Chapter
11
AJ arrived five days later, after his Johnny No-name tour was over.
Brian was glad. He had been having a rough time adjusting to the chemo and was
depressed, but AJ's being there cheered him up immensely. The four guys all
tried hard to keep Brian's mind off his troubles, especially when he was sick
from the chemo.
Leighanne also helped. She couldn't be there with him, but she called
at least once a day, usually more often, to talk to him. They could talk for
hours, and they found that talking to each other helped both of them. For
Brian, it helped break up the long monotonous days he had just laying around.
Leighanne spent most of the day worrying about Brian, and the calls helped to
assure her that he was alright. It was killing her not to be around him, but
she knew that sacrifices had to be made sometimes in the movie business.
***
Two weeks later, Brian's hair started to fall out. It was depressing,
but he knew it was not the end of the world. It would grow back eventually.
However, there were other side effects that were much worse. He still got
horribly sick after each chemo session, which he had four times a week. Also,
he became incredibly gaunt and pale. He was very weak, sometimes too weak to
even get out of bed. His parents were always around and brought him anything he
wanted. Nick was around most of the time too, playing the Sega with Brian or
just talking. Brian enjoyed Nick's company more than any of the others. Brian
knew that Nick could not possibly understand what Brian was going through, but
he still stayed with him as much as possible.
***
For the first few weeks, the Boys stayed quiet and tried not to let the
press find out about Brian. But after awhile, Brian realized that the fans
needed to know, so he had their managers schedule a press conference. Brian was
too sick to attend the press conference himself, but the other four went. Soon
after, floods of cards came pouring in for Brian. The hospital put extra
security on the Oncology floor just in case any wild fans tried to sneak in.
Brian didn't like to be the center of attention like that, but at least reading
all the get well soon cards gave him something to do during the long days.
***
