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

Chapter 58- "Bone Marrow..."

Chapter 58 - "Bone Marrow..."

Clara's PoV

Neither of us could really hear what he was saying. He was rambling on about some sort of medical jargon, but all I could see was another child of mine slipping away.

I'd already lost one in the last year. I could not loose another. If I lost a child I had connected with for 5 years I would not be able to go on.

And if we wanted to be specific - Evie's slipping away to her Dad day by day - so it will be the third child of mine gone.

'What do we do?'

'The first thing we can do is test the bone marrow. It might not be it... But I suspect it is. Then we establish exactly what type of leukaemia it is and how far advanced, then finally we decide on treatment and the best course of action'

'How long? How long will all that take?' John asked poking some questions in suddenly.

'A few weeks. I assure you we will do everything we can to give you a good outcome. Treatments could include of 6 to 10 weeks of chemo or radio therapy. And if the bone marrow is weakened then we would need to consider a transplant'

'How does that happen?'

'Generally it requires taking blood from someone else who matches exactly to her. Someone healthy who can re make the platelets that can give them to her. But that is way down the line. That is something that won't even be considered of thought about at this point until at least April, if not May' he explained.

'What do we do now? When can we do this bone test thingy?' I asked.

'I'll book her in for an appointment on Friday afternoon. 3 o clock? It shouldn't take long but because she's so young she probably won't be awake'

'How do we explain this to her?' John mumbled.

'Until there is a firm diagnosis I wouldn't bother. Until we know exactly what we are dealing with here there is absolutely no point in frightening her or yourselves' he explained.

- - -

The drive home was pretty quiet. Mainly because I was in the car on my own and hadn't had a chance to talk to John about any of this.

I dread to think what him and Poppy were talking about but as soon as I opened the gate to allow me access to the driveway I noticed his car wasn't there.

I worried at first until I had pulled up and checked my phone - since having Poppy early in a car, I don't drive and look at my phone. In fact I keep it in the back seats now so that I can't.

John had texted and said how he was taking her for dinner to talk to her, and how she had decided that she wanted a milkshake. He was going to get her one.

So I now had to play it all cool when I walked into the house and found the arguing between the girls got to me a lot quicker than normal.

'Get off you idiot. You can't have my laptop' Avia shouted at Evie, as Evie was pulling her hair.

'Piss off' Evie yelled, using language I had never heard or would have expected and of my kids to say.

'Oi' Lilly snapped, as I stormed in and picked both iPhones up from the kitchen table, and pocketed them.

'You can't do that Mummy' Evie whined unable to survive 10 minutes without the damn thing.

'Go upstairs' I gritted to the pair of them.

The thing was that I've been through crap like this with Evie and she's happy and healthy enough to be arguing, so I knew it wasn't going to take long to be taking it out on her.

'Wanna try me?' I suggested raising an eyebrow, as the pair of them scurried off to their bedroom arguing all the way up the stairs.

'What's wrong with you? Bad day in the office?' Lilly laughed.

'Bad day in life' I mumbled, obviously unable to keep a secret like this from her. She's their baby sitter. She had to know.

- - -

'Leukaemia?'

'Yep. Well it's not yet confirmed but we're assuming yes' I mumbled.

'But that's serious? That's like cancer isn't it? She's 4?' Lilly panicked.

'I know. It's not fair. With everything that's happened in the last year - the last thing we realistically need is this - but we'll get through it like we get through everything else' I said trying to assure and persuade myself against all the odds.

The front door opened then I heard it slam, and watched them both come in with Poppy giggling on John's shoulders.

She still looked extremely pale and sick, with bags under her eyes but she looked a lot happier than when I left her this morning.

'And where have you two been?'

'I gotted a burger. And a strawberry milkshake. I ated it all' she said proudly as John dropped her to the ground and I motioned her to sit on my lap.

'Do you still feel sick?' I asked her and she shook her head.

'No. But I am sleepy. Daddy said that I'm allowed to be sleepy and that I don't have to go to school tomorrow. But I like school. I want to go. Next Friday is superheroes day' she explained.

'Superheroes day? Next Friday?' I said looking up at John and saw him shrug his shoulders. Her appointment was at three for the tests that day.

I could already feel the disappointment coming from her before I even said anything. She would be so upset if she missed it.

Maybe there was a way that she could still go? For half of the day at least?

'Well. We'll have to get you the best superhero outfit possible won't we?' I smirked bopping her nose as she jumped down and ran away.

'So can I go to school tomorrow? She asked turning to look at me with a raised eyebrow. God did she look so much like John when she did that.

'Yes. You can go to school tomorrow' I promised.