Teach Me - Brollins

37.

"This is exactly what happened when Heather was diagnosed as a child" Nancy spoke up from her spot next to Rebecca in the waiting room

"She was fine.." Rebecca said in a whisper and Nancy nodded

"Heather was fine.. she was playing at recess with her friends one day at school and she collapsed and went into a seizure"

"It's been hours.. I don't understand how they can't have answers yet" she shook her head and they watched Holly walk into the waiting room and hand Nancy a coffee and Rebecca was handed water

"These types of things, this disease if that's what it is takes time to find.. it takes time to figure it out"

"Well they need to press fast forward on that machine they've got in that lab" Rebecca snapped

"Sweetheart.. go to your husband" Holly said "He's been sitting in that same chair for hours now.." She said and Rebecca nodded

She had stepped out into the waiting room to get a break from the sounds of the ICU floor and the sounds of the beeping of the monitors.

She made her way back onto the pediatric ICU floor and into the room as the nurse exited with yet another vile of blood from Cali.. She saw her husband sitting in the same spot he was in when she left him.

She walked over to him slowly and wrapped her arms around him from behind, placing a kiss to his head

"Do you want to go get food from the cafeteria?" She asked quietly and Colby shook his head "You need to eat" she said

"I'm fine" he stated

"Colby.." She started

"I said I'm fine" he snapped, not at her but at the situation they were in "I'm sorry" he apologized quickly

There was a knock at the door and a nurse walked in, along with the head doctor over Cali's care Dr. Russel as they'd come to know him as over the last few hours.

"We have answers" Dr. Russel announced with a small smile, and by that small smile Colby could tell he was happy to have the answer but unhappy to deliver the news "Can we talk in the hallway while Kaitlyn grabs some vitals real quickly?" He questioned and Colby stood up, reaching for Rebecca's hand as they walked towards the hallway.. he had a feeling he was going to need her support for this one

"What is it?" Colby asked quietly, he didn't want it to broken to him easily.. he wanted the truth, no matter how scary and intimidating it was

"Neuromyelitis optica" Dr. Russel stated and Rebecca felt Colby's entire body tense up

"The same thing Heather had.." Colby stated quietly "She passed it down to her.." He said

"How was that not caught during the testing that Cali has had in the past?" Rebecca spoke up now, she knew her husband wasn't going to be able to maintain his own composure for much longer and she needed to get the answers

"This is a hard disease to detect because it can disguise itself as many different things, when I go over her chart and tests she's had for years I don't see it but comparing the previous testing to the testing we did today.. simply put this disease made itself present within the last year, it attacked and it has attacked her body viciously"

"Is that why she's been more irritable lately? Is that why she's lashing out at things she wouldn't normally lash out at?"

"The disease messes with her nervous system, her brain which controls her emotions so that is possible" the doctor nodded

"But Heather was fine her whole life.. she was fine until she got pregnant.. so Cali just can't have kids and she's gonna be fine" Rebecca said but Dr.Russel shook his head

"With as quickly and furiously as this disease has attacked.. it is different in someways than the disease her mother had.. this is causing her body to attack itself without a known cause or even something foreign for it to attack.. it is attacking the healthy cells in her body"

"What does that mean?"

"It means that she is very sick.. we can try medications but at the rate that it has progressed there is no 100% grantee that any medication will work"

"Are you saying she's gonna die?" Rebecca questioned and she officially lost her husband at that point, she watched him lean up against the wall for support, he looked like he was going to throw up or pass out, his breathing was shallow.. he was starting to spiral back into this dark place again

"I'm going to be completely honest with you two.. with the rate this happened and the results showing the stage that it is at" Dr.Russel shook his head "The outcome isn't good.. She will become quadriplegic and then paraplegic and eventually most cases end in death from cardiac arrest" he explained

"How long.." Colby spoke up quietly and Rebecca looked over at him and saw tears threatening to spill

"It's really hard to say at this point.." Dr.Russel shook his head

"How long.." Colby said once more and his eyes met the doctors "How much longer does she have?" He wasn't going to drop the question until he had an answer

"With everything I've seen and read through in the last few hours and all of the research I have done, discussions I have had with other specialists to diagnose her 100%.." He shook his head "I would say within a year" he said and that's what broke him, Rebecca knew her husband and she knew to just wrap her arms around him before he lost his mind "I will give you two some time before we discuss next steps" the doctor nodded slowly before walking away to give the couple time with one another

"What do we do?" Colby asked in barely a whisper and Rebecca pulled back to look at him, her face matched his, tears falling and heart breaking

"We love her for as long as we have her"