Ch 15: Treatment
Behind the safety of a thick brick wall and a reinforced window, Héctor and Imelda watched their daughter on the other side. She looked so tiny on that large bed in the middle of operating room as doctors manipulated a large device on a crane to different parts of her body. They kept it in place for a few minutes as it buzzed and whirred, then turned it off, repositioned it, and repeated the whole process. Leti watched it all with curious fascination at first before the tedium began to get to her and she started to hum Bang Bang Bang y Pop Pop to herself in boredom. But then Héctor saw her wince a little, so he walked over to the microphone connected to the wall.
"How are you doing, mija?" Héctor spoke into the microphone.
"My skin is starting to itch!" Leti yelled out for them to hear over the whirring of the machine.
"That's normal." Héctor said. "Just think of it as getting a minor sunburn. But don't worry, we'll put some lotion on your skin after we get back to Ernesto's."
"Okay!" Leti called out and then resumed her humming. The doctors walking around her smiled at her as they continued their work.
After thirty minutes the radiation session was completed and Leti was wheeled out in a wheelchair. Héctor and Imelda met her in the children's ward and winced at the pinkness they could see under her tan skin. Several other children in the ward were hooked up to IV bags, some filled with a clear fluid and some with blood, and as Leti looked at them she began to grow wary.
"Those kids have needles in them," Leti said as she glared at her parents. "Am I going to get one too?"
"No niña." Dr. Fierro said. "Those children are too sick to take their medicine orally, but you can." Leti sighed in relief while her parents chuckled, and the doctor turned his attention to them. "After each radiation treatment Leticia will need to receive a dosage of arsenic trioxide to help destroy any bad blood cells and increase healthy white-"
"Wait wait wait wait!" Héctor interrupted with alarm. "Arsenic? That's poison, isn't it?!" This caused Imelda to gasp in horror and Leti to shrink into her chair with fear.
Dr. Fierro held up his hand to calm them. "In high doses yes, but when you think about it all medicine is poisonous if you use too much of it. This is a very, very small dosage. Arsenic is used to treat many forms of cancer, Senor Rivera. Now there are some side effects, such as nausea and fevers, but this is the best treatment possible, trust me. Ah!" he exclaimed as the nurse came over with two white pills in a paper cup along with another cup of water. "Here you go Leticia dear."
Leti took the paper cup hesitantly and looked up at her parents with uncertainty. At their nod she sighed before popping the pills into her mouth and swallowing them with a long pull of water. She scrunched her eyes closed, as if bracing herself for the inevitable transformation that was to occur, before slumping back in disappointment. "Nothing's happening."
"Give it time, mija." Imelda said. "Remember this is only your first day. We have to do this every three days for the next three months."
"Can I go talk with the other children then?" Leti asked. "I mean, since I am going to be seeing them a lot while I'm here. Gotta make a good impression!"
Héctor laughed with relief. Only one treatment in and Leti was back to her old self already! Maybe things would turn out well after all. "Sure! Let's go make some new amigos." He grabbed the back of her wheelchair and pushed her over to where two boys and a girl were talking amongst themselves. When they got close enough their attention turned to Leti.
"Hola!" Leti chirped. "My name's Leticia, but everyone calls me Leti. What's yours?"
The girl of the group smiled. "I'm Martha. This is Gerardo and this is Arturo. Is today your first day?"
"Si!" Leti said. "Is it always this boring around?"
"This is nothing." Arturo said glumly. "Sometimes they make us do our treatments separately so we have no one to talk to. And there are no toys or games or anything."
"Well if you want, I could bring some toys from my Tio Nesto's house that you guys could play with. He's got lots of stuff from when me and my brother and sister came to visit." Leti said. "He's even got some stuffed animals that look like Dante the horse from his movie!"
"His movie? Dante the- what?" Gerardo wrinkled his brow in confusion. "Wait- your uncle worked on El Camino A Casa?"
Leti nodded. "Si, Tio Nesto was the star. He took us to the premier a few months ago, and it was the best night ever! There were cameras everywhere-"
"No manches!" Gerardo guffawed with the other two children following suit. "Your uncle is Ernesto de la Cruz? The greatest musician of all time?!"
Leti's shoulders drooped and she said softly, "Well, actually he's my godfather, but we just call him-" The three of them continued to laugh at her and sneer, and she soon turned angry. "He is my godfather! My Papá is his best friend in the whole world and his songwriter, Héctor Rivera! See?!" She pointed upwards to Héctor's face, and he gave a small wave.
"Hola, chamacos." Héctor said glibly. "I can vouch for everything my daughter says. But you niños listen here: Just because you don't believe someone, doesn't mean you should poke fun and laugh at them. She was just trying to be nice and strike up a conversation and- why are you all looking at me like that?" The faces of the three children before him slowly melted from smirking disbelief to world-shattering awe, as if they were looking at an angel appearing before them.
Arturo held up a shaking hand and pointed at him. "Y-y-you're Héctor Rivera…"
"Si, I am." Héctor said.
"I read your interviews in the papers about the movie and your songs! And your picture was in there too!" He turned to his two friends. "It is him! I'd recognize that nose and those ears anywhere!"
Héctor glared. "Hey…"
"YOU KNOW ERNESTO DE LA CRUZ?!" The three of them shouted and wheeled their chairs closer towards Leti and Héctor, barraging them with questions about Ernesto, about the songs, El Camino A Casa and what the future projects would be. Soon other children and the staff caught wind of the new celebrities in the ward and flocked to them as well, giving Héctor anything they could grab so that he could sign it for them and telling him how much his songs meant to them. Héctor answered all of their questions calmly and professionally until he felt a gentle tug on his coat. He turned and saw Leti staring up at him with drooping eyes and a green face.
"Papá, I don't feel good. Can we go?" she whispered.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, mija." Héctor said as he started to push her chair away. He turned to the staff. "We need to go now, we'll see you in three days." The staff nodded before redirecting the children back to their beds and going back to the regular schedules. Héctor rolled Leti over to where Imelda was standing with her arms crossed and her eyes glaring at him. "Sorry Imelda. I'm not used to all that, I was kind of overwhelmed."
"It's my fault." Leti groaned out. "I didn't know… that they would act like that. No one in our town does."
"That's because everyone in our town knows your Papá. These people don't." Imelda sighed. "Well, we can't have that again. We'll have to do your treatments in a more private setting, away from prying eyes and fans."
Leti turned to look back towards the other children, smiling as they waved at her. "It's okay Mamá. I think they like me now. I don't want to be by myself all the time. Can I please stay with the kids while I have my treatment?" Suddenly and without warning she lurched forward and vomited out what little she had in her stomach. Then she started to groan and cry as painful dry heaves assaulted her.
Héctor supported her thin frame the instant she had lunged forward and Imelda rubbed her back as the attack continued. "It's okay, Leti. You're alright. It'll be over soon. This is normal. It's okay… It's okay…"
"Why does Tio Nesto have so many horses?" Leti asked as she and Héctor stood outside the stables of the club that Ernesto was a member of. He had given Héctor and his family permission to visit the club whenever they wanted, so Héctor brought Imelda and Leti there to have a gourmet lunch as well as see the animals.
"They're not all Ernesto's, these are the club members' horses as well. I think Ernesto only has three." Héctor said.
"Why does he have horses in the first place? Doesn't he have a bunch of cars?" Leti asked.
"He likes to train them for polo." Héctor said. At Leti's questioning glance, he explained, "Polo is a game that's kind of like fútbol. You know, you knock a ball into the other team's goal, though instead of kicking the ball you whack it with a long mallet, and while you're doing that you are on horseback the entire time."
"Sounds like fun." Leti said with a smile. "Poor horses, though. Don't they get tired?"
"Trust me, mija. These horses are more spoiled than Ernesto." Héctor said with a smirk as Leti giggled. He pulled his daughter close to him and basked in the sunshine and the smells of the club's prized rosebushes. "This is nice, isn't it, just spending some quality father-daughter time? We usually do everything with the whole family."
"I miss them though." Leti said sadly before looking up at her father. "I'm feeling much better, Papá. Can't we just go home early?"
"Leti, it's only been a month. We have to finish your treatment so that there's no chance of it coming back." Héctor said. "Don't be so down. You're almost halfway there, and once you're completely cured we can head straight home!"
"Alright." Leti sighed as she leaned onto the fence and watched the horses graze. While she had made friends with all the other children in the ward and she loved staying at Tio Nesto's house, more than anything she wanted to go home. Coco had moved on to the secondary school and that meant Matty was all alone in the primary school. He needed her to be there for him in case Sergio and his band of toadies were to gang up on him. This stupid disease was ruining everything!
Imelda walked up to the two of them carrying three bottles of agua fresca. "I thought you both would like some refreshments on this hot day." She handed Leti her usual strawberry while she and Héctor drank their grape ones.
"Diosa!" Héctor said breathily as he leaned in to her. "You're wearing breeches. I never knew how much I wanted to see that. How much I needed to see it!"
"Basta." Imelda said as she pushed Héctor's face away. "Of course I'm wearing breeches. I don't want to get my skirts dirty when we go riding."
Leti nearly choked on her drink as she gasped. "We're going to ride the horses?! Yes! Can we jump the fences and gallop across the city and into the desert?"
"Not unless you want me to have a heart attack!" Héctor said. "No, we're just going to do laps around the corral. Nice and easy."
The rest of the day was spent riding their horses at the club. Imelda looked so mesmerizing atop her purebred Andalusian that Héctor nearly slid off of his saddle trying to reach for her. His own horse was having none of his foolish rider however, and tried to buck him off a few times, with Héctor frantically clinging to the beast with all his limbs. He finally had enough of the horse's attitude and slid off, walking a little bowlegged from being saddle sore and with Imelda laughing at him. But in the end both of their attentions turned to their little girl, as she made her little filly do circles in the dirt and made it rear back while she struck a dramatic pose, as her laughter and joy brought tears to their eyes.
Imelda eyed her husband with a critical look before looking nervously at the other children in the ward. "Are you sure that this is a good idea, Héctor? Don't you think that this is a little morbid?"
Héctor looked up from the mirror in his hand as he was finishing putting on his Calaveras make-up. "C'mon Imelda, its Dia de Muertos! The best part for the kids is always the face paint! Look at them, they're having a great time!" He pointed to the children, who were all putting on each other's make-up as well.
Imelda bit her lip. "But two of their friends recently died Héctor!" she whispered harshly.
Héctor smiled sadly. "All the more reason to celebrate then, mi amor. So they know how much they were cherished from what little time we knew them."
A table had been set up at the end of the ward, with cempazuchitl petals sprinkled all over the floor leading up to it and bouquets of the sweet flowers in vases on top. Pictures of the children who had passed on were set up with glasses of water, candy, pan de muerto and other small toys to be given as offerings. Leti rolled her wheelchair over to the ofrenda and placed two autographed pictures, which consisted of Ernesto and Frangipani on the set of their movie, next to the framed photos of Arturo and Martha.
"I'm sorry these got here so late." Leti whispered as she looked at the photos of her friends. "I hope you are able to get them now though, from the other side. I had Tio Nesto sign it for you both and everything!" Leti wiped at her eyes and sniffed. "I hope you're not hurting anymore. Gerardo misses you guys the most… Speaking of, I'd better go give him his picture! I'll come back later!" Leti wheeled over to one of the beds set against the wall were Gerardo was, hooked up to several IVs of medicine and blood. As she got closer he weakly opened his eyes and looked at her. "Buenos noches Gerardo."
Gerardo closed his eyes as he groaned in pain. "Hola…" he whispered.
"I have something for you. It's an autographed picture of my Tio Nesto and his co-star Frangipani the elephant! He wrote 'To Gerardo, For being my goddaughter Leti's friend, you are now my most treasured fan! Get well soon! Ernesto de la Cruz' and then he drew a little guitar on it. See?" She held the picture in front of Gerardo's face so he could look at it with bleary eyes. Ernesto was flexing a muscled arm while grinning at the camera, while behind him Frangipani was doing a similar flex with her trunk.
Gerardo's mouth quirked up into a little smile and he let out a breath of a laugh. "Wow… Th-thaaankss… L-Leti…" he slurred out. Leti slipped the photo into Gerardo's hands and he weakly clutched it to his chest. His smile faded as his eyes started to water. "Won't get b-better though… C'n feel it. I'll go j-just… like m' friendsss…"
Leti's brow furrowed in sadness as she watched a tear streak down his cheek. She wiped it away with a corner of his bedsheet before smiling as an idea popped in her head. "I know what will make you feel better. Tio Nesto's new movie is going to be called Amor en el Circo. It's not going to come out 'til next year, but I know what happens in it. Want me to tell you?" She watched as Gerardo paused for a second before he gave a slow nod. "Well, Tio Nesto plays a musician named Emilio…"
Leti winced and suppressed a cry as her mother spread lotion on her burned skin. While it used to soothe her before, now it started to feel like acid. Not even a dip in Tio Nesto's pool could alieve the ache anymore. Still she had to tough it out if it meant getting better in the end. Then she would get to go home to her family, the only thing she wanted. One more month, just one more month…
Gerardo had died not long after Dia de Muertos, still clinging to his autographed picture of Tio Nesto. Leti refused to cry over him though. Crying would mean admitting defeat, and that she would know that she would be next. Her Papá always said that Riveras never give up on anything. That would not happen to her, she would get better! Three more weeks!...
Leti heaved into the hospital basin until nothing came up, with her parents supporting her. She had to be in the hospital for round the clock care now, so she couldn't even enjoy Tio Nesto's house anymore. And she had to have those stupid IVs in her arm now, feeding her that awful medicine that made her so sick and bags of blood that would just seep out of her nose and gums anyway. She had never felt so wretched before in her entire life. But it was almost the end of her treatment; surely she would start to improve by then! Just fifteen more days and it will all be over! I will go home!
Héctor walked down the hallway of the hospital carrying two cups of coffee in his hands. He yawned in exhaustion before sipping one of the brews. He swallowed past the ever present lump in his throat and sighed wearily. He was so tired of being in this hospital. So tired of doctors telling him that they were doing everything they could for their daughter as she withered away before his eyes. So tired of watching all the other children die only to be replaced by new ones. Leti had started to bounce back at the beginning of the trials, but now she was only worse than before! He wasn't going to let the doctors talk him into letting her complete the treatment; it was time to find a new hospital.
Suddenly a shriek echoed through the hallway, making Héctor stop in his tracks. He recognized that scream, but the anguish in it terrified him down to his core. Sure enough he saw doctors and nurses rushing into Leti's hospital room, and a few seconds later two orderlies were carrying Imelda out by both arms as she howled and cried. Héctor dropped the coffee cups and dashed to the door, only to be stopped and held back by another orderly. He was able to peek inside the room though. Past the doctors and nurses surrounding her, he saw his baby girl arching off the bed as she shook uncontrollably, with bloodied spit leaking from her clenched mouth and her eyes rolled over white.
"LETICIA!"