Viva! - Sequel to More Than Enough

Chapter 36

hello peeps. long time no update. 

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Chapter 36

"Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease," Doctor Chase sighed.

"But I thought you said she has cancer," my mum sighed, crossing her arms. All this hospital stuff is stressful.

"That's what we thought. But the tumor is benign. There is now a mandatory CJD test we have to do on patients like Vivian. She hasn't started showing the common symptoms yet, but it's positive," he sighed also, looking at me with a very sad look.

"Well, what does that mean? What is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease? Is it treatable?" I asked, feeling very hopeful to the news that I do not have cancer.

"It's a degenerative neurological disorder. It means your brain is going to start slowly losing its function. The thing is, symptoms can take two days to ten years to start showing up. There are no approved treatments and it is fatal in every diagnosed case," Doctor Chase explained. My hopes fell. So this is worse. I'm going to die young because I have some crazy neurological disease. My mum started crying. She's going to have to lose her daughter. My dad held her in comfort. "I'm very sorry."

"Are you going to be my doctor or am I going to get a new one?" I asked, and Doctor Chase smiled.

"There are no CJD specialists here at the hospital, and you really don't need one. You aren't in any danger yet. But there are clinical trials for a drug called Cerebrothan. So far, trials have only been to delay or completely stop the brain from dying. It's only worked in one other individual with CJD. Luckily, there aren't that many that have the disease at all, let alone the ones who had access to the trials, so your chances might be better than you think," he explained, and my hopes went up again.

"How exactly do the trials work?" I asked. If there is any chance to prevent this terrible freak-of-nature disease, I am taking it. I'm not showing it, but death scares me.

"It's four weeks. You come in twice a week to have the drug given to you through a series of three injections in the bottom of your spine. We will keep you for an hour after each treatment so that we can monitor your vitals. In the end, we'll get another sample of your cerebrospinal fluid to re-test for CJD. If the drug works, there should be no trace" Doctor Chase explained the entire  process.

"Where can I sign?' I asked, and he chuckled.

"You are one brave girl, my dear. I'll be back soon with the papers," he left, leaving me with my silent parents.

"Are you guys going to sign?" I asked, and my dad nodded.

"We just want you to be healthy," my mother sobbed, giving me a hug. "I can't do this anymore."

She ran out of the room, crying. She didn't want me to see her like that. So my dad followed her, giving me a sympathetic smile before leaving. I pulled out my phone and made a group message.

To: Ronan, Ryan, Crystal

Hey guys

From: Crystal

I HAVE BEEN SO WORRIED OMG HOW ARE YOU??

To: Ronan, Ryan, Crystal

I'm okay. I don't have cancer.

From: Crystal

That's good!!

From: Ryan

...but they removed a tumor.

To: Ronan, Ryan, Crystal

It was benign, which is the good thing.