacks."
"My mom makes great chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles."
"Well, I'd limit the number of cookies Chrissy eats. She will be on maintenance chemo to ensure she stays in remission. I'll send a prescription to the pharmacy in the hospital. Because she has a house full of doctors, I'm going to skip the weekly visits. Instead, I'm going to ask for one of your roommates to take her blood every Thursday and bring it in to the lab. I do want her to come in for an appointment in four weeks."
"My roommates will be happy to help," Meredith assured him. "Everyone's going to be thrilled to have Chrissy at home. Are there any restrictions on her activities?"
"You need to maintain infection control procedures. She should remain at home, with limited visitors, and no children."
"What if she had siblings?" asked Derek.
"That would be different. Right now, I just want to keep Chrissy healthy. Her immune system is very suppressed, right now, so isolation from infection is the best way to go."
"What about pets?" asked Derek.
"I don't recommend getting new pets at this point. As I recall, Meredith said that she didn't have any pets."
"That's right," said Meredith.
"She loves fish. What about getting her an aquarium?"
"That would be fine, as long as she doesn't touch the fish."
"How about visiting the Seattle Aquarium at night, when it's closed to visitors?" asked Derek.
"Some viruses stay alive for hours, so I wouldn't recommend it."
"What about playing in the backyard?"
"That would be fine."
"My sisters want to visit. Would that be okay?"
"If they follow infection protocol, it would be okay. I'd also introduce only one or two new people at a time."
"Not Nancy, Derek," said Meredith.
"You may be right about that, but we can discuss that later. How about my niece, Janie, who is a senior in high school?"
"16 and over would be okay."
"So we can tell Chrissy that she's going home tomorrow?"
"Yes."
"Or should we wait until tomorrow?"
"That's up to you."
"I think we should tell her," said Derek. "She'll understand that she has therapists coming to visit her tomorrow. And you're glowing. I don't think you could keep it secret."
"You're right. She is going to be so happy, at least until she finds out she has to stay home the entire time."
"But home can be a lot more fun that the hospital," said Derek. "We can get her some new toys."
"Don't go overboard," said Meredith.
"I'll try not to," said Derek. He texted his sister Lizze, "Chrissy in remission; going home tomorrow; need swing set asap, but make it simple, not extravagant."
"And we need to do the bone marrow transplant?" asked Meredith. Now the details about going home had been resolved, she wanted to address the transplant.
"Yes. Chrissy's leukemia is very high risk for relapse, giving how hard it has been to put it into remission. And the success rate for bone marrow transplants after going into first remission are much higher than if we waited until she relapsed and went into remission a second time, even assuming we could get her into remission."
"But there are risks in the bone marrow transplant," said Meredith.
"Yes, it is a risky procedure. Since I've been at Seattle Grace, our success rate for the first year has been 72%, which is as good or better than Sloan Kettering. We're in the top five nationwide."
"But with 72%, there's more than a one out of four chance that she will die within a year," whimpered Meredith. Derek held her hands.
"Meredith, Dr. Barkley went over this before you started searching for a marrow donor. With the bone marrow transplant, you have a good chance that she will survive. Without it, it's almost certain that she would die. I know this is tough for you, but Chrissy has a good chance to live with the bone marrow transplant, and no chance without it," Bailey said gently.
"I know, Bailey."
"Right now, Chrissy is going to have somewhere between four and eight weeks at home, and she'll be on low dose maintenance chemotherapy, so she should feel pretty good. Enjoy every day you have," advised Dr. Barkley.
"We will," said Derek.
"Should I work or should I stay home with her?" asked Meredith.
"Generally, I advise parents to keep life as normal as possible. Dr. Webber might be willing to let you work half-days four or five days a week. It might be good for Chrissy to see you going to work. And I imagine her father and grandmother would enjoy some time alone with her."
"I'll talk to Dr. Webber for you, Meredith," offered Bailey.
"That would be great. It might be good to be in the o.r. and think of something beside Chrissy's health," and to herself, she thought "and Derek's kisses."
"I may wind up doing some surgeries as well. That will extend my leave," volunteered Derek.
"But Chrissy has to stay home," murmured Meredith.
"Yes, but I'm sure that being home will be very special after more than two months in the hospital."
"Yes, that's for sure," said Meredith.
"And we'll meet again four weeks from Monday. By then, I should have enough information to decide when to do the bone marrow transplant. I know you might want to delay the transplant, but the sooner we do the transplant, the less likely the cancer will recur before the transplant. With such an aggressive cancer, there is a high risk it can recur, and then the odds of a successful transplant go down, even if we can get her into remission again."
"Thank you, again, Dr. Barkley, for everything you've done."
"And call me any time if you have any questions." Dr. Barkley left the room.
"I guess we should go tell Chrissy and your mom," said Meredith.
"You can take a minute."
"I get off at 6, so I can go to your house and help get it set up. Is there anything you need?" asked Cristina.
"We need a medical scale. But I want Chrissy to return to her normal life, at least as normal as possible. It's not Christmas."
"Mer, you know Izzie's going to want to have balloons and a welcome sign and a cake," said Cristina.
"Yes, I know that. And I guess I should let Chrissy have the fun. Izzie's been a big help to us, so it's fine for her to celebrate. But I'm relying on you, Cristina, to keep her in check. And Derek, too. I have a feeling that Derek wants to buy out Toys R Us," Meredith said with a smile.
"Who me?"
"You're getting her an aquarium."
"Yes, but I'll try to stay in reason. I haven't bought her much yet, so it is going to be fun to spoil her a bit."
"Derek, note the operative word: spoil. I don't want Chrissy to be spoiled. We don't want to create a monster."
"She is going to be loved, not spoiled," Derek asserted.
"Okay. Just try to keep the gifts in moderation," Meredith requested. "And thank you, Bailey and Cristina, for joining us and supporting us."
"No problem," they answered in unison.
"Now let's go tell Chrissy the good news," said Meredith. Derek and Meredith walked quickly to the room. They were both smiling when they opened the door. Carolyn was playing a matching game with Chrissy. "Hi Mom, Hi Dad," exclaimed Chrissy as soon as she saw her parents.
Derek's eyes met his mother's, and he nodded to indicate the good news. Carolyn smiled, and she waited for Meredith to speak.
Meredith went over to Chrissy and sat next to her on her bed. "Mommy has good news. You are in remission, so you're going home tomorrow."
"I'm really going home?"
"Yes, you're really going home," smiled Meredith, and she gave Chrissy a big hug.
"Is Daddy coming with us?"
"Daddy and Grandma are going to spend a lot of time at our house, but they have an apartment here. So they will be with us a lot during the day, and they can both have dinner with us most nights."
"Mommy, I have a rundle bed. Can Daddy sleep in my rundle bed?"
"You have a trundle bed, Chrissy. Can you say trundle?"
"Trundle."
"Very good."
"Can Daddy sleep in my trundle bed in my room?"
Meredith smiled at Chrissy's persistence. She couldn't deny Chrissy time with her dad, so she answered, "That's up to Daddy. His bed in his apartment may be much more comfortable than a trundle bed."
Derek though for a moment. He didn't want to overstep with Meredith, and he didn't want to disappoint Chrissy. "We'll have to see, Chrissy. I may stay over in the trundle bed sometimes."
"When do I go home?"
"Tomorrow afternoon. There are a couple of therapists who are going to visit in the morning. So it will be after lunch."
"I'd like to come with you, Meredith. I have two surgeries, but I should be free by 2 p.m."
"That's fine"
"And Mom, I'd like you to go to Meredith's house and do another round of cleaning. I think Cristina and Meredith's roommates will be able to go over there after they get off here at 6, and I'll be over later today as well."
"That's no problem at all. Is there anything else you need me to do?"
"Chrissy, what are your favorite cookies?" asked Derek.
"Chocolate chip."
"Mom, please make some chocolate chip cookies for Chrissy. Although Dr. Barkley wants Chrissy's diet to be high in protein, I think it would be great to have some of your cookies."
"That's no problem at all. I can work on the house and cooking tomorrow as well, so I'll be at the house when you get there."
"That would be great," said Meredith.