After It All

Chapter Ten

Riley

Hospital rooms had become a new normal for us a few years ago. But we thought that had come to an end. Landon has been through a war and a half but this boy doesn't seem to ever catch a break and it kills all of us to watch
"Good morning" The doctor said coming into the room. I wiped a tear quickly before offering him a smile

"Good news I'm hoping?" I asked making the doctor sigh
"Landon's one strong boy I'll start with that. I've been reviewing his hospital notes all note to make sure we can come up with the best possible plan forward" He explained making me nod looking over to Landon who still hadn't woken up
"I think going forward it would beneficial talk through our options" He said making me look at him a little confused

"I know you were never given a diagnosis and I apologise for the torture that had put you and your family through let alone Landon himself" He explained

"What is it?" I asked 
"What is the diagnosis?" I continued, the doctor sighed handing me a leaflet

I looked down at it taking it all in before the Doctor started to talk again grabbing my attention
"chILD is something deemed rare but it's something that can be treated okay?" He offered attempting to help calm the situation
This wasn't his first rodeo clearly

"I want to start Landon on fortnightly oxygen therapy. I also want to get both parents on board with learning how the machine works so that we can send one home with you in case of an emergency" He explained

"And this should treat it?" I asked and the doctor nodded
"it should, knock on wood. But" He started making my heart drop a little
"If it was to not work, the next option we could look into would be a Lung Transplant however I want to avoid that" He explained

"Landon is still young, and his body hasn't matured. The last thing I want is to give him a set of lungs that his body then rejects at a later date" He explained making me nod again
"I'll be back later on to speak to you all about the treatment. If you need anything before then you know where we are" He said offering me a smile as he left 

I sighed looking back over to Landon before sitting down in the chair I had slept in that night. It's been 6 years since this all started. James and I had been trying to find out what was going on for the entire time but nothing ever came of it 
It was countless appointments, countless episodes with no help, no cause, no reasoning nothing..
Now we have the reason for it all and I don't want it

"Mummy" Landon's voice rung making me instantly look up to see he had turned over looking at me
"hey baby" I smiled sitting on the edge of his bed, he reached over placing his head on my lap while I stroked his dark hair out of his face allowing him to close his eyes
"Am I okay?" He asked turning to look up at me
"Of course you are baby" I said softly
We never tell Landon the extent of the episode. He didn't need to stress and to his dismay he wouldn't understand it either 

--

"Landon!" Zach called making both Landon and I look over to the door to see Zach rushing in with James shortly behind with Ellie in his arms
Zach instantly jumped onto Landon's bed pulling him into a hug while James came over giving me a kiss before Ellie climbed out of his hands to join her big brothers on the bed

"Kids, stay here okay. Zach your in charge" I said pointing to him, he nodded his head before turning back to his younger siblings while I took James' hand guiding him out of the room

"What's wrong babe?" He asked
"He's awake? He's getting better no?" He rambled, I nodded taking the leaflet out of my back pocket handing it to James
He looked at me confused for a minute before looking down at it reading it 

I glanced over his shoulder to see all of the kids laughing together, Ellie was standing on the bed before dropping to her bottom making Landon laugh while Zach stood next to her petrified she was about to fall

"What is this?" James whispered making me look back at him
"A diagnosis" I said, James' eyes widened looking at me 
"As in a doctor gave it to you or you've done your own research Ri?" He asked making me roll my eyes
"Landon's doctor came in this morning and gave it to me thankyou very much" I said pushing his chest lightly 

I knew where he was coming from though. There had been countless times where I had been in the hospital room alone with Landon and I would look into it myself in the attempt to try and figure what was going on. I never managed to find anything that would help. Or that made any sense for our situation 

"So what does this all mean?" James asked looking at the kids
"It means we have a long road to go but we're getting the answers we need" I said, James smiled at me placing his arm around me as we both turned to watch the kids again 
This time Zach was catching Ellie in his arms as she jumped off of the bed to avoid Landon ticking her 

"We've got this" James smiling kissing the top of my head
"Of course we do" I smiled looking up at him, he gently leant down pressing his lips against mine 

Things were going to be okay. But we all know that before they do.. It has to get worse