London Changed My Life

Twenty-One - The Doctor's

Christmas, Easter, Australia Day, and Anzac Day, passed. Very quickly, it had been six months since my dad had succumbed to the powers of his coma. This occasion required a trip to the doctor's.

My mum, Sam and I were sitting in chairs, facing a desk with a man and woman in white lab coats sitting behind it.

"It's been six months," Doctor Song said. "And Nathan has had no improvement. As you know, after a two months we stopped pumping thiopental through an IV, in hopes that Nathan would bring himself out of the coma. Unfortunately, he did not. I have been working with Doctor Watson," she pointed to the man next to him, "and yet neither of us have found anything."

"The brain swelling went down very quickly and Nathan was removed for the ICU, and we thought that he would wake up but he didn't." Doctor Watson explained. "As Doctor Song said, we did everything we could think of. A CT scan, a PET, EEG, MEG and an NIRS. We received the final results today and, I'm sorry to tell you this, but in the cerebrum, one of the main parts of the brain, there is a large tumour. The cerebrum is the part of the brain where motor functions, sensory processing, language and communication, and learning and memory. The tumour is shown to be pressing down on the motor functions and sensory processing."

"This is affecting Nathan's ability to pull himself out of the coma, and respond to our treatments." Doctor Song explained.

"So what are you going to do?" I asked.

"We can remove the tumour. Unfortunately the survival rate for this kind of surgery, with a tumour as big as Nathan's, is low."

"What's the likely-hood of Nathan making it?" My mum asked.

"Less than ten percent." Doctor Watson said, obvious sympathy in his eyes.

I looked at my mum, noting the way her eyes saddened further at the spoken percentage.

"If Nathan didn't have the surgery, what would happen?"

"I'm going to be brutally honest, so please excuse me. The first option is to leave him be. We keep up with the usual IV fluids and see if he either wakes up, or dies of the tumour." Doctor Song's statement made my mum gasp. "Or you can, to put it mildly, pull the plug. Either way, you lose a family member."

"Is he in pain? Because if he's in pain, I don't want him to suffer." I said to the doctors.

"Well, he's unresponsive so we're unsure." Doctor Song answered.

"Is there a way you could?" I pressed for further information.

"There is." She answered me and then faced my mum. "Would that be alright, Vanessa?"

"Well, uh," mum wrung her hands in her lap. "I suppose that would be alright."

"Will he wake up?" Sam spoke for the first time that day.

"We're unsure, but it's probably very unlikely." Doctor Watson answered. Sam responded by placing his head in his arms, something he used to do when he was scared. Sam, as a young kid, was frightened by a lot of things. He stayed by himself during the first years of school, huddled up in the corners of the library and his nose in a book. Obviously he's changed since then. But to see Sam like that, showing signs from when he was 5, made me feel weak. I wrapped my arm around and rubbed his shoulder. He sniffed and rubbed his sleeve under his nose.

"It's okay, Sam. Dad'll be okay."

"That's the thing, El. He won't be okay. He's not going to make it. Did you hear what the doctors siad? It's unlikely he'll make it. No matter what they try, dad is going to die and there's nothing we can do about it. I didn't even get to tell dad that I'm no longer the dead-beat son I used to be." Tears started falling freely and my heart ached because of Sam's pain.

"Sam, look at me." I turned him to face me. "Dad might not get better and that's okay. We will be okay. Dad knows that you're okay. Dad knows that you aren't the same. It's okay. Dad forgave you - ages ago. He was never mad. Never. He loves you, and he will never stop loving you." Sam looked up at me, a small smile on his face.

"Thanks, El."

I returned the smile and leant back in my chair. Mum continued to ask questions but I ignored it. I had all the information I wanted and had no need for more answers.

"Hey mum, can Sam and I head out?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure. I'm going to ask a few more questions."

"Okay. Come on, Sammy, let's go." I pulled Sam up by his arm and led him out of the room. We wandered down the hallways and reached the exit. We caught a bus home and collapsed on the couch.

"You gonna be alright?" I asked, turning my head to face Sam.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Maybe we should take a break. We've both been worrying too much about dad. We'll go out tonight, have fun. Maybe get you laid."

Sam swung his arm to hit me softly and I laughed.

"It was just an idea. You don't have to get laid, if you want. We can just go out. Or invite some friends over. Or have a night in, just us two. Have a Supernatural marathon."

"Actually, that sounds pretty good. I'll go out and get the popcorn?"

"I'll make a den. My room has the bigger TV." Sam stood up and grabbed the car keys. "Don't forget to grab some alcohol! And pie!" I shouted as he walked out of the room.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Sam replied, causing me to laugh. The front door slammed behind him and I sighed. Sam and I were about to have a fun, yet Supernatural induced emotional, night.

This was a hard chapter to right. I've never been to a doctor's meeting so I made some of that up. I also have some medical issues to address. Whilst all the information I have written about is true, none of them actually are true when put together. The fact that Elysa's dad fell of a ladder and went into a coma is completely ridiculous. It's all made up and I don't want you guys telling people all this false information.

Anyway, I hope you liked that chapter. Sorry in advance for the next one...and the one after that. I wrote this ages ago but I didn't think it was that great. I continued to work on it and this was my result. So yeah!

- Ella