Life Gives Second Chances: A Stefanielle Story

Chapter 25: Diagnosis

Less than an inch away from her returning destination she felt her body give out and hit the floor.

"Andi?" Danielle called out as the family returned into the home, along with two extra members joining them. Gio along with his very loving boyfriend both rolled their luggage into the home. Stefania carried Mason into the home as he was in his sleepy state of mind.
"Where is my niece?" Gio asked in the think Italian accent of his.

"She was on the couch sleeping. I don't where she's at now." Dani went over to the living room, probably hoping that Andi was right there on the couch and she just couldn't see straight when they arrived. As she walked, not looking as to where she was stepping, the mom tripped over the limp, pale teenage body that laid there on the floor as a small pool of blood continued to surround it.

Dani stopped herself from falling onto the body and soon panicked. "Call 911!" She yelled. "And bring me a towel!" She rolled her over slightly on her back to see where the blood was coming from. And as she did that, more started rushing out the laceration. "Here you go." Gio said as he ran over with a bundle of small towels in his hand. "The ambulance is on their way." Said his boyfriend.

"Hey bubs? Bubs can you hear me?" Dani questioned holding her head up and placing it under the red spot. "Hey bubs your ok." She whispered. "Your gonna be ok."

The quietness of the room put a panic into the older two women. They both paced back and forth around the room. Danielle chewing her fingernails to the bone and sometimes she'll have thoughts about punching the walls around her.
"It's my fault." She whispered but loud enough for Stefania to hear. "I should...I knew she would need someone there but I said she'll be fine. It's my fault. If I was there she would be ok. We wouldn't be here. You knew she would need someone, you knew but I didn't listen. Fucking idiot."

Stef walked over to her. "Bella your gonna have a panic attack. Calm down." She said softly.
"I can't calm down! Our child is probably hanging onto her life by a thread!"
"Bella shes going to be ok. Ok? None of this is your fault."
"Yes it is. It's all my fault." Those blue marbles of hers turned into an ocean. Her wife pulled her close and tightly. Doing little things to try and calm her down. Rubbing her hands and back, kissing her cheek over and over, simply just trying to make sure Dani didn't overwork her emotions.

"It's not your fault bella. Ok? None of this is your fault. It's not Andi's fault. It's not mine. There could have been a number of things that could happen that we would never expect to happen. We could have came back home and she could have still been asleep or wide awake. We can't predict the future and what's to come. Things happen for a reason and all we have to do is try and get through it. I know you want to be strong for Andi but you can't be strong for others until your strong for yourself first. Ok? None of this is anyone's fault and I'm not about to let you beat yourself up over this. Ok, I love you bella."
"I love you too." Dani whispered amongst her chest.

"We're strong. We got this." Stefania said. The blonde nodded and cuddled closer into Stefania's chest as if that was possible. They stayed just like that until the doctor came and excused them into her office.

"I'm Dr.Harris, Head of Neurology." She introduced herself. "You are the parents of Alessandra, correct?"
"Yes." They both said at the same time.
"Good to know. With a little rush on her scans, we finally got them back."
"And?" Dani asked. Stefania gripped onto her wife's hand.
"She has an infection on her brain. Something we call Encephalitis."
"What is that? Is it bad?"

"Encephalitis is an infection of the brain. It causes the brain to get irritated. Gets inflamed from time to time, and a couple times it gets swollen."
"Is it bad?"
"In some cases yes. In this case it's a little in between. Based on Alessandra's scans, she's been dealing with this for a very long time. 3 months top. Which is very surprising."

"If she's been dealing with this for a while, then why?"
"Why is it just now becoming a trigger? God knows. On the scans there's a part of her brain that is completely dead. Not to dead to delay speech or motor skills. Basically her body tried to fight it off itself but was a little unsuccessful. Tell me this, has she been complaining about head aches?"
"Every once in a while she'll come home with one, usually lasts a day or two." Stefania said.

"That's most likely a symptom. Is she active? Sports or anything?"
"She dances."
"Ok. Considering her age, and she's a pretty active and healthy person, Alessandra should make a full recovery from this."
"That's good."
"Yes that is very good."

"How long is recovery?" Stefania spoke up and asked. She still had a sound of despair lingering amongst her tone of words and you could tell she was still full of worry about her daughter.
"The recovery from the infection itself, with the right medication is about a week to a week and a half. But a full physical recovery can be up to weeks or months."

The two moms both nodded as Dr.Harris continued to go over her charts and wrote some things down. Dani looked over at Stefania with that look. The look of asking 'Are you ok?' Stefania nodded 'yes' in response to the questionable look. Dani brought up her hands and placed a lingering kiss amongst them. Stefania smiled in comfort from the actions of her wife.

"Ok." Dr.Harris said breaking the bond between the two. "We're going to admit her into the Neurology ICU, the children one of course, and hopefully start the recovery process. Sounds good?"
"Yes."
"Sounds amazing."

Dr.Harris excused them and herself out of the office. Dani could tell that Stefania was still a little worked up, wishing that there was something that she could do, but knowing in the end there wasn't.

Walking back into the room the student nurse had just finished stitching up Andi's laceration that was on her forehead. Seeing her parents walk into the room she smiled and drunk from the little apple juice cup.
"HeLlO!" She said droopy. "WhErE yOu Go?!"
"We were talking to your doctor bambina." Stefania came over and kissed the top of her forehead. "Someone is a little drugged up." She chuckled.
"I am?! I DONT EVEN DO DRUGS!!"

"We gave her a little morphine for the pain as well as some for the infection."
"YoUr PrEtTy!" Andi said out loud.
"Thank you."
"Anyone wanna get ice cream with me?" Andi asked and then rested her head against Dani's shoulder.
"Maybe next time princess." Dani placed a kiss on her cheek and rested her head on top of hers.
"Aw man. I'm a loving person."
"I beg you are." Dr.Harris intervened. "We're gonna let you get some rest ok?"
"OK!"
"Have a nurse page me if you need anything."

Danielle nodded and laughed at the teenagers actions. Andi finished her apple juice and was out like a light soon. It was quiet in the room until Dani spoke up to Stefania.
"I'll take first shift. You can go home to Mason and Gio. I'll keep you updated." Stefania nodded.

A/N: so now we know what's wrong :). Also we learned about Encephalitis in a little human anatomy class one day at school and I thought it was pretty cool to add into the story. Anyways hope you enjoyed and enjoy the rest of your day/night. -Shay :)

P.S. they all won't spend thanksgiving with each other :,(