Relapsed {Our Battle Series- Book 2}

One Day, Two Surgeries

Colette's POV: 

Saying that today was going to be a long day would be an understatement, to say the least. Both Avia and Brock were going to have surgery, Avia was having surgery to have a feeding tube put in because she hadn't been eating a lot recently and had become malnourished. And Brock was having his leg amputated, the cancer was rapidly spreading throughout his body, though a high concentration was still in his leg, they decided the best way to fix the problem was to stop the source of the disease. Which was his leg, unfortunately. Both of their surgeries were fairly major and that meant Shay and I had to be on our A-game all day. The only easy part of today was that Avia and Brock were already in the hospital and didn't have to be driven down to Salt Lake early this morning. It's the positives that help us get through the day, no matter how small they are. 

At what seemed like the crack of dawn, but it was really 7 or 8 in the morning, nurses and doctors started to make their appearances to help my kids get ready for surgery. Every time the doctors or nurses would look away from them, they'd shot me a look that was sarcastic and playful. The two of them had gone through this so many times now that it was painfully redundant at this point and it was nice to see them not worrying and having a little fun with it all. While to them it seemed unnecessary I was still glad that they always would explain what was happening to the kids because it is always good to be informed on what is going. Finally, the nurses and doctors left and now Shay and I had some time alone with the two of them before their surgery.

"I swear to God if I hear another pre-surgery speech from one of the doctors I will actually leave," Avia said laughing, it was amazing how far we had come from the first surgery she had. Where she wouldn't let go of Shay and me, where she forced us to walk her down to the operating room. Now it was routine, the fear of something going wrong gone. It was no longer an unknown thing, so to her what left was there to fear. 

"I wouldn't recommend leaving, you'd be back in this room getting a lecture on not leaving. And I do not need another lecture from one of your other doctors either, as does anyone in this family. So far both of our sakes stay in bed." Shay joked

"I just can't wait to eat later. I like food, food is good." Brock commented randomly, as his ADHD causes him to do. 

"Brock when are you ever not hungry?" Avia questioned back at him 

He put his finger up as to contradict that statement, but he stopped and shrugged. "Fair point. But food though." Was his response, which caused all of us to laugh. The happy moment interrupted when two pairs of nurses walked in. 

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but John wants us to take the kids down for their surgeries now." One of the nurses said, walking over to Avia's bed. "Say your goodbyes and then we'll be on our way." The man was stiff as a board. 

"Geez Dave, lighten up. The Butler's have been here for months, the last thing they need is more monotone people talking to them." Joe told the man whom I was guess was Dave, we knew Joe quite well he was one of our kids regular nurses. "Sorry about him, he's a new guy. Doesn't get that things are a little more light hearted and fun in comparison to other hospitals. Take your time with the kids" He said turning to Shay and I. 

"Alright be good for the doctors and nurses down in the OR, I do NOT want another harrasment report from one of your doctors. Enjoy your sleep and we'll see you guys when you wake up." Shay joked, giving both of them a kiss on the forehead and a hug. Now it was my turn

"I love you guys. And like your father said no harrassing any of the nurses or doctors. They do enough for you two." I said laughing. 

"I make no promises!" Avia yelled,as Dave and Joe came back in to take the kids down to the operating room. Shay and I stood in the hall, watching them roll away to the OR, a sight we were quite used too. 

"So for the first time in months we are alone with no kids, what do you say we do with this new free time we have on our hands?" I asked, kissing Shay on the lips. 

"I was thinking a romantic lunch in the hospital cafeteria, followed by watching some TV shows that we actually enjoy. Then maybe a little make out session." He whispered in my ear. 

"You have yourself a date Shaycarl." 

He laughed and grabbed my hand as he lead me down to the cafeteria, where we ordered our standard lunches. I got a salad and Shay got himself a nice sandwhich, well as nice as hospital food could be, he lead me over to a sucluded both where we could just sit in talk. It wasn't very often that the two of us where kid free and got to just sit and talk, while once a month we allowed ourselves date night we often found ourselves worrying about Avia and Brock, it sometimes seemed like the only thing we could talk about it. But right now that was not the case, we talked about everythinig but the kids and their being sick. We talked about old memories we had, songs we liked, shared funny stories that happened on a regular basis but we didn't often get to tell because we were so preoccupied with things. It almost felt like we were on a first date, everything was just so pure and nice. After lunch we headed back up to Avia and Brock's room. There we watched a movie, an adult movie not a kids one, a luxuary that it seemed like we hadn't had in forever. We were in the middle of the movie when John walked into the room and motioned us out into the hallway. 

"So both Avia and Brock are out of surgery and are headed up from recovery." John started

"How'd everything okay?" I questioned nevously. As routine as this was, that didn't stop me from worrying. Though these last two hours had been a nice distraction.

"Brock's went well, everything was smooth and we expected it to be. Please be preppared for him to be in some pain when he wakes up though, he's on morphine right now but some patients are still able to feel the pain from the surgery." He explained

"And what about Avia?" Shay asked

"Avia, we had a small scare with her during the surgery stopped breathing." 

"Oh my god!" I whispered, I felt like I was about to pass out. 

"Is she okay now?" Shay questioned, his voice shaking. 

"Yes we quickly got her back to normal states, we think she had an allergic reaction in regards to something we used to put the tube in with. She's stable now, she is just recieving a little extra oxygen from us just to be on the safe side. Don't worry Shay and Colette, she'll be fine." John told us, putting his hand on my shoulder. "You can go see them now, looks like the nurses got them all settled in the room." Shay and I looked at each other and rushed into the room, I took a seat by Brock and he took a seat by Avia.  I could see the tears forming his eyes as he grabbed her hands, he looked terrified. I don't know if I have ever seen him this scared before. 

Shay's POV: 

I took a seat next to Avia's bed as I always did after she had a procedure done. I would sit next to her bed and stroke her hand with my thumb and talk to her until she woke up. But today was different, she had almost DIED on the table. That terriefied me, she had been through so much worse and had been okay. But a routine procedure had almost killed her, that made me question everything. Was she strong enough for the bone marrow transplant? Was she strong enough to finish this strong round of chemo? Was she strong enough to beat this disease? All I could hope for was that she was. 

"Hey baby." I whispered, kissing her forehead. "We almost lost you today, I've never been so scared in my entire life. But it's okay, because your okay now." Tears were starting to roll down my face. "I love you so much. So so much. More then you can possibly imagine." With that she squeezed my hand, it was faint, but it was there. I was her way of saying I know. 

"I love you Daddy. I love you too." She whispered, her voice faint. That didn't even matter to me because it was her voice. It was a reminder that she was still with us and that she got to live to see another day. And that I'm forever grateful for.