The storm, though it was right above us, was very local.
I ended up staying home with the boys, but in twenty minutes it had subsided and we were able to leave. Mike was understandably shaken up, and Josh was happy... he'd gotten out of chemotherapy, at least for a while. He was going to get it, anyway, of course, but he was happy about the delay.
Dr. Hudson, Joshua's psychologist, said that he understood, and that he had to talk to me... which I hadn't been counting on, but I nervously went in, hoping that Josh wasn't depressed or on suicide watch or some awful thing of the sort.
Josh and Mike were led to a waiting room while I entered Dr. Hudson's office.
"Hello, Mr. Carter." he calmly said.
"Hi, Dr. Hudson." I responded.
"Before you get too nervous-" Was he reading my mind? "-let me tell you that Joshua is fine. I've found him a fine young man, quite talented, and very cheerful and optimistic. That's always important in treatment."
Okay, so he was all right. That's something. But then, what did he want to talk to me about?
"However-" Ah-ha, knew there was a but somewhere. "- I believe he would benefit from music therapy as a means to ease the pain a little bit and help him deal with his feelings better."
"Music therapy, what's that all about?" I asked. It sounded good but, how was I supposed to know if this was some weird holistic method?
"Well, music has been proved to help heal people. Not without medicine, of course, that will continue as originally planned. Many people benefit from the effects of music classes, music games, etc., especially to help them overcome emotional difficulties. A lot of these people have Down's syndrome, or cancer, or learning difficulties such as dyslexia."
"I see, it seems just made for Joshua."
"Yes, that's what I thought, too." said Dr. Hudson with a chuckle. "I take that as a yes, then?"
"Absolutely, when do you begin?"
"Well, I have to talk to several people but probably some time next week, I want Joshua to begin the program as soon as possible. There's a new class for teenagers that begins next week, we could probably fit Josh right in."
"Is he okay with this?"
"He was all for it when I told him about it." Dr. Hudson smiled. "So I guess it's on."
I had to sign some forms, of course. It seems like every single detail in the hospital has to be with my consent. If I was tired of writing my name before, well, it's nothing compared to now.
So, that was a short meeting. At least it wasn't bad news.
I returned to pick up Joshua and Michael and then went down to the fourth floor, namely "Oncology". We happened to be just on time, because we'd been late to the first meeting with the psychologist and that meeting had been short, which was fortunate.
Dr. Wilson greeted us with a smile as usual. "Mr. Carter, hello." he shook my hand.
"Joshua." Dr. Wilson solemnly shook his hand.
Then Dr. Wilson turned to Michael, knelt down next to him. "Why, hello, Michael."
Mike hid behind my leg. He's very shy.
"'Ello..." Michael whispered.
"Okay, so this is the plan for today." said Dr. Wilson. "First off, I'm going to be doing a spinal tap on Joshua, and I'll inject some methotrexate in its place. We're going to test the fluid I take out to see if there's any leukemia cells in there, hopefully not."
Ouch, that sounded painful. Josh didn't look too eager, either.
"Later, I'm going to start Joshua on an IV and he's going to be getting a very high dose of methotrexate, which should take 24 hours. Then he'll get the antidote for the methotrexate before it becomes toxic-"
"Wait a minute, you're going to pump toxic stuff into my son?!" I was shocked.
"Mr. Carter, methotrexate affects rapidly dividing cells, such as hair follicles, mucosa lining of the stomach, intestines, mouth... and with very high doses, also the most stubborn cancer cells. Joshua will most likely become immune-supressed, as it also impacts the bone marrow and depress the production of blood cells. The question is finding the balance between administering enough to kill the cancer cells but not so much that he will be intoxicated."
Okay, so is he talking in Spanish, or what? Wait a minute... I understand Spanish, thanks to Julia, so... Russian? Japanese? Well, it's not the point.
"In all, it would be about three days."
"You promised two!" Joshua accused.
"Sorry, Joshua, it can't be helped."
Author's Chapter Notes:
Nocturne in G minor, Chopin.
P?pinot, Bruno Coulais (The Chorus).
Come fly with me, Frank Sinatra.
P?pinot, Bruno Coulais (The Chorus).
Come fly with me, Frank Sinatra.
