[Trillie] Little Boy Named...

Chapter 2

"Frank, Baby!" a women dramatically ran into the hospital room. "Did the doctors make the rounds yet? Please tell me I'm not too late! Why are you sleeping in such a weird position?!"

Tre jolted up and looked around, disappointed that he couldn't see Billie. 

"Frank, are you alright?!"

"Yes, Mom." Tre put a smile on his face, not only for his mom, but because he was pretty sure that Billie was watching.

Suddenly a knock on the door informed them that the doctors were here.

"So Frank. How'd you sleep?" An overly cheery man with small glasses and barely any hair to speak of held up a clipboard and looked up, awaiting an answer.

"Very well, thank you." 

"I see you ordered breakfast." He motioned towards the tray sitting on the counter to the right of Tre. 

"Oh, yeah..."

"You forgot to eat?"

"Nah, I just decided that sleep was a good idea." 

The man chuckled. "So, there are no immediate matches for your bone marrow. The closest is an 8/10 match."

"What does this mean then?" Tre's mom frantically asked.

"It means that a bone marrow transplant is not likely."

Tre's mom walked over to her son and sat down in the chair next to him, rubbing his arm. 

"Fortunately, there is this treatment that we can try. It's relatively new and it doesn't always work, but there is a chance that it'll start his blood cell production up again. It's called Atgam." 

"So, what's Atgam?" Tre's mom was doing all the question asking.

"Atgam is an immunosuppressant therapy. It starts with receiving either Horse or Rabbit ATG through an IV. It's been proven in recent studies that, especially with children, the horse works better, so he'd be getting horse. After that, he'll be taking an oral medicine called cyclosporine for a while. At the six month mark, he'll come in for another bone marrow biopsy and we'll see how it's working"

"How soon should it start working?"

"Hopefully we'll see his counts go up by the three month mark, but some react sooner, and some later."

"When can we start?"

"We already had some shipped here, so, with your permission, we can start as soon as tomorrow."

"Yes. Is that okay with you, Frankie?"

Tre nodded.

A woman with short blonde hair handed Tre's mom a clipboard. "Take time to read it over if you'd like, and then sign on the line at the bottom of the page."

After Tre's mom signed the line and they went over the rest of Tre's medical needs (including getting a med-port, an under the skin semi- permanent IV that gets accessed with a curved needle, in.), the doctors went to leave. A woman in her twenties with long brown hair quickly added before they left, "Don't forget to eat!". Since she was smiling, Tre could tell that she was trying to be funny. He smiled at her and forced a small chuckle. "alright!". 

For some reason, when people like that tried to make a lame joke, Tre thought they were being serious. He always thought the stern doctor with the slicked down brown hair was funny, but he was also the one who usually revealed test results, a relatively serious job.

While his mom was sorting papers that the doctors gave her, Tre was lost in thought. He was thinking about Billie and life and treatments and Billie and- Just then, a nurse wearing a green scrubs decorated with purple hippos walked in, her blond hair tied up in a ponytail and swaying slightly with each step.

 "Hello! My name's Candace and I'll be your nurse today. I came in earlier, but you seemed tired. I figured I'd wait to introduce myself." Candace walked up to a white board that was facing Tre's bed and wrote her name in the "Your nurse is" box. In the "Scheduled treatments" block, she wrote Port in- tomorrow, Atgam- tomorrow. 

"If there is anything you need, just let me know, ok?"

"K"

"Hm. Do you want your breakfast?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, that'd be great!" Tre forgot again. He can be spacy at times.

Candace wheeled over a desk that goes over the hospital bed and carried over the tray of food to Tre.

"There we go." She stepped back.

Tre took the lid off the plate and revealed a plate of French toast sticks, though they were a tad soggy now from sitting so long. 

"Those look good!" The nurse smiled. "I'll be back in an hour for a vitals check, alright?"

Tre nodded.

"Also, I'm not very busy today, so if you need anything, just hit that call button." 

"Ok. Thanks." Tre smiled at her before she left. 

Tre looked down at his food hungrily and picked up a stick.

His mom stood up "I'll leave you to eat in peace. Besides, I'm pretty hungry myself. I'm going to get some food. I'll be back in 30 minutes. Call me if you get lonely! I love you honey!" 

It's not that his mom had no chill, no. It was just her way of dealing with the stress of Tre's condition, and Tre knew that. He tried to not let it get on his nerves, but he was glad to have some alone time- correction him and Billie time.

After his mom closed the door and walked away, Tre took a deep breath and sighed. 

"Frank?"

"Hey- It's Tre for you, Billie!"

"I know, but Frank Wright III? That's so...

"What, rich white kid?"

"I was gonna say dorky and cute, but have it your way, rich kid!" Billie chuckled and got in bed with Tre again, resting his head in Tre's shoulder. 

They sat in silence while Tre ate his food, just enjoying eachother's company. Once he finished, Tre let his left hand fall to his side. Slowly he found Billie's pinky with his own and hooked around it. Billie took Tre's hand and the two interlocked fingers. 

"Tre, do you like music?" Billie broke the silence. 

Tre, still blushing slightly answered, "I love music! I play the drums mainly."

Billie smiled, "I used to play for a band. I play lead guitar and I sing." 

Tre's blue eyes lit up suddenly, "Hey, later today, we should go play together! I know they have a drum set and all kinds of instruments in the music therapy room!"

"That'd be great! I've been just itching to play with someone again, and I've been writing some new songs too."

"It's all set then!" Tre smiled brightly at Billie.

Billie chuckled and kissed Tre's cheek. "All set." 
And the two sat in silence.