"Options... I've ran out of Options..." (Book 3)

Chapter 57 - "Sick little Duckling..."

Chapter 57 - "Sick little Duckling..."

Clara's PoV

'How are we getting on in here then?' I grinned as I looked at John and Poppy all snuggled up together on the sofa.

She was not well at all. She clearly had the flu - and I think she had a chest infection but it wasn't clearing up.

'She sounds like a wheezing penguin Clara' John mumbled.

'Do you have experience on what a wheezing penguin might sound like?' I asked.

'No' 

'Do you think she should go to the Doctor? She has had a bad case of pneumonia before - there's nothing stopping her from getting it again' I pointed out.

'Hmm. I'll see tomorrow morning if I can get an appointment. But I don't think she's going to school today. There's no point they would just send her home' he complained, but he didn't look much like he wanted to get up from that sofa himself anyway.

'Can you stay? I have to go to work' I said. 'It's mock Sats week for the year threes and sixes so I have to be there really' I explained.

'Yeah. She can stay with me' he yawned, as Poppy stirred and looked very sorry for herself.

'Are you okay my little duckling?' I said crouching down in front of her and stroked her head, pushing some hair out of her face.

She turned away shaking her head and hiding her face in John's chest.

'She's not well' John muttered sadly.

'Let me know if she gets any worse okay?' I said to John as I picked my bag up.

'I will' he said rolling his eyes, little did I know of course that it would get worse.

A lot worse.

- - -

I didn't get a chance to get to my phone before lunchtime which for me wasn't until about 1 o clock, I didn't even hear what must have been constant vibrating in my bag - especially seeing that I had 5 missed calls from John, and two from Lilly.

That didn't fill me with too much confidence.

'John?'

'Oh. God it's about time you picked up that bloody thing. What is the point in even having a phone--?'

'I teach 7 year olds. I can't just whip out my phone and start having a conversation with you during class John. Anyway what's up?'

'I'm thinking about taking Poppy to the hospital. In fact I've just dressed her now. She's not right Clara. Her poor little chest sounds like what I would expect a 50 year old chain smoker on three to five packs a day to sound like'

'Huh? Okay maybe you should then? Do you want me to come too? Mr foster would probably let me leave'

'Nah. I'll let you know if anything is up. Pretty sure it's just a nasty chest infection' he said, hanging up the phone and I headed back to my lesson not thinking anything of it.

- - -

'Has she had any other infections in the last few months?' The nurse asked.

'She had a chest infection at the end of the summer because she got the chicken pox but we didn't take her anywhere for it because she gets chest infections all the time. We put her on her inhaler?'

'Hmm. That could mean that it's a delayed infection clear up and could be pneumonia'

'She's had that before' John explained.

'Hmm. Even more interesting. How is she in general? Tired? Headaches?'

'I don't know. She's 4 not 14. She has been normal if that's what your asking? Nothing concerning' John shrugged. He was wondering why they hadn't packed her up with antibiotics and shifted her on our.

'She seems quite short of breath and has bad under her eyes. That would say to me fatigue and breathlessness. She also looks very pale. Your not overly pale and I suppose her Mother isn't? Either way I'd like to get a blood sample for the labs' he suggested.

'If that's what you think is best?' John mumbled, stepping to his daughters side and sitting on the bed with her a little bit as a nurse started tapping the veins in Poppy's inner elbow.

She's quite a tough cookie Poppy. Just as tough as Evie - and so didn't really have a fear of the needles, she just didn't like how uncomfortable it was afterwards.

John watched in awe as the doctor felt around her abdomen leaving John very confused but he assumed the guy new what he was doing.

'What exactly are you testing for?' John asked confused, trying not to be rude but he couldn't help it.

He didn't like the way people were poking and prodding around his daughter.

'Daddy I want to go home. When can we go home and sleep on the sofa again? I want to watch frozen' Poppy begged looking at him with those brown eyes that make his heart melt.

'Soon duckling. I promise we will go home soon' he chuckled, handing he his phone which had TV on that she could watch to occupy her time.

- - -

'What exactly is the problem?' I mumbled looking into blank space in the small office John and I had been called into.

The doctor taking care of Poppy had asked John to call me in which didn't sound good to me.

That sounded instantly like something had to be terribly wrong. I'd had to make sure that Lilly could pick up the girls and that Henry could stay with her for a bit and then make my way down to the hospital immediately.

There didn't seem anything wrong with Poppy right now as she was playing in the corner of the office with some of the toys - she didn't look any different than when I left her this morning. She was still a little pale and all she wanted to do was snuggle up but there wasn't a whole lot out of the ordinary.

Then I got here and outside the office John had explained to me a whole bunch of symptoms that the doctors had found which nerved me even more.

I was going to google them before I came in but there was no time.

'We ran a blood test on Poppy as soon as she came in and I have to say that what I suspected could be the problem is. Her blood count shows that she has a high white blood cell count which almost certainly means infection' he explained.

'So a chest infection?'

'Almost definitely'

'Then why are we here?' I asked impatiently. 'She's gets them all the time' I huffed.

'She's not naturally fighting that infection off and the fact that she hasn't got enough red blood cells fighting off the infection. This could be due to a number of different reasons - but in this case it seems to be best practise to run a few more tests'

'What tests?'

'I suspect quite honestly that it could be childhood leukaemia'