Chapter 48
Brian called that
evening, asking how Nick’s doctor’s appointment had gone.
“Sucked ass,”
Nick replied flatly.
“Why, what
happened?” Brian asked cautiously. “Was
everything okay?”
Nick sighed. “Well, the chest x-ray and bone marrow looked
good, but the CT sc-“
“Whoa, whoa,
what? Chest x-ray? Why did they do that?” Brian interrupted, and
Nick realized just how in the dark he was about this whole thing.
“To see if the
cancer’s spread to my lungs,” he explained and heard Brian suck in a nervous
breath of air. “Don’t worry,” he added
quickly. “It hasn’t. But anyway, the x-rays they did on my leg
showed that the hole hasn’t closed up that much yet, so my doctor wants to put
me on some new chemo drugs that are more powerful than the ones I’m on now.”
“Oh no… will that
make you sicker?”
“Yup. Sucks, don’t it?”
“Yeah… so when
will you start that?”
“Tomorrow. And they have to put me in the hospital to do
it – something about to see if I have a reaction to the new drugs.”
“Oh my gosh… that
sounds serious…” Brian remarked, his voice filled with apprehension. “Do… do you want me to come stay with you?”
“Oh, no way,
dude, I’m cool,” Nick said quickly. It
really didn’t sound like such a bad idea to him, but admitting that would be
selfish. Brian had a wife and kid now;
he needed to be with them in Atlanta.
Besides, Nick didn’t really need Brian seeing him stuck in a hospital
bed, all sick and puking like that. Let
him stay home and see Baylee crawl or whatever it was he did instead. Speaking of Baylee… “Hey, what’s my godson been up to lately?” he
asked, changing the subject. “Can he
talk yet? You gotta teach him to say my
name, man.”
Brian
laughed. “Nick, he’s only six months
old… babies don’t talk till they’re like one.”
“Oh.”
“Dude, you’re the
one with all the younger siblings. Don’t
you remember anything?”
“Hells no, how
would I remember that? I was like seven
when Aaron and Angel were born; that’s too young to remember when they started
talking and shit.”
“You know, you
better work on that potty mouth of yours before I let you near my son again,”
Brian teased. “When he does start
talking, I don’t want his first words to be ‘hells no’ or ‘and shit’.”
Nick
laughed. “Ya know, maybe you shouldn’t
have made me his godfather then. I’m a
bad influence.”
Brian
chuckled. “Yeah, but AJ’s probably
worse.”
“What about
Howie? Howie don’t swear.”
“Yeah, and he
doesn’t say ‘Howie don’t’ either. Great,
now my kid’s gonna pick up bad grammar from you, too.”
“Huh?”
“’Howie doesn’t,’
Nick,” Brian lectured. “It’s ‘Howie doesn’t’.”
“Oh. Whatever.”
Brian just
laughed. “So anyway,” he said, “how long
will you have to stay in the hospital?”
“I dunno, a
couple days.”
“That sucks… are
you sure you don’t want me to come visit?”
“No, Rok,
seriously, I’m fine. I’m a big boy now;
I can handle this on my own.”
“Maybe, but you
shouldn’t have to. Being in the hospital
sucks no matter what, but it’s worse on your own. When I went in for my surgery, I don’t know
what I would have done without you guys and my family being there.”
“Well, yeah, but
that was different. This ain’t that big
of a deal. I’m not having surgery or
anything, and it’s only for two days.
I’ll be fine,” he said again.
“Well, all
right,” Brian finally relented, “but, listen, you call if you need anything,
okay? I’m just a state away.”
Nick smiled. “Okay, Bri.
Thanks.”
“No problem,
bud. I’ll let you go now then; I’m sure
you’re not feeling too well. Talk to you
later?”
“Yup,” said Nick. “Talk to you later, man. Bye.”
They hung up,
Nick smiling. That was Brian for you,
taking after his cousin, always a little overly concerned when it came to
Nick. Sure, it got annoying at times,
especially now that Nick was all grown up, but still, he had to admit… he liked
it that way. Brian truly cared. And that was what mattered.
***
Checking into the
hospital the following morning was something like willingly going to jail. (Do not
pass Go. Do not collect $200.) The hospital was his prison, the room on the
oncology floor his cell. He was issued
the standard garb, a paper-thin patterned gown, and sent to bed, where he
awaited Dr. Kingsbury’s visit.
“Good morning,
Nick,” she greeted him with a smile.
“How are you feeling?”
Nick
shrugged. “All right, I guess,” he
muttered unenthusiastically. He noticed
that she was carrying an IV bag filled with fluid and asked, “So, is that the
new stuff?”
“That’s it,”
answered Dr. Kingsbury and hung the bag on an IV stand next to his bed.
“Ohh man, are you
gonna have to put one of those IV’s in my hand again?” Nick asked, filled with
dread at the thought a needle sliding into his vein. He had to admit, it really didn’t hurt once
it was in, but boy it sure stung as it was going in.
“No, actually,
I’ll just attach it to your catheter.
Lucky you, huh – that central line comes in handy.”
“Yeah,” Nick
said, relieved. He watched with mild
interest as Dr. Kingsbury hooked a line from the IV bag to the tube in Nick’s
chest. She made some adjustments, and moments
later, the fluid began to drip from the bag and run through the thin tube into
his catheter.
Dr. Kingsbury
stood and watched it for a few minutes, then asked, “How are you feeling
now? Everything okay?”
“Yeah…” Nick
answered cautiously. “Why? Is this stuff gonna make me turn freakin’
purple or something?”
Dr. Kingsbury
laughed. “No, but some people feel a
burning sensation when the chemo goes into their bloodstream, and others get
physically ill right away.”
“Oh… well, I feel
okay…” Nick said hopefully. Grinning
mischievously, he added, “So can I go home now?”
“Haha, nice
try. No, like I said, I still need to
keep you here to observe how you tolerate the chemo. It’s great that you feel fine now, but – and
I hate to say this – you’ll probably feel a lot worse by this afternoon.”
Nick nodded
dolefully and knew she was probably right.
He hated it, yet if this new medication did the trick, put him in
remission, and cured his cancer, it would be worth the misery, right?
That’s what he
tried to keep telling himself anyway.
***