"how do you feel baby girl?" calum asks, brushing the hair from her face.
"not good daddy," she whispers, yawning and stretching her arms out to the sides, accidentally punching calum in the process.
"why didn't you come and see me when you felt sick last night?" calum asks, rubbing her cheeks with his thumb. he couldn't feel her chubby cheeks, just bones.
"i was gonna! but i felt it coming and i didn't want to vomit on the floor," kora says, looking at her feet, a small frown on her lips.
"hey, no it's okay, you did the right thing then," calum coos. "i booked you in to see doctor blackwell today, you like doctor blackwell remember?"
"oh yeah," kora says, looking back up at her dad, with big eyes.
"i've called preschool and they hope kora feels better soo- oh good morning sweetheart," sage says quietly, walking back into the bedroom.
"g' morning mummy," kora says softly, switching her gaze from calum to sage, sending her a small smile.
"alright well let's get you dressed then," sage says, going around and picking kora up off the bed and taking her to her own bedroom, where all her clothes are held
.✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
sage and calum held one of each of koras hands. she refused to be carried. she wanted to be independent and walk by herself but just for a safety precaution, her parents kept a close hold to her. they push the doors open and walk in, the warmth instantly hitting them like a ton of bricks. sage took kora to sit down in the waiting room while calum checked her in, letting the receptionist know that she's here and ready for her appointment.
"kora hood, here for an appointment with blackwell? i called earlier this morning," calum says, his toes knocking behind his opposite leg as the receptionist does a search.
"blackwell will be right out, she just has the other patient at the moment," the receptionist says, staring at her computer and offering a fake smile. calum nodded and walked to meet his family. he sat down next to kora in silence, grabbing on to her little hand that was the size of his palm. he looked down at her, she looked at him and she gave him a big toothy smile, and he returned it, poking his tongue out at her and shaking his head excessively at her. kora let out a loud giggle and reached her bony hands out to grab calums cheeks.
"kora?" a tall lady with light hair yells from the hallway, looking at the pretty picture of kora squishing her dad's cheeks as sage looks on with a big smile placed on her face, laughing lightly. calum, kora and sage look up immediately at the doctor and stand up, following blackwell into her office.
"what seems to be the issue ms kora, hm?" blackwell asks, looking down at her with big eyes and grabbing her hands. when she took koras hands into her own, she frowned, noticing how bony they are compared to how chubby they were the last time they met, less than two months ago.
"my tummy hurts," kora says, taking her hand back and rubbing her stomach with it.
"hop up on the bed for me, sweetie," blackwell tells her. kora picks herself up off of the chair and carries her weak body to the bed, using the step stool to get up. blackwell looks over at calum and sage, giving them the look of sympathy and empathy. she looked back at kora who was struggling to climb on to the bed, that she used to be able to get on with ease.
"is it okay if i lift your shirt a bit?" blackwell asks the girl. kora nods and lifts it herself, exposing her visible ribs to the doctor. blackwell is taken back by the sight. kora's individual ribs can be seen and the indents between them are deep and hollow.
"uh, whereabouts does it hurt?" kora pulled her hand up and rubbed the spot just above her belly button, groaning when she puts too much pressure. blackwell looks over at calum and sage again, looking worried for their child's wellbeing. so many things were running through the doctor's mind. is she malnourished? are calum and sage feeding her enough? is she showing early signs of eating disorders? what if it's worse than i think? what if it's life-threatening?
"hey kora, you can hop off the bed now, why don't you go and find sarah, ask her to read you a story okay?" sarah is the receptionist. sage's best friend. she is absolutely whipped for the little girl.
"m'kay," kora whispers, making her way off the bed and drags herself to the lady she called aunty sarah.
once the door closed behind kora, blackwell sighed loudly and looked at the girl's parents.
"i don't think you would starve her but she's so skinny, what are her symptoms?" blackwell asks.
"last night she was throwing everything up that we fed her for dinner, it was her favourite too, we made her a little cheesesteak. she hasn't been able to hold any of her food down, she eats and then she throws it all up a few hours later. obviously, as you can see, she's lost a dangerous amount of weight and she always complains about how her stomach is hurting. her appetite is really poor, she doesn't eat the food we send with her for preschool. she always says she's full," calum explains, being able to get everything he's observed off his chest felt good.
"well from what i'm seeing and hearing it could be anything from a 24-hour bug to something life-threatening and right now, it's looking like it's on the far end of the scale. i'm going to get her back in here tomorrow so i can take some blood and do some other tests. try giving her fruits and vegetables, light things like crackers and plain toast, those things are easy to keep down," blackwell explains.
"please just figure out what's wrong with our baby," sage pleas.
"i'll go through some records and see if i can find children with the same symptoms and see if i can come to any conclusions but at this point, there isn't a lot i can do. i'll send her in to get some screens, x-rays and an ultrasound but until we can get the blood work, i can't really come to a specific diagnosis. i'll try my best though. just go home and rest, please."
♬♩♪♩ ♩♪♩♬
yo yo my guys! ion know how fast ill be updating but ill be updating. i have to be 100% honest, i kinda forgot this existed whoops! it's about to get real emotional up in here so grab some tissues!
-tq
ii; is she malnourished?
Start from the beginning
