Aug. 17, 2012, 5:31 a.m.
Fighting Chance: Chapter 2
T - Words: 1,596 - Last Updated: Aug 17, 2012 Story: In Progress - Chapters: 13/? - Created: Feb 03, 2012 - Updated: Aug 17, 2012 2,189 0 7 0 0
"As you know, we did a CBC on Blaine." She started, "The results were sent to the lab we have in the building straight away to be examined, the results came back." She paused, playing with he pen nervously. "Blaine's blood work shows that there is a great possibility the Leukemia is back." She told them. "I will have to send you to a oncologist to do another CBC test, a coag panel and a bone marrow aspiration to confirm my suspicions, but it doesn't look good." Blaine leaned on his mother's shoulder, letting out a small whimper. She just hugged him.
It was a blur as the doctor explained the tests to their parents, getting Daisy to call the oncologist in the building to set up an appointment for Blaine for that day. It was a blur when she told them that he would take Blaine right after his current appointment that was ending in 20 minutes. It was a blur walking out of Dr. Dasilva's office, into an elevator and to another floor of the building to meet with his new oncologist. He sat in a chair in the waiting room for a few minutes before his name was called. Then he was in a room, set up like a hospital room. He was in a blue backless hospital gown, sitting on the edge of the bed, feeling awkward as Hailey sat on his lap, playing with his curly hair that had foregone gel. After 3 minutes, the door opened and in walked a middle-aged man with brown hair and a bit of scruff.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Dallinghouse." He introduced, shaking hands with Mr. Anderson, then Mrs. Anderson, then Blaine before smiling at the four year old in his lap and patting her head. "I wish we were meeting under better circumstances, but I guess if there were better circumstances, we wouldn't be meeting, would we?" He tried to smile, but sighed when he noticed his patients were too nervous for jokes.
"Alright, let's get these tests over with." He mumbled, he turned to the little girl for a second. "Sweetie, would you mind getting off of your brother's lap? I have to do some tests on him." She frowned, looking at Blaine and nuzzled her head in his stomach and shaking her head. Blaine smiled apologetically.
"She's kinda attached, since I go to boarding school in Ohio. She barely leaves my side when I come home." Blaine informed him, a hand in Hailey's blood hair. "Is it okay if you start with the CBC test and then we can move her to get the bone marrow biopsy?" Dr. Dallinghouse nodded with a small smile.
"Of course, Blaine. That's perfectly fine." The CBC was as harmless as the last one. Once the blood was taken, the doctor handed it to an assistant and Cassandra went to move Hailey from Blaine's lap.
Soon the sophomore was on his side on the bed, his back starting to feel numb after a few minutes due to the local anesthetic. His mother was holding his hand as the aspirate needle was forced into his body. Blaine gritted his teeth, forcing back a cry to not scare Hailey as it drilled into his bone. He squeezed his mother's hand hard, he saw it turning white and he wanted to pull away from it and apologize to her, but it hurt too much. The worst part, was hearing the drill chiselling his bone. The sound made him want to puke when he remembered it was his bone making that noise.
Blaine tried to block out was he knew was happening behind his back as the doctor pulled out liquid bone marrow, and then solid bone marrow. He felt the pain of the excursion. Gritting his teeth, he tried to focus on positive things. Hailey's first dance recital in a couple of months, he smiled, remembering he was going to drive her to her dance lesson later. The in class chemistry lab that they were doing on Wednesday and who he partner would be. The date he had with his beautiful boyfriend on Monday night after Warbler rehearsal. That one definitely made him smile.
Kurt had taken him to one of the close off campus restaurants and had given him a bouquet of beautiful flowers. Yellow orchards, he explained, because they were just a beautiful as the man he was giving them too. Then they had gone back to Blaine's dorm and watched some movies curled up on Blaine's bed together. Kurt had fallen asleep half way through Hairspray, Blaine had had to call his dad and tell him what had happened and Burt had informed him not to worry, that Kurt could spend the night at Dalton. Blaine had untangled himself from his boyfriend, turning off the TV and went to go sleep on the couch, because no matter what, his relationship with Kurt was far too new be doing things like sleeping in the same bed together. Blaine rolled his eyes, oh how the tables of turned. What he thought was such a big deal only 4 days prior now seemed so small compared to where he was now...
"Great job, Blaine!" Dr. Dallinghouse exclaimed after he pulled out the needle. He cleaned Blaine's back, bandaging it with a gauze and helped the teenager sit up straight. "You can get changed back into your normal clothes. The results will be ready in about 2 hours. Go home, rest. We'll call you with the final diagnosis."
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30 minutes later, Blaine was distracting himself by helping Hailey get ready for her ballet class. He smiled at her, she looked so adorable with her blonde hair pulled into a bun on her head, a black leotard, nude coloured tights, and a pink bag holding her ballet shoes and the skirt her teacher liked them wearing. He helped her into her jacket and shoes and then they left in their mother's car.
The class was enough to help Blaine forget everything everything in his life at the moment. His little sister was the picture of innocence and happiness. She would look up and smile at him every so often, as if to say 'Look, Blaine! Aren't you proud of me?!'. And he was. He was so proud of little Hailey. Once the teacher called them into a circle and he was no longer able to distract himself by watching Hailey dance, his mind drifted. Would he be able to watch Hailey's recital come May? Would he be able to watch her start school? Watch her finish school? Would he be there to play the part of protective older brother when she starts dating? Would he be there to hold her hand and hug her when she got her first broken heart? His eyes welled with tears, but he held them in, not letting them fall. He needed to be strong for Hailey.
"Blainey!" She exclaimed, running up to him once the teacher dismissed them, "How did you like the rehearsal?" She asked him, jumping into his lap. Blaine laughed, wiping his eyes and hugging her into him, kissing her hair.
"It was awesome, Hails." He assured her, putting her on the floor and placing her skirt and ballet shoes into the pink bag before putting it on his back, holding Hailey's hand as they walked.
"Maybe you can come again next Friday!" Hailey smiled eagerly. Blaine's smile faltered. His heart always broke whenever he left to go back to Dalton. Hailey didn't quite grasp the concept of Dalton and how it's in Ohio on the opposite side of the country and that Blaine has to board there. She always thought when he came home, it was for good and cried when she found out he was leaving again.
"I can't make any promises, kiddo. You know I have to go back to Dalton on Sunday. I have school." Hailey looked up at him, frowning.
"B-b-but Blainey... I-I don't want you to go..." She told him, "Why can't you stay here with me and mommy and daddy? Don't you love us?" Blaine sighed, stopping and kneeling, taking Hailey on his knee.
"Listen to me Hailey, I love you and mommy and daddy so much. I promise you that." Blaine told her, staring straight into her wide, hazel eyes that were filling with tears. "You are one of the most precious things in my life. But I'm not safe going to school in Portland. I which I didn't have to leave, I miss you so much when I'm gone, but I have to. It's for the best. If I had a choice, I wouldn't be living anywhere but here with you, mom and dad here." He wiped the tears that had fallen on to her cheeks with his thumb. "Hey, don't cry. I'll be back before you know it." He tried to smiled at her and she took it, smiling back widely. He smiled genuinely this time and kissed her cheek.
"Come on Hails, let's get home." He lifted her into his arms, walking back to the car. "I bet mom is making us the best dinner ever!"
Comments
Oh my goodness! :o oh wow... I'm glad your girlfriend is alright. Damn that's hard.. wow...Thank you so much. I definitely don't want to make a mockery of such an issue like this and hearing from someone who has been affected by this disease in some way that I'm not, means a lot.And a CBC is a type of blood test. They count the number of white blood cells in relation to red blood cells and it is not only used in leukemia diagnosis. If the doctor does one and finds abnormalities it can cause suspicion of leukemia but can not diagnose it alone. Hope that helped explain it a bit better :)
So this hits a little too close to home. My girlfriend had brain cancer when she was nine that recurred when she was 15. She survived with no brain damage (thankfully) but it still crushed me a little bit to read this. Amazing writing, you do well with conveying emotions and such, but what is a CBC?
I know I shouldn't read this. I know I shouldn't read this. I was diagnosed with lymphoma 11 years ago when my 2 daughters were only 3 & 7 years old. At the same time the daughter of friends from church was diagnosed with leukemia and she was only 5 years old! We both went through cancer treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation at the same time. I've been in remission for over 10 years now! Our friend's daughter went in remission and then the leukemia came back after a few years and she had to go into cancer treament again. It went back in remission and now she is a healthy teenager! And a Darren Criss fan too! Anyway, I read the first chapter and it is very well written and I also saw the review from a person whose girlfriend survived brain cancer. So I'm going to read chapter 2 now...
i love the dynamic between blaine and hailey. blaine's going to need all the support that he can get, and the support from his baby sister is going to be very special–at least i think it is. please help me to clarify something. in this story, the andersons live in portland, or while kurt lives in lima, right? that why the time difference in ch. 1?
Thanks :) Blaine and Hailey's relationship is based on my boyfriend and his little sister. But yes, when I wrote Hailey I definitely thought about how she would help him pull through. And yes. I guess I didn't quite convey that too well... The Andersons live in Portland, while the Hummels live in Lima. I will try to clarify that a bit when I post the next chapter.
Was not expecting to get hooked at all but now I definitely am...keep up the great work!! I gotta know what happens!!The suspense is killing me!!
I like how you have him living far away !