Raising Brooklyn (Sequel to Baby on Board)

four

After getting the emergency room and waiting about a half hour the nurse called us back to the room. The three of us sat in the examination room waiting for a doctor to come in.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Parker, what bring you folks in this evening?"

"I'm Maya, this is Lucas and this is our daughter Brooklyn. She woke up in the middle of the night, probably about 2 hours ago, burning up. Our usual doctors office isn't open until the morning so we thought we would bring her in just to be sure." I said. Doctor reached out touch Brooklyn. He felt her forehead and I could see his eyes get very wide.

"Well you guys definitely did the right thing by bringing her in. I am going to get her some medicine to try and break the fever and I am going to send in a technician to run some tests just to be safe." He said writing on his clipboard.

"What kind of tests?" Lucas' asked

"Just tests to check and see if the fever lead to any other illnesses like the flu, strep throat, etcetera."

I shook my head nervously. I just had a bad feeling something was going to happen. They call it mothers instinct. I'm surprised I even have that.

"Hi, I'm Jenny. I an just going to run some tests on this adorable little girl. " She said smiling at Brooklyn.

She performed three or four tests before taking them to the lab.

It was now about 4:00 am and we have been waiting for the test results for about an hour. I dosed off for a little while. Brooklyn's fever has gone down but she still has one. As we wait longer and longer I get even more nervous.

My thoughts are interrupted as Doctor Parker and Nurse Jenny walk in. Lucas and I both looked up.

"The test came back negative for the flu and strep throat." Doctor Parker said

Lucas and I both had a sigh of relief.

"But, Brooklyn did test positive for leukemia."

My heart almost stopped. My poor baby girl has cancer. I looked up at Lucas who had tears in his eyes. And I started to cry.

"I am so sorry. But the good thing is, we caught it early so we can start treatment." Doctor Parker said.

I couldn't speak. My daughter was just diagnosed with cancer. It was all too much to process, I began to blame myself.

I should have known. We could have caught it earlier or even prevented it.

"There is no way to prevent cancer Ms.Hart." Jenny said. I must have said my past statement out loud. I put my head in my hands and wiped away my tears.

"Since you are hear we could start the treatment with giving Brooklyn some medication to prepare her body for what is too come." Doctor Parker said. I shook my head. I handed my baby girl over to the doctor. He exited the room with her in his arms.

I walked over to Lucas and collapsed in his arms. I balled my eyes out into his shirt. I could hear him crying too. I pulled away and placed my hands on his shoulders.

"She's just a baby. She doesn't deserve this." I said crying

"I know Maya, I know." He said as he took me back into his arms.

"Lucas, what are we going to do? How are we supposed to handle this?"

"I guess we just have to be strong for her. We have to take care of her and do whats right for her."

I could tell he didn't know what to say but he was being strong for me.

"Lucas. I can't lose her. She's my baby and I love her and I think I would die without her."

"Maya, we can't think like that. We have to stay positive and strong."

"I am so sorry Lucas."

"Maya what are you apologizing for?"

"This. This is my fault. I'm her mother I should have known something was wrong. I could have done something to prevent this from happening."

"Maya, none of this is your fault. It's all just bad luck."

"Bad luck, bad luck. Why does this have to happen to our daughter? Our daughter doesn't deserve this! She's just a baby! She hasn't done anything for this to happen." I cried

"I know Maya, I know." He smoothed my hair and cried. We pulled apart as we heard a knock on the door.

"She took that like a champ." Jenny said walking in with Brooklyn in her arms. She placed her in Lucas' arms.

"So what do we do next?" I asked wiping my eyes.

"Well, hopefully Brooklyn will respond the medication positively and then we can discuss our options as to treatment styles. Until them we need you to monitor Brooklyn very closely and watch her symptoms. Also here is the name and number of a specialist Doctor Parker recommends seeing." She said handed me a slip of paper and a bunch of pamphlets.

"I promise, that we are going to do everything in our power to cure that baby girl." Jenny said looking to Brooklyn.

"Thank you." I said softly and she gave me a sympathetic look. She came towards me and hugged me. I hugged back. Once we pulled apart she left the room.

"Hey baby girl. Mommy and Daddy are here and we are going to do whatever we have to do to get you better. I promise. Okay? I love you so much." I cried kissing my daughters head. Then I pecked Lucas' lips.

"Lets go home."